Iran's Influence Grows

The reports of Iranian involvement in the Middle East "uprisings" seem to be increasing, to the point that even Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is taking notice:

Clinton warns of Iranian efforts to fill ME power vacuum

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Tuesday that Iran was aggressively trying to take advantage of the domestic upheavals across the Arab world, and warned that the United States needed to maintain robust aid and involvement in the region to keep Tehran from succeeding.

Clinton described Iran as working “every single day with as many assets as they can muster, trying to take hold of this legitimate movement for democracy,” in testimony before the US House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Clinton also indicated that the US was trying to take the initiative in ensuring that the implementation of more democratic governments would not be exploited by groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

She has the right idea, but there probably isn't much the U.S. can do at this point.

Speaking of the Muslim Brotherhood...

A portrait of Muslim Brotherhood's supreme authority

1. Sheikh Dr. Yusuf Abdallah al-Qaradawi is a central figure affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood. He was expelled from Egypt and found refuge in Qatar, operating from there throughout the Muslim world.

2. Many consider him the supreme religious and ideological authority for the Muslim Brotherhood...He is influential in Egypt and considered one of the most important Sunni Muslim clerics of our generation, and a spiritual authority for millions of Muslims around the world, including the Hamas movement.

There is a list of 30 such items. A few stand out as significant:

* He regards all of “Palestine” as Muslim territory (according to Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas ideology), strongly opposes the existence of the State of Israel and rejects the peace treaties signed with it, and opposes the Palestinian Authority. (In the past, he called for the stoning of Mahmoud Abbas.)

* Al-Qaradawi’s enthusiastic support of Palestinian terrorism, including when it is directed against civilians, reflects his claim that Israel is a militaristic society where every civilian is a potential soldier. He has also issued fatwas authorizing attacks on Jews around the world because in his view there is no essential difference between Judaism and Zionism, and therefore every Jewish target equals an Israeli target

* Senior Hamas figures relied on al-Qaradawi’s fatwas which authorize suicide bombing attacks against Israel to justify such attacks.

* He said that the war against the Jews was not only the war of the Palestinians but of all Muslims. He said that the prophet Muhammad had said that “you will continue to fight the Jews and they will fight you until the Muslims kill them. The Jew hides behind rock and tree. The rock and the tree say, ‘Oh, slave of Allah, oh, Muslim, here is the Jew behind me, come and kill him.’”

It is beginning to appear that Egypt is indeed taking a turn towards more radical Islamic leadership, both informally and possibly formally, depending on the elections which are slated for September.

This will most likely have a prophetic role, as an Egypt led by the Muslim Brotherhood will stand in direct opposition to Israel at every turn. The Gaza border has already become more porous and that situation will continue to worsen. Additionally, Iran now has access to the Mediterranean for the first time in decades.

We just have to remember that ultimately, all of this is part of God's plan. We are just privileged ehough to have been enlightened by the scriptures with the ability to see yet more evidence of God's glory - which, in this case, is revealed by His complete knowledge of the future - a fact that isn't so much surprising as it is reassuring.