Egyptian Reformist Islam Behery: Terrorism Did Not Begin with Muslim Brotherhood; ISIS-Like Ideology Existed in Islamic Caliphates

Egyptian reformist intellectual Islam Behery said in a June 6, 2019 show on Al-Hurra TV (U.S.) that Islamic terrorism did not begin with Hassan Al-Banna and the establishment of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928. Rather, Behery argued that terrorist ideology had been present in the Islamic caliphates that had existed up until then, which he described as terrorist states. Behery argued that the caliphates had perpetrated the same crimes perpetrated by ISIS, such as burning people, raping slave-girls, accusing people of heresy, and aiming to establish a global Islamic state. He also said that the Armenian genocide perpetrated by the Ottomans had been an example of this terrorism. Behery said that Hassan Al-Banna and the Muslim Brotherhood were part of a new era of terrorism that emerged after the fall of Islamic establishments.

Islam Behery: "In one debate, I was asked a very nice question: ‘If you claim that the books of heritage are the reason for terrorism, why did terrorism appear only in 1928, with Hassan Al-Banna?' My answer, of which I am absolutely convinced, is that terrorism had started in [Islamic] establishments, and when the establishment disappeared, terrorism was [embraced] by the [Muslim Brotherhood] organizations. The caliphates throughout the ages, starting with Yazid Ibn Mu'awiya – let's not get into an argument about all those who preceded him – and all the way to the end of the Ottoman state, had been terrorist caliphates. Terrorist states ruled the people and perpetrated all the same things ISIS does. ISIS burns people, and this happened in the past. ISIS rapes women who are considered slave-girls, and this happened in the past. ISIS wants to establish a state that will spread all over the world, by means of swords, bombs, and fire... All of this has happened in the past. ISIS accuses all the people on Earth of heresy. This has happened in the past. What would you call the massacre of the Armenians by the Ottoman state? These were ages of a terrorist caliphate. The terrorism was organized by the establishment.

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"In 1921 – three years after the collapse of the [Ottoman] caliphate in 1925 – Hassan Al-Banna and the Muslim Brotherhood emerged and a new era of terrorism began."