Political Islam Movement and Democratization in Egypt

1. Political Islam Movement and Democratization in Egypt Kuliah 13

2. Muslim Brotherhood & Islamist Opposition • The Muslim Brotherhood (al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun) was founded in 1928 by the Islamist thinker and activist Hasan al-Banna. • The Brotherhood had originally welcomed the 1952 Free Officers coup d’etat and the Nasserist revolution as a blow against Western imperialism. • When Nasser appeared to remain too secular and too Socialist, in the views of the Islamists, the Brotherhood unsuccessfully turned against the regime. • The government then turned on them, arresting large numbers of Islamists particularly after a failed assassination attempt against Nasser. • Hasan al-Banna was himself assassinated, and later more militant leaders such as SayyidQutb were arrested and executed for advocating the overthrow of the regime.

3. During Sadat Era • In the 1970s Sadat released many Brotherhood members in an attempt to counter the many secular Nasserists within the regime and society. • by 1981, in the midst of economic difficulties and regional hostility due to Egypt’s separate peace with Israel, Sadat reversed his stand and struck out against the increasingly hostile Islamist movement. • In October of that year Sadat was assassinated by Islamist militants within his own army.

4. During Mubarak Era • President Mubarak has maintained the state-of emergency laws ever since and has shown no quarter to militant Islamism in particular. • More militant Islamists broke off from the Brotherhood, intending to topple the regime by force. • The 1990s saw particularly violent Islamist attacks against police officers, government officials, and tourists, with correspondingly severe counterattacks by Egypt’s security services against Islamists.

5. Present Condition • Unlike the more militant splinter groups, the Muslim Brotherhood continued its reformist approach to achieving a more Islamist state in Egypt by participating in the political process and especially in elections. • In the 2000 elections, although the Muslim Brotherhood was banned from participating as a legal party, its members, running independently or with other parties, won 17 of the 444 contested seats in the legislature. • In subsequent parliamentary elections in 2005, the Brotherhood won an unprecedented 88 seats in parliament, or about 20 percent of the seats, its largest gain since participating in the political process.

6. Role of Islamist Opposition in Egypt's Politics • In 1984 and 1987 the group allied itself with existing political parties and won seats in parliament. • In the late 1980s the Brotherhood won control of several professional syndicates. • As the Brotherhood increased its role in politics, it struggled on the one hand to keep its base of radical followers, many of whom believed that participating in politics was a betrayal of Islam, while on the other hand trying not to alienate the government, which feared the Brotherhood was cooperating too much with radicals. • In the early 1990s, as radicals made violent attacks on Egyptians and foreigners, the government produced evidence that supposedly showed the Brotherhood had cooperated with violent Islamists. Mubarak used the revelations to repress the Brotherhood, but his campaign met with mixed success.