Internet generation versus Brotherhood's conservatives

Cairo: He was a boy in the mosques of Alexandria when the Muslim Brotherhood took him into its fold, inviting him to soccer matches and trips to the seaside.

The Brothers told Mustafa Naggar to be true to God and find a mission in life. He has done that. But the spiritual evolution and political ambitions of the 28-year-old dentist have put him at the centre of a struggle between conservatives and reformers that might reshape Egypt's strongest opposition voice.

Naggar is a cheery, unassuming man, but his passionate blog, Waves in the Sea of Change, blames the brotherhood for a religious rigidity that has weakened the Islamic party as a political force and distanced itself from day-to-day concerns of most Egyptians.

He and other young brotherhood members began blogging to attack the government of secular President Hosni Mubarak, but now they have turned their cyber-debate toward their organisation's stands on women's rights, religious freedom and tolerance.

"Our biggest concern is changing the group's religious education system. It's obsolete and unable to create minds to contribute to an Islamic renaissance," Naggar said. "Our new generation needs an open society toward moderate Islam and away from extremist values."

Identity issues

This Internet revolution strikes at the Muslim Brotherhood's identity. The organisation, founded in 1928, has renounced violence and supports democratic change in Egypt, but it is allied with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Hundreds of the banned party's members are arrested each year; human-rights groups say Mubarak is portraying the brotherhood followers as terrorists in an effort to silence his most potent detractors.

The brotherhood is praised for its community outreach services but often viewed as out of touch, too rooted in religious dogma and its quest for an Islamic state. This ideology and constant pressure from government security forces have left the organisation unable to create a credible coalition with leftists, nationalists and others to seriously challenge the ruling National Democratic Party.

In one of his posts, Naggar urged the brotherhood to "question ourselves and admit our mistakes. It is not shameful to revise our ideas and change our positions. It is not shameful to be brave enough and say that we were mistaken. What is really shameful is not to speak about our mistakes and claim that our ideas are sacred."

Such soul-searching represents an unprecedented public criticism of the bureaucracy and thinking in a major Islamic movement and has shattered the secrecy prized by the brotherhood, said Khalil Anani, an expert on the group. He suggested that the brotherhood's leadership is threatened by its young reformers, yet it needs these Web-savvy critics to reach new generations of Muslims.

Conservative response

The bloggers "have gone beyond their role as a media tool" for the brotherhood and have emerged as "rebels, freed from ideological and organisational constraints," Anani wrote for the magazine Arab Insight. "These bloggers comprise a vanguard ... similar to the student movement that emerged throughout Europe in the late 1960s."

Mahmoud Ezzat, secretary-general of the Muslim Brotherhood and one of the group's staunchest conservatives, said the leadership didn't want its young members to be "scared to voice their beliefs. We are just asking those youth to abide by moral values, not to exaggerate or insult anyone, (and) to double-check whatever they post."

He added, "There should be moral regulations to blogging; otherwise, we won't be able to benefit from this new technology."