Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has conducted an interview with the German newspaper Der Spiegel in which he called the Islamic State and the Muslim Brotherhoodessentially one and the same and reiterated his call for a sweeping reform of religious ideas.
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Asked whether the Islamic State or the Muslim Brotherhood posed the greater threat, he responded, “They both share the same ideology. But the Muslim Brotherhood is the origin of all of it. All these other [Sunni] extremists emanated from them.”
He also tackled Islamismdirectly, saying, “I propose removing wrong and distorted ideas from the religious discourse.” This echoed his speech to Al-Azhar University, the pre-eminent seat of learning in the Sunni Muslim world in which he called on the clerics to challenge the ideology behind global jihadism. He told the clerics, “We need to revolutionize our religion.”
Al-Azhar’s clerics have so far responded tepidly to his overtures. They issued a statement after the immolation of Jordanian pilot Moaz al-Kassabeh by the Islamic State forbidding burning people alive.
Head of al-Azhar, SheikhAhmed al-Tayib stated that, “Islam forbids killing of the innocent human soul ... It forbids mutilating the human soul by burning or in any other way even during wars against an enemy that attacks you.”
Sheikh al-Tayib also said the action of ISIS in burning Moaz al-Kassabeh “requires the punishment mentioned in the Koran for these corrupt oppressors who fight against God and his prophet: killing, crucifixion or chopping of the limbs.”
In the wide-ranging Der Spiegelinterview, el-Sisi was asked many difficult questions concerning his human rights record. He defended the killings at the Rabaa mosque in which at least 650 supporters of ousted Muslim Brotherhood President Muhammed Morsi were killed. He argued that, “The number of victims at Rabaa could have been 10 times higher if the people had stormed the square.”
He also blamed the inferior quality of Egyptian police training. In answer to accusations that Germany’s police would have acted differently, he responded: “I am not ashamed to admit that there is a civilizational gap between us and you. The police and people in Germany are civilized and have a sense of responsibility. German police are equipped with the latest capabilities and get the best training. And in your country, protesters would not use weapons in the middle of the demonstrations to target police.”
He dismissed a question about the maltreatment of human rights activists who were instrumental in the 2011 revolution. Ahmed Maher, Mohammed Adel and Ahmed Duma were all founders of the April 6 Movement in the early days of the revolution but are now serving three years apiece for violating a new protest law.
He stated that the judiciary is independent, although he admitted he has the power to issue presidential amnesties.
Dodging questions about human rights, he instead focused on the importance of stability in Egypt.
His statements in this interview tally with the speech he gave at the end of January in which he declared war to the death against Islamist militants in the Sinai and vowed to crush them.
Asked whether the Islamic State or the Muslim Brotherhood posed the greater threat, he responded, “They both share the same ideology. But the Muslim Brotherhood is the origin of all of it. All these other [Sunni] extremists emanated from them.”
He also tackled Islamismdirectly, saying, “I propose removing wrong and distorted ideas from the religious discourse.” This echoed his speech to Al-Azhar University, the pre-eminent seat of learning in the Sunni Muslim world in which he called on the clerics to challenge the ideology behind global jihadism. He told the clerics, “We need to revolutionize our religion.”
Al-Azhar’s clerics have so far responded tepidly to his overtures. They issued a statement after the immolation of Jordanian pilot Moaz al-Kassabeh by the Islamic State forbidding burning people alive.
Head of al-Azhar, SheikhAhmed al-Tayib stated that, “Islam forbids killing of the innocent human soul ... It forbids mutilating the human soul by burning or in any other way even during wars against an enemy that attacks you.”
Sheikh al-Tayib also said the action of ISIS in burning Moaz al-Kassabeh “requires the punishment mentioned in the Koran for these corrupt oppressors who fight against God and his prophet: killing, crucifixion or chopping of the limbs.”
In the wide-ranging Der Spiegelinterview, el-Sisi was asked many difficult questions concerning his human rights record. He defended the killings at the Rabaa mosque in which at least 650 supporters of ousted Muslim Brotherhood President Muhammed Morsi were killed. He argued that, “The number of victims at Rabaa could have been 10 times higher if the people had stormed the square.”
He also blamed the inferior quality of Egyptian police training. In answer to accusations that Germany’s police would have acted differently, he responded: “I am not ashamed to admit that there is a civilizational gap between us and you. The police and people in Germany are civilized and have a sense of responsibility. German police are equipped with the latest capabilities and get the best training. And in your country, protesters would not use weapons in the middle of the demonstrations to target police.”
He dismissed a question about the maltreatment of human rights activists who were instrumental in the 2011 revolution. Ahmed Maher, Mohammed Adel and Ahmed Duma were all founders of the April 6 Movement in the early days of the revolution but are now serving three years apiece for violating a new protest law.
He stated that the judiciary is independent, although he admitted he has the power to issue presidential amnesties.
Dodging questions about human rights, he instead focused on the importance of stability in Egypt.
His statements in this interview tally with the speech he gave at the end of January in which he declared war to the death against Islamist militants in the Sinai and vowed to crush them.
