Is Political Islam Penetrating Islamic communities in Europe?

For decades, the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) has monopolized the representation of Islam in Europe and America, aided by the strong network of associations and organizations being active there, enabling it to present itself as a key Islamist interlocutor for Western governments and a safety valve to counter the tide of extremist movements coming from the Arab world.

With a terrible sense of pragmatism, Hassan al-Banna’s group chose to stifle the doctrine on which its call was based, so it turned the western mainland into a house of peace, making in return the Arab and Islamic land a house of war and fighting.

The evidence is the long list of assassinations that it has carried out and continues to carry behind since its involvement in the assassination of Mahmoud Fahmy al-Ghutashi, Egyptian Prime Minister in 1948, a bloody incident that Hassan al-Banna failed to disavow. Thus referring to the group’s relationship with the State and Egyptian society in all Arab countries.

America, Muslim Brotherhood, Bernard Lewis and the relationship between them

According to classified documents released by the CIA, the planning for Hasan Al-Bana’s intervention in Europe was credited to US President Dwight Eisenhower, since the moment he met Said Ramadan, the husband of Hassan al-Banna’s youngest daughter in Washington in 1953. Anyone who visits President Eisenhower’s library in Kansas will see the documents of Eisenhower’s meeting with Said Ramadan, whom the same documents described as “the Secretary of State of the Islamic State.” [1]

The relationship between the MB and the CIA made it easier for Said Ramadan to establish what will later be called the Brotherhood’s “international organization”, a group seeking to achieve U.S. goals in the Arab region and Islamic countries, as well as in Europe, Russia and later China. The documents, parts were published by Robert Dreyfuss, revealed how America helped the Brotherhood to spread, gain members and funding to stand up to the Soviet Union at the time. [2]

Moreover, the CIA documents revealed a dangerous role played by Bernard Lewis, an orientalist specializing in the affairs of the Arab Mashreq in convincing the Eisenhower administration to open up to the Organization of the MB. They stress that the owner of maps dividing the Arab Levant on sectarian and ethnic lines proposed to US State Secretary John Foster Dulles and his brother Alan, director of the CIA at the time, to draw up long-term plans to support the MB in the region. The Dulles brothers responded to this request and agreed with President Eisenhower to hold a conference at Princeton University, attended by members of the MB headed by Said Ramadan. [3]

This undisclosed alliance between the MB and the United States would bear fruit in the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, when the Reagan administration provided financial, military and logistical support to the MB for recruiting Arab youth in a proxy war against the Soviet invasion.

In Algeria, there is a beautiful song whose words say “the razor they served blinds their eyes today…” Perhaps no more expressive words can express the state of apprehension and anxiety that has come to dominate Washington’s relationship with the MB, especially after a number of reports that the group has become a serious threat to the security of the US and its allies. This also confirmed by discussions held by Congress since 2015, when they warned of the danger of the MB organization for the security of more than 200 thousand US soldiers around the world.

European security services have reached conclusions that the MB is involved in killings and terrorism through mosques it controls in a number of European countries, which have turned them into platforms for spreading violence and hatred around the world.

Said Ramadan: The Fascist who founded the Munich Mosque

In the 1950s, Saeed Ramadan, armed with strong US relations, contributed 1,000 Deutsche Mark to the Munich mosque. He intended to make it a back base for spreading the Brotherhood’s ideology in Europe in line with the intelligence agenda he was dealing with.

Ian Johnson, author of “A Mosque in Munich”, said in a lecture in the UAE that he interviewed the academic supervisor of Ramadan’s doctoral thesis, who assured him that Ramadan was someone who had no tolerance for others, describing him a “fascist”. [4]

If World War II represented the most prominent participation of Muslim soldiers in the Wars of the West, the defeated party in the war, Germany, would open its arms more than any other European country to the Muslim Brotherhood. This is in an attempt to set itself a foothold in the cosmic chessboard produced by the Cold War, in which Hassan al-Banna’s group played an important role in view of its intelligence cooperation with the US and European intelligence, under the pretext that the group shares with western countries one goal: undermine communism.

In this feverish context, the key role played by the Munich Mosque in the expansion of the MB throughout Europe, sponsored by West German intelligence and the participation of the Muslim community in Bavaria, particularly those of Turkish and Afghan origins. [5]

Thus, the Munich Mosque became a general MB centre in Europe, not hesitating to use Islam as a political weapon during the Cold War with the support of the CIA, before the mosque went out of control, when radical Islamists infiltrated it. This coincided with press reports indicating that a number of symbols of political Islam were moving to Germany as one of the group’s safe areas. According to a report by the German Constitution Protection Authority, the Muslim Brotherhood has about 13,000 members and is active throughout the country, establishing more than 50 mosques.

The Islamic Society, founded on March 9, 1960 and headquartered in Cologne, is a federation of Islamic centers in ten states of Germany. They are funded through donations, membership fees and the sale of publications, as is the case in the administrative structure of the Al-Banna community. [6]

France between secularism and Islamophobia

Official statistics estimate the number of Muslims in France at about six million, which, in the words of President Emmanuel Macron, constitutes a parallel society, making them the most prominent example of the ambiguous relationship between Muslim and secularism European communities. That after the two parties found themselves in the face of an identity crisis that ended in the creation of a state of acute polarization that posed a real threat to social peace. Macron has not hesitated, on more than one occasion to say, “that a part of society wants to create a political project in the name of Islam,” using the term “counter-society” once.

This deep crisis afflicting French society has begun to impose itself strongly on the local political scene, in light of the escalating warnings of right-wing currents about the danger of Islam and Muslims on the national identity. France adopted secularism as a political and social approach based on the foundations set by the Enlightenment philosophers as its first ideological base, and after that the law of secularism was enacted, separation of the Church and the state in 1905, before reformulating the definition to include equality in dealing with all religions in 2004.

France, on the other hand, which presents itself as a protector of individual freedoms and freedom of belief, has deliberately fought and besieged thinkers and elites in solidarity with Islam and Muslims. So that their influence does not exceed the red lines, putting the Republic in a position contrary to the three principles on which it was founded. [7]

As a result, the term “Islamophobia” has been at the forefront of the political scene and public debate in France. Especially on the part of right-wing movements that “consider the Muslim a sworn enemy of Christianity and Europe; only barbarism and bad faith can be expected of Muslims.” [8]

This sharp attraction soon slips towards violence from time to time after the currents of political Islam played on the emotional chord of the Muslims of the Republic of Lights. Especially among young people who have not been well educated or received the teachings of the religion from its true and pure sources. So France gradually transformed, from a house of invitation and migration to a war place where the blood of dozens of innocent victims was shed.

Germany, a country where no one is oppressed

Decades after the first migration of MB and its sympathizers to Europe, a new generation of their children and descendants who were educated there, founded organizations representing local Muslim communities, and oversaw a network covering almost all European countries.

Despite the fact that the majority of them continued to embrace the views of the MB, their adoption of moderate speech in sound German, Dutch and French languages has made them accepted by European governments and the media alike.

However, a number of testimonies confirm the double standards of speech among the members of these organizations. Where the language of tolerance and integration, spoken by these people television screens of the receiving countries, when they go up to the pulpits of mosques speaking Arabic to their Muslim followers. Where they remove the mask, showing their ugly extremist face that incites hatred and warns of the evils of Western society.

This duplicity in their discourse may vary in intensity from country to country, but it is a phenomenon that seems more pronounced in Germany, which enjoys a special place for them, because it hosted the first large wave of MB immigrants, as well as because it hosts a more organized presence than the MB. They benefit from the German government’s relative leniency towards Brotherhood’s practices, discourse and activities.

However, this did not prevent the German intelligence apparatus from becoming concerned about the danger of the MB in the Supreme Council of Muslims in Germany. Because of the group’s efforts to establish a social and political system on the basis of Sharia together with its adoption to school programs and comprehensive training for Muslims and those interested in religion of all age groups, including the institutions of the Islamic Society in Germany and the Quranic schools. [[9]]

According to a report by Deutsche Welle, “through speeches, seminars and school presentations, activists from the Islamic Society of Germany and their partners are reaching out to tens of thousands of Muslims to spread their conservative understanding of the Qur’an.” [9]

MB after 9/11

There has been a lot of water under the bridge between the West and the MB since September 11, 2001, after which most European countries viewed with suspicion the group’s activities, raising the slogan of moderation and counter extremism, at a time when intelligence reports confirmed that they have material and moral ties with a number of terrorist organizations across borders and far-reaching plans aimed at creating a parallel society in European countries and penetrating into them by spreading their ideas and beliefs, using Islamic centers they established in a number of cities in Europe.

In 2018, Deutsche Welle quoted Burkhard Freier, head of the North Rhine-Westphalia’s interior intelligence service, as saying that “the Islamic Society of Germany (affiliated with the MB) and the network of activist organizations are seeking the establishment of an Islamic state even in Germany, despite the rejecting claims.”

He also warned that in the medium term, the Brotherhood’s influence could pose a greater threat to German democracy than the radical Salafists, whose followers support terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda or ISIS. [10]

In France, Manuel Valls, former Prime Minister warned against the Salafists who use the Union of Islamic Organizations as an excuse to influence the youth of the popular neighborhoods. Note that this union, which is a front for the MB there, organizes annually a forum that attracts about 170 thousand visitors, who are not necessarily members of the group, but are tempted by the idea of participating the political and religious seminars.

Although European intelligence did not meet sufficient evidence to condemn and ban the MB, this did not prevent the interests concerned from tightly controlling the group’s activities and sources of funding for its affiliates in Europe, which were listed as follows:

The Islamic Community of Germany (IGD) is the German branch of the MB in Europe, founded by Said Ramadan in 1958, and one of the most prominent names that took over its presidency was the German-Egyptian Ibrahim al-Zayat.

The Belgian Muslim Association (LMB) is the representative of the MB there. It was founded in 1997 and has ten mosques and headquarters in several cities. One of its most prominent leaders is Karim Shamlal, a doctor of Moroccan origin who works in the field of biology.

The Association of Muslim Society in the Netherlands was founded in 1996 by Moroccan Yahia Boyav in The Hague with several organizations, including the Europe Trust Netherlands Foundation (ETN) and the Netherlands Institute of Humanities and Islamic Relief.

Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) is the representative of the MB there. It was founded in 1997 by Kamal Al-Helbawi, who was for a long time the MB’s representative in Europe. Before he defected from the group and succeeded him in managing the association, Anas Al-Tikriti, an Iraqi-born and professor of translation at the University of Leeds.

The Union of Islamic Communities and Organizations in Italy (UCOII) was founded in 1990, run by Syrian-born Mohamed Nour Dashan. The union includes nearly 130 associations, controling nearly 80% of mosques in Italy and has a cultural, a women’s and a youth branch. [11]

Iran is competing with the MB, Moroccan Shiias in Belgium as a model!

In March of 2019, French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner announced that he had requested the dissolution of four Shiia associations that “regularly legitimize armed jihad, whether through religious sessions or texts placed at the disposal of believers and Internet users.”

These associations are “Zahra Center France”, “Union of Shiias in France”, “The Anti-Zionist Party” and “Télé France Marianne,” Castaner said in statement.

“The justifications for armed jihad, without any controls, are accompanied by the indoctrination of young people at the Zahra Center and the provision of justifications through the Internet to organizations such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the armed wing of Hizbullah, all of which are included in the list of terrorist organizations in the European Union,” He added. [12]

The French decision was not surprising, either at the security level or at the media level, given the roles that Shiia centers are playing among Muslim communities in Europe and their direct links with Iran.

A number of European security reports have indicated that Shiia cultural and religious centers play a role in promoting the strategy of Iranian penetration in Europe and building a base of supporters and sympathizers of its policy among Arab immigrants and Muslims. It also stressed that cultural activity is only one of the soft tools and formulas that Iran uses to strengthen its political agendas and its influence in the international arena. [13]

In order to achieve this, the Iranian regime seeks to provide trained cadres, culturally and ideologically, through a number of bodies in Iran and abroad, such as Mostafa University, which is under the control of the Supreme Leader, based in Qom. The Organization for Islamic Culture and Relations, under which several associations and institutions, such as Ahl al-Bayt World Assembly, where it is responsible for promoting Shi’ism and have strong links with Shiias around the world. The Islamic Organization for Development is entitled “Islamic Propaganda Foundation”. Its mission is to publish religious and propaganda materials, sending Shiia preachers to foreign countries, in cooperation with the Foreign Affairs Offices of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. [14]

This Iranian effort to withdraw power from the MB in Europe is due to its awareness of the strength of Muslim communities there and its effects in its regional environment, especially in some countries where Arabs and Muslims have become a significant electoral force.

The most prominent example of this is the strong Shiia penetration that the Moroccan community in Belgium was exposed to, which prompted Abdallah Boussouf, Secretary-General of the Council of the Moroccan Community Abroad, to warn that four large mosques for the Moroccan community in Brussels are now following the Shiia sect. [15]

At the entrance to the Rahman Mosque, on George Morro Street, not far from the Moroccan consulate in Brussels, there is a sign reading “Peace be upon you, Abba Abdullah al-Hussein”. Which would have seemed almost impossible a few years ago, given that the majority of the visitors to the mosque are from the community coming from the Sunni Moroccan kingdom.

However, this is now changing as a result of the marked increase in the number of Moroccan immigrants converting to Shi’ism and studying in Iran, including the preacher of the Shiia Mosque of Rahman, who told the story of his Shi’ism: “I came from Morocco to Belgium in 1983. My father had preceded me here. My father was a member of the Association of Moroccan Scholars, led by the late Sheikh Maki Naciri, and Sofia was a follower of Sheikh Ibn Sa’id. It wasn’t long before I took my father’s behalf in the oratory, so I was influenced by the scholars of my town in Tangier from al-Siddiq, namely Hafiz Sidi Ahmed, Hafiz Sidi Abdallah and Hafiz Sidi Al Hassan. I started talking about Ahl al Bayt and their virtues, and people said about me that I am a Shiia. This was my motivation to study the Shiia and their thinking, against the background that if these people are right, we are better to show this right, and if they are wrong, then the pulpit invites us to reveal falsehood, so that we do not let the people of our community go after them. This research that I did made me kindness to Shiia, and people said I was Shiia.”

“We are in a country ruled by liberal thought، and if you see that there is an increase in the number of Shi’ism here in Brussels, because here we have found the door open to many options, not specific in a particular doctrine, as in Morocco, so we chose to be Sunni but Shiism a according to the texts contained in the House,” he added. [16]

The transformation of members of the Moroccan community in Belgium had nothing to do with the love of Ahl al Bayt, but was motivated by political motives, according to Sheikh Mohammed Al-Tajkani, president of the Association of Imams of Belgium.

He explained that after the victory of the Iranian revolution in 1979, Moroccans sympathized with it as an alternative revolution against “Western arrogance, led by US, and against the Soviet Union, and that it came to uphold the word of Islam and liberate Palestine.” This was an emotional conversion to Shiia. [17]

Moreover, the Iranian regime did not hesitate to use the money in order to spread Shiias among Belgian Moroccans and attract a number of Sunni intellectuals and jurists, as well as to summon some young people to study in Shiia schools in Iran, Syria and Lebanon. [18]

In Conclusion

Western governments’ bet on using Islam as a soft force to counter the communist tide would not have worked if it had not been for the Muslim Brotherhood, which agreed to “improvise” its pre-prepared plan by U.S. intelligence and later European intelligence.

After the collapse of the eastern camp, the MB lost its importance due to the loss of justification for its existence, so it turned from an ally to an enemy that threatens the security and safety of European societies themselves, especially when the organization resulted in a number of individual organizations that chose for themselves a violent approach to confront European societies, thus turning the old continent in the view of political Islam from “house of migration” to “house of war”.

Moreover: The general adoption of an illiberal ideology by political Islam that does not respect shared universal values has created a crisis of identity for the group members settled in Europe and led them to create a social entity parallel to European society and the principles and values of its citizens.

This situation has resulted in deep crises in the receiving countries, which have found themselves facing extreme right wing currents that are strengthened by the economic and social crises left by migrations in general and those coming from the Arab and Muslim world in particular. Muslim communities were accused of being hostile and opposed to the universal values of democracies, including secularism, equality between men and women and minority rights.

For their part, the Arab and Islamic countries did not pay attention to the weight of their communities residing in Europe until late, some of them tried to immunize their citizens residing on the old continent from the religious and sectarian influences alien to them.

Morocco, for example, has employed the principality of believers to maintain the religious and religious ties that bind the kingdom to its children living abroad. At a time when Qatar and Turkey have tried to fill in, the void left by US and European intelligence and have recruited the MB to carry out its plans in a number of parts of the world.

In an interview with Albanian TV in June 2017, Turkish President Erdogan found no embarrassment in admitting that there is absolutely no shame in supporting political parties in the Balkans and other European countries that share a similar ideology with the AKP that he chairs, and these efforts should not upset anyone?!