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MEMRI Daily-March 5, 2012: Five Reports on Egypt MEMRI Daily: March 5, 2012 The following is research published today from the MEMRI Special Dispatch Series and TV Monitor Project. Former Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiyya Leader Nageh Ibrahim Presents Liberal Views and Says: The Islamic Caliphate Should Be Modeled after the European Union Egyptian Cleric Abd Al-Maguid Al-Shazli: Islamists Should Bear Arms to Defend the Coming Islamic Revolution in Egypt Sunni Scholar Sheikh Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi: The Head of a Muslim State Must Be a Muslim AQAP Operative: If the MB Joins the US War against the Mujahideen, Nothing Will Prevent Us from Fighting It In Ninth Installment of Message to People of Egypt, Al-Qaeda Leader Al-Zawahiri Says U.S. Global Dominance Is Declining, Urges Egyptian Regime to Revoke Peace Agreement with Israel, and Calls on Islamic Movements to Unite Special Dispatch No. 4548—Egypt/Europe and the Arab and Muslim World/Democratization in the Arab and Muslim World Former Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiyya Leader Nageh Ibrahim Presents Liberal Views and Says: The Islamic Caliphate Should Be Modeled after the European Union Following are excerpts from an interview with Egyptian Islamist Nageh Ibrahim, one of the leaders of Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiyya, which aired on Rotana Egypt TV on January 25, 2012: To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/3312.htm. Nageh Ibrahim: "The way to treat Islamist ideology or any form of extremism is through pluralism. In Al-Azhar, there was pluralism in religious law and later in politics. Al-Azhar would send its most prominent graduates to Europe, where they would experience religious pluralism firsthand. Egypt also has religious pluralism, because we have Christians here, and we used to have Jews. It contained all types of pluralism. Pluralism shapes one's personality." To read the full report, visit http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/6147.htm. Special Dispatch No. 4547—Egypt/Arab Spring Egyptian Cleric Abd Al-Maguid Al-Shazli: Islamists Should Bear Arms to Defend the Coming Islamic Revolution in Egypt Following are excerpts from an interview with Egyptian cleric Abd Al-Maguid Al-Shazli at a comrade's funeral, which was attended by Egyptian presidential candidate Hazem Abu Ismail. The interview was posted on the Internet on February 24, 2012. To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/3338.htm. Abd Al-Maguid Al-Shazli: "The Islamic nation is alive and well, and ultimately, it will be victorious. This presentation is meant to [inaudible]. Then the banner of jihad was raised in Afghanistan by themujahid sheik Osama bin Laden, may Allah have mercy upon him and accept him among the righteous. When Osama bin Laden was martyred, the banner was raised by Ayman Al-Zawahiri, and the message of jihad continued to be borne by the Taliban and Al-Qaeda." To read the full report, visit http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/6146.htm. MEMRI TV Clip No. 3327 Sunni Scholar Sheikh Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi: The Head of a Muslim State Must Be a Muslim Following are excerpts from an interview with Sunni scholar Sheikh Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi, which aired on the Al-Jazeera Network on February 19, 2012: Interviewer: "Citizenship means equality between all people in a certain country, whether Muslims on non-Muslims. In a country with multiple sectarian and religious denominations, can the head of state be non-Muslim?" To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/3327.htm. Special Dispatch No. 4546—Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor AQAP Operative: If the MB Joins the US War against the Mujahideen, Nothing Will Prevent Us from Fighting It Note to media and government: For a full copy of this report, send an email with the title of the report in the subject line to media@memri.org. Please include your name, title, and organization in your email. The jihadi forum Shumoukh Al-Islam published the second in a series of interviews conducted by journalist 'Abd Al-Razaq Al-Jamal with Sheikh Fahd Al-Qasa' Al-'Awalaki, an Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) operative. Dated February 22, 2012, the interview was produced by AQAP's media company, Al-Malahim. In the interview, Al-Qasa' denounced the notion of elections and democracy, claiming that the only legitimate rule was that of Allah. He said that Al-Qaeda would not be satisfied with anything other than the implementation of shari'a law. He accused the US of pulling the strings of Yemen's leaders for three decades, calling the US embassy there the real seat of power in the country. However, he emphasized that US interference in the Arabian Peninsula would end in utter defeat, as it had in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia. Al-Qasa' hinted that his organization had not ruled out the option of carrying out attacks in foreign countries, since the war with the enemies of Islam was not yet over. Finally, he said that if the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) agreed to US demands to join its war on terror, AQAP could be expected to fight against the MB. To read the full report, visit http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/6145.htm. To view this report, you must be a paying member of the Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor Project (JTTM). For membership information, send an email to jttmsubs@memri.org with "Membership" in the subject line. Special Dispatch No. 4545—Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor In Ninth Installment of Message to People of Egypt, Al-Qaeda Leader Al-Zawahiri Says U.S. Global Dominance Is Declining, Urges Egyptian Regime to Revoke Peace Agreement with Israel, and Calls on Islamic Movements to Unite Note to media and government: For a full copy of this report, send an email with the title of the report in the subject line to media@memri.org. Please include your name, title, and organization in your email. On February 29, 2012, the Al-Qaeda media company Al-Sahab released the ninth installment of Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri's address to the Egyptian people. In the 25-minute audio recording, titled "So Why Did We Revolt Against Him?" Al-Zawahiri says that the recent U.S. decision to cut its defense budget indicates a decline in its global dominance. He reminds the Muslims of Egypt's historic role as leader of the Muslim world, and states that any self-respecting Egyptian government must revoke, or at least reexamine, the Egypt-Israel peace agreement. The following is a summary of his message: Al-Zawahiri begins by reviewing a number of the topics that he addressed in the seventh and eight installments of the series. Congratulating the Muslim nation for the decline in the U.S.'s global dominance, he notes that the most recent sign of this decline was the U.S. decision to cut its defense budget and to launch talks with the Afghan Taliban – a development, he said, that was achieved by the grace of Allah, who enabled the mujahideen to deal severe blows to this "modern evil empire." To read the full report, visit http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/6144.htm. To view this report, you must be a paying member of the Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor Project (JTTM). For membership information, send an email to jttmsubs@memri.org with "Membership" in the subject line.