Egypt's Brotherhood Treads Carefully After Victory The Muslim Brotherhood has emerged as the biggest winner in parliamentary elections, but the fundamentalist group that has long dreamed of ruling Egypt is likely to be cautious about flexing its newfound muscle. The Brotherhood has been crushed by the military before and will likely tread carefully to avoid spooking the ruling generals or the country's Western supporters, who provide generous amounts of badly needed foreign aid. That may be the best tactic for the Brotherhood as it seeks to translate its impressive electoral victory into political power while reassuring this turbulent nation of 85 million people that it has no intention of monopolizing power. So far, the Brotherhood's political arm, the Freedom and Justice party, is insisting it has no immediate desire to push through Islamic legislation or form a new government to replace one led by a prime minister named by the military only days before the staggered elections began on Nov. 28. Additionally, it has distanced itself from more militant Islamic groups, including the ultraconservative Salafis, who won a quarter of seats, and has gone to great lengths to avoid a clash with the powerful generals who took over from Hosni Mubarak 11 months ago. "The cautious approach is rooted in part in the lessons the Muslim Brotherhood has learned from past clashes with the army, for which it paid dearly," columnist Abdullah al-Sinawi wrote in Monday's edition of the independent Al-Shorouk daily. Egyptian armed forces Chief of Staff Sami Anan, second left, and other high-ranking military officials attend Christmas Eve mass, led by Coptic Pope Shenouda III at the Coptic cathedral in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Jan. 6, 2012. This is the first Christmas since Egypt's uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak and is the first since last year's massive explosion at a church in Alexandria, which happened under Mubarak's regime, but the culprits were never identified. Many Muslims have volunteered to protect churches in an attempt to allay fears. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) Close The Brotherhood has spent most of the 84 years since its inception in 1928 as an outlawed organization. At times, it enjoyed a level of relative tolerance by authorities that allowed it to function as a religious charity and political body, running a huge network of social services and fielding parliamentary candidates as independents. But for most of those eight decades, Brotherhood leaders and supporters have been targeted in harsh government crackdowns that saw hundreds jailed, tortured and convicted, often on drummed up charges. The Feb. 11 ouster of Mubarak heralded the empowerment of the Brotherhood. The group responded with astonishing speed, quickly organizing its ranks to contest the elections and emerging as the nation's most dominant political force. Its Freedom and Justice party is now the largest bloc in the next legislature, though final results of the staggered election have yet to be announced. The Brotherhood's show of flexibility is typical of an organization that has honed to perfection survival tactics developed during decades of functioning underground to escape crackdowns by successive governments. It also emanates from the series of setbacks it has suffered over the years whenever it flaunted its power. For example, Brotherhood leaders forged close ties with the army officers who seized power in a 1952 coup, acting as their political and spiritual patrons until the same officers cracked down on the group two years later. The group enjoyed something of a revival during the 11-year rule of President Anwar Sadat, who used it to counter the weight of militant Islamic groups. Mubarak, who succeeded Sadat in 1981, initially tolerated the group, but subjected it to wave after wave of arrests starting in the 1990s on the grounds that it offered militant groups tacit support. Some in Egypt, however, believe the Brotherhood's desire for power is what may prove its undoing.