A former Muslim Brotherhood leader spells out its ideology: Muslims “are masters of the world” and Jihad should be waged against the “thieving gangs of Zion,” according to a Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) translation of the book by Mustafa Mashur, “Jihad is the Way.”

He was the official leader of the Muslim Brotherhood from 1996 until he died in 2002.

The ideology in the book stands behind the “Freedom and Justice” party, the euphemism chosen by the Brotherhood as the name of its political party that won 40 percent of the votes in Egypt’s first-round legislative elections last week.

Another Islamist party, representing the Salafists, won 20 percent, giving the Muslim fundamentalists a solid majority.

Other choice quotes in the book: “The Islamic Ummah [nation]… [is] the most exalted nation among men;…you are the masters of the world, even if your enemies desire your degradation…”  

“Jihad and preparation towards Jihad are not only for the purpose of fending off assaults and attacks of Allah’s enemies against Muslims, but are also for the purpose of realizing the great task of establishing an Islamic state and strengthening the religion and spreading it around the world…

“…Jihad for Allah is not limited to the specific region of the Islamic countries, …and it shall continue to be raised, with the help of Allah, until every inch of the land of Islam will be liberated, the State of Islam will be established…

“Then comes the power of arms and weapons,… and this is the role of Jihad…, a religious public duty… incumbent upon the Islamic nation, and is a personal duty to fend off the infidels’ attack on the nation…

“The problems of the Islamic world, such as Palestine, Afghanistan, Syria, Eritrea, or the Philippines,,…are problems of Islam and the Muslims, and they can be resolved neither by negotiation nor by recognizing the enemy’s right to the Islamic land he stole. Rather, the only option is Jihad for Allah, and this is why Jihad is the way.”

In light of the Obama administration’s recent overtures to the Muslim Brotherhood, such as opening dialogue with previously-shunned terrorist party, perhaps the most important comment in the book is an open statement of its strategy.

“The Brotherhood is not rushed by youth’s enthusiasm into immature and unplanned action which will not alter the bad reality and may even harm the Islamic activity, and will benefit the people of falsehood,” Mashur wrote in his book.

He also advised every Muslim, “Prepare yourself and train in the art of warfare, and embrace the causes of power. You must learn the ways and manners and laws of war. You must learn them and embrace them and adhere to them, so that your Jihad will be the one accepted by Allah.”

Mashur not surprisingly preaches war against Israel. “Honorable brothers have achieved Shahada (Martyrdom) on the soil of beloved Palestine, during the years 47′ and 48′, in their Jihad against the criminal, thieving, gangs of Zion.”