Muslim Brotherhood website takes on Islamophobes

Ikhwanophobia

Supporters of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood are squaring up to Western “Ikhwanophobes” via a new watchdog website.

Ikhwanophobia.com highlights articles and statements by prominent Western media and political figures that are critical of the Brotherhood and Islam.

In a section called Meet the Smearcasters, the site takes aim at Fox News personality Sean Hannity, televangelist Pat Robertson and far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders, among others.

The manager of the website, Omar Mazin, told the BBC that the site was launched in June to address Ikhwanophobia in the West – Ikhwan being the Arabic word for brotherhood.

The website defines Ikhwanophobes – another term it coined – as those who believe Muslim Brotherhood members are religious fanatics, violent towards non-Muslims, and contemptuous of values such as equality, tolerance and democracy.

The site operates without censorship or direct supervision from the Brotherhood’s leadership, Mr Mazin told the BBC, and is managed from Egypt and abroad in consultation with Arab and Western intellectuals and academics.

“We monitor the Ikhwanophobes and their allegations and republish their material and comment on it in order to expose the Islamophobes and Ikhwanophobes,” he says.

BBC News, 6 September 2010