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Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (below), the now retired field marshal
who overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi and the front runner in the May
26-27 presidential election, has pledged to wipe out the movement.
More than 1,400 people
have been killed, mostly Islamists in clashes with police.
Across the country the tightly knit Islamists are
adapting and even radicalizing.
Their almost weekly protests continue, though
smaller in numbers.
And as soon as a mid-level leader is killed or
arrested, another readily takes his place, one member said.
At a Cairo cafe, two veterans of the Islamist
movement say their years of indoctrination have prepared them for this moment.
"As the Brotherhood, we've been psychologically
prepared for the long run," said one who asked to be identified as Ahmed,
a pseudonym.
Popular opinion has also shifted against the
Brotherhood after Morsi's divisive year in power. Millions had demanded he
resign before the army toppled him.
The crackdown since has disrupted the organization's
command, and its imprisoned leaders can now pass messages only through visiting
relatives and friends.
Ahmed has shaved his long beard, and spoke in a
hushed voice across the table from Sayyed, another veteran member who had
barely escaped with his life from a protest in August that turned deadly.
"We believe that a prophet preached for 950
years and gained only 80 followers. It's our doctrine," Sayyed said of the
Islamic account of the Prophet Noah's life. He also asked to be identified
under a pseudonym.
In Ahmed's cell of about eight people, called in
Muslim Brotherhood parlance an "usra" or family, one person has been
detained.
Several usras form a wider unit called the shu'ba,
which combine to form a mantiqa, or district. Much of Ahmed's shu'ba is intact
although its head was killed in protest clashes with police.
"According to the guidelines, he was replaced
by his deputy. He was then arrested. Council members appointed someone else on
the fly."
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