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Saudi Journalist Warns: It's 'The Muslim Brotherhood Spring'

  • Religion Today Religious persecution, missions, Christianity around the world
  • Updated May 30, 2012

November 27, 2011

Saudi journalist Mshari al-Zaydi, an expert on Islamic fundamentalism, recently warned in a leading English-language Saudi newspaper of the rise of the extremist Muslim Brotherhood in the Arab Spring. al-Zaydi wrote: "Indeed what we are seeing is a political Islamist tsunami occupying the scene and displacing the 'civil' youth. I recall how many Arab writers at the beginning of this year -- the year of the Arab Spring -- prophesied that what we were witnessing were uprisings staged by non-political civilians and youth, and claimed that not a single radical or ideological slogan was chanted in Cairo's Tahrir Square, or any other Arab public square. They said this proved the Arab regimes were lying to the world ... when they said that should their regimes be toppled, this would result in Islamists and religious fundamentalists coming to power. ... Now, these same well-intentioned writers ... have returned to warn against the Arab Spring being hijacked and despoiled. They have expressed their confusion about the presence and popularity of these radical Islamists who are overwhelming the political scene. ... Rather than expressing shock and surprise, the question that should be asked is: How should we deal with this critical period which should be called the Muslim Brotherhood Spring, not the Arab Spring?"