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u_J\tr!canno onger e heparty hat says'Down ith this' alf, rdffi;with that,"'says ssaml-Erian, opBrotherhoodeader.The;thing we stoodagainst s gone, onow we have o re-examinepwhat we stand or." 1As he ArabSpring urns to blazingsummer, slamist Imovementshavequickly formedpolitical partiesand mobi- ilized national campaignsdesigned o unveil their new image 'beforeelectionsn the fall and winter. Paranoid hetoric aboutthreats o Muslim identity havegivenway to political messag-ing that couldhavebeen ifted from the party platforms of anyWestern democracy:t's all about obs, nvestments, nclusive-ness. newbroom o sweep leandecades f corruption.Anew dawn of can-do slamism.It's not easy o tell how this is playingoutside he politicalparlors.Many Egyptians,especiallyhe young, arenot thinkingabout heir next government; hey're still focusedon the onethey'vegot.Activistscontinue o organizeweekly demonstra-tions n Tahrir Square, ressuring he military-led transitionalauthority to prosecuteMubarak-era rimes. They'reperma-nently in revolutionmode,"saysiberal politician Hisham Kas-sem. They're ust not organizedor politics."Organizationhasalwaysbeen he Muslim Brotherhood'sstrongsuit. Foundedn r9z8 o promote slamic aw andvalues,it hasenduredbrutal suppression y a succession fEgyptianleaders. stimates f ts membershipvary from roo,oooo manytimes that number. n the Mubarakyears, penassociationwith the Brotherhoodwas an nvitation to policeharassment rworse.The group has ongbeen eared n the West as he sourceand exporterofradical Islamist deology: iolent groups ike thePalestinianHamasaredirect offshootsof the Brotherhood.Somescholars race he origins ofterrorist groups ike al-Qaedao theIslamists. n Egypt,however,he group ong ago ejectedherhetoricof violent ihad,and t is seenasa socialmovementasmuch asapolitical entity.Egypt'spoor have ongassociatedheBrotherhoodwith its socialservices,ike freeclinics and schools.Now the Brotherhoodneedso broaden ts base o includemiddle-class ndaffluent Egyptians.Many of theyoungmenand women hanging out on the October6Bridgeon aThursdayevening-enjoying a coolbreeze ff the Nile and he chancefor somemild flirting-seem comfortablewith the deaof anIslamist-ledgovernment. We know theseguys.We go o schoolwith them, eatwith them,playsoccerwith them,"saysFadel,a zo-year-old niversity student. If they come o power,we'lljudge hem by their results, ot the sizeoftheir beards."Under he circumstances, ou might expect he Islamists obereveling n their ascendancy,eeingt asan endorsement ftheir extremeviews.They'redoingno such hing. Instead heyareherdingtowardthe political center,adoptingpositions hatwould be entirely familiar to Republicans ndDemocrats nthe U.S.Leaders f Egypt'sMuslim BrotherhoodandTunisia'sEnnahda Renaissance)alk about economicpriorities:creatingjobs, educingdebt,attracting oreign nvestment,halting theexodusofskilled labor.There's ittle talk ofShari'a or ofrestrict-ing the rights of women or non-Muslim minorities.

To eassure riticswho fearthat the Islamistswill seek o re- imakeEgyptasa heocraticstate, heBrotherhood sentering he ;ring with onehand ied voluntarily behind tsback: ts new po- ;litical arm, heFreedom nd usticeParty,will contest nly half tthe seatsnthe first post-Mubarak eneralelections, xpectedin gthe ate all, andwill not fielda candidate or thepresidentialelec- gtionin early zorz. When aBrotherhood talwart,AbdelMoneim ;Abouel-Fatouh, eclaredhis andidacyinMay,hewasexpelled) re

ASWEWAITFORTHESALAFILEADERKAMALHABIBATTHECAIROOURNALISTS'

Union,asuddenpaniccomes verme. 've ust noticed hat mytranslator,ShahiraAmin, anEgyptian ournalist, swearing asleevelessop and hat her hair is uncovered.n my experience,Salafis, dherents fa very strict schooloflslam, take a dim viewof suchdisplaysof femininity. I recalla ime in Baghdadwhen aSalafipreacher ursedme forbringing a emalephotographeroour nterview, and an occasionn the |ordaniancity of SaltwhenanotherSalafi eaped rom his chair and hwackedhis teenagedaughteron the arm when sheaccidentally nteredhe roomwithout coveringher ace rom my infidel eyes.I've heard eports hat Habib s not the hard-liner hewasin the r97os,when heco-founded he radical Egyptian slamicfihad, or the r98os,when hewas ailed n connectionwith theassassination f PresidentAnwar Sadat.He gaveup politicsaftera decaden prison,but in the aftermathof theArabSpring,hehas einventedhimself asa eaderof a more moderateparty.He'sheldpress onferences t he union, sopresumablyhe'shadto make his peacewith women who don't cover heir hair.But I fear he maydraw the ine at a sleevelessop.I needn'thaveworried.When Habibarrives,heshoutsajolly greeting rom acrosshe room and hen boundsover.He'swearing a blue blazerand clutching a smart phone.He ooksmy translator straight n the eyeand extendshis handto shake.They exchange omplaintsabout he beastlyhumidity. WouldShahira ike a Pepsi? e askssolicitously.Only weeksbeforemy arrival in Cairo,Salafishadburneddown Coptic Christian churches n the Imbabaneighborhood,perhaps15minutes from where we're sitting. Salafimen hadmenacedwomenwho strayednto their neighborhoodwith-out adequate overing.Long houndedby the policeand secretserviceof the dictator Hosni Mubarak, he Salafis eemedo becelebrating heir newfound freedomwith an orgy of violence.But a ew weeksarean eternity in post-MubarakEgypt.SeveralSalafi eaders avedecidedo join the political fray,andthey can't afford o let a ew thugs make hem all look bad.SoHabib hasdecided o organizea big reconciliationmeetingwithCoptic eaders, ndhewants me to know hehasno truck withthe reactionarieswho burned churches. Khalas.Finished,"esays, preadinghis hands n agestureoffinality. "Thepast sthe past,and he peoplewho did this terrible thing are rom thepast.Their time is over."I had o wonder f Habib'smessage ascustom-madeora Western ournalist or whether t offeredaglimpseof anewpossibility.Over henext few days,n the ncipientArab democ-raciesof Egyptand Tunisia, find that Islamistsof all stripes-from extremist Salafis o membersof moreorthodoxgroups ikethe Muslim Brotherhood-say they arebreakingwith the pastand reinventing hemselves s he moderatemainstream. We44

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r!*This guaranteeshat thepartywill not haveanything like amajority in the newparliament,which will take on hehighlysensitiveask ofrewritingthe constitution.All parties,says l-Erian,will haveasayinframingnewlaws. Why is the Brother-hoodgiving up a shot atpolitical dominance?El-Eriansayst'sbecausewe recognize hat it would createear,and he absenceof fear s good or us asmuch as t is good orEgypt."The iberals meetaren buying this. Some ell me t'sanemptygesture:he Brotherhood nows t can'twin amajorityanyway.AlaaalAswany,Cairo'smost amous iving novelistandaprominent liberal, claims hat theBrotherhooddoesn havebroadsupport,pointing to recentwins by liberalcandidatesnbellwetherstudent-unionelections t several niversities.Buthe s nonetheless pprehensive.orall its vauntedpolitical prin-ciples, lAswany says, in the Brotherhood, nything is allowed[in the pursuit ofl power,sowe cannever rust them."Otherssmell aruse: he Brotherhoodwill simplyhaveproxiescontestthe restof the seats s ndependents ndwill try to win a major-ity, allowing it to drown out iberalvoices n parliament.It doesn'thelpthat liberal groupsare n disarray.Thekidswho brought down dictators n EgyptandTunisiahaveshownlittle interest n forming political parties:Wael Ghonim, heyoungGoogleexecutivewho became hemost recognized aceof theTahrir Squarerevolution,hasdroppedout ofsight. Olderliberal pols,who lackthe revolutionarycredentials fthe youth and he organi-zationalskill of the Islamists,arestrug-gling to keepup. MohamedElBaradei,heformerU.N.nuclearwatchdogand NobelPeaceaureate, an't seem o makeup hismind whether o run for President.The iberalsarealsoshowing hem-selves o bepoordemocrats. everalprominent liberals-ElBaradei amongthem-have launcheda signaturecam-paign to forcepostponementof the par-liamentary electionsandgetan unelectedpanelof experts o first remake he consti-tution. The Constitution First campaign,a

.WECANNOLONGERBETHEPARTYTHATSAYSDOWNWTHTHIS''ANDDOWNWITHTHAT.'' HETHINGWESTOODAGAINSTtsGoNE, owE HAVETORE.EXAMINEWHATWESTAND OR.'

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parliamentariansconnected o the Islamists-But the Islamists'conciliatory gestures renotaWesternaudience.t's heir own countrymen,Tunisians, hey want to reassure.It's emarkablethe U.S.or Israelcomesup in my conversations)The slamistsmay have ecognizedhat their radical une ,is playedout.They'veseenn Iran and Gaza he cripplingconsequencesf extremist behavior:Western aid and oreigninvestmentwould dry up andpossiblybereplaced y economicsanctions.As much as hey desirepower, he Islamistsdon'twant to inherit bankrupt states.It's alsoconceivablehat they areplaying for time to consolidate heir position,although there areotherplausibleexplana-tions.One s that the Arab revolution unshackled he moderatemajority within Islamist groups.During the decades f oppres-sive ule, only the extremists daredspeakout, allowing therest of the world to believe hey spoke or the entire movement.With their oppressors one,moderate slamists arenow in theascendancy ithin the Brotherhood.Theyvastly outnumberthe extremists,and n the emergingdemocracy,his givesthem power.Theyaresetting the agenda.Then here's he sobering rospect fhaving to run agov-ernment,perhapsas he dominantpartner n a coalition.El-Erian ookspositivelygloomyasheponders hechallengeshat await. |obs,wherewillthey come rom?" hesays. We needto createobs.We need nvestments,not oans.We needbusinesses. eneed o export more. f we work veryhard, n fiveyearsEgyptwill be agreatmarket." n otherwords, his s no timeto debate he finer points ofKoranicjurisprudence.There syet oneother actor nfluenc-ing the Islamists o redefine hemselves:the powerful political gravity of TahrirSquare.slamists ecognize hat therevolution hat liberated hem was ed

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Western diplomat n Cairo ells me,"reflects he iberals'uncer-tainty about how they will do n electionsand a desire o lock insomeprotections."Politically, oo, he liberals'call for postpone-ment is nakedlyself-serving:t would give hem time to try andmatch the Brotherhood's rass-rootsrganization.Can he iberalsand he Islamists earn to play fairlywitheachothef The question sbeing askednot ust in Cairo andTunisbut also n Damascus ndSana'a:f religiousand seculargroupscanwork together n Egypt and Tunisia, hat would sendapowerful messageo Syria,Yemenand other Arab countrieswhererevolutionarywinds areblowing. Westerngovernments,too,havea stake n the answer.Since he fall of Mubarak,muchof the discussionn the U.S.and Europehasbeenabout whetherhis successorsan come o terms with the West andmaintainpeacewith Israel.But the first andmost mportant test of thenew Arab democracymay bewhether ts conflicting politicaltendencies anaccommodate achother.Thus ar, he Islamistshaveshown he greaterwillingness odeal,and he ObamaAdministration seems o think they can beexpected o behave ationally, not like reactionaries r radicals.Secretary f StateHillary Clinton confirmed reports n late unethat theAdministration will upgradets interactionwith theBrotherhood rom indirect communication-through Egyptian

by an Padgenerationwith universal,not religious,demands:obs, ustice,dignity. "Theyoung peoplehave old us all what they want, and our agenda hould be closeto theirs," says l-Erian.As the Islamistsstampede o the political center, here'sstillroomfor the outlier, he unreconstructedSalafi. arrange omeetAbdelmajid Habibi at a caf6 n Ttrnis.He'sa eaderof Hizbut-Tahrir,an extremistgroup hat hasnot yet beengiven icenseto operateasapolitical party.By coincidence,my Tirnisiantranslator,SalmaMahfoudh, salsoa woman; she s dressednjeansand hasher hair uncovered.Habibi s uncomfortablenherpresencendkeeps is eyes nme evenasshespeakswithhim. It doesn'tmatterverymuch if hecan form apoliticalparty,hesays, ecause e'snot sureheapproves fan electionor aconstitution."Why do we needa constitution?We alreadyhave he Koran,which hasall the awswe needasa society."Hedoesn believe n modern bordersor nations either: he entireIslamic world should submit to a singleenlightened uler.This is the Salafiworldview I'veencounteredor nearly 15years.But wait. As we talk somemore, Habibi's ine softens."We think peoplecan only behappy f they fgllow the Ko-ran," hesays. But f they don't want it, we shouldn't force ton them." As he rises o saygoodbye, esmilesatusboth. Heshakesmy hand. And then Salma's. I

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