| The Muslim Brotherhood, also called Muslim Brethren (Arabic: جميعة
الإخوان المسلمين jamiat al-Ikhwan
al-muslimin, literally Society of Muslim Brothers; often only الإخوان
المسلمون, Ikhwan ul Muslimoon (Muslim Brothers) or simply
الإخوان Ikhwan (the Brothers) is an Islamic organization with a political approach to Islam. It was founded in 1928
by Hassan al Banna in Egypt
after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
Ideology
The Muslim Brotherhood opposes secular tendencies of Islamic nations and wants return to the precepts of the Qur'an, and rejection of Western influences. They also reject extreme Sufism. They organize events from prayer meetings to sport clubs for socializing.
The organization's motto is as follows: “Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. Qur'an is our law. Jihad
is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope”
Robert Spencer has written that the group is "the father of
virtually all of today's jihad terrorist groups."
An article published in the Washington Post on Sept. 11, 2004 states the group has fomented Islamic revolution in Egypt,
Algeria, Syria and Sudan. Additionally, the Brotherhood was responsible for the creation of Hamas "which has become known for its
suicide bombings of Israelis." Nevertheless, the Post reported that the group is a "sophisticated and diverse organization that
appeals to many Muslims worldwide and sometimes advocates peaceful persuasion, not violent revolt. Some of its supporters went on
to help found al Qaeda, while others launched one of the largest college student groups in the United States."[1] (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12823-2004Sep10.html?nav=rss_topnews) However,
its main representative in Algeria, the Movement for the Society of Peace, has in fact been notable for its support for the
government against Islamist insurgents during the Algerian Civil
War.
Structure
The Brotherhood has branches in 70 countries. They claim to have taken part in most pro-Islamic conflicts, from the Arab-Israeli Wars and the Algerian War of Independence to recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Kashmir. Currently, the Egyptian Brotherhood exists
as a militant clandestine group, and has been connected to many underground political operations. In other countries, they have
more prominent roles, including parliamentary seats. They have not supported movements like al-Jihad and al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya in Egypt and
mujahedeen ment of Muslim communities in Europe and the United States.
History
The Muslim Brotherhood began as a youth organization aimed at moral and social reform in Egypt. They regarded Islam as a way
of life. Many Syrian supporters founded their own branches in Syria, one of which was the Aleppo branch, founded in 1935. The
Aleppo branch eventually became the Syrian headquarters of the Brotherhood. The Brotherhood expanded its political involvement as
the Party of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hizb Al-Ikhwan Al-Muslimoon.
During the 1930s, the Brotherhood became more political in nature and an officially political group in 1939.
In 1942, during World War II, Hassan al Banna set up more Brotherhood branches in Transjordan and Palestine. The headquarters
of the Syrian branch moved to Damascus in 1944. After World War Two, Egyptian members took violent action against King Farouk’s government. When the organization was banned in
Egypt, hundreds moved to Transjordan. Many also participated in the Arab-Israeli War of 1948-1949, fighting against the State of Israel.
The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood initially supported Gamal Abd
an-Nasser's secular government and cooperated with it, but resisted left-wing influences. A Muslim Brother assassinated
Egyptian Prime Minister Mahmud Fahmi Nokrashi on December 28, 1948. The Brotherhood was banned, and Al Banna himself was killed by government agents in Cairo in February 1949.
Muslim Brother Abdul Munim Abdul Rauf allegedly tried to kill Nasser on October 26, 1954. The Brotherhood was outlawed again and over 4000 of its
members were imprisoned, including Sayyid Qutb, who later became the most
influential intellectual of the group. He wrote influential books while in prison. More members moved to Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria.
The organization opposed the alliance Egypt had with the USSR at the
time, and opposed the communist influence in Egypt, to the extent that it was
reportedly supported by the CIA during the 1960s.
Nasser legalized the Brotherhood again in 1964, and released all prisoners. After
claiming more assassination attempts against him, he had leaders executed in 1966 and
imprisoned most others again.
Nasser's successor in Egypt, Anwar Sadat, promised reforms, and that he
would implement Sharia. However, Sadat's peace treaty with Israel in 1979 angered the Brotherhood again and most of the Egyptian
people, which led to his assassination in 1981.
In the 1950s, Jordanian members supported
King Hussein of Jordan against political opposition and
against Nasser's attempts to overthrow him. When the King banned political parties in Jordan in 1957, the Brotherhood was exempted.
The Syrian branch was the next to be banned when Syria joined Egypt in the United Arab Republic (UAR) in 1958. The Brotherhood went
underground. When Syria left the UAR 1961, the Brotherhood won 10 seats in the next
elections. However, the Ba’th coup in 1963 forced them underground once more, alongside all the other political groups.
The appointment of Hafez al-Assad, an Alawite Muslim, as the Syrian president in 1971 angered the Brotherhood even
more because the majority of Muslims do not consider Alawites true Muslims at all. Assad initially tried to placate them, but
made very little progress. Assad’s support of Maronites in the Lebanese Civil War made the Brotherhood re-declare its jihad. They
began a campaign of strikes and terrorist actions. In 1979, they killed 83 Alawite cadets
in the Aleppo artillery school. Assad’s attempts to calm them by changing officials and releasing political prisoners did
not help. Eventually the army was used to restore order by force.
An assassination attempt against Assad on June 25, 1980 was the last straw. Assad made the Syrian parliament declare Brotherhood membership a capital offense and sent
the army against them. In the operation, which lasted until February of 1982, the Syrian
army practically wiped out the Brotherhood, killing an unknown but large number of people in the Hama Massacre. The Syrian branch disappeared, and the survivors fled to join Islamic organizations in
other countries.
The Saudi Arabian branch convinced king Ibn Saud to let them start the Islamic University in Medina in 1961. After the Six-Day War in 1967, the movement as a whole split into moderates
and radicals. The latter faction in Syria declared jihad against the Ba'th party leaders.
King Hussein allowed the Jordanian branch to give military training to Brotherhood rebels in Jordan.
In 1973, the Israeli government allowed local leader Ahmad Yassin to run social, religious and welfare institutions among Palestinian Muslims. In 1983, he was arrested for illegal possession of firearms and sentenced to prison. When he was
released 1985, he became more popular than ever. When the first Intifada begun in 1987, he became one of the founders of
Hamas.
In 1984, the Muslim Brotherhood was partially reaccepted in Egypt as a religious
organization, but was placed under heavy scrutiny by security forces. It remains a source of friction.
In 1989, the Jordanian Brotherhood's political wing, the Islamic Action Front, won
23 out of 80 seats in Jordan's parliament. King Hussein tried to limit their influence by changing the election laws, but in the
1993 elections, they became the largest group in the parliament. They strongly opposed the
Jordanian-Israeli Peace Treaty in 1994.
In the early days of the Soviet-Afghan war, the
Muslim Brotherhood was seen as a constituent part of the Afghan anti-communist opposition.
The resistance movement in Afghanistan formed in opposition to the leftist policies of King Zahir Shah. The movement had connections to the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Russian government alleges that the Muslim Brotherhood is a key force in the
ongoing Chechen revolt. Russian officials accused the Muslim Brotherhood of
planning the December 27, 2002 suicide
car bombing of the headquarters of the Russian-backed government in Grozny,
Chechnya.
Today, the Muslim Brotherhood is viewed by some people as a more moderate group than other Islamist organizations operation in
the Middle East, such as al-Qaida. Others point out their continued ideological and
personal participation in terrorism, however, and see the Ikhwan as both al-Qaida's progenitor and a key ongoing enabler in the
Muslim ummah.
In countries where they are permited to stand for office, the Brotherhood has competed in and supported free elections.
Others disagree with the assessment of the Muslim Brotherhood as a moderate group. Ahmad Al-Baghdadi, a professor of political
science at the University of Kuwait has recently criticized the U.S. for failing to put the organization on its list of terrorist
organizations. He also critized the UN for doing the same thing.
In comments translated by the Middle East Research Institute (MEMRI) on January, 7, 2005, Al-Baghdadi asserted that the Middle
East "has no future" as long as organizations like the Muslim Brotherhood exist and called for the political and economic
destruction of it and other groups like it.
"The day will come when the only solution for this will be confrontation, and it is better that this be now and not later. The
solution is simple: to put [these organizations] on the international terrorist list and to force all the countries that have
contacts with these organizations to dismantle them and to confiscate their funds. There is no other solution," Al-Baghdadi
said.
Prominent Muslim Brothers
Prominent Muslim Brothers include the late Sayyid Qutb, the late Hasan al-Banna, and Yusuf al-Qaradawi. In Algeria, their ideology was most
notably espoused by Mahfoud Nahnah.
References
- Bradsher, Afghanistan page 91,218.
- Gilles Keppel: Jihad. Paris 2000
Personalities
Fraternal groups and personalities
Groups also mentioned in relation
Islam-related topics
External links
[http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=subjects&Area=jihad&ID=SP79404 Reactions to Sheikh Al-Qaradhawi's
Fatwa Calling for the Abduction and Killing of American Civilians in Iraq]
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