Tariq Ramadan: Western Apologist for Islamist Totalitarianism

Now that the pot is boiling throughout the Middle East, the stirrers in the West are out in their suave suits, trying to hoodwink us into being relaxed about the threat of totalitarian Islamism.

Tariq Ramadan: apologist for his grandfather, Hassan al-Banna, founder of Islamist totalitarianism and terrorist "martyrdom"

In an op-ed in the New York Times, 8 February 2011, Tariq Ramadan writes of his grandfather, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood:

"...The writings from between 1930 and 1945 of Hassan al-Banna, founder of the Brotherhood, show that he opposed colonialism and strongly criticized the fascist governments in Germany and Italy..." [It's in the New York Times, so it must be true...ha-ha-ha!!]

However, the Muslim Brotherhood, which was the brainchild of al-Banna, was totalitarian, extreme, violent and racist from its beginnings in 1928. It's slogan was and is:

 "God is our purpose, the Prophet our leader, the Qur'an our constitution, Jihad our way and dying for God's cause our supreme objective."

Hassan al-Banna: facsist lover of death

Al-Banna's goal was not restricted to Egyptian politics nor Islamic scholarship. He wanted no less than global dominance, and preached a love of death to achieve it. Does this sound like "anti-colonialism"?...

"...we will not stop at this point [freeing Egypt from secularism and modernity], but will pursue this evil force to its own lands, invade its Western heartland, and struggle to overcome it until all the world shouts by the name of the Prophet and the teachings of Islam spread throughout the world. Only then will Muslims achieve their fundamental goal… and all religion will be exclusively for Allah."

(Habeck, Knowing the enemy - p. 120)

My brothers! The ummah that knows how to die a noble and honourable death is granted an exalted life in this world and eternal felicity in the next. Degradation and dishonour are the results of the love of this world and the fear of death. Therefore prepare for jihad and be the lovers of death. Life itself shall come searching after you. ...You should yearn for an honourable death and you will gain perfect happiness. May Allah grant myself and yours the honour of martyrdom in His way!

From al-Banna's treatise on Jihad.

...so much for "anti-colonialism"...

As for al-Banna's so-called criticism of Fascism, see the Encyclopedia of the Middle East background to the man:

The growth of the Muslim Brotherhood was accompanied or caused in part by the fact that Al-Banna associated it with the German Nazi party and the Third Reich. From the ideological point of view, the Jew hatred, authoritarianism, addiction to violence and desire to defeat the British of both the Muslim Brothers and the Nazis were quite enough to make the two movements find common cause.

The Brotherhood’s political and military alliance with Nazi Germany blossomed into formal state visits, de facto ambassadors, and overt and covert joint ventures. The Muslim Brotherhood transformed Nazi anti-Semitism into a Muslim version, providing Arab translations of Mein Kampf (translated into Arabic as “My Jihad”) and other Nazi anti-Semitic works, including Der Sturmer hate-cartoons, adapted to portray the Jew as the demonic enemy of Allah rather than the German Volk.

When World War II broke out, al-Banna worked to firm up his alliances with Hitler and Mussolini. He sent them letters and emissaries, and urged them to assist him in his struggle against the British and the westernized regime of Egypt's King Farouk. The Intelligence Service of the Muslim Brotherhood vigorously collected information on the heads of the regime in Cairo and on the movements of the British army, offering this and more to the Germans in return for closer relations.