Libya: Muslim Brotherhood forms political party

For the Muslim Brotherhood, the caliphate is the goal, gradualism is the tactic, and democracy currently happens to be the path of least resistance to power. "Libya's Muslim Brotherhood sets up political party," by Ali Shuaib for Reuters, March 2: TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya's Muslim Brotherhood teamed up with other Islamists on Friday to establish a new political party that is set to be a leading player in the country's first elections since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising. Islamist and secular parties will vie in June elections for seats in a national assembly that will draft a new constitution for the North African country. Political analysts say Libya's Muslim Brotherhood is likely to emerge as the most organized political force and a leading player in the oil-exporting country where Islamists, like all dissidents, were harshly suppressed for 42 years. Post-uprising elections have already brought Islamists into government in Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco since October and they are likely to perform well in Libya, a socially conservative country where alcohol was already banned before the revolution. Lamine Belhadj, who heads the committee that is working to set up the new party, told Reuters at a conference on Friday it would bring together Islamists of different stripes. "This is the founding conference of a national, civil party with an Islamic frame of reference. It is being established by the Muslim Brotherhood and many independents who are not affiliated with any Islamic organizations," he said. Belhadj, a senior official in the National Transitional Council (NTC) and a member of the commission responsible for organizing the elections, said the new party had yet to be named and its leaders had not been chosen as consultations were under way between the Brotherhood and other groups. Abdullah Shamia, an economics professor and member of the Brotherhood since its days as an underground organization, said the new party would be independent. The Muslim Brotherhood, a broader religious, charitable and social movement, would continue its work separately from the political party. The rise of Islamist parties at the ballot box has raised concerns among more secular Arabs that new governments will impose more religious restrictions on society or seek to make postuprising constitutions comply with Islamic law, or sharia.

Libya's NTC has already indicated that the country will be run in accordance with sharia, though the exact place of sharia in the legal system will only be settled once a new constitution is written after elections....

President Obama's myopic view of the Muslim Brotherhood ... Jan 7, 2012 ... The Muslim Brotherhood's ideology is based on the world-view of "Islam as the solution" for every individual, social and political problem. www.examiner.com/.../president-obama-s-myopic-view-of-the-muslimThe activities of the Muslim Brotherhood cannot be regarded as uniform throughout the Arab world for it is run differently in each country, according to local circumstances and constraints. However, there are connections and common learning within the movement in Egypt and other countries in the Middle East and around the globe, according to Meir Amit. The Muslim Brotherhood's ideology is based on the world-view of "Islam as the solution" for every individual, social and political problem. Instituting a comprehensive "Muslim world order" will be possible, according to the movement and its founders, by means of a long-term process of multiple stages. It will, through education, begin with the new Muslim individual, progress to his family, from his family to society at large and from there to the new Muslim world order. Attaining political power includes winning elections and forming a state run according to Islamic law, the liberation of countries of Islam from a foreign yoke, uniting them into one Islamic entity, and spreading Islamic values around the globe on the ruins of the liberal West.

Continue reading on Examiner.com President Obama's myopic view of the Muslim Brotherhood - National Law Enforcement | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/law-enforcement-innational/president-obama-s-myopic-view-of-the-muslim-brotherhood#ixzz1pXaVyjZx

It will, through education, begin with the new Muslim individual, progress to his family, from his family to society at large and from there to the new Muslim world order.

Attaining political power includes winning elections and forming a state run according to Islamic law, the liberation of countries of Islam from a foreign yoke, uniting them into one Islamic entity, and spreading Islamic values around the globe on the ruins of the liberal West. How to implement the ideology is subject to broad interpretation, and there are pragmatic, conservative and extremist factions within the movement. It is the "pragmatic" members of the Muslim Brotherhood who President Barack Obama and his underlings choose to promote to the American people. The Muslim Brotherhood is the most well-organized political force in Egypt today. It also has a broad socio-economic system (the da'wah), built up over the years as a function of the movement's fundamental ideology. Once Mubarak's regime was overthrown, the Muslim Brotherhood found itself in a forward position from which to attain power than for others who participated in the protests in Tahrir Square, as can be seen by its success in two of the three election rounds for the People's Assembly. The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt by Hassan al-Banna in the early 20th century. Over the years it grew to become the biggest and best-established of the Muslim Brotherhood movements in the Middle East and beyond, and one of the central movements of political Islam. The success of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt is rooted in a combination of ideology, politics and social work. Ideologically, it is perceived as an authentic response to the hegemony of "Western occupation," and attracted its following from among people who had been disappointed by other ideologies. It also found a foothold in the educated urban middle class using its vast socio-economic system, the da'wah, to win the battle for hearts and minds, according to Meir Amit. It focused on responding to the problems of the ordinary man in the street through its broad social welfare programs, which included education and health care, along with preaching in its network of mosques. They often supplanted dysfunctional state institutions and became an effective social network for the dissemination of the Muslim Brotherhood's religious and political ideas. The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt is hostile to Israel because of its fundamental ideology. The movement regards all the land of Palestine as an Islamic endowment (waqf), rejects the State of Israel's right to exist, promotes an uncompromising jihad against Israel, and absolutely rejects peace treaties and normalization with Israel. In addition, it is consistently anti-Semitic and spreads anti-Semitism, either rooted in Islam or based on The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Publicly, however, it sometimes represents itself as moderate and pragmatic because it considers its image in the international community as important.

Continue reading on Examiner.com President Obama's myopic view of the Muslim Brotherhood

- National Law Enforcement | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/law-enforcement-innational/president-obama-s-myopic-view-of-the-muslim-brotherhood#ixzz1pXajcHzh