Freshly appointed Interim Supreme Guide, Ibrahim Mounir, the spokesman of the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe, who has presided over the “International Organisation” of the Brotherhood since 1982, makes thinly veiled threats against France, accusing Macron of “disrespecting 2 billion Muslims” and reaffirming the supremacy of the laws of Allah over those of the Republic…

Full translation:

In the name of Allah the Compassionate and Merciful.

Excellency, French President Emmanuel Macron

Yours sincerely,

Following your speech on Islam and the Muslim Brotherhood on 1 October 2020, allow us to address you as President of the French Republic, firstly, and the French people, secondly, through this letter in which we will comment on what you said about Islam, which is allegedly in crisis, and on the Muslim Brotherhood, which was targeted by your description of separatism, extremism, the instrumentalization of religion and the attempt to establish a parallel regime in denial of the republic, as well as other grievances that your accusations included.

We would have liked your evocation of Islam, as the last of the monotheistic religions, to be done in a way that respects the feelings of more than two billion Muslims and in accordance with the truths established by the research centres, through their uninterrupted studies of Islam, its jurisprudence and legislation. This is to ensure that your discourse is in line with the conclusions of the said studies and research, rather than being in line with the policies of certain countries subject to foreign influences and the imperatives of internal partisan competition, departing from scientific and historical truths which are a thousand miles away from the well-known negative reactions of the specialised services.

Excellency President,

Any comparison of the thought and principles of Islam and the degree of attachment of its followers to it, with the reality and history of the heirs of the French revolution and the ideas of its philosophers who inflamed the crowds in their aspiration to find supporters of human freedom, equality among them and their right to express their convictions, such as the ideas expressed in the writings of the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, would surely not be in favour of the heirs of this revolution. And this is in flagrant contradiction to what you affirmed in your recent speech.

We wish to affirm to you, to the French people and to all the peoples of the world that the thought of the brotherhood of the Muslim Brothers, which emanates from the religion to which its followers are attached, has always known how to overcome the blunders of certain regimes, which deliberately work to push them to renounce their religion, and which use illegal and inhuman excesses to distort this religion. And everyone follows and knows these excesses.

We affirm that the reality, known throughout the world, is the attachment of the supporters of this thought to the respect of the given word and oaths, to the commitment of citizenship and its rights in each country where they are, to the respect of its laws that constitute the basis of life on its territory. And their duties are not limited to this commitment, but also to the preservation of its security, since the bearer of this thought has become a member of its people.

The events that the world has experienced during the years of activity of the Brotherhood, which are approaching one hundred years, bear witness to this. And we did not expect your speech to make such accusations that people find inaccurate, even from a secular point of view. We would have preferred it not to have been uttered by the President of the French Republic.

Best regards to you and the French people.

Ibrahim Mounir

Interim General Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood

Monday 18 Safar 1442, equivalent to 5 October 2020.