Passageways of Darkness -4 :

Documentary reveals Muslim Brotherhood's obsession with controlling education in UAE

Thursday 18-05 - 09:50 AM

Ghada Dajani

Abu Dhabi - Abu Dhabi TV channel broadcast the first part of the ‘Passageways of Darkness’ series. Over the course of four episodes, the documentary unveils all the details related to the secretive Muslim Brotherhood organization in the UAE. The documentary also presents indisputable evidence, recordings, and exclusive confessions about the crimes committed by the organization in the UAE, as well as its future plans.

Brotherhood members not only used the headquarters of social reform and guidance centers to attract new members of the organization, but they also targeted educational institutions and summer activity centers [for youth], after leaders of the organization assumed leadership positions in those institutions. El Noemy clarifies by saying that Brotherhood members were the school principals and teachers, who supervise the curriculum, especially during the later stages of education.

Brotherhood members who assumed leadership positions started recruiting the people they want. A lot of them became ministers or heads of universities and they manipulated these institutions to serve the purpose of the Brotherhood. At one point, the Emirati Minister of Education was a member of the Brotherhood and so was the director of all Emirati universities. They took full advantage of this stage by appointing their members to key positions in these institutions to tighten their grip even more.

During that period, the Muslim Brotherhood managed to control the Committee of Curriculum through the issuance of 120 curricula considered by the Muslim Brotherhood to be their greatest achievement. Dr. Ali Rashed El Noemi clarifies: we now realize that when the Brotherhood controlled curriculum they were actually aiming at controlling minds. They unfortunately changed all the state curriculum, something that we suffer from till this day.

The Beginning of the Confrontation with the Brotherhood

The state finally noticed the Brotherhood’s control on curriculum, so in 1987, the Brotherhood were stunned by the decision of the Ministry of Education to move 25 employees out of the Committee for Curriculum. Hammadi adds: The state did not discontinue their salaries, or reprimand them. It only dispersed them over several ministries. However, the Brotherhood regarded it as grave injustice.

The Brotherhood then waged a campaign to counter this decision so much so that they called the minister an infidel. The Brotherhood then turned their efforts to the media; a platform from which they can spew their venom. El Noemy adds: Al Islah became the 3rd magazine to be owned by the Brotherhood. The magazines did not have purpose or agenda except to serve the purposes of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Hammadi adds saying: We cannot separate between the Muslim Brotherhood way of thinking in the Emirates and the rest of the world. We cannot separate them from the philosophy of Hassan El Banna, for all the articles published in Al Islah magazine focused on the writings of El Banna and made it its mission to show what a religious, progressive man he was. We discovered that the opposite is true at a late stage.

'Passageways of Darkness' then details how gathering funds illegally was one of the main characteristics of the Brotherhood. The rest of the events will be uncovered during the coming episodes of the documentary.