Muhammad Habīb was born in Dumiāt (Damietta) in the Nile-delta in 1943. He studied geology at Assiūt University and graduated in 1964 with an “excellent” grade and went on to teach in the faculty while studying for his Masters. He obtained an MA in 1968 and a PhD in Rocks and Remote Sensing in 1972. In 1978 he studied Remote Sensing in the U.S and returned to Egypt to become an assistant professor in 1978 and then a professor in 1988. ¹

Muhammad Habīb was arrested in September 1981 along with more than 1500 others in a major crackdown on opposition forces conducted by President Sādāt, less than a month before he was assassinated. All Islamist detainees were released on 27 January 1982. ²

In 1987, he became a Member of Parliament. This parliament was dissolved prematurely in 1990 and the Muslim Brotherhood, along with most other opposition parties, boycotted the 1990 parliamentary election, so Habib was not re-elected.

In September 1995, Muhammad Habīb was arrested and subsequently sentenced to five years hard labor by a military court for being a member of a banned organization, an accusation that is routinely used by the regime against Brotherhood members. ³ This was the biggest crack down on the Brotherhood since 1965 when radical ideologue Sayyid Qutb was arrested and later sentenced to death. ⁴

48 other members were charged along with Habīb and four other leading Brotherhood figures were sentenced along with him in what was widely seen as a strategy to prevent Brotherhood members from running in the 1995 parliamentary election. After his release in 2000, he was arrested again a few months later on the same charges. He was released in August 2002 after 15 months.

Habīb was in charge of the Brotherhood’s election campaign for the 2005 parliamentary election. In 2006, he was appointed first deputy to the newly elected Supreme Guide, Muhammad Mahdi ^cAkif.

Muhammad Habīb often strongly criticizes the Egyptian regime and its American support. The semi-governmental, Egyptian newspaper al-Ahram Weekly has described him as “savy and politically open.” ⁵

Muhammad Habīb is married and has six children. His full name is Muhammad al-Sayyid Ahmad Habīb

• Member of Muslim Brotherhood Guidance Bureau
• Board member of the Assiūt-based Islamic Society of Islamic Call and Development (Jama^cah al-Da^cwa w-al-Tanmīyah)
• Boad member in the Syndicate of Science Graduates – currently head of the syndicates branch of Geology
• Board chairman of the Teaching Staff Members at Assiūt University from 1985-1997
• Member of parliament from 1987-1990

Generational gap in the Muslim Brotherhood
Muhammad Habīb is part of the older generation of the Muslim Brotherhood. This older generation is usually considered to be very cautious about cooperating with the state. They developed their political stances in the 1950s and ‘60s during President Jamāl ^cAbd al-Nāsir’s fierce persecution and torture of Brotherhood members which forced the Brotherhood to work as a primarily clandestine organization.

In recent years, however, there have been currents among younger members of the Brotherhood who favor a policy of more direct participation in the established political system and even the foundation of an official political party. ⁶

It is difficult to paint a precise picture of Muhammad Habīb's stances, partly because the Muslim Brotherhood issues ambiguous statements and partly because the Egyptian political scene in general is hard to pin down and the media is always full of mutual allegations and accusations.

Ambiguous adherence to democracy and pluralism
Muhammad Habīb has often stressed the democratic stance of the Muslim Brotherhood and their adherence to political pluralism and equal civil rights for all citizens.7 In a speech given at the Cairo Center for Human Rights in 2005, he assured that the Brotherhood does not only see democracy as a means but as a goal in itself and that they are devoted to it internally as well as externally.8 In an article in al-Usbū^c in October 2005, he was quoted as saying:

“I dare affirm that the issue of reform can never be undertaken by a single faction, even if it were in the Brotherhood’s stature. It would take the efforts of all to attain this goal, now that there are domestic and foreign challenges that impose such interaction.” ⁹

In an interview on al-Jazeera TV in January 2007, he stated that
"When we talk about Islam, we don't talk about monopoly of clergymen or discriminating against non-Muslims, but about a secular state on Islamic grounds." ¹⁰

However, the specific meaning of ‘a secular state on Islamic grounds’ – or Islamic democracy or pluralism in an Islamic framework [marja^cīyah] as it has at other times been named - remains ambiguous. The sincerity of Habīb’s dedication to pluralism has been undermined by statements where Habīb has more than hinted that Copts and women should not be given full rights. A number of these statements were discussed in an article by Egyptian political commentator, Majdī Khalīl in March 2006, where, amongst other things, Habib was quoted as saying

“When the [Muslim Brotherhood] comes to power, it will replace the current Constitution with an Islamic one, according to which a non-Muslim will not be allowed to hold a senior post, whether in the state or the army, because this right should be exclusively granted to Muslims. If Egyptians decide to elect a Copt for the presidential post, we will issue a protest against such an action, on the basis that this choice should be ours.” ¹¹

In relation to the attempt by some former Muslim Brotherhood members to form an Islamic political party called al-Wasat [the Center party] in 1996, Habīb distanced himself from them saying that “They have exceeded what are principles for us, like the possibility of a Copt becoming a president and a woman becoming a leader.” ¹²

Implementation of Shar^cīah
Habīb maintains that he and the Brotherhood are working for the implementation of Sharī^cah in Egypt and that this constitutes an inherent part of Islam.

“[The idea of the separation of politics and religion] came from ignorance of the nature of Islam. Islam is a whole system. It is a complete system that consists of politics, literature, economics, etc. Hasan al-Bannā [the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood] said “if Islam is not politics, culture, economics and a social system, then tell me, what is Islam?” Therefore, you have to accept it as a whole. There is no such thing as political work separated from religion or else we become like those who are different.” ¹³

However, according to Habīb, due to current social and political circumstances it is not possible and not desirable to implement the full measures of Sharī^cah at the current time. This gap between the stated aim of the Brotherhood and the current strategy of the group leaves room for obscurity about their final understanding of the Sharī^cah. Many of Habīb’s public statements reflect this obscurity. ¹⁴

Habīb has often held the Egyptian Government responsible for the repressive atmosphere which makes the implementation of Sharī^cah unlikely and undesirable. Furthermore, he has used harsh words to accuse the regime of silencing and repressing any political opposition, in particular the Muslim Brotherhood. ¹⁵

Forming an Islamic, political party
Some observers have criticized the Muslim Brotherhood for not striving to form an official, political party and thus participate in a fully legal manner in politics. However, Habīb puts the blame for this solely on the regime’s repression. In 2005, he stated to the New York Times that

“We live in a very repressive atmosphere. We are keen to form our own political party. The regime won’t allow us.” ¹⁶

In an article on the Brotherhood’s own Web site about the Brotherhood’s performance in the 2005 elections, he is quoted as saying

“We should first provide an encouraging condition that secures freedom; of the press, of the trade unions…in a such case we can form a party.” ¹⁷

When the parliament (which is dominated by the president’s National Democratic Party) lifted the immunity on two of the Brotherhood’s members of parliament, Habib interpreted this as a clear signal from the regime to the entire people, that there is no protection of any kind for anybody who opposes the government. ¹⁸

Israel
Habīb routinely refers to Israel as the “Zionist enemy” and sees it as a duty for all Arab states to support the Palestinian case. ¹⁹ In the wake of Hamas’ victory in the 2005 Palestinian parliamentary elections, he called for all Arabs and Muslims to support the new government. ²⁰ He has called for the Egyptian-Israeli peace agreement from 1979 to be revised every five to ten years because he believes it is out of date. ²¹

He criticizes the West for “only using one eye” when it comes to dealing with Israel. In 2005, Mahdi ^cAkif, the Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood called the Holocaust a myth. Habib later clarified that this was not to say that the Holocaust did not take place. Assaults were certainly committed against Jews during the Second World War however he stated that the exact numbers are still not known and that the Palestinians did not have anything to do with these crimes. ²²

In relation to the intercultural dialogue between the Muslim world and the West, Muhammad Habīb has been highly critical of what he sees as assaults on Islam.

He regards the American-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as a reflection of George Bush’s negative position toward Islam in general.

After the infamous speech made by Pope Benedict XVI in October 2006, Habīb demanded a personal apology from the Pope for his “grave error.” ²³