The Ikhwan shall rise again

General Abdel Fattah al Sisi underestimated the Muslim Brotherhood… and that may just cost him his life.

In July 2013, Egypt’s mercenary army ousted the first democratically elected President in the country’s history unleashing a reign of terror on its people. Pro Morsi protesters had tanks driven on them and live fire was opened on the masses. It is true however that Morsi was a divisive figure, his Muslim Brotherhood, and the Islamist bloc had won only a marginal victory in an election widely regarded as fair but a narrow victory and street protests hardly justify the coup which took place.

The attitude of the Egyptian military reinforces the notion that the army was, and still is, an arm of the colonialists who use it to attain their own objectives. The Muslim Brotherhood’s fiery election campaign had many worried, hairline speeches were made with remarks such as that Morsi would make “Jerusalem the capital of the Caliphate”. Because the Brotherhood is a democratic party and enjoys considerable support amongst the predominantly Sunni Arabs, the monarchies in the region especially those of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Jordan were worried that the Brotherhood’s rise in Egypt might provoke a similar uprising in their own countries. This is primarily the reason that these states “bankrolled” the coup, The Saudi ruler King Abdullah was, in fact, the first in the list to congratulate and offer al Sissi his full support. A notable exception amongst the Arabs was the monarchy of Qatar, which condemned the military’s intervention.

Mass protests are still raging throughout Egypt with students taking the lead. The new academic year has just begun and universities in Egypt resemble war zones with the students taking on armed policemen who show no hesitancy to fire at their fellow countrymen. Egyptian state propaganda brands these protesters as “terrorists” and “enemies of the state” and the notorious intelligence of Egypt detains them without trial.

Declaring the Brotherhood as a terrorist organization did little good for the coup leaders as the protests are getting more ferocious day by day. The coup has divided the population even further and the Muslim Brotherhood is far from finished. A recent deadly attack on the Egyptian Army in the Sinai claimed the lives of over 35 Egyptian soldiers prompting the military to declare a state of emergency in that region. Abdel Fattah al Sisi must beware of the Ikhwan’s vengeance or he may share a fate similar to that of Anwar Sadat.