Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt

This article is about the Egyptian organisation called the Muslim Brotherhood. For other organisations that use the same name, see Muslim Brotherhood.

The Muslim Brotherhood الإخوان المسلمون al-ʾIkḫwān al-Muslimūn IPA: [elʔexˈwæːn elmosleˈmuːn]
Leader	Mohammed Badie
Founded	1928 Ismailia, Egypt
Headquarters	Cairo, Egypt
Ideology	Sunni Islamism Islamic Democracy Religious Conservatism
Political position	Far Right
International affiliation	Muslim Brotherhood
Website
www.ikhwanonline.com www.ikhwanweb.com
Politics of Egypt Political parties Elections

The Muslim Brotherhood (Arabic: جماعة الاخوان المسلمين‎ gammāʿat al-ʾiḫwān/al-ikhwan/el-ekhwan al-muslimūn, IPA: [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 is 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. According to the party platform, it intends to honor all Egypt's international agreements. On June 24, Egypt's elections commission announced the official results of the presidential elections in a televised press conference, naming Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi as the first post-revolution president, and the first civilian president since Gamal Abdel-Nasser and his fellow officers overthrew the monarchy in 1952.

History

Main article: History of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt

Under the monarchy

Main article: History of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt (1928-1938)

The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna, 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.

Main article: History of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt (1939-1954)

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 arrested 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.

After the 1952 revolution

Main article: History of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt (1954-present)

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 Nasser), 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. Brethren 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.

Mubarak era

Again with a new president, (Hosni Mubarak), 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 indispensable 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

Main article: Muslim Brotherhood in current politics of Egypt

See also: Timeline of the 2011–2012 Egyptian revolution under the Muslim Brotherhood

The Brotherhood has been criticized (or noted) for being "on the sidelines" early in the January–February 2011 uprising that overthrew Hosni Mubarak, 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. To its credit, the Muslim Brotherhood has a good record of keeping protests peaceful.

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 SCAF as "pure lies and imagination."

In 2012, there was increasing criticism in Egypt, shared by some younger Brotherhood activists, that by avoiding a confrontation with the generals, even in the midst of the violent clashes in late 2011, the Islamist party let SCAF off the hook, perhaps even collaborated with it. After Mubarak, liberals shifted their focus to the Egyptian military, but the refusal by the Muslim Brotherhood to join their protests against military rule finished the "second revolution". Former MB deputy supreme guide Mohammed Habib charged that, had the Brotherhood not sided with the armed forces, the Egyptian revolution could have fully achieved its goals. With regard to the continuance of thousands of secretive military trials, Human Rights Watch criticised the Brotherhood and other Islamists for only noticing what happened to them, "and not to the thousands of civilians standing military trial or sent to military jails". Egyptian author Ezzedine C. Fishere wrote: "The Brotherhood, led by the old and the hardliners, has managed to alienate its revolutionary and democratic partners and to scare important segments of society, especially women and Christians. Neither the Brotherhood nor the generals showed willingness to share power and both were keen on marginalising the revolutionary and democratic forces. It is as if they were clearing the stage for their eventual showdown." The final showdown began to unfurl in mid-June 2012, when SCAF staged an effective coup as the Islamist-dominated parliament was dissolved—"a clear move against the Brotherhood" commented Human Rights Watch.

A week later, tensions between the military and the MB peaked further when, ahead of the official result, the latter declared their candidate had won the presidential election of June 2012: the Brotherhood filled Tahrir Square in opposition to broad powers issued by the military that preclude the latter's subordination to a civilian government, and in fear that SCAF would hand victory instead to former military man Ahmed Shafiq, who served under Mubarak. Tensions abated when MB candidate Mohammed Morsi was declared winner on 24 June.

By April 2013, according to the Associated Press,

Egypt has become increasingly divided between two camps, with President Mohammed Morsi and Islamist allies on one side and an opposition made up of moderate Muslims, Christians and liberals on the other, a schism essentially over the country’s political future after decades of dictatorship. Opponents accuse Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood of seeking to monopolize power, while Morsi’s allies say the opposition is trying to destabilize the country to derail the elected leadership.

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-Tilmisani عمر التلمسانى
• 4th G.L : Muhammad Hamid Abu al-Nasr محمد حامد أبو النصر
• 5th G.L : Mustafa Mashhur مصطفى مشهور
• 6th G.L : Ma'mun al-Hudaybi مأمون الهضيبى
• 7th G.L : Mohamed al Mahdy Akef محمد المهدى عاكف
• 8th G.L & Current Leader: Mohammed Badie محمد بديع

Beliefs

Platform and goals

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 imperialism". 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 has 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 Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya, Iraq, and Palestine. Thrager quotes the former Supreme Guide Mohammed Mahdi Akef as telling him

We believe that Zionism, 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" 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".

According to a report by the media-watchdog group Memri, the Arabic website of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood displays much anti-Semitic and anti-Israel content, contains articles that engage in Holocaust denial, praise jihad and martyrdom, condemn the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, calls for the destruction of Israel, and condemns negotiations with non-Muslims to regain lands lost by Islam. In addition, the Arabic website repeats Antisemitic conspiracy theories alleging that Jews have created evil in the world throughout history.

On 13 March 2013, the Muslim Brotherhood released a statement opposing the UN declaration ‘End Violence against Women’ on the grounds that it would "undermine Islamic ethics and destroy the family", and "would lead to complete disintegration of society".

In the book Secret of the Temple, written by Tharwat al-Khirbawy, a former member of the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt, Khirbawy "explores the ideology of Mursi and the small group of leaders at the top of the movement, examining their devotion to Sayyid Qutb, a radical ideologue executed in 1966 for plotting to kill president Gamal Abdel Nasser." The book has been "dismissed by Brotherhood leaders as part of a smear campaign."

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 or seized).

Relations with non-Muslims

The media-watchdog group Memri, criticized a fatwa issued in late April 2013 by a member of the MB general guide's office, 'Abd Al-Rahman Al-Barr (who is often referred to as the movement's mufti), forbidding Muslims from greeting Christians on their Easter holiday. Al-Barr explained that the concept of Easter and resurrection was contrary to the Muslim faith because "Jesus did not die and was not crucified, but rather Allah gave him protection from the Jews and raised [Jesus] up to Him... which is why we do not greet anyone for something we strongly believe is wrong. ..." Memri quoted Coptic and opposition leaders attacking the fatwa and noting that in the past MB leaders and even Al-Barr himself had not only allowed but practiced the greeting of Christians on Easter. Columnist A'la Al-'Aribi in the daily Al-Wafd attacked the fatwa as "politics disguised as shari'a..." Al-Barr's previous "view reflected the position of the MB at that time – but now that circumstances have changed [and the MB is in power], he has changed his position..." Another article in newsobserver.com noted President and former MB official Mohammed Morsi "has done little to assuage concerns" of Christians by being "slow to condemn the latest round of sectarian violence" in April 2013, not attend the naming of the new Coptic pope, and having no plans to attend Coptic Easter services — an annual custom of the former Egyptian President.

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 Sadat 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 ..."

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 (hadith and Tafsir) and now tithes the brotherhood, (typically giving 5% to 8% of their earning).
• muntazim ("organizer"). This stage typically lasts another two years. A muntazim must continue memorizing hadith 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 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.

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 Party by the Muslim Brotherhood in April 2011. Not an auxiliary group, they intend to play an equal role in the government.

See also

• Muslim Brotherhood
• Egyptian Revolution of 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 3-89500-447-2 (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.
• Tharwat al-Khirbawy : Secret of the Temple, Nahdet Misr Publishing House, Egypt 2012, ISBN 978-9771405597 (in Hindi).

External links

• Ikhwan Online (Arabic)
• Ikhwan Web (English)
• Al Jazeera Profile: Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood — Al Jazeera English (6 February 2011).
• Guardian: The Muslim Brotherhood Uncovered, Jack Shenker and Brian Whitaker — The Guardian (8 February 2011).
• BBC Profile: Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood — BBC News (9 February 2011).