Mubarak’s years in office and the Muslim Brotherhood’s political rise

Shaimaa Hefzi

The terrorist Muslim Brotherhood group hijacked the revolution of the Egyptian people in 2011 on the road to reaching power in Egypt.

This was not, however, the first political breakthrough for the group under the late president Hosni Mubarak.

Mubarak died on February 22, at the age of 92. This came nine years after he stepped down, following the January 25 revolution of 2011.

Relations between Mubarak and the Muslim Brotherhood raised a lot of questions and doubts about whether each of the two sides used the other. Mubarak was accused of using the Muslim Brotherhood. Nonetheless, the terrorist group succeeded in implementing its strategy under his rule.

Islamism researcher, Khalid al-Zaafarani, said Mubarak helped empower the Muslim Brotherhood which was weaker than the Salafist current in the 1980s.

“There was obscurity on relations between the two sides for some time,” al-Zaafarani said. “However, Mubarak made remarks that helped the Muslim Brotherhood.”

In 1993, Mubarak defended the group in an interview with the French magazine, Le Monde. Nonetheless, he criticized it a short time later.

On November 1, 1993, the Egyptian daily, al-Ahram, quoted Mubarak as saying that the Muslim Brotherhood preferred political action to violent opposition.

He referred to the success of the Brotherhood in gaining presence in some state institutions and winning the elections of some professional unions.

Mukhtar Noah, a former lawyer of Islamist movements, referred to what he described as an “agreement” between Mubarak and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Mubarak allowed the Brotherhood, he said, to act within specific limits.

“The problem was that the Muslim Brotherhood grew and became uncontrollable for Mubarak,” Noah said.

Mubarak watched Muslim Brotherhood presence in the streets very closely. He used it as a pressure card against Egyptian political parties and the United States. The late president used to warn the U.S. against the dangers the Muslim Brotherhood posed to Israel’s security.

The Muslim Brotherhood also backed the idea of Mubarak’s younger son, Gamal, succeeding his father, Noah said.