Understanding Egypt: Islamic socialism and the left
by M. Zuhdi Jasser
The crisis in Egypt and concern over who could replace the despot Hosni Mubarak has at long last awoken Americans to the global project of the Muslim Brotherhood. Founded in 1928, the Brotherhood is an Islamic political party whose mission is and has always been to put into place Islamic theocratic governments (the Islamic state) with legal systems based in Islamic law (shariah). The Brotherhood is the most prominent face of the global ideology of political Islam. A major part of their project includes the ideology of Islamic socialism.
Many have a hard time understanding where the political left in Europe and the United States have common ground with this theo-political Islamist movement. Socialist ideology promotes an oppression of the individual for the collective needs of society and government. Islamist ideology similarly promotes the oppression of the individual for the ‘common good’ of the Islamic state. Both snuff out individual responsibility for tribal collective control.
Islamists will work with whomever necessary to achieve their political ends of shariah sometimes violently as with Al Qaeda or HAMAS (Brotherhood offshoots) and other times non-violently as we see with recent Brotherhood verbiage in Egypt. American Islamist groups like CAIR and ISNA thought to be MB front groups have never foresworn the agenda of the Muslim Brotherhood or the platform of political Islam. They have instead formed alliances of convenience with the left despite some deep ideological differences finding common cause against the same adversaries. The American left unfortunately ignores the type of society Islamists believe should rule where they are a majority.
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