Ikhwanweb :: The Muslim Brotherhood Official English Website

Omar el Sherif, the famous Egyptian actor, stated that "MB does not threaten the art, we will not be worried about both innovation or art during the strong existence of MB in the parliament".

Some Egyptian critics and writers thought that the MB"s victory in the recent parliamentary elections hides an expected danger threatening the freedom of innovation and forms a beginning of backward era for Egyptian arts. However, an MB prominent leader affirmed that the group is not against the freedom of innovation and will not try to impose its opinions.

Omar el Sherif said during the International Cairo Cinema Festival "MB does not pose any threat to the art; as I know them for a long time, they do not oppose the art. I remember some cadres of MB, in the 1950s, who were interested in watching the artistic and cinematic works". 

"This is a fabricated issue, those who spread it don’t know the ideas of MB and it may be for political gains, but their victory in the parliament is not bad thing", el Sherif added.

In his interpretation of the advances of MB in the parliamentary elections, he said "88 seats are not an evidence of democracy in Egypt! because those who participated in the parliamentary elections do not exceed 20% or 25%, meanwhile the majority of the Egyptians; 80%, did not vote in the elections, when those people express their opinion, we can talk about democracy in Egypt". 

Optimistic view

The actor and founding member of Kefaya "Enough" opposition movement, Abdul- Azeez Makhyon, said that MB does not threaten the Egyptian art, "on the contrary, I"m very optimistic of their victory in the parliament, because it is a great chance to stand against corruption under the banner of art", Makhyon added.

Makhyon rejected the fears spread by the media that the MB will impose a strict form of Islam, which leads to restricting the arts "those who spread that about the MB; why were they silent while the Arab and Islamic communities were the victim of all kinds of trivial arts, which destroyed the supreme values, meanwhile they let the bad art work on spoiling the families and touch their desires".

Actress Fardos Abdul- Hameed said "we must wait to see the MB"s activities on the ground, we must wait to accurately measure the MB in the parliament, the practical experiment will disclose their stances, and particularly we don’t know their opinions about the art".
 
Great Ambiguity
 

Mamdouh al-Leathi, head of the Cinematic Professions Syndicate, said "there is a great ambiguity about MB"s stance on the art and cinema, we may disagree with them about restricting the art, generally the actors reject any religious restriction on the artistic innovation".
"We did not recognize their real vision about the art and innovation. If they depended on the principle of lawful and unlawful opinions, it will be a dangerous indicator and the Egyptian art will lose its rich works, moreover, the extremists will have an opportunity to pose their bad visions on the community", he added.
Al-Leathi agrees with Ferdaws Abdul- Hameed that the practical experiment will show the real stance of MB on the art.
He indicated saying "There are scientific standards for each artistic work to evaluate it, set by the artists and specialists, meanwhile the fanaticism is completely rejected. We are ready to discuss the art issue to go on the best standards and upgrade it according to the artistic values".
Fears
The cinematic writer and artistic critic, Ra"ouf Tawfeeq, warns of the consequences of the victory of MB in the parliament with this great number. He says "the recent trial of the Islamists proved that they concentrated on the cultural and artistic issues considering them the most affecting ones on the people and the most popular to them. I see that the MB will impose their plans on this sector, also they may concentrate on the educational sector to bring the new generations according to their thoughts and plans like what happened before in Afghanistan".  
"They will attack the culture and arts, then we will hear sentences such as (this book is misleading), (this film is unlawful), (this play is infidel), (this song is sin), (this picture is showing the private parts) and (this statue is devilish), thus they will face every innovation by the principle of "lawful and unlawful", and will paint the women picture with black color, and force some of us to lag until the light of Egypt is turned off", Tawfeeq added.

We believe in the Freedom of Innovation

Dr. Abdul-Mon`im Abul- Fotouh, a member of the Executive Bureau of MB, commented on these fears saying "there is an intended and unintended mistake in understanding the issue of art and MB. As we believe in the freedom of belief, we believe in the freedom of innovation that is the basis of life".
Abul- Fotouh said "I think those who spread that concept about MB don’t know any thing about them. The founder of the group Hasan al-Banna used to accompany his Arab and foreign guests to go to artistic shows in the Cairo Opera House, he was sponsoring the troupes that was spread all over Egypt before the revolution". 

"Late chairman of MB `Omar al-Telmesany was fond of the music and songs, and also fond of Om-kolthoom, I myself like their songs too", Abul- Fotouh added.
As for the way the MB will deal with the artistic issues, Abul- Fotouh declared that: " we have two ways; first: persuasion, dialogue to convince the other side of our opinion, depending on the rule that "our opinion is right and may be wrong, and there may be a mistake that can be amended", as we are not all angels!!.
 Second: The judiciary and applying the laws; as we will not apply our thought by force or by the executive decisions, this is the weapon of ignored people and the way to totalitarianism and corruption of the community. This is what happened in the previous years. The majority of the community does not know that MB supports the art and innovation that implant virtue, and contribute in building a healthy community with the roots of freedom, justice .