The Islamic Movement in Egypt

Abstract

The author of this book is a member of the Egyptian diplomatic service with a Ph.D. from the University of Geneva. This study employs carefully defined concepts, the most important one being Islamism as the politicization of Islamic symbols. In addition, however, he defines the boundary between the internal world of perceptions and the external world that is being perceived as the ummah. In so doing, the author logically raises the question of the universalism of Islam and the particularism of Egyptian nationalist foreign policy perceptions. It is this carefulness that allows the author to tell the story of Islamic ideological perceptions objectively and without raising controversies of theological interpretation. The book begins with a historical treatment of the Islamic perception of international relations from the foreign policy of the Prophet Muhammad to the formulations of al-Afghani, 'Abduh, and Ri<;ia. He includes in this survey the organizational development and points of view of the allkhwan al-Muslimm, the al-Jama'at al-Isla.m1yah, and the clandestine organizations, (e.g., Shabab Mul:tammad, al-Takfir wa al-Hijrah, and alJihad). He then goes on to identify the positions of these organizations on the internal issues of the Muslim world, e.g., the Iranian revolution, the Muslim world in general, and the attitude toward particular Muslim countries. On the question of the Iranian revolution, the Ikhwan initially supported it but, as the Iranians attacked it and its leader, al-Tilmasiin1, this support cooled. The Ikhwan had less concern with the Shi'ism of the Iranian revolution than did the remaining more extreme groups in Egypt. These supported the revolution but had doubts about its Shi'ism. The "external" issue of the Israeli Zionist threat also provides evidence of relative moderation by the lkhwan. It initially opposed the Egyptian­ Israeli peace but then tacitly came to accept it. It also was totally opposed to the normalization of relations with Israel. As the author notes, this position was very much in conformity with Egyptian public sentiment. The other groups, on the other hand, remained adamantly opposed. In general, the Egyptian Muslim organizational point of view of foreign policy naturally responded to international forces. Thus, they were uniformly opposed to communism and especially the Soviet invasion ...