"Islam is the solution" says the poster in Mahfouz Hilmi's spartan office in the Nile Delta town of Al-Mahalla Al-Kubra, which he turns into a free medical clinic for one day each month.
The 75-year-old parliamentarian, a member of Egypt's outlawed but mostly tolerated Muslim Brotherhood, said doctors and pharmacists joined forces to provide the service, which helped make up for what he considered inadequate government healthcare.
"I meet local doctors and ask them: How many free examinations can you do each year? Then I call pharmacists and ask them: How many free prescriptions can you offer each year?" he said.
Hilmi said the doctors, also Brotherhood members, offered their time and resources out of community and religious spirit. Pharmacists could consider their donations a form of Islamic alms, he added.
"At one of our monthly clinics, we issue prescriptions worth between 20-30,000 Egyptian pounds ($3,710-$5,565)," said Hilmi, who with the help of volunteer teachers also provides free private tuition for school pupils over the summer.
For Hilmi, this is his way of turning the Brotherhood's slogan "Islam is the solution" into reality.
The Brotherhood's grassroots network of social services, including private hospitals and schools, are recognized as one of the factors which have helped establish the nearly 80-year-old group as Egypt's largest opposition force, which analysts have at times described as a "state within a state."
But faced with a government crackdown and limited political openness, analysts say it will be hard for the Brotherhood to translate its popular appeal into more political representation any time soon.
SURVIVING THE CRACKDOWN
Wary of its motives and any challenge to the government, Egypt banned the Brotherhood in 1954 and has cracked down hard since 1995, accusing it of being a front for militants and jailing many of its members.
The Brotherhood, which wants to implement Islamic law through constitutional means, denies any links to militants who waged an armed insurgency from 1992-1997 in Egypt in which some 1,200 people were killed.
Moves against the Muslim Brotherhood -- or al-Ikhwan al-Muslimeen in Arabic -- have failed to curb its popularity. It won more seats than any other opposition group in 2000 parliamentary polls despite the official ban and police harassment of voters and Islamists running as independents.
"The services we offer to society are well known," Hilmi said. "So when it comes to elections, it's only natural that voters give their votes to those who extend their hand."
"But its more than that," he added. "It's a matter of belief. That is where the main support comes from."
CHALLENGES AHEAD
But despite the upbeat tone from members, analysts said the group faces an uphill battle for a greater political voice.
Under its new leader, 81-year-old Ma'moun al-Hodeiby, the movement will have to tread warily, dealing with increased pressures from the state, which Brotherhood members say has used a U.S.-led war on terror to clamp down on it further.
The Sept. 11 attacks, blamed by Washington on Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, and the subsequent war on terror had been viewed as a green light for a crackdown on Islamism in all its forms, analysts say.
Reports of arrests of Brotherhood members and alleged Islamic militants have become frequent, with dozens detained in the latest swoops early this year.
"I think it's a very critical phase for the Brotherhood because the international environment is not conducive to increased political action," said Emad Shahin, an expert on political Islam at the American University in Cairo.
Other country watchers say Egypt's rulers might apply more pressure on the movement because of concerns over managing a transition of power when 74-year-old President Hosni Mubarak retires or dies.
The government, aware of recent electoral boosts for Islamists in Morocco and Pakistan, might be encouraged to increase pressures on Egypt's Islamists, said Fahmy Howeidy, an Egyptian journalist who specializes in Islamic affairs.
ISLAMIC REASSERTION
But Brotherhood members say they're confident their movement can ride out increased pressures while analysts highlight some factors which may even boost the group's support.
"Three kings and four presidents have failed to put an end to the Ikhwan. Pressures which don't destroy, fortify," said leading Brotherhood member Essam al-Erian.
Shahin said the Brotherhood was well placed to take advantage of the growing Islamic reassertion in Arab and Islamic countries, which accelerated since Sept. 11.
"Before September 11 there was an increasing perceived polarization between Islam and the West. Now, militarily, there is a clash between the West and Islam, as perceived by the Arab street," Shahin said.
"This wave could be capitalized on by the Brotherhood, by (September 11 suspect Osama) bin Ladens, by Islamic liberals. They will all work within this growing trend and benefit from it," he said.
Howeidy said ongoing Egyptian disgruntlement with the status quo, a lack of other well-organized opposition and popular dissatisfaction with perceived government corruption meant the Brotherhood was still well placed to harness a protest vote.
"Because they (the Brotherhood) are religious people, people think they are clean," he said. "They (voters) vote for them not because they are convinced they are better than the others but because they want to punish the others."
The government campaign against the Brotherhood could also fuel more sympathy for the group, viewed as the underdog in a struggle with the state, Brotherhood members and analysts say.
But ultimately the Brotherhood's fate would rest with the government, which says the group poses no serious political challenge while pursuing policies to keep it in check. Analysts say the movement may have to tread more lightly than ever to avoid drawing harsher treatment.
"They cannot push because then they would find themselves in another confrontation with the regime, which the Brotherhood would certainly lose," Shahin said. "Tomorrow we could hear that a major crackdown took place against the Brotherhood and they are all in prison," he added.
"Would that mean that the (Islamic) movement had ended? Of course not. You will find that Islamic reassertion would adjust immediately and take a new shape under another leadership and in a different political structure." ($1=5.39 Egyptian pounds)