Brother Tariq: The Doublespeak of Tariq Ramadan by Caroline Fourest Read Free Book Online Page A

refused to join the Muslim Brotherhood, despite Hassan al-Banna's insistence-which infuriated
the Guide and embarrassed al-Ghazali. She came up with another solution:
"On the occasion of our last meeting at the Muslim Sisters' headquarters I
had tried to calm the late al-Banna's anger by promising, as a gesture of support for the imam, to have the Association of Muslim Women figure among
the Muslim Brotherhood organizations, without, however, abandoning its
identity, its name or its autonomy."44 The imam accepted this form of alle giance in a letter: "I have accepted your oath of allegiance and agree that the
Muslim Women will, for the moment, keep the same status."45 The phrase
"for the moment" serves to remind us that the Guide always proceeded in
stages. Thus al-Ghazali decided to ignore the refusal expressed by her followers and underhandedly pledged allegiance to the Guide without their knowing of it. While denying that she was in any way linked to the Brotherhood,
she became its agent and oriented her associatiori s policies in line with its
strategy. This taste for dissimulation was not unusual for the Brotherhood; it
was a reflex inherent in their way of functioning.

Built-in doublespeak
    From the very start, the Muslim Brotherhood has been based on an ambiguity: that of being at one and the same time an organized movement and a way
of thinking. The movement's founding law, which dates from 1945, defines
an "active member" as someone who has pledged allegiance to the Guide, but
the great majority of those committed to serve the Brotherhood's ideology
do so on an informal basis. These agents spread al-Banna's message and his
methods, without being an integral part of the organization.
    The movement had, to be sure, an official structure that represented
it in political dealings with institutions. The Brotherhood even had a flag:
two crossed swords with the Koran as a background. The organization's
officers introduced themselves as members of the Muslim Brotherhood if,
in so doing, negotiations with the Egyptian government or other administrations were facilitated. But the Brotherhood consisted of much more
than this official facade. Some sections were engaged in infiltration operations that were of necessity undercover. Other sections organized terrorist
attacks that had to be publicly condemned so as not to discredit the official
line taken by the head office. Steps were taken to separate, as far as possible, the sections that were in the public eye from the undercover cells,
either because the latter were more radical or because their mission had to
remain confidential. This led to the creation of an unofficial branch, known
as the Secret Organization, in charge of the most sensitive operations. As
well as this division into official and secret branches, the informal nature of the movement's organization meant that it was always possible to prevent
its active supporters from being identified. If a member of the Brotherhood was caught engaged in a mission prejudicial to the movement's public image, the official branch could deny having any connection with him.
And conversely, if the fact of being exposed as a Muslim Brother threatened
the success of a mission, the latter could always deny belonging to the organization. You could say it was the movement's golden rule. Many fraternities resort to lies and dissimulation in their dealings with the outside world
if that serves to protect them and help them achieve their objectives-the
Muslim Brotherhood more so than any other. Trained in the Sufi fraternity,
al-Banna admitted that he had been marked for life by the advice given him
by his sheikh, who taught him the advantages of speaking with two voices:
"I remember that, among his wise teachings, one was to prevent the Brothers who were his disciples from expressing themselves too freely in debates
on judicial issues or on obscure questions, or to repeat in front of ordinary people what