The forbidden art of the Muslim Brotherhood (part 2)

The songs of the MB were not confined to the enthusiastic songs of the 1950s or the Islamic wedding songs of the 1990s; they extended beyond the events of January 25, 2011, to contribute significantly to stir up the political battles that took place among the various forces within Egypt; MB, by forming an anthem to support Khairat al-Shater, the first deputy leader of the time, immediately after the group announced its candidacy in the presidential elections.

When the Electoral Commission announced that Al-Shater was out of the presidential race, members of the group composed other songs to support Dr. Mohamed Morsi, including “Al Nahda Arakat Shaab” by Sameh Hosni, “I Hakhtar Dr. Morsi” by Mustafa El Sawy, The success of the anthems A. Mahmoud Al-Sharif Nasheed “and Ashan Keda we chose Morsi.”

There were many members of the Muslim Brotherhood and their leaders; they admitted to listening to songs, such as the third leader, Omar Tlemceni. Lathrout al-Kharbawi, the dissident leader, wrote a book called “The Heart of the MB”; he admitted that he was still listening to Umm Kulthum’s songs, as well as Sayyed Qutb’s book “Artistic Photography in the Holy Quran.”

According to the late researcher Hossam Tammam, in his book “Transformations of the MB,” p. 91, the number of Islamic singing teams licensed in Egypt, more than fifty bands, including five teams of all its members of women and girls, in addition to dozens of other teams, This number doubled after the January 2011 revolution, but was curtailed by freezing the activity of these groups during the fall of the Brotherhood and the overthrow of Mercy from the Federal Palace in the June 2013 revolution.

MB`S Theater

Hassan al-Banna had a vision of exploiting the theater to mobilize the intellectuals behind his group. The theater in the 1920s occupied a high place in the taste of Egyptian society in all its strata. In his book “Transformations of the Muslim Brotherhood” He founded the MB`s theater.

In his book “Hassan al-Banna and the experience of art”, p. 7, al-Banna was keen to establish theatrical groups within each section of MB

The same meaning was confirmed by Sayed Darwish, coordinator of the technical committee of the dissolved Freedom and Justice Party, while commenting on episodes 23 and 24 of Al-Jama’a al-Mizan program on Cairo and Al-Nas. He said: “Al-Banna did not establish a house of the MB, Theater “, despite the exaggeration in this statement, but it is on the custody of the author, and the interest of” Banna “theater, as a means of advocacy, which has two main tasks: the first: to promote the ideas of the group and to make it look decent, and second: the mobilization and recruitment of new elements.

A number of the MB claims that “this theater and these teams have represented the Islamic tournaments and conquests, and have worked to spread the virtues of morality and makrima only.” However, Abdulrahman Al Banna, dealing with the most famous stories in Arab history! A number of famous artists participated, such as: George White, Ahmad Allam, Abbas Fares, Hassan Baroudi, Fotouh Nashati, Mahmoud El Meligy, and women’s actors Fatma Rushdi and Aziza Amir.

In addition to this romantic play, a large number of the plays and plays of MB were intended to implant the values of the community in the receiving audience and to shape these values in the consciousness through theatrical art as a soft force at the time, which is noticed recently in the nineties of the last century through Follow-up sketches of the group that they represented in various meetings and events.

The embodiment of God and the representation of the prophets

Despite the jurisprudential debate on the inviolability of the representation of prophets and companions in the works of art, and the assertion of many Islamic scholars on the inviolability and non-permissibility, but MB does not care about this and do not care about it, and do not stand at the limits of Halal and Haram in terms of art, unlike other groups, To make the embodiment of the Prophet of God Abraham and his son Ismail – peace be upon them – in the play “Sacrifice”, which drew them because of the sharp criticism of old and recent was the last of Said Azim, a member of the Board of the former Salafist advocacy, that they not only embody the prophets, They came with man to embody a role God in this play !, pointing out that all the jurisprudential councils at the level of the minimum unanimously on the impossibility of representation of a prophet of the prophets, as well as the embodiment of God, God Almighty for that a great height.

The play “Abdulrahman Al-Nasir” was the first to include famous artists such as Zuzu Nabil, Rafia Al-Shala, Naima Wasfi, and then asked the artist “Malak” (King of the name) (Born 1902 in Cairo and died in 1983) from Abdulrahman Al-Banna, the author of a play for her. She performed the play “Saadi” on her stage (“King’s Opera”). This was done at the time by the Legal Society and Al-Azhar Al- Out of religion and the spread of vice and corruption) but the Brotherhood did not mobilize that too.

In his book “Transformations of MB”, p. 88, Hossam Tammam says: “The theater featured women among them the biggest stars of the Egyptian theater, headed by Fatima Rushdie. His performances were performed in well-known theaters including the Opera Theater, But also non-Muslims, was responsible for propaganda Christian. “

In addition to Shafiq Nooruddin, Saad Ardash, Hamdi Ghaith and Abdullah Ghaith, according to Essam Talima, a member of the group.

Between “Banna” and Anwar Wagdy

Al-Banna met Anwar Wagdy by accident at a bank and said to him: Brother Anwar, you are not infidel and not disobedient because of your work. , arts is not haraam per se, but it is haraam if the subject matter is haraam, and you and your fellow arts can offer great service to Islam if you produce movies or plays that call for morals. You will be more able to spread the Islamic call from many preachers and imams Mosques “.

In his book “The Transformations of MB “, p. 88 and beyond, Tammam also noted that there is a recent in the unwritten MB literature about Hassan al-Banna’s attempts to enter the cinema with the help of some of the stars of this period who were known for their religious leanings. He went on to point out that Banna’s relationship with Sadaki is historically uncertain and has yielded nothing.

The talk about Hasan al-Banna and his relationship with art did not stop at the mere hymns, sketches and plays. He was a supporter of drawing, painting and caricatures. He ordered to fight the party that appeared in Egypt, the foreign occupation and the destructive principles of caricature. P. 47 and beyond.