Photo by Theirry Ehrman (Abode of Chaos) | Flickr
In Egypt right now, people are dying. It doesn’t matter what side they fight for. All that matters is that lives and stories are ending. I am not a big enough fool to say that it is all religion’s fault, but neither am I a big enough fool to say religion hasn’t got a claw in this conflict.
Death toll rising in Egypt
If you’ve been watching the news recently, you’ve seen what is going on in Egypt, and you’ve seen the death toll rise. You’ve seen the horrific videos of people lying in the street, bloodied and left to rot alone. There are lots of reasons for this violence; Morsi did not make good on his promises, but to be fair, does any politician actually do the shit he says he is going to do? No, but we don’t go ousting Obama or that knob Cameron, do we? There had to be more to it, and I think the deciding factor was that enough people did not want to live under the Muslim Brotherhood and the dreaded Sharia Law.
History of the Muslim Brotherhood
The Muslim Brotherhood was formed in 1928 by Hassan Al-Banna in Egypt, but quickly spread to other Muslim-populated countries. It became the largest party in the region despite multiple crackdowns after plots of assassination and overthrow were uncovered. The organisation of the brotherhood is quite similar to what we see in Jamaat-e-Islami in that it is quite hierarchal with many supporters not being allowed to join due to the highly selective membership process. There are five supporter levels:
- Muihib – This means “Follower.” The Muihib is a position usually kept for six months or so, During this time, a monitor (called an Usra) closely observes the Muihib’s piety and ideological commitment.
- Muayyad – This means “Supporter.” Once the Muihib has proven that he prays regularly and possesses basic knowledge of the major Islamic texts, he is promoted to Muayyad. This period typically lasts for around three years, and their role is mainly preaching and recruiting. They are also expected to memorise sections of the Quran and the teachings of Al-Banna.
- Muntasib – This roughly means “Affiliated.” This is a big step to becoming a full brother; a Muntasib is expected to have deep knowledge of Islam, including the Hadith and Tafsir, and is to donate 5-8% of his earnings to the Muslim Brotherhood.
- Muntazim – This means “Organiser.” This level of supporter is expected to know the Quran inside out and backwards. This stage is usually two years long.
- Ach’amal – This means “Working Brother.” Congratulations! After an extensive probing of your loyalty, you’re in. The Ach’amal can vote in all internal elections, participate in all of the Brotherhood's working bodies, and compete for higher office within the group's hierarchy.
So there you have it. Eight years or so, and you can be a brother too. If you are a woman, don’t worry, there is also a Muslim Sisterhood you can join because obviously we can’t have both sexes working together. That would be madness.
Goal of the Muslim Brotherhood
The first and foremost goal of the Muslim Brotherhood is to bring in Sharia, the religious law and moral code of Islam. Goal number two is to unite the Arab nations under one banner. No two words quite give me the willies like Sharia Law. The Morsi supporters have been screaming that their democratically-elected president has been removed from office but I just don’t think anyone in favour of Sharia Law can pretend they support democracy. Sharia Law is the enemy of modern day human rights and freedom of speech, thought and religion.
Have you wondered why so few leave Islam? That’s because in Islamic run Sharia states, leaving Islam is called apostasy, and is punishable by death. Sharia law imposes the death penalty for apostates, though to be fair Sharia dictates that he/she is to be given one last chance to stay with Islam before they are killed. I’d imagine most people take that option instead. I shudder to think what they would do to a Kafir (non-believer) like me. Homosexuals are executed in Muslim-majority countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia and Somalia, but luckily in some other Muslim-majority countries such as Iraq they do not impose the death penalty. Still, even there it is illegal and can land you in very hot water.
Women and Sharia
I have no idea why any woman would willingly commit to Sharia, since they have little to no rights under Sharia Law. In fact, domestic violence is encouraged when a husband suspects his wife of nushuz (meaning disloyalty, disobedience or general ill-conduct). Many nations who adopt Sharia have refused to prosecute cases of clear domestic violence. Even if the woman could get the husband in court, her testimony would only be worth half of his.
With the exception of only three countries (Iran, Lebanon and Bahrain), the civil code in Islamic-majority countries do not allow child marriage. However, with Sharia personal status laws, Sharia courts in all these nations have the power to override the civil code. These child marriages are fairly commonplace, especially in Yemen, where a huge percentage of marriages are between a man and an underage girl, usually under fifteen.
Sharia Courts and Rape
Rape is illegal in both Islam and Sharia, HOWEVER—in many Sharia courts, a rapist may escape punishment if he marries his victim. Personally, I can’t imagine a worse fate for the victim in question...Oh wait, yes I can. If the victim complains and doesn’t have at least four male witnesses to the crime, she could be charged with Zina (unlawful sex) which is what we saw with that Norwegian woman recently who was raped in Dubai and got sent to prison for it.
"Treat your women well and be kind to them for they are your partners and committed helpers."
They often quote this one at us, don’t they? This is supposed to support them, but it doesn’t. It just strengthens our argument, because it is incredibly derogatory to women to call them our “committed helpers”. If I called my wife my committed helper, she’d force me to cook my own dinner (which, with my cooking skills or lack thereof, would be dangerous for all humanity. My chicken and chips could kill us all). Women don’t want to be “committed helpers,” they want to be their own people; I don’t think it would be fair to call Marie Curie, one of the greatest minds in scientific history, a committed helper.
Hassan Al-Banna
Now for a little seemingly forgotten information about the Muslim Brotherhood’s fabled founder whose teachings are fundamental to the party. Hassan Al-Banna was best buddies with a little character from history—you may have heard of him—Adolf Hitler. Hassan Al-Banna was a big supporter of the man with the silly moustache and genocidal tendencies, as apparently their hatred of Jews brought them together like some new age love story. Hassan even went as far as to set up a Nazi spy network throughout the Arabian Peninsula and promised that the second the Nazis turned up in Cairo that the Muslim Brotherhood would ensure all those pesky democracy-loving Brits were killed. The Muslim Brotherhood rep of Palestine, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, worked closely with The Third Reich during the war and played a major role in the recruitment of the SS Arab division.
I don’t want to be one of those people who scream that everything associated with Nazism is bad, but if you assisted the Nazi regime during the war and agreed with their way of doing things...I’m sorry but that does make you a bad person, Mr Al-Banna.
Moderate Muslims
Moderate Muslims are against Sharia law because they see it for what it is, a beastly and barbaric law that blatantly violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But not enough moderate Muslims are speaking out against this vile practice. Because of their inaction, westerners are becoming impatient and fearful around all Muslims and I for one can’t blame them. Make no mistake about it, if you are a normal rational human being who believes everyone is entitled to human rights, Sharia law is not your friend. It is in fact, as I said, the enemy of freedom and I haven’t even finished with it yet, there is more really sick shit I haven’t even covered here.
Having said that, I do not condone the recent attack this month, as far as I can see it was unprovoked this time. My hope is that voices of reason step in and stop this senseless bloodshed, but I fear Egypt has not yet seen the end of this violence. Just remember that although members of the Muslim Brotherhood certainly do not deserve to die in the street, do support Sharia. And as proven by the thirty three million people who took to the streets, I’d say a vast amount of people do not want Morsi back in power. A tricky subject this is, and we don’t know all sides of it yet. Who is right and wrong? Who is killing who? Regardless, one thing we atheists and rational thinkers can all agree on is Sharia law is not a good thing, and a political party whose main goal is to enforce Sharia is not one we want in power anywhere.
This blog entry is going to cause some serious arguments...
