Muslim Brotherhood Asserts Its Strength

3/26/2012

Read the article linked below on the new assertiveness of the Muslim Brotherhood. What do you think is going to happen with the Muslim Brotherhood in the next few months? Do you think they will run a candidate in the upcoming presidential elections? What do you think about the fact that they keep changing their minds about how much involvement they will have in Egyptian politics? Do you think this article is biased in any way? Find another source that discusses the Muslim Brotherhood in recent months that is not published in a US based publication and compare the coverage of this issue. Please create a link to the non-US source that you choose to compare.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/muslim-brotherhood-asserts-its-strength-in-egypt-with-challenges-to-military/2012/03/21/gIQAJ9pmaS_story.html

18 Comments

Hussein

3/25/2012 07:01:37 pm

I think that in the next few months, the Muslim Brotherhood will assume more ranks and will have a great deal of power on their backs. They will be running many different posts in government and social offices. This will make them more influential and on a larger scale as well. I do think that they will have a candidate in the race for president, and I presume that they will win. But my predictions to having a MB run country aren’t as negative as all the stereotypes are. I am keeping an open mind to this situation as it may end up like Turkey -- which has flourished in the past couple of years. I believe that if they are given the chance that they earned, hopefully they will prove all the stereotypes wrong and will take Egypt to another level, in economy, society, and life. They did/do change their mind several times and I believe that it is a huge flaw in them. They should show transparency and good conduct in their decision making skills. This article is a bit biased towards showing that the Muslim Brotherhood is a sneaky group and that cannot make up its mind now and won’t make it up later.
This other source (cited below) confirms that the Muslim Brotherhood will have a candidate in Egypt’s next presidential race. They say that their change of decision is “not a dishonor” but it has come up because of the change in Egypt’s current situation. “They Brotherhood will seek to apply “the spirit of Islamic Law” before the people are ready to apply God’s law completely.” This is contradicting to what the Washington Post article said about how they will not “impose” beliefs on people.
http://www.egyptindependent.com/node/733781

Autumn

3/25/2012 08:15:15 pm

I do believe that the Muslim Brotherhood will continue to rise in power, gaining more and more followers, becomes more and more mainstream. Already they are gaining the interest from the youth of Egypt, who are eager to participate in anything that might involve gratification. People, like in America when the citizens turned toward religions as a safe and stable place to believe in, people here in Egypt are turning towards the Muslim Brotherhood because they see it as a stable party, a stable group. And it is known that a stable party, is most likely, a successful party. But I, for one, do not believe in the causes of the MB. Infact, I am in complete opposition to their dominance in the Egyptian government. I feel like they have yet to show all the tricks up their sleeves, and I feel that the last one will show itself once they win even more position in the government, and everything is set in stone. Once they are in power, Egypt will change, that, I know for sure. Whether it will be a good change, or a bad change, I cannot say I am certain of, but my gut tells me that it won't be a good change. Nor does the gut of the American government, who are already getting nervous from the MB's rising power. I also believe that they will sponsor their own muslim candidate in the presidential election, only to continue their path of hunger for more political control. However, I am surprised that they made it possible to gain so many people in favor of their party. It is evident that this article is biased, for the writer himself seems worried about their rising power. He describes the power of the MB in a negative way, already making the reader worried, even if they do not know what the MB stands for. Out of curiosity, I searched the web until I came across a site that looks like it reports the news directly from the MB. I figured, it's always good to get two opinions on a situation. The title of the site nearly gives it away.

http://www.ikhwanweb.com/

Ranna

3/26/2012 01:08:43 am

I think in the next few months, the Muslim Brotherhood will continue to gain more power and high positions in the government. Already, the Muslim Brothers are very influential and have gained the attention and interest of many Egyptians. In February during the parliament elections, the Muslim Brotherhood won nearly half the seats. At least 60 percent of the 100 assembly members are from the Muslim Brotherhood or used to be involved in Islamist groups. I certainly believe that they will run a candidate in the upcoming presidential elections. They already stated that they are considering putting forth a presidential candidate, and so I do think they will. Also, because of their strong influence on many Egyptians, I surmise that their candidate will win the elections. Something I like very much about the Muslim Brotherhood is their organization. This group is very organized and I do believe that they will improve the economy of Egypt. What I do not like however, is that they keep changing their minds on whether or not they will run a candidate and how they will be involved in Egyptian politics. This troubles me because it makes me feel that they are not certain on their decisions and worries me in their future choices. If they say they will do something, they should and if they decide on not doing something, they should not change their minds. I do believe that this article is biased against the Muslim Brotherhood. The writer portrays the Brotherhood as a group of people who are uncertain of their decisions from the past and in the future. I read an article on the Muslim Brotherhood. The Freedom and Justice Party, who won a great victory in the parliamentary elections, mentioned that the presidential elections in May could be rigged to benefit a “certain candidate” that it has not yet identified. No one really knows what will happen, but we can only hope for the best.
http://azzasedky.typepad.com/egypt/2012/03/egypt-military-hits-out-at-muslim-brotherhood-middle-east-al-jazeera-english.html

Sarah

3/26/2012 03:02:34 am

The Muslim Brotherhood is growing more and more powerful each day. In February, the group won nearly half the seats in parliament. The Muslim Brotherhood is pushing for many things to increase their power and sphere of influence, such as going after the military’s economic holdings, to which the military has fiercely resisted. Shadi Hamid, an expert on the Brotherhood at the Brookings Institution’s Doha Center even went so far as to say, “There’s been a major shift in Egyptian politics. At this point, no one can stop the Brotherhood.” Even though the military is in charge of Egypt right now, the Muslim Brotherhood is using parliament to advance its own power and interests. The Brotherhood constantly clashes with the military on various decisions such as the United States’ $1.5 billion aid to Egypt, most of it being used for the military. Brotherhood leaders have portrayed themselves as pragmatists who only want to maintain peace with Israel and focus on Egypt’s unemployment and poverty issues. Ibrahim Mohyeldin, a member of parliament from the liberal Free Egyptians party had to say, “The Brotherhood is searching for power, and the military council is looking for a safe ticket out.” In the next few months, I believe that the Muslim Brotherhood will make many biased decisions and Egyptian politics will be changed forever. I believe that the Muslim Brotherhood will put up a candidate in the upcoming presidential elections because with such an organized group as this that is becoming increasingly powerful and influential, this group wishes to gain even more power in Egyptian politics. I think that since the Muslim Brotherhood keeps changing its mind about how much involvement they will have in Egyptian politics displays a sort of mysterious, sneaky side to all that have a discerning eye. To me, the Brotherhood seems to be one that has been struggling for power for a very long time and will do anything to gain power. I think that this article was very subjective and showing one side to the story, which was that the Muslim Brotherhood is a force that is growing in power and perhaps a threat that will change Egyptian politics in God knows what way. The article that I have posted below is about the Muslim Brotherhood in flux. As Egypt’s vote for presidential elections nears, the opposition group has ignored allies’ boycott calls and will run candidates for the elections. The fact that the group has more or less decided to run a candidate for president does not surprise me.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/2010/11/2010111681527837704.html

Baheya

3/26/2012 03:38:22 am

I think that in the next few months, the Muslim Brotherhood will gain more power than we think. It had surprised me that they have gained many people's support in the parliamentary elections even though they are refused by many people in the country. After the results of the elections, it seemed as though they got the majority of the attention because they are a very organized and strong group. They won half the seats in the parliament, which makes me even more sure that they are going to run a candidate for the presidential elections next month. It really irritates me that they keep changing their decision, but I am 100% sure that they will run. I think that they do this because because they want to see how many people will be affected and guarantee their win. I believe that this article is biased against the Muslim Brotherhood because they are trying to show them in a bad way in front of the people, the author mentions that they changed their decision multiple times and this is a negative point in this group. But he also mentioned that the Muslim Brotherhood will focus on unemployment, poverty, and the peace treaty with Israel. There has a an accusation that the MB is having a deal with the military but the secretary general of the Brotherhood denied all this and said they are not against them either--- they are simply not working with them.
I read an article that was published today by Nadine Marroushi on a website called " Egypt Independant" http://www.egyptindependent.com/node/734126, and is discusses the launch of an Egyptian Business Association by a senior brother. She quotes Hassan Malek, who has been arrested for years, but released from Tora prison. He talks about he wants Egypt to go through a "Renaissance" and that it will change to the better. It is a business with Turkey that will help our economy. The MB is portrayed in a different way in this article. It shows that they are a very good group that Egypt should depend on.

Hania

3/26/2012 04:02:38 am

Before the revolution no one really cared or knew about the Muslim Brotherhood. The old regime made sure of that I think they were pushing them down because they felt fear towards them. Because they knew that the Muslim Brotherhood is a very powerful and strong group of people. They had a very good reason to be afraid of them because I think that all the stereotypes are wrong. That the will actually transform Egypt's future economically, socially, and politically. The Muslim Brotherhood now have control on 50% of the parliament, and I am pretty sure that they will have a candidate running for presidency this summer, and that candidate will probably win. There is a very strong candidate that I hope they back up and he is Mohammed Selim El Awa, his words are very balanced and make perfect sense and from what I've heard is that he has a huge potential to be a strong leader. But his chances won't be as high if the Muslim Brotherhood don't support him. The major Issue I have against the Muslim Brotherhood and fears me the most is that they change their minds and words quite often. That issue is very scary because the last thing Egypt needs right now is a weak government/ group of leaders. With the number of followers the Muslim Brotherhood is growing more and more everyday. The Muslim Brotherhood as an extremely important issue that they are discussing everyday that will affect the coarse of Egypt's future and that is choosing a person to represent for presidential elections. The article below shoe that the Muslim Brotherhood is not certain of who they are going to represent. The elections ads set to begin on May 23rd, a member of the MB stated that there isn't anyone yet that fits the criteria. Abdel Moneim Aboul Fetooh was a Muslim Brotherhood member until the Muslim Brotherhood said they won't support him for breaking the rules.http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/egypts-muslim-brotherhood-in-reversal-may-nominate-presidential-candidate/2012/03/21/gIQA7LHFSS_story.html

Raya

3/26/2012 04:23:06 am

In the next few months, I think the Muslim brotherhood might become the strongest and very powerful political party. It might have strength in all the political, economical, and military matters of the country. They have a very organized party and this is their biggest strength. Due to this they might achieve their goal soon. Also, they are gradually increasing their involvement in the politics, so this will influence the next few months. Even though they promised before that they will not run a candidate, however now they are claiming that they might. So, I definitely think that they will run a candidate based on their current decision. They will change their old decision if they feel the need to. They might have some plans that will help benefit the country and taking that into account they make their decisions. However, I think it is not good that they keep changing important decisions like this several times. They should not have given a decision before if they were not sure of it. They even said that they will not hold as much seats in the parliament but now they hold more than half (60%) of the seats. So, their changing of decisions is a drawback for them. Before it seemed as if they will not involve as much into politics but gradually their involvement is increasing. I do not think it is bias as it shows that argument of the military as well as the Muslim Brothers. It is giving us facts of what happened, but it is tilting the audience to think that the Brotherhood changed its decisions, which is in fact true.
I found an article that in the Muslim Brotherhood’s Official English Website. The name is Dr. Ghozlan: We Will Persist in Service of Egypt and All Egyptians. Dr. Ghozlan is the the Media Spokesman of MB. He says that they want to rebuilt and rejuvenate Egypt and for that they will work hard and take any steps necessary. So, this goes with their change of decision. Since they want to make change they need the most involvement in the politics. They said that they will act firmly and wisely. Therefore, from this it can be inferred that the change of decision was to make situations better in Egypt. They say that they are working persistently to save Egypt from the crisis. So, they might bring good changes to Egypt in the next few months through their power.
http://www.ikhwanweb.com/article.php?id=29710

Nadim

3/26/2012 05:12:24 am

I personally think that in the next few month, the Muslim Brotherhood will gain more power than it already has. The Muslim Brotherhood have more than half the seats in the People’s National assembly, which shows that they are supported by the majority of Egyptians. They have been suppressed by the old regime for several years, making sure that they weren’t participating in any form of politics. Now that they are no longer suppressed, they will be running for several governmental positions, and the probability is that they will have the majority of the votes. It is most likely that they will have a candidate running for president, and if that candidate is elected, then they would be able to pass every law they want, meaning that the governmental system is run by the Muslim Brotherhood. Having the country run by a Muslim Brother might be a good thing, due to their success and organization. However I don’t think they should be allowed a chance to run for presidency, since I think that religion can not be associated with politics, and Egypt is a country that consists of several religions. The Muslim Brotherhood keeps changing their mind, due to the amount of power they have received, and their success rates have triggered their strive for power. I found the article a bit biased, as it portrayed the Muslim Brotherhood as an indecisive group, that informs people based on probability, not fact, making you question their credibility. The article I posted below, says that the Muslim Brotherhood have still not decided weather they are going to appoint a candidate to run on behalf of the group, however they are supporting a former brother, Abil-Fotouh, who is running for presidency.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/7/37419/Egypt/Presidential-elections-/In-a-corner,-Muslim-Brotherhood-mulls-presidential.aspx

Farah

3/26/2012 05:54:15 am

http://www.thedailynewsegypt.com/egypt/muslim-brotherhood-mulling-run-for-president.html

Although the Muslim Brotherhood members are planning to gradually take over all the positions in the new government, I find it very hard to put all the blame on them. By boycotting the assembly and having at least 8 people resign, more positions were vacant for the Muslim Brotherhood members to occupy. The Muslim brotherhood, along with the freedom and justice party, already have more than 50% of the parliamentary seats. The Muslim Brotherhood is unstoppable. They seek power anywhere and obtain it no matter what the consequences are.
In the upcoming few months, I honestly think that the Muslim Brotherhood will keep everything they do in the down low so that the spotlight won't be on them. After that, they will be planning on something very powerful that will guarantee the fact that they'll win the presidential elections. Of course they are going to have a candidate of their group run for president. If its not one of the major members, it will be someone that is very religious but very unpopular so people wouldn't know that he's a member of the Muslim Brotherhood group.
The reason why they keep changing their minds about how much they will be involved in the elections is because people will refuse if they ask for, for example 80% of the government but would accept 40% and then wouldn't mind adding 5% every month. This is , in my opinion, a very good approach and an amazing idea.

Abdelrahman Zwein

3/26/2012 06:43:56 am

In my opinion I think the muslim brotherhood will attempt to advertise itself a little more to gain people’s support and attention. They will probably launch a full campaign dedicated to their greatness, they will give out flyers and posters and do all they can to advertise themselves before the elections. I think it is highly expected that they run a candidate in the upcoming presidential elections and to try, as much as possible, to make the people trust, support and vote for that candidate when it is time. I think they keep declaring limits on their involvement in Egyptian politics to reassure people, but I believe that just like anyone else, they want to gain as much power and influence as possible so that they wouldn’t have to hide anymore as they did in the previous regime. I think that the article is in fact biased against the Muslim Brotherhood as it was written by an American source, but they do however provide some facts, they just choose to present them in a certain way that portrays the brotherhood as a sneaky and deceptive group.
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/03/26/203348.html
http://globalmbreport.org/?p=5971

Youssef

3/26/2012 02:33:44 pm

The Muslim brotherhood has grown as an organization after the revolution. Surpassing more than half of the parliamentary seats gave them more power and a huge ego. The MB have changed their minds several times during the past few months about many things such as their relationship with the SCAF and their willingness to have a candidate run for president. They are playing mind games with the people now, which upset most of the Egyptian people. There have been tensions in the last couple of days between the MB and the military forces. The MB criticized the military and the way they are ruling the country. Although the MB has been scathing the military lately, many people think that there are agreements between both sides. Agreements such as the MB should rise in power while the SCAF leave authority safely without being questioned about wealth. I think that the brotherhood will run a president in the next presidential elections, especially when they have most of the parliamentary seats under their control. The MB has earned its position today due to its hard work and long-term planning, but they need to be smart enough to gain the people’s support one more time. The article tends to be in somewhat way a bit biased. The newspaper describes the MB as a tricky group of people who care about power and control over the country using the Islamic rule. I read another article that also described the relationship between the brotherhood and the SCAF, and how both sides will get what they want in the end. The article shows that the MB is trying to reach power and take over authority. http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/37696/Egypt/Politics-/SCAF-to-jostle-Islamists-for-constitutional-privil.aspx

Adam

3/26/2012 02:40:19 pm

In the case of the Muslim Brotherhood, I think that it's going to attempt at expansion and giving itself more establishment in the government. I think they will definitely have a candidate (or at least support a candidate) that will run for the presidency, but I believe they will only support a candidate that has had a history with the Brotherhood. The fact they keep changing their minds is not a good thing, as it shows indecisiveness, which is something that we should not see in a government too often. It would only be acceptable if the changes they seek are legitimate and that it satisfies the demands of the people and the Brotherhood alike. I noticed the article is rather biased, as various articles on the Brotherhood that I read before that were from American sources always had something on them being full of "deception" and one of those groups that should not be trusted.

The second article points out what the Brotherhood has done in terms of presidential candidacy and the current parliamentary percentage they have in the government.

http://gulfnews.com/news/region/egypt/egypt-s-muslim-brotherhood-to-field-presidential-bet-1.999795

Faisal

3/26/2012 03:48:22 pm

I think the muslim brotherhood will continue and increase their publicity about themselves as well as advertise themselves to try and start to gain the support and trust of more people. I belive that without a doubt they will definitly run a candidate in the upcoming presidential election, they just like all other groups are ambitious and want to gain as much power and influence in the country as possible. I think that changing their mind about how much they are involved in egyptian oplitics it makes them look very bad and no trustworthy at all, it also might cause them to lose much needed support. I do think that this article is biased as it was put together or written by american writers whom depict the brotherhood as evil and not honorable or trust worthy at all
http://Ikhwanweb.com/

Mounzer

3/26/2012 04:31:21 pm

I think that in the coming moths, the Muslim Brotherhood will gain much more power in the government than it already has. Majority of the Egyptians support them, I can tell since the Muslim Brotherhood have take up more than half the seats in the Peoples National Assembly. During the old regime they were not able to get into the Government, now that they’re not under a certain regime, they are taking up more than half of the seats. They’re planning on taking over all the positions in the new government. A couple of days ago on he Courneesh, there were about 100 cars with people holding posters on it, and were giving out flyers. I personally think they will keep trying to gain more and more power, and to try to get the citizens to believe them and like them for one reason, for the presidency elections. They will probably have a candidate that will run for presidency. I don’t think having a Muslim Brotherhood run Egypt would be helpful, because you cannot mix religion with politics. The only good thing about the Muslim Brotherhood running for president is their organization; they are known to be the most organized. The article tends to be in somewhat way a bit biased. The newspaper describes the Muslim Brotherhood as a group of people who care about power and control over the country using the Islamic rule. The other article I read has still not decided if they are going to pick a candidate to fun for their group. They are supporting one of their Brothers Abil-Fotouh, who is also going to be funning for Presidency in the next elections. Hopefully the best will happen for Egypt.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/7/37419/Egypt/Presidential-elections-/In-a-corner,-Muslim-Brotherhood-mulls-presidential.aspx

Priyanka

3/26/2012 04:42:41 pm

I think that in the next few months the Muslim Brotherhood will become stronger. At first they said that they wont take much seats in the Parliament but then they ended up taking 60% of the Parliament. I think that they will run a candidate for the upcoming presidential elections. They have many supporters and also have a high chance of winning. They are a group that has been out there for a really long time and from the starting of the revolution they have been noticed and got attention of many people. People view them as an organized group who are now dominating most of Egypt. It might be a good thing if they run for the presidential elections. It might be a good and better change for Egypt. They have also have 60% of the Parliament seats so they have a good chance of winning.
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/03/26/203348.html

Nehal Husseini :) :) <3 :3

3/26/2012 04:52:13 pm

Clearly, the Muslim Brotherhood will increase their political strength within the next few months. It is no surprise that they are already going back on their past statements-"We do not intend to put a running official from our party into the presidential race". That has ceased to be the case, and they are now set on entering the race. Not only that, but as the year progresses, they gain more and more dedicated followers who are extremely passionate in following their movement. The Islamic Brotherhood seems to be fluctuating in how much power they want, with every new follower. It seems that the more control they have over the people, the political power they strive for. The article is completely biased because of the way that they regard the MB. Referring to it as a group that has gained too much political power, the writer obviously has biased opinions, and expressing them on a popular news branch will create a stir amongst people, and also create false information about the MB. If you want to read about reliable information about the MB, then this site is the right site to go:
http://globalmbreport.org/
This site reports directly fromt the Muslim Brotherhood. It is in times like these that we must trust no news station outside of the arab countries, because foreign countries, such as the United States, because they will make biased opinions. All in all, the Muslim Brotherhood will increase their power over the citizens, and whether or not they will use it for bettering the country, is not yet sure.

hasnae

3/26/2012 05:32:08 pm

I think the Muslim Brotherhoods will eventually win the elections. They have gained and are gaining more power. Since Egypt never experienced being ruled by
Muslim Brotherhoods, it is why they might want to see what it is like. I do not think that changing their minds is acceptable, you should be sure about what they want to do so people would not get confused. Changing their minds will probably give people a bad impression, the citizens might think they are disorganized or have a hard time making wise decisions. Yes I do think the article was a bit biased. The article in some way, makes the Muslim Brotherhood look bad because they are too sneaky, so that people will choose them.
Here in Syria, a police man argued about, how against he is of a sheikh going to Egypt and Tunisia because of the Muslim Brotherhood. Since of all of the disruption that occurred, It might not be a good idea for him to go. Syria is afraid of the Muslim Brotherhood group, because they crated a campaign against UAE. This might lead to many more issues in the future.
http://www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=2&id=28990

ASHLEY

3/26/2012 06:04:17 pm

I think that in the next few months the Muslim Brotherhood will have more power and will hold more positions in the government. I certainly believe that they will run a candidate for presidential elections. They are striving for power and they won’t stop till they obtain it, which means having complete influence over Egypt. The fact that they keep changing their minds on how much political interference they wish to obtain, shocks me. The fact that they are competing for the military’s economic holdings shows that they are clashing with the military for power. Since, they are an organized and disciplined organization they have the means to obtain profound interference in Egyptian politics. If they obtain power, it will change the face of Egyptian politics forever. I think the article is biased against the Muslim Brotherhood, because it depicts them as power strugglers that only wish to main face of Egyptian Politics. Another article that I found on Al Jazeera entitled “Egypt military hits out at Muslim Brotherhood,” talked about how Generals were angry over comments about their support of the cabinet. I found this news article from this source to be biased against the Muslim Brotherhood, as well.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/03/2012325145444720742.html

Muslim Brotherhood Asserts Its Strength

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