Opposition party in Egypt faces dissent from within
Young members argue against religious rigidity in the Muslim Brotherhood, openly criticizing the group in their blogs.
CAIRO — He was a boy in the mosques of Alexandria when the Muslim Brotherhood took him into its fold, inviting him to soccer matches and trips to the seaside.
The brothers told Mustafa Naggar to be true to God and find a mission in life. He has done that. But the spiritual evolution and political ambitions of the 28-year-old dentist have put him at the center of a struggle between conservatives and reformers that may reshape Egypt’s strongest opposition voice.
Naggar is a cheery, unassuming man, but his passionate blog, Waves in the Sea of Change, blames the brotherhood for a religious rigidity that has weakened the Islamic party as a political force and distanced itself from day-to-day concerns of most Egyptians.
He and other young brotherhood members began blogging to attack the government of secular President Hosni Mubarak, but now they have turned their cyber-debate toward their organization’s stands on women’s rights, religious freedom and tolerance.
