The Muslim Brotherhood and the Iranian Model

The Iranian model of 1979 is emerging in Egypt.

Recently several high-ranking Iranian officials have visited Cairo under the pretext of improving relations between Iran and Egypt.

President Morsi’s political-religious acts and that of his party, al Hureyya wel Adala, as well as the Muslism Brotherhood’s organization, reflect similar trends to that of the 1979’s Iranian revolution. This similarity is reflected in the followings:

1.   Liberal-secular and Islamic political groups protesting the corruption of the Shah regime, Mohamed Reda Pahlavi, initiated the Iranian revolution. They succeeded in removing the Shah from power. He was overthrown, and the first head of the new revolutionary regime was a liberal and secular.

2.   The religious leader in exile in France, Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran. He was received as a Mahdi. A year later, 1980-81, the Islamists stole the revolution and eliminated the secular political leaders who originally began the revolution.

3.   The Islamist political leaders under the leadership of Khamenei began the Islamization of all governmental institutions. The opposition was accused of being atheists, enemies of Islam who deserved to be killed!

4.   The Islamist government began to develop a military group known as the Iranian National Revolutionary guards. This step was taken to prevent any attempts from the regular army to interfere in the policy of the emerging Islamic regime.

5.   The opposition consisting of liberal groups began to vociferously oppose the Islamic regime. This opposition has been going on for more than three decades.

6.   The highest spiritual religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameni, is the real power in Iran. His authority is higher than that of president Ahmad Najad. This political authority is shaped in a pyramidal form with the religious authority established at the top of the pyramid.

It is clear the emerging Egyptian political structure has many similarities with that of Iran. Is this intentional? Or, is this a typical model of any religious group interested in gaining political power?

1.   Young liberals sparked the Egyptian revolution of January 25, 2011. They were supported by millions of Egyptians. The Muslim Brothers were later joiners of the Revolution.

2.    The Mubarak regime fell on February 11, 2011. The Egyptian Higher Military Council and the Muslim Brothers united in order to prevent the realization of any further demands from young, liberal revolutionaries. However, the young revolutionaries continued to call for “Freedom, Social and Economic Justice.” They further insisted on the punishment of those behind the killings of many young protesters. Actually, they have not been brought to justice until now.

3.   The Muslim Brothers, as Egyptians maintain, stole the Revolution. Morsi was elected president in June 2012. He was able to abolish the original Higher Military Council and to nominate a new and young Defense Minister, El Sessi. There was more than one Prime Minister who consequently resigned. President Morsi finally nominated Hisham Kandeel as prime minister. The later is a young man who lacks experience and above all lacks presence and political savoir-faire.

4.   The different political groups were excluded from sharing in the new government. The Egyptian press is continually referring to the power behind the throne, which is that of the Murshid, leader of the Muslim Brothers, and his deputy Khayrat el Shater. Neither of the two men was elected!

5.   The Egyptian president, Morsi, issued in November 2012, a constitutional decree giving himself unlimited power. Such decree allowed him to neutralize the power of the Higher Egyptian Constitutional Court. He then dismissed 7 outspoken judges who have asked for dissolving the Egyptian Parliament on the basis that the election of its members was in violation of the Constitution.  Furthermore, those judges began to investigate the election of the new magliss el shoura as well as the Committee appointed by the dissolved Parliament to draft the new constitution. Morsi then removed the General Prosecutor, el guindi, replacing him by a sympathizer to his policy.

6.   The Morsi regime, similar to the Iranian religious regime, created its own militia. According to the Egyptian newspaper, al wafd (1/31,2013) the Minister of Interior, Mohamed Ibrahim, allowed this Militia to join the police in order to suppress any revolt by the demonstrators. They were violent in their tactics, many were killed. This   violates the new Constitution, article 109!!

7.   The unfortunate further strategy of president Morsi was his trial to destroy the freedom of press. He appointed a Minister of Information, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. It should be stressed however the fact that until now the Egyptian media is still quite defiant toward any government pressures.

Anyone familiar with the history of the Iranian revolution (1979) cannot but see the similar steps the new Egyptian regime is undertaken. Is this intentional? It remains to be seen.

The Muslim Brotherhood, for the past 80 years, has been dreaming of assuming power. It will be very hard to remove such regime!

However, I would like to stress here, during the past two years and since the election of president Morsi and his negative policies, the Muslim Brothers have lost credibility among a large number of Egyptians. 

It is an interesting time to be in Egypt and to follow the trend and development of events.