A huge debate among
Washington think tankers re-emerged, recently, over the cautious steps taken by
the Trump Administration to designate the Muslim Brotherhood an international
terrorist organization.
Among those who argue against the designation are American
researchers, who claim that designating the Muslim Brotherhood would result in
rising “anti-US sentiment among Muslims worldwide” and that “Most Muslims
around the world would see the designation as the latest of a series of
anti-Muslim steps by the Trump administration" claiming that "the US president already
stands accused of stoking Islamophobia internationally.”[1]
Using the “Islamophobia”
argument to defend the Muslim Brotherhood against its most deserved designation
as an international terrorist organization implies that the Muslim Brotherhood
has already succeeded in hacking the finest minds in the United States. The ill
argument connotes that the Muslim Brotherhood represents Islam and Muslims
worldwide; ignoring the simple fact that most of those who reject the Muslim
Brotherhood are moderate Muslim citizens of Muslim-majority countries.
Ironically, the same researchers
would get irritated when hearing someone describing the one-thousand years old
institution of Al-Azhar as a representative of Muslims worldwide. Yet, they do
not mind describing a political Islamist organization like the Muslim
Brotherhood as a representative of world Muslims, despite the group’s shameful
record of practicing violence. Needless to mention the appalling fact that the
Muslim Brotherhood has got three factions of Islamic militia (e.g. Hamas, Hassm,
and Liwa Al-Thawra) that have already been designated as terrorist
organizations in the US and Europe.
Violent jihad to
spread Sharia Law overseas and replace western secular governments with Islamic
Caliphate system is a core ideology that the Muslim Brotherhood dearly
embraces. “Jihad is our way; dying in the way of Allah is our highest
hope" is the motto of the Muslim Brotherhood. Their logo is a combination
of two crossed swords and the word “prepare” which is taken from a Qur’anic
verse instructing jihad against disbelievers of Islam.
Political Islamism is
a plague that the world needs to remedy, without fretting over the misleading concept
of “Islamophobia.” Eliminating political Islamism does not threaten Islam as a
religion or the majority moderate Muslims, worldwide, in any way. Political
Islamism is a cover to Islamic extremism, which embraces violent jihad against
all signs of modern life, including secular systems of governance and national
states.
The lenient policy the
United States and some European countries is currently adopting towards the
Muslim Brotherhood, out of fear of being stigmatized as “Islamophobic,” would
eventually backfire in a way that hurts the well-being of states and communities
in these countries. When you see a snake in your home, you do not cuddle it,
but hit it on the head till it falls dead. If violent extremism is the snake, the
Muslim Brotherhood is the head of the snake that the world should target.
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[1] Michele
Dunne and Andrew Miller, "Nine Reasons Why Declaring the Muslim Brotherhood a Terrorist Organization Would Be a Mistake" (Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace, May 3rd, 2019)