The thesis, a 700-page account of how the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated several Swedish organizations, including the Islamic Federation of Sweden, has caused a great uproar.
The Islamic Federation runs, among other things, the mosque on the south in Stockholm and has received state grants of large sums, writes Dagens Nyheter, which drew attention to the thesis first.
Sameh Egyptson accuses the Islamic League in Sweden of being the extended arm of the Muslim Brotherhood.
- Their goal is to create an Islamic order in the world based on sharia, he says.
Questioning the method
Oliver Sharbrodt, who is a professor of Islamic studies at Lund University, believes that the Muslim Brotherhood is no longer as controversial an organization as Sameh Egyptson and the Swedish authorities claim:
- It is a Muslim organization that has problematic roots, but as with everything else, they have developed.
I don't think the goal today is to create a caliphate in Europe based on Sharia law.
On the other hand, it is a very conservative ideology they rely on and they want Muslims in Europe to have the right to be ideologically faithful, i.e. not to adapt to Western secularism.
According to him, the major shortcoming lies in the fact that Egyptson has not spoken to those he writes about.
Instead, he compares various ideological statements by named individuals to the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Turned up tone
He does not agree with the conclusions in Sameh Egyptson's thesis, but at the same time says that research must be allowed to take its course and that the tone is turned up.
- Let the academic process take its course.
What is important to remember is that if the thesis is approved, it does not mean that Lund University as an institution stands behind the conclusions, says Sharbrodt.