Word: abdul
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...news? Egyptian soldiers assassinating Anwar Sadat? A Palestinian suicide bomber blowing up an Israeli market? In an age when Islamic fundamentalism has become a cliche associated with gruesome acts of terrorism, one image that usually does not spring up is that of a Muslim activist like Mohammed Abdul Koddus...
...Abdul Koddus, 50, an Egyptian writer, is a prominent member of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamic political group founded in 1928 that has been banned by the government. He prays five times a day, campaigns for an Islamic republic and pens frank public critiques of President Hosni Mubarak's regime. His opinions have landed him in prison a few times and in all likelihood will do so again...
...from being a Koran-thumping, bomb-toting fanatic, Abdul Koddus is a self-described Islamic liberal, a teddy bear of a man who denounces terrorism and sings the praises of some features of Western democracy. He avoids the austere robes that are de rigueur for bearded hard-liners and favors smart Italian-style sport jackets. In 22 years of marriage, he says, he has never pressured his attractive wife to cover her hair with the Islamic hijab, as required by strictly observant Muslims. "Yes, I have a beard, but I trim it every day so that my wife can kiss...
...Abdul Koddus--reasonable-sounding, charming and passionate--represents a potent modern brand of Islamic activism. It is still activism. Like Islamic extremists, Abdul Koddus argues that centuries of imperialism have corrupted and weakened Islamic countries. He and other relative moderates believe despots should be removed, Israel abolished and society governed by Islamic law. But Abdul Koddus shuns violence, seeking change through gradual transformation...
...Abdul Koddus was pressed into Islam by the shock of Israel's devastating defeat of Egypt in the 1967 Six-Day War. The loss catapulted him and many other activists of his generation into politics. He was the last person that friends and colleagues ever suspected would become a fundamentalist. He grew up in Cairo's affluent Zamalek quarter, the privileged son of Ihsan Abdul Koddus, a liberal writer with close ties to Egypt's revolutionary hero, Gamal Abdel Nasser. His grandmother was Rose al Youssef, a Lebanese-born early feminist, a flamboyant actress and magazine publisher...