Rise of Muslim Brotherhood Frays Saudi-Egypt Ties

(Israel is our enemy, whole of the West is our enemy and all the infidels are our enemy, but is it not a fact that we Muslims ourselves are worst of all our enemies? Our internal disputes on trivial and minor issues are much more harmful for us than any visitation caused by out perpetual enemies. We have sectarian rifts in our ranks. Much more appaling thing is the rivalries within the same sects. Sunnis have a number of groups within them, mostly clashing with each other. 

Saudi Arabia is a (Wahabi) state with deep roots in traditionalism, which is now thought extremely a detestable thing in the West. American Think Tanks are constantly suggesting to project Sufism to counter Wahabism. Muslim Brotherhood believes as Muhammad bin Abdul Wahab, ideological founder of Saudi Arabia, believed the Quran and Sunnah main and basic sources to understant and interpret Islam. 

This factor is enough for them to be close and become natural allies. While Hosni Mubarak ran a cruel despotic system based on secular natured policies mostly for appeasing his American masters. But it is very sad that Mubarak's era suited the Saudi kingdom. They never had any objection when he went on crushing his religious opponents, particularly the IKHWAN (Muslim Brotherhood).

Now, when holding the rein of Egypt by Muslim Brotherhood is clearly plausible, Saudia has started to have a tingling feeling on it. Unpalatable mood can easily be read in unambiguous expressions. UAE also has given vent to its antagonism towards MB. One of the very clear reasons for this is that Americans who have disliking for MB, are successfully exerting their influence on almost all of the Gulf States. Keeping the Muslim countries divided has been the nub of all the Colonists of the past and America, the imperialist of the present times also has the same evil designs.  

Secondly, Gulf States have a kingly type of governments with all powers exercised by the rulers and their families. Their economic progress and setting up infrastructure matching the Western countries is a marvelous aspect in the Muslim world. Peace and very sound law and order situation is their distinction. Only their political system, clung in their tribal traditions, makes them hold on far back from the modern democratic culture. 

Political Charter of Muslim Brotherhood for the post Mubarak era has justice, freedom and democracy as the salient features in it. Kingly system is scared of a fresh air of Arab Spring which has given the rise to the religious elements with futuristic thinking and modern traits blended with pure Islamic teachings. They want to save their countries from a sudden knock at  their doors for an openness in their societies causing the demands of democratic norms and values by their people. If there rises a call of this nature for democratic freedoms and peoples' right to have their elected governments in Gulf States, MB is bound by its Charter to support this call. It makes the Sunni Gulf States sceptical about having a close relation with Muslim Brotherhood. I think this misunderstanding can easily be dispensed with a wise assurance of not meddling in the internal matters of the Gulf States by MB.
 Munir Ahmed Khalili)

It is not only on the level of religious organizations. States and communities stand opposite each other. Egypt and Saudi Arabia, both are Sunni Muslim countries but presently a bitterness in their relations is quite evident. Why? In strategic  Saudi Arabia skeptical about influence and role of Muslim Brotherhood rise in Egypt on the rest of the region, says political experts Reuters , Tuesday 1 May 2012

Saudi Arabia frets that Egypt, its strongest Arab ally and a major recipient of Saudi funding, is falling under what it sees as the baleful influence of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Riyadh recalled its ambassador from Cairo at the weekend in a spat that underlines the misgivings of the robed princes who rule the world's top oil exporter and who have watched Egypt's revolution and its often chaotic aftermath with alarm.

They fear that political uncertainty in Egypt, which votes in a presidential election this month, may undermine a decades-old strategic bond between the two pro-U.S. Arab allies, a bond already shaken when Egyptians toppled their ruler last year.

"The Saudis viewed the ouster of (President) Hosni Mubarak as a very negative development," said Robert Jordan, the U.S. ambassador in Riyadh from 2001-03.

"They're concerned about the Muslim Brotherhood and the uncertainty of the leadership. And they're very sensitive at any hint that that movement could spread to Saudi or other Gulf countries."

Riyadh's recall for consultations of Ambassador Ahmed Kattan after protests outside the Saudi embassy against the arrest of an Egyptian lawyer in the kingdom may prove fleeting.

Egypt seems keen to have Kattan back, judging by government statements and reports in state-owned newspapers of Egyptians waving Saudi flags at the embassy calling for his return.

It was street protests outside the Saudi embassy last week that caused umbrage in Riyadh. Crowds were protesting at the arrest of Egyptian lawyer Ahmed El-Gezawi by Saudi authorities.

Egyptian activists said he had been detained for speaking out against ill-treatment of Egyptians in the kingdom. The Saudi authorities said he had been smuggling drugs.

Even if the diplomatic quarrel is smoothed over, it reflects the new fragility of a once-solid alliance between the most populous Arab nation and the richest.

Saudi Arabia last month agreed to grant Cairo $2.7 billion in aid - and has given no public sign so far of reconsidering this pledge - but it fears Egypt's political evolution will amplify the Brotherhood's regional clout while diminishing Saudi influence, said an Egyptian official who asked not to be named.

The Brotherhood and Saudi Arabia share Sunni Muslim values, but Riyadh regards the movement as an ideological competitor with an aggressively activist political doctrine that might destabilise allies and foment discord inside the kingdom.

"Withdrawing the ambassador was a way of reminding Egyptians that Saudi security concerns have to be respected," said Shadi Hamid, director of research at the Brookings Doha Centre.

"The Brotherhood hasn't really gone out of its way to reassure Saudi Arabia about regional security interests."

A Saudi government spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.

RELIGIOUS RIVALS

Permeating Saudi worries about the Muslim Brotherhood are decades of ideological rivalry.

"The Brothers offer a religious political discourse that's in competition with the Wahhabi one. It's something of a threat to the government because it enjoys a certain legitimacy by virtue of its religiosity," said Thomas Hegghammer, author of Jihad in Saudi Arabia.

Since the 18th century, the ruling Al Saud family have enjoyed a close alliance with clerics of the ultra-conservative Wahhabi school of Islam.

In the modern kingdom, the royal family has bankrolled the clergy and given them wide-ranging influence over government policy. In return, the clerics have espoused a political philosophy that demands obedience to the ruler, a notion that shaped Saudi dismay at last year's Arab revolts.

By contrast the Muslim Brotherhood has always promoted an active political role for Islam, first as a revolutionary organisation and more lately as a force in democratic politics.

Some Saudi leaders have accused the Brotherhood of inspiring the kingdom's main domestic opposition group, the Sahwa movement that in the 1990s agitated to bring democracy to Saudi Arabia.

"The Saudis are pragmatic enough to realise when things change. Now the Muslim Brotherhood are in power in Egypt. They have to re-evaluate the relationship," said Khalid al-Dakhil, a political sociology professor in Riyadh.

Mahmoud Ghozlan, the Brotherhood's spokesman, said the movement had had no contacts with Saudi Arabia over the recent dispute, which he described as "a summer cloud".

UNEASY ALLIANCE

Under Mubarak, Egypt and Saudi Arabia were both staunch opponents of what they saw as Shi'ite Iran's efforts to expand its influence and destabilise the region.

They perceived Tehran's hand behind the Shi'ite Hezbollah movement's increasing power in Lebanon, Hamas's military take-over of the Gaza Strip and sectarian violence in Iraq.

Any new Brotherhood-led government in Egypt might prove less pro-Saudi, while maintaining a distance from Iran.

The question is whether the strategic, security and financial imperatives of Egypt and Saudi Arabia will force them to swallow their qualms about working with each other.

"If Egypt can't sustain its financial system there could be a power vacuum and the sort of situation that al Qaeda might exploit. The Saudis have an interest in maintaining the viability of Egypt's economy," said Jordan.

For its part, the Muslim Brotherhood knows Egypt has no credible donors that could substitute for Saudi Arabia, said Daniel Kurtzer, U.S. ambassador to Egypt from 1997-2001.

"I don't think the leadership of any of the Egyptian factions - the military, civil society, the Islamists - would want to change things. The problem is where the street takes Egyptian policy," he said.

Jamal Khashoggi, an influential Saudi commentator and former newspaper editor, said Riyadh was watching Egypt's transition.

"It's waiting for Egypt to settle and for a leadership to emerge before we start rebuilding the strategic alliance we have with them," he said

(With Thanks to Ahramonline)