Brotherhood's secret files (Part 8)

Once again, but in a different file and case from the Brotherhood’s secret files - the assassination of Judge El-Khazindar - we resort to the testimonies of the Brotherhood themselves and what they wrote with their pens, cadres and writers who lived in that era and were major actors in it. They wrote their testimonies on the events without pressure or interference from anyone, in which they condemned everyone, including the founding guide, Hassan al-Banna himself. In this case, we will discuss what was written by a number of leaders of the Brotherhood’s Secret Apparatus (the military wing of the group) forty years after the incident, including Dr. Abdul Aziz Kamel’s book “In the River of Life” and Ahmed Adel Kamal’s book “The Dots Over the Letters: The Muslim Brotherhood and the Special Apparatus”.

In addition, we will look at the testimony of Ahmed Mortada El-Maraghi, the last Minister of Interior before the 1952 revolution and serving at the time as Director of Public Security, in his memoirs entitled “Peculiarities from the Era of Farouk and the Beginning of the Egyptian Revolution”.

El-Khazindar's blood

We will start with the testimony of Dr. Abdul Aziz Kamel, who attended the trial of Abdul Rahman Al-Sindi after the killing of El-Khazindar.

He says on page 45 and under the section El-Khazindar's Blood:

“On this morning (meaning the day Judge El-Khazindar was killed on March 22, 1948), while Counselor Ahmed El-Khazindar (Bey) was on his way from his home in Helwan to work, two Brotherhood youth rushed towards him and shot him dead, and it was possible to arrest the two: Mahmoud Zeinhom and Hassan Abdel Hafez.

“The incident had a deep resonance, in which multiple ideological currents clashed, as it recalled the El-Khazindar's positions from previous cases in which some Muslim Brotherhood youth were convicted of assaulting British soldiers in the Alexandria district. The two young men were sentenced to life with hard labor on November 22, 1948, but were released due to insufficient evidence. El-Khazindar was not liked, or even described as impartial among the Brotherhood, for while they saw their work as national and religious, they saw El-Khazindar's position as an arbitrary judicial position.

“I do not want to list all the facts here, but I would like to record a special session that I witnessed at the General Center of the Muslim Brotherhood, headed by Al-Banna, and the presence of the Special Apparatus in this matter. I will record here what I remember from the events of this distant night.”

We will see how the scenes in the mind change and are reformulated, as the author narrates them modified and believes that it is the truth that he witnessed, and this is the wisdom of the need for two witnesses and four witnesses in Islam.

Abdul Aziz Kamel's account

“In the spring of 1948, I was a teacher at the Teachers Institute in Assiut. After the death of El-Khazindar, I received a message about an urgent meeting with the Guide in Cairo. I asked the dean of the institute, Professor Abdul Aziz Salama, to travel, and I did not miss my work or give an excuse. He looked at me for a long time and calmly agreed to the travel without asking, but he asked me to specify the days of absence, but I couldn’t. He said, ‘I will keep the letter of permission with me until your return, and I hope that you are close and that you reassure the parents. Be careful, and God is with you.’”

He continues his narration, mentioning on p. 46, “He was in his inner sense (meaning the school director), feeling that the matter was related to the Brotherhood after El-Khazindar's death, and everyone spoke and commented - judges, lawyers, men of education - and whatever the matter of opinions that branched out, they were in agreement in condemning the Brotherhood and denouncing the incident, as it was a blatant aggression against the judiciary...

“My return to Cairo was a surprise to the family... my mother and my brothers... and I remained silent and went to the public center.

“The meeting took place in the library room on the second floor. A large part of this library was donated by His Highness Prince Mohammed Ali Tawfiq, the Crown Prince at the time, following kind words from Soleiman Metwally (Bey), the Superintendent of the Amiri Schools, so he sent it a complete library with bookcases... This room in particular was the closest to my mind and heart... How many hours I spent in it reading, researching, or speaking with members of the families section.

“But this session was of a special nature, and perhaps it was one of the Brotherhood’s most profound sessions for me. I still remember the professor (meaning Hassan Al-Banna) and his session, and the stress that appeared on him. I saw the rapid movement of his eyes, his nervous attention, and his sullen face, and next to him were the leaders of the Special Apparatus, Abdul Rahman Al-Sindi, the head of the apparatus, and he was no less tense and stimulated than the professor, then Ahmed Hassanein, Mahmoud Al-Sabbagh, Sayed Fayez, Ahmed Zaki, Ibrahim Al-Tayyib, Youssef Talaat, Helmy Abdel Majid, Hosni Abdel Baqi, Sayyid Sabiq, Salih Ashmawi, Ahmed Hegazy, Mustafa Mashhour and Mahmoud Assaf.

“The focus of the conversation was the killing of Counselor Ahmed El-Khazindar.

“The professor said, commenting on the rulings of El-Khazindar in Brotherhood cases, ‘If our Lord would rid us of him’, ‘If we would get rid of him’, or ‘If only someone would rid us of him.’

“(Note Al-Banna’s request addressed to the leader of the Special Apparatus, Abdul Rahman Al-Sindi), meaning that he does not depart from the wish, and does not reach the order, for the order is specific and to a specific person. He did not issue an order, and he did not assign anyone to implement it, so Abdul Rahman understood this wish as an order and took his executive measures, and the professor was surprised by the implementation.”

Kamel adds on p. 47, “My friend, Professor Mukhtar Abdel Alim, the lawyer, told me that the professor, in the evening prayer on the evening of the incident, missed the number of rak’ahs, praying the obligatory prayer three rak’ahs and completing the rak’ah of forgetfulness. I don’t remember as long as I’ve prayed with the professor that he ever forgot once... and Professor Mukhtar learned this from someone who was with the professor during his prayer.

“I also heard from him that Dr. Aziz Fahmy, the lawyer, met him in the public center and found the professor sitting in a secluded room, alone, with his head in his hands in deep thought, with pain he could not hide, and he was very resentful of the incident.

“I do not remember that the professor held such a meeting throughout his life in the Brotherhood in this way.

“It was clear that the disagreement was severe between the Guide and Abdul Rahman. In front of senior officials, it would appear whether the professor had ordered or that Abdul Rahman acted on his own, and in what? In killing the chancellor and recording a bloody aggression against the judiciary in Egypt.”

The Guide and Al-Sindi accuse each other:

“I addressed my speech to the professor, saying, ‘I would like you to have a definite yes or no answer to direct questions, please.’

“He gave permission, so I said, ‘Did your eminence issue an explicit order to Abdul Rahman about this incident?’

“He said, ‘No.’

“I said, ‘Do you carry the blood of El-Khazindar on your head and will meet God with it on the Day of Resurrection?’

“He said, ‘No.’

“I said, ‘So, your eminence did not order and you do not bear responsibility for this before God.’

“He said, ‘Yes.’

“So I directed the words to Abdul Rahman Al-Sindi and asked the professor for permission to do so, and he gave permission.

“I said, ‘Who did you get this order from?’

“He said, ‘From the professor (he means the Guide Hasan Al-Banna).’

“I said, ‘Will you carry the blood of El-Khazindar on your head on the Day of Resurrection?’

“He said, ‘No.’

“I said, ‘And this young man with whom you pushed to kill El-Khazindar, who bears responsibility for him? The professor denies and you deny, and the professor disavows and you disavow.’”

The Guide’s wish is an enforceable command:

Kamel continues on p. 48, “Abdul Rahman said, ‘When the professor says that he wishes to be rid of El-Khazindar, his desire for riddance is an order from him.’

“I said, ‘Such matters are not understood or desired, and my questions are specific, and your answers are specific, and each of you absolves from the blood of El-Khazandar and from the responsibility for this young man who ordered the killing of El-Khazandar.’

“‘A Muslim will remain in his religion as long as he does not meet God with forbidden blood. This is the hadith of the Messenger of God.’

“Then I said to him, ‘Now, are the issues left as they are or do you need a new form of leadership and defining responsibilities?’

“He said, ‘(Meaning the General Guide Hassan Al-Banna) A new form and responsibilities must be defined.’

“And his opinion settled on the formation of a committee comprising senior officials of the Apparatus, so that Abdul Rahman is not alone in opinion or action, and the committee takes clear and specific directions from the professor and weighs this with a religious scale, requiring that among its members be - in addition to receiving orders from the professor - a man on knowledge and faith, and from here came the role of Sheikh Sayyid Sabiq to balance the violent dynamic movement.

“And this was the first time that Abdul Rahman sat in the Council of Accountability and Resentment before the professor and the leaders of the Apparatus, and perhaps the first time that the professor also sat in the Council of open confrontation in front of himself and in front of the leaders of the Apparatus, to the extent that he (meaning Hassan Al-Banna) said to Abdul Rahman, ‘I didn't tell you, and I don't take responsibility.’

“Abdul Rahman replied, ‘No, you told me and you take responsibility.’

“And both of them absolved themselves of the blood of El-Khazindar, and it is feared that he will carry it on his head on the Day of Resurrection.’

“The session ended and I came home...”