The Muslim Brotherhood: Now on Facebook

Never mind Scrabulous, will there be a Halal or Haram application? "Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood goes on-line on Facebook," from Adnkronos International, July 25:

Cairo, 25 July (AKI) - The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has launched a discussion forum on Facebook, the popular social networking website.

A group of young Muslims decided to put the Muslim Brotherhood on Facebook after they received the go-ahead to do so from the Brotherhood's second-in-command, Muhammad Habib.

The creators of the project decided to call themselves an "electronic student cell of the Muslim Brotherhood" and their aim to to push for the return of an Islamic Caliphate [a Muslim state]."

The Muslim Brotherhood has been outlawed by the Egyptian government, which accuses the group of encouraging violence in order to establish an Islamic state.

This new youth wing decided to choose the Internet as a way to spread their message.

Their political activity is also not limited to Egypt either but is aimed at Muslims all around the world.

The new discussion forum on Facebook is based on five points.

The first is the organisation of protests in all Muslim countries for the salvation of Islam and issues of the Islamic nation.

The second issue refers to the spread of the stories of the Prophet Mohammad with regards to the caliphate and the third point is a request to all imams to talk about this issue in their sermons.

The fourth and fifth points are spreading of leaflets to remind Muslims of the importance of the caliphate and to sensitize all Islamic parties and organisations to support this initiative.

This forum on Facebook was endorsed by Habib, even if he believes that this group of young people are not actually militants of his movement.

"I do not think that the youth of the Muslim Brotherhood do something like this because they cannot think in this way," said Habib in an interview with Arab satellite television network Al-Arabiya.

"Our young people follow the direction of the management and they do not work separately, starting individual activities without waiting for the common decision of the movement," he said.

Despite the remarks by Habib, other Muslim Brotherhood leaders, such as the parliamentarian, Hamdi Hasan, have strongly criticised the initiative of the youth group.

"It is based on a campaign that does not have sense and could be read as an internal division of his movement promoted by the new generation," said Hasan.