Muslim Brotherhood
The Society of the Muslim Brothers (Arabic: جماعة الإخوان المسلمين Jamāʿat al-Ikhwān al-Muslimīn), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood (الإخوان المسلمون al-Ikhwān al-Muslimūn) is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna in 1928.[27] Al-Banna's teachings spread far beyond Egypt, influencing today various Islamist movements from charitable organizations to political parties.[28]
Society of the Muslim Brothers جماعة الإخوان المسلمين
22 March 1928
Ismailia, Kingdom of Egypt
State allies:
Non-state allies:
Al-Nusra Front (alleged)
Tahrir al-Sham[18][19]
Syrian opposition
Hamas (until 2017)
Initially, as a Pan-Islamic, religious, and social movement, it preached Islam in Egypt, taught the illiterate, and set up hospitals and business enterprises. It later advanced into the political arena, aiming to end British colonial control of Egypt. The movement's self-stated aim is the establishment of a state ruled by sharia law under a caliphate[29]–its most famous slogan is "Islam is the solution". Charity is a major aspect of its work.[1]
The group spread to other Muslim countries but still has one of its largest organizations in Egypt, despite a succession of government crackdowns from 1948 up until the present.[30] It remained a fringe group in the politics of the Arab World until the 1967 Six-Day War, when Islamism managed to replace popular secular Arab nationalism after a resounding Arab defeat by Israel.[31] The movement was also supported by Saudi Arabia, with which it shared mutual enemies like communism.[32]
The Arab Spring brought it legalization and substantial political power at first, but as of 2013 it has suffered severe reversals.[33] The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood was legalized in 2011 and won several elections,[34] including the 2012 presidential election when its candidate Mohamed Morsi became Egypt's first president to gain power through an election.[35] A year later, following massive demonstrations and unrest, he was overthrown by the military and placed under house arrest; with a later review finding that the group failed to moderate its views or embrace democratic values during its time in power.[36] The group was then banned in Egypt and declared a terrorist organization. The Persian Gulf monarchies of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates followed suit, driven by the perception that the Brotherhood is a threat to their authoritarian rule.[37]
The group's founder accepted the utility of political violence[38] and members of Brotherhood conducted assassinations and attempted assassinations on Egyptian state figures during his lifetime, including Egyptian Prime Minister Mahmud El Nokrashi in 1948.[39] Sayyid Qutb, one of the group's most prominent thinkers, promoted takfirism in Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq (Milestones), a doctrine that permits "the stigmatisation of other Muslims as infidel or apostate, and of existing states as unIslamic, and the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society"; this doctrine continues to inspire many Jihadist movements.[40][41] The group abandoned the use of violence in the 1970s. However, Hamas, a Palestinian militant group that currently controls the Gaza Strip, is an off-shoot of the Brotherhood that continues to use violence. The Brotherhood itself claims to be a peaceful, democratic organization, and that its leader "condemns violence and violent acts".[42]
Today, the primary state backers of the Muslim Brotherhood are Qatar and the AKP-ruling Turkey.[43] As of 2015, it is considered a terrorist organization by the governments of Bahrain,[44] Egypt,[45] Russia,[46] Syria,[47] Saudi Arabia[48] and the United Arab Emirates.[49]
The Muslim Brothers consider their movement to be the practical extension of the pan-Islamist movement championed by Sayyid Jamal al-Din Afghani, Muhammad 'Abduh, and Rashid Rida. Afghani is regarded as the ‘caller’ or ‘announcer’ (mu'adhdhin, sarkha); Rida as the ‘archivist’ or ‘historian’ (sijal, mu'arrikh) and Banna was seen as the ‘builder' (bani) of the Islamic renaissance movement. Afghani was considered as the spiritual father of the movement and as a fiery defender of the faith against both internal corruption and external encroachment. ‘Abduh was viewed as "a well-meaning shaykh who inspired reforms in the Azhar". The methodology of the Brotherhood was characterised by the scholarly orthodoxy and conservatism of Muhammad Rashid Rida.[348] Like Rida, Banna too advocated a conservative revival to values of early Muslim generations and viewed Islam to be a comprehensive faith, outlining it as: "a faith and a ritual, a nation (watan) and a nationality, a religion and a state, spirit and deed, holy text and sword".[349]
The Muslim Brotherhood movement sought the re-establishment of a World Islamic Caliphate which was envisaged to come through several Islamic national states, united in a league, and appointing a single leader to rule over them after Shura (consultation). This vision was based upon the Islamic state doctrines of Muhammad Rashid Rida. However, Al-Banna prioritised the immediate form of governance that the Brotherhood had to establish and did not advocate the radical overthrow of these structures, instead preferring gradualism. He favored a constitutional government with a representative parliamentary system that implemented Islamic law (Sharia). The aim for Caliphate was more of an utopian ideal than an explicit and practical political goal which was the construction of Islamic national units which would then bond together towards a global Islamic polity.[350]
The Muslim Brotherhood's position on political participation varied according to the "domestic situation" of each branch, rather than ideology. For many years its stance was "collaborationist" in Kuwait and Jordan; for "pacific opposition" in Egypt; "armed opposition" in Libya and Syria.[351] It was written on 1 December 1982, by Yusuf al-Qaradawi at the culmination of a series of two meetings held in 1977 and 1982 in Lugano, Switzerland.[352] The treaty instructs Brotherhood members to show "flexibility" when it comes to their activity outside the Islamic world, encouraging them to temporarily adopt Western values without deviating from their "basic [Islamic] principles."[353]
The Muslim Brotherhood is a transnational organization as opposed to a political party, but its members have created political parties in several countries, such as the Islamic Action Front in Jordan, Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank, and the former Freedom and Justice Party in Egypt. These parties are staffed by Brotherhood members, but are otherwise kept independent from the Muslim Brotherhood to some degree, unlike Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is highly centralized.[354] The Brotherhood has been described as a "combination of neo-Sufic tariqa" (with al-Banna as the original murshid i.e., guide of the tariqa) "and a political party".[326] The Egyptian Brotherhood has a pyramidal structure with "families" (or usra, which consists of four to five people and is headed by a naqib, or "captain")[355][356] at the bottom, "clans" above them, "groups" above clans and "battalions" or "phalanxes" above groups.[326][357] Potential Brethren start out as Muhib or "lovers", and if approved move up to become a muayyad, or "supporter", then to muntasib or "affiliated", (who are nonvoting members). If a muntasib "satisfies his monitors", he is promoted to muntazim, or "organizer", before advancing to the final level—ach 'amal, or "working brother".[355] With this slow careful advancement, the loyalty of potential members can be "closely probed" and obedience to orders assured.[355]
At the top of the hierarchy is the Guidance Office (Maktab al-Irshad), and immediately below it is the Shura Council. Orders are passed down through a chain of command:[358]
The Muslim Brotherhood aimed to build a transnational organization. In the 1940s, the Egyptian Brotherhood organized a "section for Liaison with the Islamic World" endowed with nine committees.[359] Groups were founded in Lebanon (1936), in Syria (1937), and Transjordan (1946). It also recruited members among the foreign students who lived in Cairo where its headquarters became a center and a meeting place for representatives from the whole Muslim world.[360]
In each country with an MB there is a Branch committee with a Masul (leader) appointed by the General Executive leadership with essentially the same Branch-divisions as the Executive office. "Properly speaking" Brotherhood branches exist only in Arab countries of the Middle East where they are "in theory" subordinate to the Egyptian General Guide. Beyond that the Brotherhood sponsors national organizations in countries like Tunisia (Ennahda Movement), Morocco (Justice and Charity party), Algeria (Movement of Society for Peace).[185] Outside the Arab world it also has influence, with former President of Afghanistan, Burhanuddin Rabbani, having adopted MB ideas during his studies at Al-Azhar University, and many similarities between mujahideen groups in Afghanistan and Arab MBs.[185] Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia in Malaysia is close to the Brotherhood.[185] According to scholar Olivier Roy, as of 1994 "an international agency" of the Brotherhood "assures the cooperation of the ensemble" of its national organizations. The agency's "composition is not well known, but the Egyptians maintain a dominant position".[185]