Egypt Gets Its Khomeini
By Barry Rubin
AmericanThinker.com
Friday, February 18 may be a turning point
in Egyptian history. On that day Yusuf al-Qaradawi,
the best-known Muslim Brotherhood cleric in
the world and one of the most famous
Islamist thinkers, will address a mass rally
in Cairo.
Up until now, the Egyptian revolution
generally, and the Brotherhood in
particular, has lacked a charismatic
thinker, someone who could really mobilize
the masses. Qaradawi is that man. Long
resident in the Gulf, he is returning to his
homeland in triumph. Through inetrnet,
radio, his 100 books, and his weekly
satellite television program, Qaradawi has
been an articulate voice for revolutionary
Islamism. He is literally a living legend.
Under the old regime, Qaradawi was banned
from the country. He is now 84 years old --
two years older than the fallen President
Husni Mubarak--but he is tremendously
energetic and clear-minded.
It was Qaradawi who, in critiquing Usama bin
Ladin and al-Qaida, argued that Islamists
should always participate in elections
because they would, he claims, invariably
win them. Hamas and Hezb'allah have shown
that he was right on that point.
Symbolically, he will give the Friday prayer
sermon to be held in Tahrir Square, the
center of the revolutionary movement. The
massing of hundreds of thousands of people
in the square to hear Islamicservices and a
sermon by a radical Islamist is not the kind
of thing that's been going on under the
60-year-old military regime that was
recently overthrown.
The context is also the thanking of Qaradawi
for his support of the revolution, an
implication that he is somehow its spiritual
father.
Qaradawi, though some in the West view him
as a moderate, supports the straight
Islamist line: anti-American, anti-Western,
wipe Israel off the map, foment Jihad, stone
homosexuals, in short the works.
One of Qaradawi's initiatives has been
urging Muslims to settle in the West, of
which he said, "that powerful West, which
has come to rule the world, should not be
left to the influence of the Jews alone." He
contends that the three major threats
Muslims face are Zionism, internal
integration, and globalization. To survive,
he argues, Muslims must fight the Zionists,
Crusaders, idolaters, and Communists.
What is his view of both the Mubarak regime
and the young, Facebook-flourishing liberals
who made the revolution? As he said in 2004:
"Some Arab and Muslim secularists are
following the U.S. government by advocating
the kind of reform that will disarm the
nation from the elements of strength that
are holding our people together."
Have no doubt. It is Qaradawi, not bin Ladin,
who is the most dangerous revolutionary
Islamist in the world, and he is about to
unleash the full force of his power and
persuasion on Egypt.
Who are you going to bet on being more
influential, a Google executive and an
unorganized band of well-intentioned liberal
Egyptians or the world champion radical
Islamist cleric?
Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research
in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and
editor of the Middle East Review of
International Affairs (MERIA) Journal. His
latest books are The Israel-Arab Reader (seventh
edition), The Long War for Freedom: The Arab
Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East
(Wiley), and The Truth About Syria
(Palgrave-Macmillan). The GLORIA Center's site
is
www.gloria-center.org
and of his blog, Rubin Reports,
www.rubinreports.blogspot.com.