Muslim Brotherhood ‘masquerades’ in the mainstream

Egypt’s former Muslim Brotherhood leader Mahdi Akef looks on during his trial in Cairo. (File photo/AFP)

LONDON: The doctrine of the Muslim Brotherhood is far closer to the extremist ideology espoused by Daesh than the religious mainstream, said a report released today.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s “use of scripture, scholarship, and content is demonstrably distant from mainstream Islam,” said the “Struggle Over Scripture” research study released by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.
Using natural language processing tools, expert analysis and machine learning techniques, the study scanned over 3,000 documents from extremist and mainstream Muslim sources, including brochures, books and articles by scholars.
It found that only eight percent of the 50 most quoted Quranic verses in what was described as “Salafi-jihadi” material used by extreme groups, were prevalent in mainstream texts.
Milo Comerford, who co-authored the report with Rachel Bryson, said that extremists were “much more likely" to quote parts of the Qur’an that centered on the “creation of a caliphate and rally for military jihad” than mainstream Muslims.
Comerford told Arab News: “The Muslim Brotherhood and ‘ISIS’ both view Islam through a political lens. They share an ideology that promotes Islam as an exclusive guider. The idea of a caliphate appears in both ‘ISIS’ and Muslim Brotherhood texts.”
Dr. Emman El-Badawy, head of research, Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, said: “The ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups directly undermines efforts of the mainstream majority to assert a positive and peaceful Islam, at ease with the modern world.”
She added: “The politicized Islamism of such groups projects a sense of division, anger, sectarianism and conflict. The vast majority of Muslims who worship freely in the West or happily mix with those of other religions in Muslim majority countries, totally reject this extreme interpretation of their faith.”
El-Badawy continued: “The evidence now shows that there is considerable ideological overlap in how Islamic scripture is used by Islamists, like the Muslim Brotherhood, and violent jihadists, such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda.
“The fact remains that extremist voices have had an impact on Islam that is wildly disproportionate to their numbers, and their distortions as traced in this report, must be uprooted.”
The report found that religious “counter-narratives” are currently failing to tackle the key arguments peddled by extremists, only taking on 16 percent of the scriptural references prominently used by “Salafi-jihadis.”
Extreme interpretations of scripture are completely at odds with mainstream Islamic readings — and central mainstream tenets, such as fasting, prayers, and preaching, are relegated in extremist texts in favor of violence, it said.
The report recommended that policy makers should robustly affirm universal values such as pluralism, the rule of law, religious freedom, and gender equality that are under attack from extremists. This will ensure that the battle against extremist ideas is not against mainstream religious belief, it said.
The report also advised, “Counter extremism policy makers should empower credible Muslim voices to speak up and rebut distortions of their faith. Building strategic communications expertise on understanding audiences, effectively engaging the media, and presenting powerful religious arguments will amplify the many community voices that convey an interpretation of Islam that is rooted in mainstream religious principles.”
Comerford said the research really highlighted the huge difference in interpretation of texts:
“For example, Syed Qutb (the late Muslim Brotherhood scholar) had more militant commentary on the Qur’an than comparable texts. He emphasized the fact the Jews, Christians and Muslims couldn’t co-exist.”
Comerford said an “evidence based approach” was necessary to stop extremist Muslim parties “masquerading” as mainstream Muslim parties.
“They are masquerading as mainstream Muslim Islam .. it’s important that we look at this in more detail. Some extremist parties are very powerful and can play a very clever game. This report has shown the quantity of the difference between the two.”
The Tony Blair Institute for Change is an organization that was launched by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in December 2016 to “promote a global viewpoint.” It has a board of members, and received an initial £8 million of funding.
According to Comerford, the “Struggle Over Scripture” report stems from Blair’s aims to promote co-existence between religions.