by Dr. Ephraim Herrera
In contrast to the ideology of the Islamic State group, the Muslim Brotherhood espouses Islamic control of the world through peaceful [and subversive] measures -- meaning through preaching Islam and natural growth.
In a recent speech that
received a great deal of coverage in the Arab media, Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Europe of having double standards, in part
due to its silence over the May 11 execution of a senior Muslim
Brotherhood member in Bangladesh. Motiur Rahman Nizami, 71, was charged
with committing genocide, rape and torture during his support of
Pakistan in its war against Bangladesh in 1971. In that heinous war, 3
million people were killed and 10 million were expelled from their
homes. Erdogan called Nizami, who was executed by hanging, a "shahid"
("martyr").
This is not the first
time that Erdogan has come to the defense of a senior Brotherhood
member. A year ago he harshly condemned the death sentence given to
Mohammed Morsi, the overthrown Egyptian president, saying: "Morsi is the
president of Egypt, not [Abdel-Fattah] el-Sissi."
The Muslim Brotherhood
owes a debt of gratitude to the Turkish president. The organization's
spiritual leader, Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi, declared in August 2014: "The
association of Islamic scholars decreed that the caliphate must be
established in Istanbul, the capital of the caliphate ... the new
Turkey, which combines religion and state, the old and the new, the Arab
and the non-Arab, and unifies the 'Ummah' (Islamic community). The
person who made this possible is Recep Tayyip Erdogan. ... You must
stand alongside him, swear your allegiance to him and tell him: March
onward. I envision his success, if Allah wills it."
Qaradawi later
nominated Erdogan as the next Islamic caliph, or in other words the
leader of the entire Muslim nation. A month ago Qaradawi thanked Erdogan
for supporting the Palestinian "muqawama" ("resistance"), for his trips
around the world in support of the Palestinian cause, for the Mavi
Marmara ship (which in 2010 attempted to violate an Israeli naval
blockade of the Gaza Strip), for the Turkish shahids who were killed on
board, and for his devotion to the Quran, the Sunnah (the Prophet
Muhammad's teachings) and Shariah (Islamic law).
Erdogan meets on a
regular basis with the terrorist leaders of Hamas, who are guests of
honor in Turkey, chief among them Khaled Mashaal, whom he last met in
December 2015.
In contrast to the
ideology of the Islamic State group, the Muslim Brotherhood espouses
Islamic control of the world through peaceful measures -- meaning
through preaching Islam and natural growth. This is the movement's
declared policy, and Qaradawi predicts that it will succeed where
previous military Islamic conquests of Europe failed (in the eighth and
16th centuries). It appears that here lies the reason behind Erdogan's
demand that Europe open its gates to Turkish citizens, in exchange for
Turkey stemming the flow of immigrants crossing its borders into Europe.
The European Union agreed to this demand in principle, but conditioned
it on a series of steps, including an amendment to Turkey's
anti-terrorism law. If the deal materializes, the number of Turkish
Muslims living in Western Europe is expected to rise significantly.
It is therefore not
surprising that many Europeans fear the notion of Turkish citizens no
longer requiring visas. Israel, which is currently engaged in the
process of renewing diplomatic ties with Turkey, must similarly make
sure it has its eyes open, particularly regarding the manner in which
any future deal is conditioned. Israel must deem whether Turkey's
rapprochement is earnest, or just a ploy to extract Hamas from its
isolation.
Dr. Ephraim Herrera is the author of "Jihad -- Fundamentals and Fundamentalism."
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=16133
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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