The Muslim Brotherhood: We do not want a religious state like in Iran!

The middle of the way Islamist groups' situation is really difficult. They are not welcomed by the secular forces and are considered to be radical forces waiting to overthrow the so-called secular regimes. And they are deemed by the radical Islamists, who are in favor of a global jihad, as "sell-outs."  Moreover, the autocratic regimes, such as in Egypt, had tried to portray the moderate Islamist groups as radicals in order to maintain the support of the Western powers (on this topic see Mustafa Ashur's article).

On February 8th, 2011, the current leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Muhammed Badi', asserted, "Some people are accusing us of wanting to establish a religious state like in Iran. We  are not seeking to gain political clout, and we do not want the presidency. We do not aim to acquire the majority in parliament. We do, however, aspire to acquire all-inclusive reforms in the political, economic, social, and educational domains. We do aspire to have a civil democratic state with a religious reference." This does not sound to be very different from what the rest of the moderate Islamist political forces in other Middle Eastern states have asserted regarding their "Islamist identity." Actually, not using the word "shari'ah" but the utilization of "religious reference" to identify their goals in this statement even demonstrated to us the signs of moderation. When the moderate Islamists participate in the parliamentarian politics, what constitues the "Islamic reference" ends up being either a specific constitutional article linking the country's identity to Islam, and/or a focus on Islamic values in educational and social platforms.
Thus, moderate Islamist parties which act with a bevy of different political parties within parliament are not in a position to bring a comprehensive alteration of the constitution. At most, they would opt for the civil personal code to be based on shari'ah, as was the case in Morocco and Jordan. Concerning the rest of the constitution, one way or another, moderate Islamists are destined to resort to Western jurisprudence where shari'ah has not sufficiently developed to give an answer to the complicated global issues of today.