Will Saudi Arabia reconcile with the Brotherhood?

“We do not have a problem with the Muslim Brotherhood. Our problem is with a small group of people who demand allegiance from the people.”

This was the statement issued by Saud Al-Faisal concerning Saudi Arabia’s relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood during his interview with Samar Al-Mugren, a journalist with Al-Jazira Al-Arabiya newspaper. It appears that there has been a reversal in the kingdom’s attitude towards the movement under King Salman and that Prince Saud’s comments would be insufficient to justify placing the Brotherhood on a “terrorist organisation” list.

The Saudi foreign minister’s statement exonerates the Muslim Brotherhood from any criminal or terrorist acts against the kingdom; it is extremely important for us to understand this. The term terrorism can only be used to describe acts of certain individuals or groups which are so bad that terrorism is the only word that is appropriate. In fact, acts of terrorism are, surely, only those which are intended to de-stabilise a state.

What the minister is referring to is a bone of contention concerning a smaller group within the Brotherhood on one hand and an ideological issue on the other. In terms of the minority within the movement, Al-Faisal’s comments refer to the Saudi Arabian branch of the global movement and do not reflect the actions, ideologies or initiatives of the group’s work in Egypt, Syria or any other place. It is possible that he believes that Saudi Arabia’s citizens cannot pledge allegiance to two figureheads in the King and the Supreme Guide of the Brotherhood.

The kingdom’s qualms about groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood can be solved easily by changing the way that people think about its members. In fact, allegiance to the Brotherhood needs to be viewed as an allegiance to a political party rather than the equivalent of a pledge of allegiance to a king, president or caliph.

Pledging allegiance to Islam cannot be viewed as the same thing as pledging allegiance to a political party because those who leave a political group do not cease to be Muslims; however, they no longer have the opportunity to enjoy the same rights as a member of the party. More importantly, one cannot generalise because the Muslim Brotherhood is merely one facet of the global Muslim community and cannot in any way serve as a representation of the Ummah in its entirety.

I do not think that Saud Al-Faisal is ignorant of these facts or realities because he is a man of great knowledge and intelligence. When all is said and done, though, it would perhaps be beneficial for the members of Muslim Brotherhood in Saudi to issue a statement outlining what the conditions of the movement’s pledge of allegiance are in respect to the kingdom and its expectations. Foreign Minister Al-Faisal’s comments left room for interpretation and hinted that there might be room for reconciliation with the Brotherhood under the new monarch.

Translated from Felesteen newspaper,  11 February, 2015

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.