Thursday, March 9, 2006
This is actually rather amusing. Here's a Muslim Brotherhood member and Egyptian MP going on about how he supports Bin Laden, Zawaheri and Zarqawi, supports violence and terrorism...and the interviewer keeps worrying that this talk will cause people to have a false view of Islam. False view? From Mr. Hamida's (the subject) viewpoint, it's not a distorted or false view, it's perfectly accurate.
Further note that terrorizing and murdering people is OK...so long as it's not an Arab or Muslim nation being targeted (of interest is also that he say Arab and Muslim, not just Muslim)...that's bad enough, but take note at how quickly he can rationalize that away at the end of the interview.
Hamida: "Islam does not need improvement of its image... But there are some ignorant Muslims who do not understand the tenets of their faith... It is [our] duty to repel any enemy of the Islamic and Arab countries, using 'terrorism' rather than using violence. We need an accurate definition of [the term] 'terrorism' in the negative climate in which we live - a climate that makes no distinction between a criminal and one who is prepared to sacrifice his life or a terrorist. In defining [this term], we must not be influenced by American pressures, but consider the issues in the light of shari'a. They should not tell us to fight terrorism and to fight it as they command us to. The Americans are the ones who perpetrate violence in the Arab countries!..."...
...Question: "What will you do if one of your constituents criticizes you for supporting terrorism and terrorists, and accuses you of saying that the Koran incites to terrorism?!"
Hamida: "I will make an effort to correct his [mis]conceptions and explain the ramifications to him. I support all of bin Laden's and Al-Zawahiri's operations against occupation, but if they [ever] issue a fatwa [that condones operations] against civilians in some Arab or Muslim country, I will be the first to condemn them!"
Question: "Didn't Al-Zawahiri recently [appear on] Al-Jazeera [TV channel] and explicitly call to renew the terrorist operations in Egypt?!"
Hamida: "This was because of his opposition to the American policy and to Washington's meddling in Egypt's domestic affairs. All parties, associations and journalists oppose the American control in the region..."Â
Note that, "But there are some ignorant Muslims who do not understand the tenets of their faith" business. This is the nub of the problem with the insideous spread if radical Islam. You take a relatively moderate -- either by the way they practice their religion or the fact that they're mostly non-practicing anyway -- Muslim and along comes a helpful fellow from Saudi Arabia or the Muslim Brotherhood anywhere to helpfully teach them the "truth" about their religion... It can happen anywhere at any time, really, unless members of the Muslim community itself oppose such infiltration strongly.
Instead, we have groups like CAIR and the Muslim American Society (the face of the Muslim Brotherhood in America) riding herd over and speaking on behalf of American Muslims.
Your sources have some really faulty information. Ragab Hilal Hemida is a member of parliament representing a breakaway faction of opposition leader Ayman Nour's Al-Ghad (Tomorrow) party. He is NOT a Muslim Brotherhood member
Get the facts straight
According to the footnote on the MEMRI item:
*shrug*