Book throws light on life of former Brotherhood members

Menna Abdelrazik

Turkey has become a main refuge for the leaders and the members of the Muslim Brotherhood, especially after the Arab Spring revolutions in Arab countries. It also hosts a large number of Arab families coming from countries affected by wars.

A new book comes to throw light on the life of the members and the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood in Turkey.

Called “Exit from the Group: Self, Society and State”, the book is written by researcher Mustafa al-Menshawi. It came out at the end of 2019. The book especially details the accounts of those quitting the Muslim Brotherhood in Turkey, Qatar, Egypt and the UK.

Capital

The number of Arabs in Turkey rose to 5 million in 2019, from 1.5 million before 2011. This encouraged these Arabs to establish a federation of Arab communities in Turkey.

Most of the members of the Muslim Brotherhood live in Istanbul. Nevertheless, there are also Arab liberals, leftists and even socialists who live in the Turkish capital.

Istanbul’s free lifestyle has had a deep effect on the way of thinking of most of the members of the Muslim Brotherhood, according to the book.

Exiting heaven

The book cites the accounts of some of the members of the Muslim Brotherhood who walked out of the movement. It mentions the case of a 22-year-old woman who committed suicide because of the difficulties she ran into after quitting the Muslim Brotherhood.

Called Zeinab al-Mahdi, the woman was a member of the campaign of former Islamist presidential candidate Abdel Monem Abul Fotouh in Egypt.