Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt
Encyclopedia
The Muslim Brotherhood ( /Ikhwan/el-ekhwan, elʔexˈwæːn) in Egypt is an Islamist religious, political, and social movement. Following the 2011 Revolution
the group was legalized, and with an estimated 600,000 members or supporters it's considered the largest, best-organized political force in Egypt
. Its credo is, "God is our objective; the Quran is our constitution, the Prophet is our leader; Jihad
is our way; and death for the sake of God is the highest of our aspirations." Founded in Egypt
by Hassan al-Banna
in March 1928, the group spread to other Muslim countries but has its largest, or one of its largest, organizations in Egypt despite a succession of government crackdowns in 1948, 1954, 1965 after plots, or alleged plots, of assassination and overthrow were uncovered. In April 2011 it launched a civic political party called the Freedom and Justice Party
to contest elections, described as having "the same mission and goals, but different roles" than the Brotherhood.
, an Egyptian schoolteacher, who preached implementing traditional Islamic Sharia
law in all aspects of life, from everyday problems to the organization of the government. Inspired by Islamic reformers Muhammad Abduh
and Rashid Rida
, he believed that Islam had lost its social dominance to corrupt Western
influences and British imperial rule
.
The organisation initially focused on educational and charitable work, but quickly grew to become a major political force as well. (Sources disagree as to whether the Brotherhood was hostile to independent working-class and popular organisations, or supported efforts to create trades unions and unemployment benefits.) It championed the cause of poor Muslims, and played a prominent role in the Egyptian nationalist
movement, fighting the British, Egypt's occupier/dominator. It engaged in espionage and sabotage, as well as support for terrorist activities orchestrated by Haj Amin al-Husseini in British Mandate Palestine, and up to and during World War II some association with Britain's enemy, the German Nazis, dissemination of anti-Jewish, and anti-Western propaganda.
In November 1948, following several bombings and assassination attempts, the government arrest 32 leaders of the Brotherhood's "secret apparatus" and banned the Brotherhood. At this time the Brotherhood was estimated to have 2000 branches and 500,000 members or sympathizers. In succeeding months Egypt's prime minister was assassinated by Brotherhood member, and following that Al-Banna himself was assassinated in what is thought to be a cycle of retaliation.
In 1952 members of the Muslim Brotherhood are accused of taking part in an event that marked the end of Egypt's "liberal, progressive, cosmopolitan" era — an arson fire
that destroyed some "750 buildings" in downtown Cairo — mainly night clubs, theatres, hotels, and restaurants frequented by British and other foreigners.
), and blamed on the "secret apparatus" of the Brotherhood (this attempt was unsuccessful). The Brotherhood was again banned and this time thousands of its members were imprisoned, many of them held for years in prisons and concentration camps, and sometimes tortured.
One of them was the very influential theorist, Sayyid Qutb
, who before being executed in 1966, issued a manifesto proclaiming that Muslim society had become jahiliyya (no longer Islamic) and that Islam must be restored by the overthrow of Muslim states by an Islamic vanguard. Qutb's ideology became very influential outside of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, but the Brotherhood's leadership distanced itself from Qutb, adhered to nonviolent reformist posture.
Imprisoned Brothers were gradually released after Anwar Sadat
became president of Egypt in 1970, and were sometimes enlisted to help fight Sadat's leftist opposition. Brethern were allowed to publish the magazine Da'wa, though the organization remained illegal. During this time, more radical Qutb-inspired Islamist groups blossomed, and after he signing a peace agreement with Israel
in 1979, became confirmed enemies of Sadat. Sadat was assassinated by a violent Islamist group Tanzim al-Jihad on October 6, 1981, shortly before he had Brotherhood leaders (and many other opposition leaders) arrested.
), Brotherhood leaders (Supreme Guide Umar al-Tilmisani
and others) were released from prison. Mubarak cracked down hard against radical Islamists but offered a "olive branch" to the more moderate Brethren. The brethren reciprocated, going so far as to endorse Mubarak’s candidacy for president in 1988.
The Brotherhood dominated the professional and student associations of Egypt and was famous for its network of social services in neighborhoods and villages. However, the government did not approve of the Brotherhood's renewed influence (it was still technically illegal), and resorted to repressive measures starting in 1992.
In the 2000 parliamentary elections
, the Muslim Brotherhood won 17 parliamentary seats. In 2005
, it won 88 seats (20% of the total compared to 14 seats for the legally approved opposition parties) to form the largest opposition bloc, despite the arrest of hundreds of Brotherhood members. It lost almost all but one of these seats in the much-less-free 2010 election
, which was marred by massive arrests of both Brethren and polling place observers. Under Egypt's emergency law Brethren could only stand as independents, but were easily identified since they campaigned under the slogan - 'Islam Is the Solution'.
During and after the 2005 election the Brethren launched what some have called a "charm offensive." Its leadership talked about its `responsibility to lead reform and change in Egypt.` It addressed the `Coptic issue`, insinuating that the Brethren would do away with Egypt's decade's old church building-permit system that Coptic Christians felt was discriminatory. Internationally the Brethren launched an English-language website and some of the Muslim Brotherhood's leaders participated in an Initiative to `Re-Introduc[e] the Brotherhood to the West`, "listing and addressing many `Western misconceptions about the Brotherhood.`"
Seeing this campaign as a direct threat to its position as an indispensible ally of the west against radical Islamism, the Egyptian government introduced an amendment to the constitution that removed the reference to Islam as `the religion of the state,` and would have allowed women and Christians to run for the presidency. Brotherhood MPs responded by walking out of parliament rather than voting on the bill. In addition, the movement has also reportedly played into the government's hands provoking non-Islamist Egyptians by staging a militia-style march by masked Brotherhood students at Cairo's Al Azhar University, complete with uniforms and martial arts drills, reminding many of the Brotherhood's era of 'secret cells'.
According to another observor: "after a number of conciliatory engagements and interactions with the West", the Brotherhood
Two years later the Egyptian government amended the constitution, skewing future representation against independent candidates for parliament, which are the only candidates the Brotherhood can field. The state delayed local council elections from 2006 to 2008, disqualifying most Muslim Brotherhood candidates. The Muslim Brotherhood boycotted the election. The government incarcerated thousands of rank-and-file Muslim Brotherhood members in a wave of arrests and military trials, the harshest such security clampdown on the Brotherhood "in decades."
, despite having much to gain from a freer political environment. (Reportedly the Brotherhood were told that the state security agency would arrest supreme guide Mohammed Badie
if any Brethren participated.) However, the revolution legalized the Brotherhood and it has "emerged as the most powerful group" in Egypt.
In 30 April 2011 it launched a new party called the Freedom and Justice Party
, which reportedly plans to "contest up to half the seats" in the Egyptian parliamentary election scheduled for September 2011. The party "rejects the candidacy of women or Copts for Egypt's presidency", but not for cabinet positions. Some splinter groups have appeared in the wake of the revolution. In September, the Muslim Brotherhood's Supreme Guide Mohammed Badie
announced that the Muslim Brotherhood would not "field a candidate for presidency" as a member of the Brotherhood "at the helm of power” might give a foreign power (Israel or the US) a pretext to attack Egypt. The Brotherhood supported the constitutional referendum
in March which was also supported by the Egyptian army and opposed by Egyptian liberals. Some Egyptians have speculated about deal between the military and the MB, however the Muslim Brotherhood has denied reports of secret meetings with the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces
as "pure lies and imagination."
". It denounces the "catchy and effective terms and phrases" like "fundamentalist" and "political Islam" which it claims are used by "Western Media" to pigeonhole the group, and points to its "15 Principles" for an Egyptian National Charter, including "freedom of personal conviction... opinion... forming political parties... public gatherings... free and fair elections..."
In October 2007, the Muslim Brotherhood issued a detailed political platform. Amongst other things it called for a board of Muslim clerics to oversee the government, and for limiting the office of the presidency to Muslim men. In the `Issues and Problems` chapter of the platform, it declared that a woman was not suited to be president because the post's religious and military duties `conflict with her nature, social and other humanitarian roles.` While underlining `equality between men and women in terms of their human dignity,` the document warned against `burdening women with duties against their nature or role in the family.`
, Bosnia, Chechnya
, Iraq
, and Palestine
. Thrager quotes the former Supreme Guide Mohammed Mahdi Akef as telling him
Thrager and other have also noted the MB's use of the honorific "sheikh
" to refer to Osama bin Laden
. While the Brotherhood differs with bin Laden and al-Qaeda
, it has not condemned them for the 9-11 attacks because it does not believe they were responsible. A recent statement by the Brotherhood on the issue of violence and assassinations condemned the killing of "Sheikh Osama bin Laden" by the United States, saying: "The whole world, and especially the Muslims, have lived with a fierce media campaign to brand Islam as terrorism and describe the Muslims as violent by blaming the September 11th incident on al-Qaeda."
However, according to authors writing in the Council on Foreign Relations magazine Foreign Affairs: "At various times in its history, the group has used or supported violence and has been repeatedly banned in Egypt for attempting to overthrow Cairo's secular government. Since the 1970s, however, the Egyptian Brotherhood has disavowed violence and sought to participate in Egyptian politics." Jeremy Bowen, BBC
Middle East
editor
, calls the Brotherhood "conservative and non-violent".
and Hosni Mubarak
. Its structure bears some similarity to a similar Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami
, in having a hierarchical organization where many supporters do not reach the level of full members. Potential members are recruited by recruiters who do not at first identifying themselves as Brothers to prospective members.
Estimates of the Brotherhood's membership and supporters vary between 600,000 and 100,000. According to anthropologist Scott Atran
, while the Brotherhood has 600,000 dues paying members in Egypt it can count on only 100,000 militants in a population of more than 80 million Egyptians.
How unified and powerful the Brotherhood is, is disputed. Former deputy chairman, Muhammad Habib has said, “there are fissures" in the Brotherhood, "and they may be to the very core. There is concern among the younger members that the leadership does not understand what’s going on around it." Another high ranking member, Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh
, who was recently expelled from the Brotherhood, warned of the possibility of "an explosion.” Other observers (Eric Trager) have described the Brotherhood as "Egypt's most cohesive political movement, with an unparalleled ability to mobilize its followers ..."
It also operates job-training programmes., schools in every governorate
in the country and programs to support widows and orphans.
An estimated 1,000 of the roughly 5,000 legally registered NGOs and associations in Egypt are run by the Brotherhood according to Abul Futouh, a leading brotherhood member. Its clinics are reputed to have more available basic supplies and more up-to-date equipment. However, the Brotherhood's network of organizations is complex, sometimes operate under different names, and is difficult to track.
The Brotherhood's response to the 1992 earthquake in Cairo
, where 50,000 people were made homeless, was an example of the group's effectiveness, compared to that of the Egyptian government. It quickly mobilized to provide victims with food and blankets and setting up makeshift medical clinics and tents for shelter.
by the Muslim Brotherhood in April 2011.
2011 Egyptian revolution
The 2011 Egyptian revolution took place following a popular uprising that began on Tuesday, 25 January 2011 and is still continuing as of November 2011. The uprising was mainly a campaign of non-violent civil resistance, which featured a series of demonstrations, marches, acts of civil...
the group was legalized, and with an estimated 600,000 members or supporters it's considered the largest, best-organized political force in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. Its credo is, "God is our objective; the Quran is our constitution, the Prophet is our leader; Jihad
Jihad
Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
is our way; and death for the sake of God is the highest of our aspirations." Founded in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
by Hassan al-Banna
Hassan al-Banna
Sheikh Hasan Ahmed Abdel Rahman Muhammed al-Banna known as Hasan al-Banna was a schoolteacher and imam, best known for founding the Muslim Brotherhood, one of the largest and most influential 20th century Muslim revivalist organizations.-Early life:Banna was born in 1906 in Mahmoudiyah, Egypt...
in March 1928, the group spread to other Muslim countries but has its largest, or one of its largest, organizations in Egypt despite a succession of government crackdowns in 1948, 1954, 1965 after plots, or alleged plots, of assassination and overthrow were uncovered. In April 2011 it launched a civic political party called the Freedom and Justice Party
Freedom and Justice Party (Egypt)
The Freedom and Justice Party , is an Islamist political party in Egypt. The party is nominally independent but has strong links to the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt, the largest and best organized political group in Egypt...
to contest elections, described as having "the same mission and goals, but different roles" than the Brotherhood.
Under the monarchy
The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in 1928 by Hassan al-BannaHassan al-Banna
Sheikh Hasan Ahmed Abdel Rahman Muhammed al-Banna known as Hasan al-Banna was a schoolteacher and imam, best known for founding the Muslim Brotherhood, one of the largest and most influential 20th century Muslim revivalist organizations.-Early life:Banna was born in 1906 in Mahmoudiyah, Egypt...
, an Egyptian schoolteacher, who preached implementing traditional Islamic Sharia
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
law in all aspects of life, from everyday problems to the organization of the government. Inspired by Islamic reformers Muhammad Abduh
Muhammad Abduh
Muhammad Abduh was an Egyptian jurist, religious scholar and liberal reformer, regarded as the founder of Islamic Modernism...
and Rashid Rida
Rashid Rida
Muhammad Rashid Rida is said to have been "one of the most influential scholars and jurists of his generation" and the "most prominent disciple of Muhammad Abduh"...
, he believed that Islam had lost its social dominance to corrupt Western
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
influences and British imperial rule
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
.
The organisation initially focused on educational and charitable work, but quickly grew to become a major political force as well. (Sources disagree as to whether the Brotherhood was hostile to independent working-class and popular organisations, or supported efforts to create trades unions and unemployment benefits.) It championed the cause of poor Muslims, and played a prominent role in the Egyptian nationalist
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
movement, fighting the British, Egypt's occupier/dominator. It engaged in espionage and sabotage, as well as support for terrorist activities orchestrated by Haj Amin al-Husseini in British Mandate Palestine, and up to and during World War II some association with Britain's enemy, the German Nazis, dissemination of anti-Jewish, and anti-Western propaganda.
In November 1948, following several bombings and assassination attempts, the government arrest 32 leaders of the Brotherhood's "secret apparatus" and banned the Brotherhood. At this time the Brotherhood was estimated to have 2000 branches and 500,000 members or sympathizers. In succeeding months Egypt's prime minister was assassinated by Brotherhood member, and following that Al-Banna himself was assassinated in what is thought to be a cycle of retaliation.
In 1952 members of the Muslim Brotherhood are accused of taking part in an event that marked the end of Egypt's "liberal, progressive, cosmopolitan" era — an arson fire
Cairo Fire
The Cairo Fire , also known as Black Saturday, was a series of riots that took place on 26 January 1952, marked by the burning and looting of some 750 buildings -- retail shops, cafes, cinemas, hotels, restaurants, theatres, nightclubs and the country's Opera House -- in Downtown Cairo...
that destroyed some "750 buildings" in downtown Cairo — mainly night clubs, theatres, hotels, and restaurants frequented by British and other foreigners.
After the 1952 revolution
In 1952 the monarchy was overthrown by nationalist military officers. While the Brotherhood supported the coup it vigorously opposed the secularist constitution that the coup leaders were developing. In 1954 another assassination was attempted against Egypt's prime minister (Gamal Abdel NasserGamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was the second President of Egypt from 1956 until his death. A colonel in the Egyptian army, Nasser led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 along with Muhammad Naguib, the first president, which overthrew the monarchy of Egypt and Sudan, and heralded a new period of...
), and blamed on the "secret apparatus" of the Brotherhood (this attempt was unsuccessful). The Brotherhood was again banned and this time thousands of its members were imprisoned, many of them held for years in prisons and concentration camps, and sometimes tortured.
One of them was the very influential theorist, Sayyid Qutb
Sayyid Qutb
Sayyid Qutb was an Egyptian author, educator, Islamist theorist, poet, and the leading member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in the 1950s and '60s....
, who before being executed in 1966, issued a manifesto proclaiming that Muslim society had become jahiliyya (no longer Islamic) and that Islam must be restored by the overthrow of Muslim states by an Islamic vanguard. Qutb's ideology became very influential outside of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, but the Brotherhood's leadership distanced itself from Qutb, adhered to nonviolent reformist posture.
Imprisoned Brothers were gradually released after Anwar Sadat
Anwar Sadat
Muhammad Anwar al-Sadat was the third President of Egypt, serving from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 October 1981...
became president of Egypt in 1970, and were sometimes enlisted to help fight Sadat's leftist opposition. Brethern were allowed to publish the magazine Da'wa, though the organization remained illegal. During this time, more radical Qutb-inspired Islamist groups blossomed, and after he signing a peace agreement with Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
in 1979, became confirmed enemies of Sadat. Sadat was assassinated by a violent Islamist group Tanzim al-Jihad on October 6, 1981, shortly before he had Brotherhood leaders (and many other opposition leaders) arrested.
Mubarak era
Again with a new president, (Hosni MubarakHosni Mubarak
Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak is a former Egyptian politician and military commander. He served as the fourth President of Egypt from 1981 to 2011....
), Brotherhood leaders (Supreme Guide Umar al-Tilmisani
Umar al-Tilmisani
Umar al-Tilmisani was the third General Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brothers. He headed the Egyptian Islamist organization from 1972 until 1986...
and others) were released from prison. Mubarak cracked down hard against radical Islamists but offered a "olive branch" to the more moderate Brethren. The brethren reciprocated, going so far as to endorse Mubarak’s candidacy for president in 1988.
The Brotherhood dominated the professional and student associations of Egypt and was famous for its network of social services in neighborhoods and villages. However, the government did not approve of the Brotherhood's renewed influence (it was still technically illegal), and resorted to repressive measures starting in 1992.
In the 2000 parliamentary elections
Egyptian parliamentary election, 2000
Parliamentary elections were held in Egypt in three stages between 18 October and 8 November 2000. The election was broken into stages after a July ruling by the Supreme Constitutional Court that that judges must monitor all polling stations...
, the Muslim Brotherhood won 17 parliamentary seats. In 2005
Egyptian parliamentary election, 2005
The Egyptian parliamentary elections of 2005 was the scheduled three-stage elections in November and December 2005 for determining its lower house membership. The elections formed the Eighth Assembly since the adoption of the 1971 Constitution...
, it won 88 seats (20% of the total compared to 14 seats for the legally approved opposition parties) to form the largest opposition bloc, despite the arrest of hundreds of Brotherhood members. It lost almost all but one of these seats in the much-less-free 2010 election
Egyptian parliamentary election, 2010
The Egyptian parliamentary elections of 2010 first voting round was held in Egypt on 28 November 2010 and the second round was held on 5 December 2010....
, which was marred by massive arrests of both Brethren and polling place observers. Under Egypt's emergency law Brethren could only stand as independents, but were easily identified since they campaigned under the slogan - 'Islam Is the Solution'.
During and after the 2005 election the Brethren launched what some have called a "charm offensive." Its leadership talked about its `responsibility to lead reform and change in Egypt.` It addressed the `Coptic issue`, insinuating that the Brethren would do away with Egypt's decade's old church building-permit system that Coptic Christians felt was discriminatory. Internationally the Brethren launched an English-language website and some of the Muslim Brotherhood's leaders participated in an Initiative to `Re-Introduc[e] the Brotherhood to the West`, "listing and addressing many `Western misconceptions about the Brotherhood.`"
Seeing this campaign as a direct threat to its position as an indispensible ally of the west against radical Islamism, the Egyptian government introduced an amendment to the constitution that removed the reference to Islam as `the religion of the state,` and would have allowed women and Christians to run for the presidency. Brotherhood MPs responded by walking out of parliament rather than voting on the bill. In addition, the movement has also reportedly played into the government's hands provoking non-Islamist Egyptians by staging a militia-style march by masked Brotherhood students at Cairo's Al Azhar University, complete with uniforms and martial arts drills, reminding many of the Brotherhood's era of 'secret cells'.
According to another observor: "after a number of conciliatory engagements and interactions with the West", the Brotherhood
retreated into its comfort zone of inflammatory rhetoric intended for local consumption: all suicide bombers are `martyrs`; `Israel` regularly became the Jews`; even its theological discourse became more confrontational and oriented to social conservatism.
Two years later the Egyptian government amended the constitution, skewing future representation against independent candidates for parliament, which are the only candidates the Brotherhood can field. The state delayed local council elections from 2006 to 2008, disqualifying most Muslim Brotherhood candidates. The Muslim Brotherhood boycotted the election. The government incarcerated thousands of rank-and-file Muslim Brotherhood members in a wave of arrests and military trials, the harshest such security clampdown on the Brotherhood "in decades."
2011 revolution and after
The Brotherhood has been criticized (or noted) for being "on the sidelines" early in the January-February 2011 uprising that overthrew Hosni MubarakHosni Mubarak
Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak is a former Egyptian politician and military commander. He served as the fourth President of Egypt from 1981 to 2011....
, despite having much to gain from a freer political environment. (Reportedly the Brotherhood were told that the state security agency would arrest supreme guide Mohammed Badie
Mohammed Badie
Muhammad Badie is the eighth General Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. He has headed the Egyptian branch of the international Islamist organization since 2010...
if any Brethren participated.) However, the revolution legalized the Brotherhood and it has "emerged as the most powerful group" in Egypt.
In 30 April 2011 it launched a new party called the Freedom and Justice Party
Freedom and Justice Party (Egypt)
The Freedom and Justice Party , is an Islamist political party in Egypt. The party is nominally independent but has strong links to the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt, the largest and best organized political group in Egypt...
, which reportedly plans to "contest up to half the seats" in the Egyptian parliamentary election scheduled for September 2011. The party "rejects the candidacy of women or Copts for Egypt's presidency", but not for cabinet positions. Some splinter groups have appeared in the wake of the revolution. In September, the Muslim Brotherhood's Supreme Guide Mohammed Badie
Mohammed Badie
Muhammad Badie is the eighth General Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. He has headed the Egyptian branch of the international Islamist organization since 2010...
announced that the Muslim Brotherhood would not "field a candidate for presidency" as a member of the Brotherhood "at the helm of power” might give a foreign power (Israel or the US) a pretext to attack Egypt. The Brotherhood supported the constitutional referendum
Egyptian constitutional referendum, 2011
A constitutional referendum was held in Egypt on 19 March 2011, following the 2011 Egyptian revolution. More than 14 million were in favour, while around 4 million opposed the changes; 41% of 45 million eligible voters turned out to vote....
in March which was also supported by the Egyptian army and opposed by Egyptian liberals. Some Egyptians have speculated about deal between the military and the MB, however the Muslim Brotherhood has denied reports of secret meetings with the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces
Supreme Council of the Armed Forces
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces consists of a body of 20 senior officers in the Egyptian military. As a consequence of the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, the Council took the power to govern Egypt from its departing President Hosni Mubarak on February 11, 2011.The junta meets regularly, as...
as "pure lies and imagination."
General leaders
Murshid ("supreme guide" or "General leaders" (G.L.)) of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt (المرشد العام لجماعة الإخوان المسلمون) are/have been- Founder & First G.leader : Hassan al Banna حسن البنا
- 2nd G.L : Hassan al-Hudaybi حسن الهضيبى
- 3rd G.L : Umar al-TilmisaniUmar al-TilmisaniUmar al-Tilmisani was the third General Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brothers. He headed the Egyptian Islamist organization from 1972 until 1986...
عمر التلمسانى - 4th G.L : Muhammad Hamid Abu al-NasrMuhammad Hamid Abu al-NasrMuhammad Hamid Abu al-Nasr was the fourth General Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. A controversial choice to lead the group after the 1986 death of longtime General Guide 'Umar al-Tilmisani, al-Nasr was opposed by a large faction backing other candidates such as Salah Shadi or Husayn...
محمد حامد أبو النصر - 5th G.L : Mustafa MashhurMustafa MashhurMustafa Mashhur was the fifth General Guide of the Muslim Brothers. He was the official head of the Egyptian Islamist organization from 1996 until 2002, although outside observers have suggested that he informally ran the organization during the ten-year term of his predecessor Muhammad Hamid...
مصطفى مشهور - 6th G.L : Ma'mun al-HudaybiMa'mun al-HudaybiMa'mun al-Hudaybi was the sixth General Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brothers. He briefly succeeded Mustafa Mashhur as General Guide in 2002, and headed the Islamist group until his death in 2004. His successor is Mohammed Mahdi Akef. Ma'mun al-Hudaybi was the son of the second General Guide,...
مأمون الهضيبى - 7th G.L : Mohamed al Mahdy Akef محمد المهدى عاكف
- 8th G.L & Current Leader: Mohammed BadieMohammed BadieMuhammad Badie is the eighth General Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. He has headed the Egyptian branch of the international Islamist organization since 2010...
محمد بديع
Beliefs
The Brotherhood itself describes the "principles of the Muslim Brotherhood" as including firstly the introduction of the Islamic Shari`ah as "the basis controlling the affairs of state and society;" and secondly work to unify "Islamic countries and states, mainly among the Arab states, and liberating them from foreign imperialismImperialism
Imperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...
". It denounces the "catchy and effective terms and phrases" like "fundamentalist" and "political Islam" which it claims are used by "Western Media" to pigeonhole the group, and points to its "15 Principles" for an Egyptian National Charter, including "freedom of personal conviction... opinion... forming political parties... public gatherings... free and fair elections..."
In October 2007, the Muslim Brotherhood issued a detailed political platform. Amongst other things it called for a board of Muslim clerics to oversee the government, and for limiting the office of the presidency to Muslim men. In the `Issues and Problems` chapter of the platform, it declared that a woman was not suited to be president because the post's religious and military duties `conflict with her nature, social and other humanitarian roles.` While underlining `equality between men and women in terms of their human dignity,` the document warned against `burdening women with duties against their nature or role in the family.`
Political viewpoints
The Brotherhood's self-description as moderate and rejecting violence as created disagreement among observers. A Western author, (Eric Thrager), interviewing 30 current and former members of the Brotherhood in 2011 and found that the Brethren he talked to emphasised "important exceptions" to the position of non-violence, namely conflicts in AfghanistanAfghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, Bosnia, Chechnya
Chechnya
The Chechen Republic , commonly referred to as Chechnya , also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia, sometimes referred to as Ichkeria , is a federal subject of Russia . It is located in the southeastern part of Europe in the Northern Caucasus mountains. The capital of the republic is the city of Grozny...
, Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, and Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
. Thrager quotes the former Supreme Guide Mohammed Mahdi Akef as telling him
We believe that ZionismZionismZionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
, the United States, and England are gangs that kill children and women and men and destroy houses and fields. .... Zionism is a gang, not a country. So we will resist them until they don't have a country.
Thrager and other have also noted the MB's use of the honorific "sheikh
Sheikh
Not to be confused with sikhSheikh — also spelled Sheik or Shaikh, or transliterated as Shaykh — is an honorific in the Arabic language that literally means "elder" and carries the meaning "leader and/or governor"...
" to refer to Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
. While the Brotherhood differs with bin Laden and al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
, it has not condemned them for the 9-11 attacks because it does not believe they were responsible. A recent statement by the Brotherhood on the issue of violence and assassinations condemned the killing of "Sheikh Osama bin Laden" by the United States, saying: "The whole world, and especially the Muslims, have lived with a fierce media campaign to brand Islam as terrorism and describe the Muslims as violent by blaming the September 11th incident on al-Qaeda."
However, according to authors writing in the Council on Foreign Relations magazine Foreign Affairs: "At various times in its history, the group has used or supported violence and has been repeatedly banned in Egypt for attempting to overthrow Cairo's secular government. Since the 1970s, however, the Egyptian Brotherhood has disavowed violence and sought to participate in Egyptian politics." Jeremy Bowen, BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
editor
Editor
The term editor may refer to:As a person who does editing:* Editor in chief, having final responsibility for a publication's operations and policies* Copy editing, making formatting changes and other improvements to text...
, calls the Brotherhood "conservative and non-violent".
Political strategy
In his writing, Hassan Al-Banna outlined a strategy for achieving power of three stages:- the initial propaganda stage (preparation),
- the organization stage (in which the people would be educated by the Muslim Brotherhood), and
- finally, the action stage (where power would be taken seized).
Organization
The Brotherhood applies a highly selective membership process which gives its "internal cohesiveness and ideological rigidity" and is unique among Egyptian political/social organizations in its "breath" and "depth" of networks. The long (typically at least four and a half years) and closely monitored membership process is thought to have prevented infiltration by state security during the presidencies of Anwar SadatSadat era
Sadat era refers to the presidency of Muhammad Anwar al-Sadat, the eleven-year period of Egyptian history spanning from the death of president Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1970, through Sadat's assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 October 1981...
and Hosni Mubarak
Mubarak era
Mubarak era refers to the 29 year long presidency of Hosni Mubarak, the period of Egyptian history spanning from October 1981 when President Anwar Sadat, Mubarak's predecessor, was assassinated, though February 2011, when Mubarak was overthrown by a revolution.-Politics:On 6 October 1981, President...
. Its structure bears some similarity to a similar Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami
Jamaat-e-Islami
This article is about Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan. For other organizations of similar name see Jamaat-e-Islami The Jamaat-e-Islami , is a Pro-Muslim political party in Pakistan...
, in having a hierarchical organization where many supporters do not reach the level of full members. Potential members are recruited by recruiters who do not at first identifying themselves as Brothers to prospective members.
Estimates of the Brotherhood's membership and supporters vary between 600,000 and 100,000. According to anthropologist Scott Atran
Scott Atran
Scott Atran is an American and French anthropologist.-Education and early career:Atran was born in New York City in 1952 and he received his PhD in anthropology from Columbia University. While a student at Columbia, he became assistant to anthropologist Margaret Mead at the American Museum of...
, while the Brotherhood has 600,000 dues paying members in Egypt it can count on only 100,000 militants in a population of more than 80 million Egyptians.
How unified and powerful the Brotherhood is, is disputed. Former deputy chairman, Muhammad Habib has said, “there are fissures" in the Brotherhood, "and they may be to the very core. There is concern among the younger members that the leadership does not understand what’s going on around it." Another high ranking member, Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh
Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh
Dr. Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh Abdel Hady Dr. Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh Abdel Hady Dr. Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh Abdel Hady ) is an Egyptian physician and politician. He is currently Secretary-General of the Arab Medical Union. Formerly he was a member of the Guidance Bureau of the Muslim Brotherhood...
, who was recently expelled from the Brotherhood, warned of the possibility of "an explosion.” Other observers (Eric Trager) have described the Brotherhood as "Egypt's most cohesive political movement, with an unparalleled ability to mobilize its followers ..."
Supporter levels
- muhib ("lover" or "follower"). The lowest level of the Brotherhood is the muhib. One is typically a muhib for six months, but the period can be as long as four years. A muhib is part of an usra ("family") which closely monitors the muhib's piety and ideological commitment, working to "improve the morals" of the muhib. An usras meets at least once a week and "spends much of its time discussing members' personal lives and activities." The usra usually has four or five members and is headed by a naqib ("captain").
- muayyad ("supporter"). A muhib graduates to muayyad after confirmation that the muhib prays regularly and possesses basic knowledge of major Islamic texts. This stage lasts from one to three years. A muayyad is a nonvoting member of the brotherhood. Their duties include carrying out tasks such as preaching, recruiting, teaching in mosques assigned to them by superiors. THey also follow a "rigorous curriculum of study", memorizing sections of the Quran and studying the teachings of Hasan Al Banna, the founder of the Brotherhood.
- muntasib ("affiliated"). This process lasts a year and is the first step toward full membership. As one Brother put it, a muntasib "is a member, but his name is written in pencil." A muntasib continues to study Islam (hadithHadithThe term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
and TafsirTafsirTafseer is the Arabic word for exegesis or commentary, usually of the Qur'an. Ta'wīl is a subset of tafsir and refers to esoteric or mystical interpretation. An author of tafsir is a mufassir .- Etymology :...
) and now titheTitheA tithe is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash, cheques, or stocks, whereas historically tithes were required and paid in kind, such as agricultural products...
s the brotherhood, (typically giving 5% to 8% of their earning). - muntazim ("organizer"). This stage typically lasts another two years. A muntazim must continue memorizing hadithHadithThe term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
and complete memorization of the Quran and "can assume a lower-level leadership role, such a forming an usra or heading a chapter" of usras. - ach'amal ("working brother"). This final level is reached after the subject loyalty is "closely probed." An ach'amal can vote in all internal elections, participate in all of the Brotherhood's working bodies, and compete for higher office within the group's hierarchy."
Offices and organs
- Murshid ("Supreme Guide"). Head of the Brotherhood (and of its Maktab al-Irshad)
- Maktab al-Irshad ("Guidance Office"). Maktab al-Irshad consists of approximately 15 longtime Muslim Brothers including the Murshid, who heads the office. Each member of the office oversees a portfolio on an issue such as university recruitment, education, politics, etc. The office execute decisions made by the Majlis al-Shura and passes down orders through a change of command, consisting of "its deputies in each regional sector, who call their deputies in each subsidiary area, who call their deputies in each subsidiary populace, who call the heads of each local usra, who then transmit the order to their members."
- Majlis al-Shura ("Consultative Council"). This consists of approximately 100 Muslim Brothers. Debates and votes on important decisions, such as whether to participate in national elections. Elects members of the Maktab al-Irshad.
Social services
The brotherhood operates 21 hospitals throughout Egypt, providing modern medical care at subsidized prices.It also operates job-training programmes., schools in every governorate
Governorates of Egypt
Egypt is divided for administrative purposes into 27 governorates . Egyptian governorates are the top tier of the country's five-tier jurisdiction hierarchy. A governorate is administered by a governor, who is appointed by the President of Egypt and serves at the president's discretion...
in the country and programs to support widows and orphans.
An estimated 1,000 of the roughly 5,000 legally registered NGOs and associations in Egypt are run by the Brotherhood according to Abul Futouh, a leading brotherhood member. Its clinics are reputed to have more available basic supplies and more up-to-date equipment. However, the Brotherhood's network of organizations is complex, sometimes operate under different names, and is difficult to track.
The Brotherhood's response to the 1992 earthquake in Cairo
1992 Cairo earthquake
The 1992 Cairo earthquake occurred at 13:09 UTC on 12 October, with an epicenter near Dahshur, 35 km south of Cairo. The earthquake had a magnitude of 5.8, but was unusually destructive for its size, causing 545 deaths, injuring 6512 and making 50,000 people homeless...
, where 50,000 people were made homeless, was an example of the group's effectiveness, compared to that of the Egyptian government. It quickly mobilized to provide victims with food and blankets and setting up makeshift medical clinics and tents for shelter.
Muslim Sisterhood
The Muslim Sisterhood is the female division of the Muslim Brotherhood. The members of the Muslim Sisterhood have been traditionally more involved in charitable activities than other members of Muslim Brotherhood. The work of the Muslim Sisterhood has help to attract new members to the Muslim Brotherhood. Many of these members come from university campuses, mosques and trade unions. During the Egyptian revolution of 2011, members of the Muslim Sisterhood have become more politically active, and they participated in the founding of the Freedom and Justice PartyFreedom and Justice Party (Egypt)
The Freedom and Justice Party , is an Islamist political party in Egypt. The party is nominally independent but has strong links to the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt, the largest and best organized political group in Egypt...
by the Muslim Brotherhood in April 2011.
Further reading
- Udo Ulfkotte: Der heilige Krieg in Europa - Wie die radikale Muslimbruderschaft unsere Gesellschaft bedroht. Eichborn Verlag 2007, ISBN 978-3-8218-5577-6
- Johannes Grundmann: Islamische Internationalisten - Strukturen und Aktivitäten der Muslimbruderschaft und der Islamischen Weltliga. Wiesbaden 2005, ISBN 3-895-00447-2 (Review by I. Küpeli)
- Gilles Kepel: Der Prophet und der Pharao. Das Beispiel Ägypten: Die Entwicklung des muslimischen Extremismus. München Zürich 1995.
- Matthias Küntzel: Djihad und Judenhass. Freiburg im Breisgau 2003 (2. Aufl.)
- Richard P. Mitchell: The Society of the Muslim Brothers. London 1969.
- Emmanuel Razavi : Frères musulmans : Dans l'ombre d'Al Qaeda, Editions Jean Cyrille Godefroy, 2005
- Xavier Ternisien : Les Frères musulmans, Fayard, 2005
- Latifa Ben Mansour : Frères musulmans, frères féroces : Voyages dans l'enfer du discours islamiste, Editions Ramsay, 2002
- Paul Landau : Le Sabre et le Coran, Tariq Ramadan et les Frères Musulmans à la conquête de l'Europe, Editions du Rocher, 2005.
- Ted Wende : "Alternative oder Irrweg? Religion als politischer Faktor in einem arabischen Land", Marburg 2001
External links
- Ikhwan Online (Arabic)
- Ikhwan Web (English)
- Profile: Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, Al Jazeera English, February 6, 2011
- The Muslim Brotherhood Uncovered, Jack Shenker and Brian WhitakerBrian WhitakerBrian Whitaker has been a journalist for the British newspaper The Guardian since 1987 and its Middle East editor from 2000-2007. He is currently an editor on the paper's "Comment Is Free". He also writes articles for Guardian Unlimited, the internet edition of the paper...
, The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, February 8, 2011 - Profile: Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, BBC NewsBBC NewsBBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
, 9 February 2011