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Islamic Group in Egypt Denies Any Link with Al-Qaeda Affiliated Website | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat-As the confrontation between the Islamic group (IG) in Egypt and “Al-Qaeda” organization escalates, Najih Ibrahim, the IG’s second-in-command and its ideologue, denied that the group has any connection at all with the electronic website launched by Muhammad Khalil al-Hakayimah, the former IG member who recently joined “Al-Qaeda”, under the name of “Al-Jama’ah al-Islamiyah..Althabeton ala al-ahd.”

Ibrahim told “Asharq al-Awsat” that the IG has its leaders who are known to everyone and has a good website we launched several months ago under the name of “islamicgroup” and it is the only one expressing the group’s ideas, approaches, and stands and any others have no connections with us and those behind them should be asked and questioned about their actions but it should not be attributed to us.

He asked: “Who are those holding to the covenant and who are those breaking it. We say we do not give up religion and Islam. If we meet Allah having saved nine brothers from execution, brought about the release of around 12,000 detainees, spared the blood of the homeland’s sons, and spread security among the people, then that would be enough for us.” He stressed that the IG in Egypt has no fears that the launch of such a website would affect it and said: “We are working in the interest of Islam and prepared the good and bright picture of the Islamic call through the reviews we launched and in which we corrected many of the mistakes and concepts after the initiative to stop the violence we announced in 1997. We will not abandon our stand and ideas regardless of the challenges.”

On Al-Hakayimah calling himself the imam, Ibrahim said: “This reflects arrogance. We do not dare to give ourselves such big titles that bring the person heavy burdens and give him large responsibilities.” He thinks that Ayman al-Zawahiri, “Al-Qaeda’s” second-in-command and other Egyptians are behind Al-Hakayimah’s moves and says: “I tell them your horizon is narrow and your understanding is weak. You will not harm the IG no matter what you do.” He pointed out that changing jurisprudence ideas is a source of strength and not a source of weakness and reflects the group’s vitality and not its collapse because it would have become like stagnant water if it had stagnated.

The violent confrontation and the fierce media war between the IG and “Al-Qaeda” organization entered a new stage of clash after one of the IG leaders abroad, Muhammad Khalil al-Hakayimah who officially joined “Al-Qaeda” before few weeks, launched a new IG website against the one launched by the group’s historic leaders before three months and he called it “Al-Jama’ah al-Islamiyah..althabeton ala al-ahd.”

The website name was directed basically against the IG leaders in Egypt and the ideological changes and reviews they launched before four years in 2002, five years after the initiative to stop violence, which the leaders launched from inside their prison. It was strongly rejected by the group’s figures abroad and Al-Hakayimah tried to underline through his website the methodical and ideological difference between the IG in Egypt and some of its leaders abroad.