Why Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood Didn’t Like Erdogan’s Call for Secularism

Juan Cole nails it:

[Muslim Brotherhood No. 2 Essam] Al-Arian in past statements has underlined that his party would not seek to abolish pluralism in Egypt. But it is disturbing that he reacted so vigorously to Erdogan’s remark. If you weren’t trying to turn Egypt into a Sunni version of Iran, it is hard to see why you’d be so upset with what Erdogan said.

I do concede however that the Arabic word for secularism 3ilmaaniyya is also commonly and confusingly used to mean “Atheism” and “anti clericalism”, concepts that are deeply unpopular in Egypt. In other words, the Muslim Brotherhood could simply be after some cheap political points from posturing.