Carefully and consciously consider each word of the following statements: “The Brotherhood wants to impose guardianship over minds in the name of religion, and this has nothing to do with religion.”—Dean of Arabic Literature Dr. Taha Hussein. “They only want power. They raise the Quran as a slogan, but they are farthest from the spirit of the Quran.”—the late President Gamal Abdel Nasser. “The Brotherhood is a group that believes only in itself and recognizes only its own authority.”—the late President Anwar Sadat. “The Brotherhood raises the banner of Islam to rule people, not to serve Islam.”—Dr. Mustafa Mahmoud.
The voices behind these words were not ordinary commentators; they were figures who studied and engaged with this rogue group over decades and who distilled their experience into a clear and unshakable judgment. Their view is one almost universally shared by fair-minded intellectuals across generations: The Brotherhood seeks nothing but power and destruction, advancing its cause with relentless vigor. It harbors hostility toward the very concept of the homeland, refuses to acknowledge it, and continually plots against its institutions.
The danger is compounded by its willingness to stretch its treachery beyond borders, reaching out to foreign powers in attempts to undermine Egypt and diminish its international standing. Its members ceaselessly spread rumors, lies, and disinformation through satellite channels and social media, pumping venom into the public sphere around the clock. The assessments of Hussein, Nasser, Sadat, and Mahmoud feel less like historical warnings than direct descriptions of what we see today: a terrorist organization incapable of reform, intellectually stagnant, and consumed by arrogance.
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The Brotherhood is convinced of its infallibility, believing it alone possesses divine truth, branding all who oppose it as wrong, misguided, or even heretical. Its self-perception as the sole “saved sect” underpins its justification for violence and betrayal. Can anyone seriously deny that the Brotherhood laid the ideological foundation for modern takfiri extremism and legitimized the use of terror as a means to seize power? Its record speaks for itself. After the June 30 Revolution, when Egyptians demanded their removal, the Brotherhood responded with violence, setting fire to mosques and churches, destroying public property, and attacking state facilities.
These were not aberrations, but a continuation of the very methods outlined by Sayyid Qutb, the group’s chief ideologue, who in a handwritten document from 1965—after his arrest for leading armed terrorist cells—openly described plans to bomb bridges, electricity and water plants, and other vital facilities. He admitted to stockpiling weapons for attacks against the state, including an assassination attempt on Nasser. Violence was not incidental; it was the backbone of their program, indoctrinating generations in a culture of terror. Nor should we forget the gruesome episode in the 1970s when the Takfir wal-Hijra group, born of Brotherhood ideology, kidnapped and murdered Muhammad Husayn al-Dhahabi, the minister of religious endowments. Its leader, Shukri Mustafa, had been a disciple of Sayyid Qutb in prison, drinking deeply from the poisonous doctrine of takfir and violence as tools for power, regardless of the blood spilled or the innocent lives destroyed.
Always, they claim sanctity, wrapping their atrocities in the fraudulent rhetoric of “defending Islam.” Anyone who imagines that the Brotherhood’s threat is confined to a few states is gravely mistaken. Their danger extends across continents. Even the United States, which once provided them with cover and refuge, is now openly debating designating them as a terrorist organization, while other nations have placed them under tight surveillance, monitoring their every move. These men are merchants of religion, addicted to power, treacherous and deceitful, incapable of change. There is no illusion of reform to be entertained. The only path forward is unrelenting confrontation: to expose their lies, thwart their schemes, and safeguard the homeland from their perpetual conspiracies.
Mohamed Ibrahim El-Desouky (translated by Asaf Zilberfarb)