The Muslim Brotherhood's main presidential candidate Khairat al-Shater seeks to fundamentally Islamize Egyptian society if elected, according to newly uncovered footage of an extended address he gave supporters last year shortly after his release from prison.
Egyptian activists have transcribed Shater's 90-minute address into English, offering a rare glimpse into the worldview of the normally tight-lipped candidate who is a frontrunner in upcoming elections to lead the Arab world's most populous state.
Shater delivered the address, entitled "The Islamic Renaissance Project," in Alexandria on April 21, 2011, less than two months after his release from prison. The veteran Brotherhood financier had served four years of a seven-year sentence for money laundering and membership in the once-banned Islamist group when he was freed in the aftermath of President Hosni Mubarak's ouster.
Footage of his remarks has been available on YouTube for the past year, but only in Arabic. Following Shater's announcement as the Brotherhood's candidate late last month, activists from the Egyptian Union of Liberal Youth translated and transcribed the video and last week posted it online. The English translation is now available on the homepage of Current Trends in Islamist Ideology, a journal published by the US-based Hudson Institute.
"Everywhere, the Brothers are working to restore Islam in its all-encompassing conception to the lives of people," Shater says in the address. "Thus the mission is clear: restoring Islam in its all-encompassing conception, subjugating people to God, instituting the religion of God, the Islamization of life, empowering of God's religion, establishing the renaissance of the ummah [worldwide Muslim nation] on the basis of Islam... Every aspect of life is to be Islamized."
"We call upon God Almighty to make this transformation the beginning of a new renaissance for the ummah and the shaking off of the state of backwardness from which it has suffered for decades," Shater says in the clip. "As Muslim Brothers, it is imperative that we, as well as the entirety of the ummah, God willing, take advantage of this revolution which took place in Egypt and continues in the countries surrounding us." |