At five in the afternoon, Cairo time (31).. America and the Muslim Brotherhood (4)

Mahdi Akef’s Visit to the United States

On 15 May 1971, Sadat succeeded in winning his decisive battle against the Nasserists, in what became known as the famous “Centers of Power” case or the “Corrective Revolution.” However, the Arab street in Egypt and across the nation as a whole harbored an urgent desire to declare war on Israel. Universities and streets erupted in demonstrations demanding an end to the state of neither-war-nor-peace. At that point, Mohamed Othman Ismail proposed to President Sadat a plan that called for enlisting young men from Upper Egypt—students affiliated with Islamic groups, most of whom were residing in university dormitories in Cairo—to strike at the Nasserist and Marxist currents that were driving the demonstrations against him inside the universities. This proposal was joined by Engineer Othman Ahmed Othman and Youssef Makadi, who affirmed the ability of these youths to confront the Nasserists and communists decisively in defense of the regime, from a faith-based (Islamic) standpoint.

Sadat returned to his memories with the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, with whom he had begun a dialogue in the late Nasser era. He immediately opened talks with Omar al-Tilmisani, then moved to release him and a large number of the organization’s leaders, who were enthusiastic about the idea of dialogue and of enlisting the youth of Islamic groups to discipline Nasserist and communist students in the universities.

At the same time, the international organization of the Muslim Brotherhood moved into action. It was then led by Said Ramadan, the husband of Hassan al-Banna’s daughter. Ramadan maintained close ties with American circles and centers of decision-making, conducted extensive activities in Europe, and enjoyed a strong base in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, where large numbers of Brotherhood leaders—fugitives and those released from Nasser’s prisons—had settled.

Said Ramadan arranged what came to be called the “reconciliation of the era,” meticulously paving the way for Sadat’s meeting with King Faisal bin Abdulaziz at the Grand Mosque in Mecca in 1971, amid a precise American welcome and planning aimed at supporting the Kingdom and reaching a long-delayed stage of taming Egyptian policy and bringing it within the American orbit.

October 1973

The Egyptian army achieved a major victory in October 1973, and Washington played key roles in the subsequent settlement processes, beginning with the first disengagement, then the exclusion of the Soviets from the theater of operations. The American conception completed its sequence by building the “Savanna” alliance, which brought together Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and Pakistan with the United States to confront communist organizational movements in the Third World and to prepare the armed forces necessary to prevent and thwart any military coups—alongside American and European commitments to support the ruling regimes in the four countries.

The project’s engineer, Said Ramadan, succeeded in securing European approvals for the “Savanna” formula. A number of Islamic centers established in many European cities and capitals—under the supervision and organization of Brotherhood leaders—received large budgets and funds to spend on major (undisclosed) objectives, while being enabled to collect generous donations from Muslim communities around the world to implement their declared objectives (camouflage) of building mosques.

At this time, an era of prosperity began for the branches of the Muslim Brotherhood organization in the United States and Europe.

Report

According to a report submitted by Mahdi Akef to the Guidance Bureau in Egypt after his return from America in 1991—included among the papers of Case No. 5 of 1996—Akef notes that the Muslim Students Association (the public façade of the Brotherhood’s branch in America) represents a unique model in bringing together Muslims from across the Islamic world and unifying their ranks. This doubled the number of the association’s branches within American universities in 1975/1976 alone, reaching 230 branches.

Since its establishment in 1963, the association has carried objectives and a philosophy that emerged from the reality in which it arose, foremost among them:

Consolidating the foundations of Islamic presence in the United States of America.

Strengthening bonds among Muslims across the various states.

Building bridges of communication between Muslim students in the United States and their homelands in the Islamic East.

Disseminating sound Islamic knowledge based on the Qur’an, the Sunnah, and the way of the righteous predecessors.

Working to spread the Islamic message among non-Muslims in the United States, in addition to many other aims and goals that were a dream for every Muslim living in exile in the United States, whether student or immigrant.

Preparing sound Islamic leadership, training imams and preachers, and raising the level of leaders active in the Islamic field to the degree of creativity and excellence.

Raising the new Muslim generation upon Islam as creed and way of life, and preparing it to lead the future.

Mahdi Akef adds in his report:

“In 1976, a new wave in the development of Islamic work in America began to appear, through the formation of entities concerned with Muslims arriving from Islamic countries. The first association established for the purpose of gathering Muslims from Islamic countries was the Malaysian Association, under the name Malaysian Islamic Study Group (MiSG). This was followed in 1977 by the formation of the Arab Muslim Youth Association to serve and gather Arab Muslim youth. Thereafter came Pakistani and Iranian associations and others. One of the most important reasons for the emergence of such entities was the massive presence of Muslim students arriving from various parts of the Islamic East, which prompted the brothers responsible for da‘wa affairs (the Muslim Brotherhood organization) in the United States of America to establish such entities. Their primary aim was to strengthen ties between Muslim students in the West and their fellow Muslims in the East, in addition to gathering this large number and helping them avoid dissolving into American society.”

Important note: This issue—non-integration within Western societies—was a cornerstone of the Brotherhood’s recruitment and indoctrination of its members. It is the central point that caused great harm to Muslims in the West, as they came to live as if inside “ghettos” disconnected from European societies. By contrast, non-Brotherhood Pakistanis, Indians, and North Africans succeeded in integrating into those societies and, in many cases, reached important positions such as mayors of major European cities in Britain and elsewhere, and even ministers and members of parliament. Meanwhile, the Brotherhood and those it recruited remained in closed circles resembling “ghettos,” and were subjected to the highest levels of exclusion because of this phenomenon.

A Spring That Did Not Last

Mahdi Akef’s report clearly shows the extent of the development witnessed by the Brotherhood’s branch in America during the mid-1970s, coinciding with the rapprochement between the organization’s leadership in Egypt, President Sadat, and the United States.

But this spring did not last long. In March 1979, the Islamic Revolution in Iran succeeded, toppling the Shah’s rule, and Imam Khomeini took control in Tehran. This was followed by the Soviet invasion and occupation of Afghanistan. From Cairo, Sadat declared jihad against the occupation in adherence to the Savanna alliance. The United States played its role and secretly entrusted implementation to the Brotherhood. Yet the unexpected occurred: Sadat’s visit to Israel and the signing of the Camp David Accords led to a deterioration in Egyptian-Arab relations, at the heart of which were relations with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This, of course, was reflected in his alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood organization, which began in earnest to plan Sadat’s assassination.

This is what we will continue to discuss in the coming episodes.

Paris: 5:00 p.m., Cairo time