The man looked at me in bewilderment: ‘I am truly Ahmad Rasikh, we are good people Hajjah Zainab, and we want to reach an agreement with you.’
‘This has no importance’, I retorted. ‘What do you want?’
‘The government is very keen to reach an agreement with you. We know that the Ikhwan deceived you and convinced you to follow their principles. It was thanks to the Ikhwan that your group was banned and your Headquarters confiscated. The Ikhwan are trouble-makers. We would like you to agree with us, for what we want to know is very simple: the names of all the active members of the Ikhwan. By Allah, Hajjah, the President will be grateful for this service, and you will see the evidence of this gratefulness in the next few days. You are a good lady, may Allah prolong your life, and do not have anything to do with the Ikhwan’s troubles. It is enough what they have already caused for you with the state.’
The man went on to say that Imam al-Hudaibi and Imam Sayyid Qutb were doing their best to reach an agreement with the President, but that the President refused to collaborate with them because he did not trust them.
‘If you knew’, the man said, ‘what the Ikhwan say about you, you would agree with us and leave these people who are the cause of all the persecution which has happened to you and the Muslim Ladies Group.’
I laughed: ‘I will speak with you as a man from the Security Forces, and I care neither about your name nor your shape. First, I believe that even ordinary Muslims know and believe that you are far from Islam. Instead you are doing your best to fight it. Do you want to reach an agreement with truth while you are following falsehood? You import ideologies from both the East and the West. Sometimes you raise the banner of Communism, and at other times you revere the capitalist goddess, lost between the two. It is from within this loss that you derive your legislations and laws. I hope I am frank with you and that my words do not need further interpretation. Islam is other than that which you want.’
‘I swear by Allah, Hajjah, that I pray the Friday prayer.’
‘What about the rest of your obligations?’
‘I am used to praying on Friday because my father used to do so and took me with him to the Mosque to perform it.’
‘Did you not ask your father why he only prayed on a Friday?’
‘Our hearts are Muslim, as long as we say, “there is no god but Allah”. It’s enough.’
‘Without practising the formula “there is no god but Allah” you will find it will be held as an argument against you, not for you, in front of Allah.’
‘People follow the religion of their Kings.’
‘May He raise them, on the Day of Judgement, with their Kings!’
‘I am trying to reach an agreement with you.’
‘Throughout history, never have the apostles’ messages met with falsehood. For the people who believed in it submitted to Allah, saying: Our Lord! In You do we trust, and to You do we turn in repentance: to You is our final goal. Our Lord! Make us not a test nor a trial for the unbelievers, but forgive us, our Lord! For You are the Exalted in Might, the Wise.’ 10
He stood up to leave, saying angrily: ‘I will not be coming to see you again. However, if you want to contact me, here is my phone number.’
‘Thank you, I do not want it.’
Towards the end of July 1965, I was informed that several Ikhwan members had been arrested.
Notes and References
1. Jamal ‘Abd al-Nasir (subsequently Nasir) (1918-1970), Egyptian President. Champion of Arab Nationalism and one of the most influential Arab leaders of modern times.
2. Hajjah (masc. Haj) is a title given to the person who has performed Hajj, but is also used as a title of respect, especially for elders.
3. The Muslim Brotherhood (al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun) (subsequently Ikhwan), was one of the largest and most organized Islamic revivalist movements in the Islamic world. Founded by Hasan al-Banna (1906-1949), in 1928, the Ikhwan played a crucial role in shaping the modern political history of Egypt and some other Arab countries.
4. In 1952 a military coup changed Egypt from a monarchy into a Republic.
5. Taqiyyah: (from the root waqa = to safeguard, self-protection and hence dissimulation (in order to protect oneself)). The principle of concealment of one’s religious beliefs in order to avoid prosecution or imminent harm. Cf. The Concise Encyclopaedia of Islam, Cyril Glace.
6. ‘Azimah (plu. ‘Aza’im) lit. determination, resolution, fixed purpose; in Islam an ordinance as interpreted strictly. Correlative to it is rukhsah (plu. rukhas) exemption given by the lawgiver for certain cases of prevention or complete dispensation from observance of the law. Cf. The Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1st edition.
7. This is, of course, an allusion to Nasir’s Soviet-Socialist orientation. In fact, Nasir was, sometimes, more Soviet than the Soviets themselves. This is why the name Jamalov, following the pattern of most Russian names, befitted him. As for the Jamalovs, they are all those who follow in Nasir’s footsteps.
8. Fussilat: 1.
9. Egypt’s largest-selling, State controlled newspaper.
10. Al-Mumtahanah: 4 and 5.
My relationship with the Ikhwan group was not as recent as some would have it. For it went back to 1937. I met with Imam Shahid Hasan al-Banna, for the first time, in those remote blessed days of 1937, six months after I formed the Muslim Ladies Group. The meeting took place in the Ikhwan’s headquarters, then in al-‘Atabah, after I delivered a lecture to the group’s ladies’ branch.
Hasan al-Banna was in the process of forming a sisters’ branch in the Ikhwan. After reminding me of the necessity of uniting all Muslims and bringing them together, he invited me to preside over the Muslim sisters. This meant the merging of my new-born Muslim Ladies Group, something I was intensely proud of, with the Ikhwan. I promised to discuss al-Banna’s suggestion with our general assembly but said I could not give a guarantee about the result. As it happened, our general assembly rejected the proposal but recommended close co-operation between the two groups.
Thereafter, I met with al-Banna repeatedly and even though each of us maintained our own opinions, our Islamic relationship in no way suffered. At the last meeting which took place between us in the Muslim Ladies Headquarters, I sought to appease him by promising to make the Muslim Ladies Group one of the Ikhwan’s foundation stones, but on condition that we retained our name and independence for the benefit of da’wah. Unable to compromise, al-Banna insisted on a complete merger.
Events moved fast after that, and soon we were dealing with the incidents of 1948.1 A decree was issued to dissolve the Ikhwan group, close down all its branches and confiscate its belongings. Before long, thousands of its members were in jail. The Muslim Sisters (the Ikhwan’s ladies’ branch) had been performing activities they are to be thanked for. One of these sisters was Mrs. Tahiah al-Jubaili, my brother’s wife and cousin, and it was from her that I learned many details. It was then, that I found myself,