Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in dispute over "private organization"

Text of report by Saudi-owned leading pan-Arab daily Al-Sharq al-Awsat website on 23 July

[Report by Hamdi Salim in Cairo: "Accusations about a 'private organization' ignites differences among the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt; Shura Council member Al-Mulayji says 'the Brotherhood is not a jungle' and Akif replies 'Al-Mulayji is not one of us'"]

Dr Abd-al-Sattar al-Mulayji, member of the Shura Council of the Muslim Brotherhood Movement in Egypt, has accused several movement leaders of forming a so-called "private organization" under the supervision of Dr Mahmud Izzat, the secretary general of the movement and two leaders of the movement, Mahmud Ghazlan and Sabri Arafah. Responding to Al-Mulayji's accusation, Muslim Brotherhood General Guide Muhammad Mahdi Akif said, "Dr Abd-al-Sattar al-Mulayji is not a member of the Brotherhood". It seems that a sharp dispute has erupted within the Brotherhood in this regard with Al-Mulayji denying that he had left the Brotherhood. In an exclusive statement to Al-Sharq al-Awsat, Al-Mulayji said, "I will not leave the Brotherhood; I am one of them. Anyone that wishes to leave them can do so. If he (meaning Akif) wants to leave the Brotherhood, let him do so. As for me, I will never leave my Brotherhood". Al-Mulayji went on to say, "The Brotherhood is not a jungle where everyone does what he wishes".

In a statement to Al-Sharq al-Awsat, Mahdi Akif said: "The Brotherhood does not dismiss anyone but anyone can dismiss himself. The brothers are here. Anyone that feels that they are taking the wrong course may withdraw in his own way and perhaps thus benefit Islam. Dr Abd-al-Sattar worked with me for 10 years; sedition does not trust anyone. The door for repentance is not far. Our movement is an open one. Anyone that trusts it and trusts its course and its men works with it. The door is open". Commenting on Akif's remarks, Al-Mulayji said: "Let him say what he wishes. I have been an elected member of the Shura Council of the Muslim Brotherhood since 1994. Unfortunately, they are acting as if the Brotherhood is a fiefdom owned by this or that. This is unacceptable and unreasonable that if one of us disagrees another says this one is a member and that one is not a member of the Brotherhood". Regarding his tasks in the Brotherhood as a member of the Shura Council, Al-Mulayji said that in the past years he had been in charge of many offices, including the students' office. His most recent responsibility was the professionals' office. Regarding how many times the Brotherhood's Shura Council met since its formation in 1994, he said, "We met once when the Guidance Office was selected and we have not met since. Moreover, the term of the council ends every six years but another council has not been elected". Al-Mulayji added, "I was the one that welcomed Shaykh Mahdi Akif when he returned to Egypt in 1987 after he left in 1975 and stayed in Saudi Arabia and several other countries".

Al-Mulayji added: "This [private] organization consists of several leaders that work for themselves distant from the Brotherhood as a group. They are in control of the Brotherhood and they steer it any way they wish". Al-Mulayji held this "private organization" responsible for all the problems that have afflicted the Brotherhood in the past few years. These problems led to friction between the Brotherhood and the state and the most recent was the imprisonment of Brotherhood leaders in the case of the Al-Azhar militias. He pointed out that these leaders were responsible for the student parade in the Al-Azhar University (the parade during which the students staged an exhibition of violent sports) [martial arts] similar to the combat formations of the forces of the Hamas movement in Palestine and those of Hezbollah in Lebanon. This led to legal proceedings against the Brotherhood that resulted in referring about 40 of its leaders to a military court. Al-Mulayji emphasized that the Muslim Brotherhood movement as a group does not accept to have a private organization in it and was not aware of the existence of this organization. He said: "The problem now is that they (Muslim Brotherhood Secretary General Mahmud Izzat and leaders Mahmud Ghazlan and Sabri Arafah) succeeded in reaching the Guidance Office. They are acting as if they are the Guidance Office because the secretary of this office is one of them. He is sending his letters to the provinces using the Guidance Office and they are received by the Brotherhood cadres as instructions from the Guidance Office".

Dr Al-Mulayji added: "The huge numbers of candidates that ran in the People's Assembly (The Parliament) elections in 2005 was an arrangement made by this group as well thus putting the entire Brotherhood in danger". He went on to say: "I sent many letters to Muhammad Mahdi Akif, the General Guide of the Brotherhood Movement, regarding the activities of the members of this private organization. However, he did not move a finger". Al-Mulayji went on to say, "Either he -that is, Akif -is one of them or he is a good man that goes along with them". Al-Mulayji said: "I sent the most recent letter from me to Akif about two months asking for the establishment of an open and transparent charitable society before the official monitoring organs in order to end the current siege of the Brotherhood. This is particularly relevant since I had sought the opinion of the political quarters and these quarters said that they can approve such a thing (a public charitable society subject to the monitoring of the official state organs) and the political aspect may be approved upon with the state later. However, the group that has formed this private organization asked the provinces not to cooperate with me".

Source: Al-Sharq al-Awsat website, London, in Arabic 23 Jul 08