Trends Center for Research and Advisory opened its participation in the 32nd edition of the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair 2023 by launching the tenth book of the Muslim Brotherhood encyclopedia. A sideline discussion was held about the book and was attended by a group of intellectuals, researchers and some audience of the exhibition’s visitors.
The book was launched at the TRENDS Stand in the Hall number (10) where the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair is held at Abu Dhabi International Exhibition Center. This was followed by a discussion, initiated by a panel of experts who reviewed the tenth book of the Brotherhood Encyclopedia.
Mr. Muhammad Al-Salimi, a Senior Researcher at TRENDS Research & Advisory, opened the seminar about the tenth book of the Encyclopedia entitled: "The Muslim Brotherhood Attitude towards political rights and freedoms: Conflict of values and exploitation for the sake of narrow interests.” He said that the book exposes the truth about the Brotherhood's vision of some public rights and freedoms. These include political participation, the peaceful transfer of power, freedom of expression and scientific research, freedom of belief, in addition to civil society institutions and women rights.
Al-Salimi added that the Muslim Brotherhood always maintain a perpetual discourse addressed to the West that it respects public rights and freedoms and accepts democracy and the mechanisms of peaceful transfer of power. He indicated that the book is an attempt to explore answers to some important questions: Does the group really respect those rights? Does it accept and respect democracy and peaceful transfer of power mechanisms and respects them?
Ms. Noura AlHabsi, Director of Publications Department at TRENDS, said that the book is part of a series on the Muslim Brotherhood. She explained that TRENDS is working on this project which aims to shed light on all organizational, intellectual and ideological aspects of the group. She that TRENDS Center endeavors to deliver a comprehensive analysis covering the phenomenon of political Islam. This book is a continuation of TRENDS’ belief in the importance on delivering insightful research in the face of detrimental ideas, to help refute the false discourse that the Brotherhood is trying to promote.
Ms. Noura indicated that the Encyclopedia consists of 35 books covering nine main themes: the origins, domestic interactions, transitions at the level of discourse and practice. The book covers the group’s external relations, its regional and global outreach, their position on regional crises and issues and their relationship with extremist and terrorist organizations. The study includes an analysis of the group’s position towards the so-called "Arab Spring", as well of some relevant independent studies.
Noura AlHabsi said that the encyclopedia has so far published 10 books, some of which have been translated into 15 foreign languages. She explained that the aim of translating these books is to contribute effectively to the efforts being made to raise public awareness of the lethal nature of the ideas promoted by the Muslim Brotherhood. The series would expose the fabricated ides that the Brotherhood is trying to sell to the Western world.
The aim of the encyclopedia is to expose the false presumptions of this group, its chameleon tendencies, approaches and teachings. The study clarifyies the facts and warns of the dangers posed by the group’s extremist ideas. Ms. AlHabsi explained the procedure to obtain these books. She said that TRENDS Center is keen to make the encyclopedia books and all other books available to the readers, through many tools. They include digital copies of these books on the Center’s website, where they are sold at nominal prices. Many copies are distributed through book exhibitions in which the center participates, where those who wish can easily obtain them.
Khaled Abdelhamid, Head of political Islam department, TRENDS RESEARCH and ADVISORY, said that the book is the first in the third part of the Muslim Brotherhood’s encyclopedia. It is entitled: "The transformation of the Muslim Brotherhood at the level of discourse and practice." In addition to studying the Brotherhood's position on public rights and freedoms, three other issues will be addressed in the following three books: the Brotherhood's position on the nation-state (Book 11), the Brotherhood's position on minorities and others (Book 12) - and the issue of revisions and the Brotherhood's attitude towards them.
He indicated that the book seeks to achieve a set of goals. The cover exposing the vision and true perception of the Muslim Brotherhood of concepts related to public freedoms, such as political participation, peaceful transfer of power, freedom of belief, expression, thought and scientific research, civil society and women's issues. The book analyses the reality of these concepts as held by the group’s thinkers and theorists. It reviews their literature, and reveal the gap between the theory and practice of the group in relation to these concepts. The study explores whether the group seeks to exploit these concepts in order to achieve its goals and tries to understand if the Brotherhood really believes in them. The study reveals that the group conceals its real face in dealing with political concepts. The real face is known to its members only, while they try to propagate the disguised one to an external or foreign audience.
Mr. Khaled explained the methodology of preparing this book and its reliance on documented sources as well as classified sources protected by specialists. He said that book is divided into five chapters, stressing that the Muslim Brotherhood deals with the concepts of political participation and peaceful transfer of power, with a kind of opportunism and pragmatism on the basis of what the group assumes as the “religious jurisprudence of taqiyyah.” It is a sort of a Machiavellian philosophy that the group’s ultimate end is to reach power and establish the Brotherhood’s perceived state. They move towards leading the world under the slogan "Prophecy of the Most knowledgeable", according to the ideas of Hassan al-Banna, the grand founder of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Khaled Abdelhamid said that the book revealed a huge gap between the group’s public acceptance and respect of rights and freedoms and their actual practice in relation to these rights and freedoms. In fact, the Brotherhood’s acceptance and respect for these values turned into just worthless slogans, and are being used to achieve some of the group's narrow purposes in order to conceal their true nature.
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