Egypt's Mufti: MB Exploited Religion to Achieve Personal Interests

Egypt's Grand Mufti Sheikh Shawqi Allam said that the political Islam phenomenon has turned from a preaching call for instilling Islam values and principles into a nightmare disturbing the Islamic nation, and the entire world

These remarks came during the Grand Mufti's interview with TV anchor Hamdi Rezq's weekly "Nazra" show, aired on Sada El-Balad TV satellite channel on Friday

The Egyptian Mufti said that political Islam movements, since the era of Khawarij until the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), only sought to achieve their personal interests under the cloak of religion, confirming that they have proved complete fiasco as they misunderstood religion and established baseless doctrines and methodologies.

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The Sheikh added that the intellectual confrontation represented by rational science is complementary with the security confrontation against the enemies of the homeland.

Allam also talked about opinions of a number of Azhar scholars regarding the Muslim Brotherhood's policies, saying that Sheikh Muhammad Abd al-Latif El-Sobky, a member of Al-Azhar Senior Scholars Authority, criticized the provocative approach adopted by MB-affiliated Sayed Qutb in his books. He said that Qutb was not a scholar or a jurist, but only called him an author

The Mufti stated that the Muslim Brotherhood revived extremist concepts and ideas of the early Khawarij groups, but in a more complex and dangerous form, adding that they have adopted violent and destructive polices as a solution to clashes with the society and the state.

"In addition, the Brotherhood was implicated in providing material and financial support to militant organisations, a fact confirmed by European and US investigative authorities and courts, as well as the UN Security Council (paras 337-352). As a result, it was banned in Syria, Iraq, Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates," Allam said.

He noted, "Although the Brotherhood purports to present a “moderate” view of Islam, this could not be farther from the truth. The Brotherhood has never embraced democratic principles other than as a vehicle to reach power through their manipulative religious rhetoric. They have openly rejected the civil nature of the state, seeking to impose its rigid and radical views. These were the views decidedly rejected by the majority of Egyptian people in June 2013."

The Grand Mufti affirmed that renewing the rational religious discourse is in the interest of protecting nations from the danger of Brotherhood and includes rational fatwas, knowledge and correcting the misconceptions of those MB affiliates.

Finally, he pointed out, “We see strong evidence that the end of the Brotherhood is imminent, as their followers are close to disappear, which indicates that societies are aware of their danger.