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.
Al-Banna's teachings spread far beyond Egypt,
influencing today various Islamist movements
from charitable organizations to political
parties—not all using the same name.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 self-stated aim is the establishment
of a state ruled by Sharia law–its most
famous slogan worldwide being: "Islam is the
solution".
Charity is a major propellant to its work.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 starting in 1948 up until today,
with accusations of planning assassinations
and plots.
For many years remained a fringe group in
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 against Israel.
The movement was also supported by Saudi Arabia,
with which it shared mutual enemies like communism.The
Arab Spring brought it legalization and substantial
political power at first, but as of 2013 it
has suffered severe reversals.
The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood was legalized
in 2011 and won several elections, including
the 2012 presidential election when its candidate
Mohamed Morsi became Egypt's first president
to gain power through an election, though
one year later, following massive demonstrations
and unrest, he was overthrown by the military
and placed under house arrest.
The group was then banned in Egypt and declared
as a terrorist organization.
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.The Brotherhood
itself claims to be a peaceful, democratic
organization, and that its leader "condemns
violence and violent acts".
Today, the primary state backers of the Muslim
Brotherhood are Qatar and Turkey.
As of 2015, it is considered a terrorist organization
by the governments of Bahrain, Egypt, Russia,
Syria, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
== Beliefs ==
The Brotherhood's English-language website
describes its principles as including firstly
the introduction of the Islamic Sharia as
"the basis for controlling the affairs of
state and society" and secondly, working to
unify "Islamic countries and states, mainly
among the Arab states, and liberate them from
foreign imperialism".According to a spokesman
on its English-language website, the Muslim
Brotherhood believes in reform, democracy,
freedom of assembly, press, etc.
We believe that the political reform is the
true and natural gateway for all other kinds
of reform.
We have announced our acceptance of democracy
that acknowledges political pluralism, the
peaceful rotation of power and the fact that
the nation is the source of all powers.
As we see it, political reform includes the
termination of the state of emergency, restoring
public freedoms, including the right to establish
political parties, whatever their tendencies
may be, and the freedom of the press, freedom
of criticism and thought, freedom of peaceful
demonstrations, freedom of assembly, etc.
It also includes the dismantling of all exceptional
courts and the annulment of all exceptional
laws, establishing the independence of the
judiciary, enabling the judiciary to fully
and truly supervise general elections so as
to ensure that they authentically express
people's will, removing all obstacles that
restrict the functioning of civil society
organizations, etc.
Its founder, Hassan Al-Banna, was influenced
by Islamic modernist reformers Muhammad Abduh
and Rashid Rida (who attacked the taqlid of
the official `ulama, and he insisted that
only the Quran and the best-attested hadiths
should be sources of the Sharia), with the
group structure and approach being influenced
by Sufism.
Al-Banna avoided controversies over doctrine.
It downplayed doctrinal differences between
schools (although takfiring Bahais and Ahmadi
Muslims) emphasizing the political importance
of worldwide unity of the Muslim Nation (umma).As
Islamic Modernist beliefs were co-opted by
secularist rulers and official `ulama, the
Brotherhood has become traditionalist and
conservative, "being the only available outlet
for those whose religious and cultural sensibilities
had been outraged by the impact of Westernization".
Al-Banna believed the Quran and Sunnah constitute
a perfect way of life and social and political
organization that God has set out for man.
Islamic governments must be based on this
system and eventually unified in a Caliphate.
The Muslim Brotherhood's goal, as stated by
its founder al-Banna was to drive out British
colonial and other Western influences, reclaim
Islam's manifest destiny—an empire, stretching
from Spain to Indonesia.
The Brotherhood preaches that Islam will bring
social justice, the eradication of poverty,
corruption and sinful behavior, and political
freedom (to the extent allowed by the laws
of Islam).
Blended with methods of modern social sciences,
some key thinkers of Brotherhood have also
contemplated the Islamic perspective on bureaucratic
effectiveness, mapping out solutions to problems
of formalism and irresponsiveness to public
concerns in public administration, which pertains
to the pro-democratic tenets of Muslim Brotherhood.
Such variations of thoughts have also purportedly
negated the realities of contemporary Muslim
countries as their authors have proclaimed.On
the issue of women and gender the Muslim Brotherhood
interprets Islam conservatively.
Its founder called for "a campaign against
ostentation in dress and loose behavior",
"segregation of male and female students",
a separate curriculum for girls, and "the
prohibition of dancing and other such pastimes
... "There have been breakaway groups from
the movement, including the Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya
and Al Takfir Wal Hijra.
Prominent figures of the Brotherhood include
Sayyid Qutb, a highly influential thinker
of Islamism, and the author of Milestones.
Osama bin Laden criticized the Brotherhood,
and accused it of betraying jihad and the
ideals of Qutb.
=== Mottos ===
The Brotherhood's "most frequently used slogan"
(according to the BBC) is "Islam is the Solution"
(الإسلام هو الحل).
According to academic Khalil Yusuf, its motto
"was traditionally" "Believers are but Brothers."
== 
Strategy and organization ==
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.
When it comes to its activity in the West,
the Brotherhood's strategy may be linked to
a 12-point document titled Towards a Worldwide
Strategy for Islamic Policy, commonly known
as The Project.
It was written on December 1, 1982, by Yusuf
al-Qaradawi at the culmination of a series
of two meetings held in 1977 and 1982 in Lugano,
Switzerland.
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."The
Muslim Brotherhood is a transnational organization
as opposed 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.
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".
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) at the bottom, "clans" above
them, "groups" above clans and "battalions"
or "phalanxes" above groups.
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".
With this slow careful advancement, the loyalty
of potential members can be "closely probed"
and obedience to orders assured.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:
The Shura Council has the duties of planning,
charting general policies and programs that
achieve the goal of the Group.
It is composed of roughly 100 Muslim Brothers.
Important decisions, such as whether to participate
in elections, are debated and voted on within
the Shura Council and then executed by the
Guidance Office.
Its resolutions are binding to the Group and
only the General Organizational Conference
can modify or annul them and the Shura Office
has also the right to modify or annul resolutions
of the Executive Office.
It follows the implementation of the Group's
policies and programs.
It directs the Executive Office and it forms
dedicated branch committees to assist in that.
Executive Office or Guidance Office (Maktab
al-Irshad), which is composed of approximately
15 longtime Muslim Brothers and headed by
the supreme guide or General Masul (murshid)
Each member of the Guidance Office oversees
a different portfolio, such as university
recruitment, education, or politics.
Guidance Office members are elected by the
Shura Council.
Divisions of the Guidance/Executive Office
include:
Executive leadership
Organizational office
Secretariat general
Educational office
Political office
Sisters officeThe 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.
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.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).
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.
Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia in Malaysia
is close to the Brotherhood.
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".
== In Egypt ==
=== Founding ===
Hassan al-Banna founded the Muslim Brotherhood
in the city of Ismailia in March 1928 along
with six workers of the Suez Canal Company,
as a Pan-Islamic, religious, political, and
social movement.
The Suez Canal Company helped Banna build
the mosque in Ismailia that would serve as
the Brotherhood's headquarters, according
to Richard Mitchell's The Society of Muslim
Brothers.
According to al-Banna, contemporary Islam
had lost its social dominance, because most
Muslims had been corrupted by Western influences.
Sharia law based on the Qur'an and the Sunnah
were seen as laws passed down by God that
should be applied to all parts of life, including
the organization of the government and the
handling of everyday problems.Al-Banna was
populist in his message of protecting workers
against the tyranny of foreign and monopolist
companies.
It founded social institutions such as hospitals,
pharmacies, schools, etc. Al-Banna held highly
conservative views on issues such as women's
rights, opposing equal rights for women, but
supporting the establishment of justice towards
women.
The Brotherhood grew rapidly going from 800
members in 1936, to 200,000 by 1938 and over
2 million by 1948.As its influence grew, it
opposed British rule in Egypt starting in
1936, but it was banned after being accused
of violent killings including the assassination
of a Prime Minister by a young Brotherhood
member.
=== Post–World War II ===
In November 1948, following several bombings
and alleged assassination attempts by the
Brotherhood, the Egyptian government arrested
32 leaders of the Brotherhood's "secret apparatus"
and banned the Brotherhood.
At this time the Brotherhood was estimated
to have 2,000 branches and 500,000 members
or sympathizers.
In succeeding months Egypt's prime minister
was assassinated by a 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
were accused of taking part in the Cairo Fire
that destroyed some 750 buildings in downtown
Cairo – mainly night clubs, theatres, hotels,
and restaurants frequented by British and
other foreigners.In 1952 Egypt's monarchy
was overthrown by a group of nationalist military
officers (Free Officers Movement) who had
formed a cell within the Brotherhood during
the first war against Israel in 1948.
However, after the revolution Gamal Abdel
Nasser, the leader of the 'free officers'
cell, after deposing the first President of
Egypt, Muhammad Neguib, in a coup, quickly
moved against the Brotherhood, blaming them
for an attempt on his life.
The Brotherhood was again banned and this
time thousands of its members were imprisoned,
many being tortured and held for years in
prisons and concentration camps.
In the 1950s and 1960s many Brotherhood members
sought sanctuary in Saudi Arabia.
From the 1950s, Al-Banna's son-in-law Said
Ramadan emerged as a major leader of the Brotherhood
and the movement's unofficial "foreign minister".
Ramadan built a major center for the Brotherhood
centered on a mosque in Munich, which became
"a refuge for the beleaguered group during
its decades in the wilderness".In the 1970s
after the death of Nasser and under the new
President (Anwar Sadat), the Egyptian Brotherhood
was invited back to Egypt and began a new
phase of participation in Egyptian politics.
Imprisoned Brethren were released and the
organization was tolerated to varying degrees
with periodic arrests and crackdowns until
the 2011 Revolution.
=== Mubarak era ===
During the Mubarak era, observers both defended
and criticized the Brotherhood.
It was the largest opposition group in Egypt,
calling for "Islamic reform", and a democratic
system in Egypt.
It had built a vast network of support through
Islamic charities working among poor Egyptians.
According to ex-Knesset member and author
Uri Avnery the Brotherhood was religious but
pragmatic, "deeply embedded in Egyptian history,
more Arab and more Egyptian than fundamentalist".
It formed "an old established party which
has earned much respect with its steadfastness
in the face of recurrent persecution, torture,
mass arrests and occasional executions.
Its leaders are untainted by the prevalent
corruption, and admired for their commitment
to social work".
It also developed a significant movement online.In
the 2005 parliamentary elections, the Brotherhood
became "in effect, the first opposition party
of Egypt's modern era".
Despite electoral irregularities, including
the arrest of hundreds of Brotherhood members,
and having to run its candidates as independents
(the organization being technically illegal),
the Brotherhood won 88 seats (20% of the total)
compared to 14 seats for the legal opposition.During
its term in parliament, the Brotherhood "posed
a democratic political challenge to the regime,
not a theological one", according to one The
New York Times journalist, while another report
praised it for attempting to transform "the
Egyptian parliament into a real legislative
body", that represented citizens and kept
the government "accountable".But fears remained
about its commitment to democracy, equal rights,
and freedom of expression and belief—or
lack thereof.
In December 2006, a campus demonstration by
Brotherhood students in uniforms, demonstrating
martial arts drills, betrayed to some such
as Jameel Theyabi, "the group's intent to
plan for the creation of militia structures,
and a return by the group to the era of 'secret
cells'".
Another report highlighted the Muslim Brotherhood's
efforts in Parliament to combat what one member
called the "current US-led war against Islamic
culture and identity," forcing the Minister
of Culture at the time, Farouk Hosny, to ban
the publication of three novels on the ground
they promoted blasphemy and unacceptable sexual
practices.
In October 2007, the Muslim Brotherhood issued
a detailed political platform.
Among other things, it called for a board
of Muslim clerics to oversee the government,
and 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 office's
religious and military duties "conflict with
her nature, social and other humanitarian
roles".
While proclaiming "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".Internally, some leaders in the Brotherhood
disagreed on whether to adhere to Egypt's
32-year peace treaty with Israel.
A deputy leader declared the Brotherhood would
seek dissolution of the treaty, while a Brotherhood
spokesman stated the Brotherhood would respect
the treaty as long as "Israel shows real progress
on improving the lot of the Palestinians".
=== 2011 revolution and after ===
Following the Egyptian Revolution of 2011
and fall of Hosni Mubarak, the Brotherhood
was legalized and was at first very successful,
dominating the 2011 parliamentary election
and winning the 2012 presidential election,
before the overthrow of President Mohamed
Morsi a year later, leading to a crackdown
on the Brotherhood again.
On 30 April 2011, the Brotherhood launched
a new party called the Freedom and Justice
Party, which won 235 of the 498 seats in the
2011 Egyptian parliamentary elections, far
more than any other party.
The party rejected the "candidacy of women
or Copts for Egypt's presidency", but not
for cabinet positions.
The Muslim Brotherhood's candidate for Egypt's
2012 presidential election was Mohamed Morsi,
who defeated Ahmed Shafiq—the last prime
minister under Mubarak's rule—with 51.73%
of the vote.
Some high level supporters and former Brotherhood
officials have reiterated hostility toward
Zionism, although during his campaign Morsi
himself promised to stand for peaceful relations
with Israel.Within a short period, serious
public opposition developed to President Morsi.
In late November 2012, he "temporarily" granted
himself the power to legislate without judicial
oversight or review of his acts, on the grounds
that he needed to "protect" the nation from
the Mubarak-era power structure.
He also put a draft constitution to a referendum
that opponents complained was "an Islamist
coup".
These issues—and concerns over the prosecutions
of journalists, the unleashing of pro-Brotherhood
gangs on nonviolent demonstrators, the continuation
of military trials, new laws that permitted
detention without judicial review for up to
30 days, brought hundreds of thousands of
protesters to the streets starting in November
2012.By April 2013, Egypt had "become increasingly
divided" between President Mohamed Morsi and
"Islamist allies" and an opposition of "moderate
Muslims, Christians and liberals".
Opponents accused "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".
Adding to the unrest were severe fuel shortages
and electricity outages, which raised suspicions
among some Egyptians that the end of gas and
electricity shortages since the ouster of
President Mohamed Morsi was evidence of a
conspiracy to undermine him, although other
Egyptians say it was evidence of Morsi's mismanagement
of the economy.On 3 July 2013, Mohamed Morsi
was removed from office and put into house
arrest by the military, that happened shortly
after mass protests against him began.
demanding the resignation of Morsi.
There were also significant counter-protests
in support of Morsi; those were originally
intended to celebrate the one-year anniversary
of Morsi's inauguration, and started days
before the uprising.
On 14 August, the interim government declared
a month-long state of emergency, and riot
police cleared the pro-Morsi sit-in during
the Rabaa sit-in dispersal of August 2013.
Violence escalated rapidly following armed
protesters attacking police, according to
the National Council for Human Rights' report;
this led to the deaths of over 600 people
and injury of some 4,000, with the incident
resulting in the most casualties in Egypt's
modern history.
In retaliation, Brotherhood supporters looted
and burned police stations and dozens of churches
in response to the violence, though a Muslim
Brotherhood spokesperson condemned the attacks
on Christians and instead blamed military
leaders for plotting the attacks.
The crackdown that followed has been called
the worst for the Brotherhood's organization
"in eight decades".
By 19 August, Al Jazeera reported that "most"
of the Brotherhood's leaders were in custody.
On that day Supreme Leader Mohammed Badie
was arrested, crossing a "red line", as even
Hosni Mubarak had never arrested him.
On 23 September, a court ordered the group
outlawed and its assets seized.
Prime Minister, Hazem Al Beblawi on 21 December
2013, declared the Muslim Brotherhood as a
terrorist organisation after a car bomb ripped
through a police building and killed at least
14 people in the city of Mansoura, which the
government blamed on the Muslim Brotherhood,
despite no evidence and an unaffiliated Sinai-based
terror group claiming responsibility for the
attack.
On 24 March 2014, an Egyptian court sentenced
529 members of the Muslim Brotherhood to death
following an attack on a police station, an
act described by Amnesty International as
"the largest single batch of simultaneous
death sentences we've seen in recent years
[…] anywhere in the world".
By May 2014, approximately 16,000 people (and
as high as more than 40,000 by what The Economist
calls an "independent count"), mostly Brotherhood
members or supporters, have allegedly been
arrested by police since the 2013 uprising.
On 2 February 2015, an Egyptian court sentenced
another 183 members of the Muslim Brotherhood
to death.An editorial in The New York Times
claimed that "leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood,
which became the leading political movement
in the wake of Egypt's 2011 popular uprising,
are languishing in prison, unfairly branded
as terrorists.
... Egypt's crushing authoritarianism could
well persuade a significant number of its
citizens that violence is the only tool they
have for fighting back".Mohamed Morsi was
sentenced to death on 16 May 2015, along with
120 others.Foreigners were threatened with
violence by a Turkey-based free-to-air satellite
television channel owned by exiled Egyptian
Muslim Brotherhood members.
Violence was endorsed by a Turkey-based office
of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.The Muslim
Brotherhood claimed that Muslims did not carry
out the Botroseya Church bombing and claimed
it was a false flag conspiracy by the Egyptian
government and Copts, in a statement released
in Arabic on the FJP's website, but its claim
was challenged by 100 Women participant Nervana
Mahmoud and Hoover Institution and Hudson
Institute fellow Samuel Tadros.
The Muslim Brotherhood released an Arabic-language
statement claiming the attack was carried
out by the Egyptian security forces working
for the Interior Ministry.
The Anti-Coup Alliance said that "full responsibility
for the crime" was on the "coup authority".
The Muslim Brotherhood released an English-language
commentary on the bombing and said it condemned
the terrorist attack.Qatar-based Muslim Brotherhood
members are suspected to have helped a Muslim
Brotherhood agent carry out the bombing, according
to the Egyptian government.
The Qatar-based supporter was named as Mohab
Mostafa El-Sayed Qassem.
The terrorist was named as Mahmoud Shafiq
Mohamed Mostaf.The Arabic-language website
of the Muslim Brotherhood commemorated the
anniversary of the death of its leader, Hassan
al-Banna, and repeated his words calling for
the teachings of Islam to spread all over
the world and to raise the "flag of Jihad",
taking their land, "regaining their glory",
"including diaspora Muslims" and demanding
an Islamic State and a Muslim government,
a Muslim people, a Muslim house, and Muslim
individuals.
The Brotherhood cited some of Hassan al-Banna's
sayings calling for brotherhood between Muslims.The
death of Omar Abdel Rahman, a convicted terrorist,
received condolences from the Muslim Brotherhood.
Mekameleen TV, a Turkey-based free-to-air
satellite television channel run by exiled
Brotherhood supporters, mourned his death
and claimed it was "martyrdom".
Mekameleen supports the Brotherhood Condolences
were sent upon Omar Abdel Rahman's death by
the website of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom
and Justice Party in Egypt.
=== Controversy ===
How much of the blame for the fall from power
in Egypt of the Brotherhood and its allied
Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) can be placed
on the Brotherhood, and how much of it can
be placed on its enemies in the Egyptian bureaucracy,
media and security establishment is disputed.
The Mubarak government's state media portrayed
the Brotherhood as secretive and illegal,
and numerous TV channels such as OnTV spent
much of their air time vilifying the organization.
But the Brotherhood took a number of controversial
steps and also acquiesced to or supported
crackdowns by the military during Morsi's
presidency.
Before the revolution, the Muslim Brotherhood's
supporters appeared at a protest at Al-Azhar
University wearing military-style fatigues,
after which the Mubarak government accused
the organization of starting an underground
militia.
When it came to power, the Muslim Brotherhood
indeed tried to establish armed groups of
supporters and it sought official permission
for its members to be armed.
=== General leaders ===
Founder and first General Leader (G.L.): (1928–1949)
Hassan al Banna
2nd G.L.: (1949–1972) Hassan al-Hudaybi
3rd G.L.: (1972–1986) Umar al-Tilmisani
4th G.L.: (1986–1996) Muhammad Hamid Abu
al-Nasr
5th G.L.: (1996–2002) Mustafa Mashhur
6th G.L.: (2002–2004) Ma'mun al-Hudaybi
7th G.L.: (2004–2010) Mohammed Mahdi Akef
8th G.L.: (16 January 2010) Mohammed Badie
== In the Middle East ==
=== 
Bahrain ===
In Bahrain, the Muslim Brotherhood ideology
is speculated to be represented by the Al
Eslah Society and its political wing, the
Al-Menbar Islamic Society.
Following parliamentary elections in 2002,
Al Menbar became the largest joint party with
eight seats in the forty-seat Chamber of Deputies.
Prominent members of Al Menbar include Dr.
Salah Abdulrahman, Dr. Salah Al Jowder, and
outspoken MP Mohammed Khalid.
The party has generally backed government-sponsored
legislation on economic issues, but has sought
a clampdown on pop concerts, sorcery and soothsayers.
Additionally, it has strongly opposed the
government's accession to the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights .
=== 
Iran ===
Although Iran is a predominately Shi'ite Muslim
country and the Muslim Brotherhood has never
attempted to create a branch for Shi'ites,
Olga Davidson and Mohammad Mahallati claim
the Brotherhood has had influence among Shia
in Iran.
Navab Safavi, who founded Fada'iyan-e Islam,
(also Fedayeen of Islam, or Fadayan-e Islam),
an Iranian Islamic organization active in
Iran in the 1940s and 1950s, was, according
to Abbas Milani, "very much enamored of the
Muslim Brotherhood".Iranian Call and Reform
Organization, a Sunni Islamist group active
in Iran, has been described as an organization
"that belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood" or
"Iranian Muslim Brotherhood", while it has
officially stated that it is not affiliated
with the latter.
=== Turkey ===
The Turkish AKP, the ruling party of Turkey,
publicly supported the Muslim Brotherhood
during and a few months after the overthrow
of the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Egyptian
president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.
Then-Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
claimed in an interview that this was because
"Turkey would stand by whoever was elected
as a result of legitimate elections".
According to the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace, each year after Morsi's overthrow has
seen the AKP "significantly detach itself
from the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt".
=== Iraq ===
The Iraqi Islamic Party was formed in 1960
as the Iraqi branch of the Brotherhood, but
was banned from 1961 during the nationalist
rule of Abd al-Karim Qasim.
As government repression hardened under the
Baath Party from February 1963, the group
was forced to continue underground.
After the fall of the Saddam Hussein government
in 2003, the Islamic Party has reemerged as
one of the main advocates of the country's
Sunni community.
The Islamic Party has been sharply critical
of the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq, but still
participates in the political process nevertheless.
Its leader is Iraqi Vice-President Tariq Al-Hashimi.
Anti-infidel jihad was encouraged by Imams
of the Muslim Brotherhood simultaneously while
the US Army was having dialogues with them
in Mosul.
They pose as modern while encouraging violence
at the same time.
The role of political representatives of Sunnis
was seized on by the Muslim Brotherhood in
Mosul since 2003.The Muslim Brotherhood was
an active participation in the "Faith Campaign".
An ideology akin to the Brotherhood's was
propagated in the faith campaign.Khaled al-Obaidi
said that he received a death threat and was
declared a non-Muslim by the Muslim Brotherhood.A
pro-Turkish demonstration was held in London
by Muslim Brotherhood-sympathizing Iraqis.Also,
in the north of Iraq there are several Islamic
movements inspired by or part of the Muslim
Brotherhood network.
The Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU), a small
political party holding 10 seats in the Kurdish
parliament, was believed to be supportive
of the Muslim Brotherhood in the 90's.
The group leaders and members have been continuously
arrested by Kurdish authorities.
=== Israel ===
'Abd al-Rahman al-Banna, the brother of the
Muslim Brotherhood founder Hasan al-Banna,
went to Mandatory Palestine and established
the Muslim Brotherhood there in 1935.
Al-Hajj Amin al-Husseini, eventually appointed
by the British as Grand Mufti of Jerusalem
in hopes of accommodating him, was the leader
of the group in Palestine.
Another important leader associated with the
Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine was 'Izz al-Din
al-Qassam, an inspiration to Islamists because
he had been the first to lead an armed resistance
in the name of Palestine against the British
in 1935.
In 1945, the group established a branch in
Jerusalem, and by 1947 twenty-five more branches
had sprung up, in towns such as Jaffa, Lod,
Haifa, Nablus, and Tulkarm, which total membership
between 12,000 and 20,000.Brotherhood members
fought alongside the Arab armies during the
1948 Arab–Israeli war, and, after Israel's
creation, the ensuing Palestinian refugee
crisis encouraged more Palestinian Muslims
to join the group.
After the war, in the West Bank, the group's
activity was mainly social and religious,
not political, so it had relatively good relations
with Jordan during the Jordanian annexation
of the West Bank.
In contrast, the group frequently clashed
with the Egyptian government that controlled
the Gaza Strip until 1967.In the 1950s and
1960s, the Brotherhood's goal was "the upbringing
of an Islamic generation" through the restructuring
of society and religious education, rather
than opposition to Israel, and so it lost
popularity to insurgent movements and the
presence of Hizb ut-Tahrir.
Eventually, however, the Brotherhood was strengthened
by several factors:
The creation of al-Mujamma' al-Islami, the
Islamic Center in 1973 by Shaykh Ahmad Yasin
had a centralizing effect that encapsulated
all religious organizations.
The Muslim Brotherhood Society in Jordan and
Palestine was created from a merger of the
branches in the West Bank and Gaza and Jordan.
Palestinian disillusion with the Palestinian
militant groups caused them to become more
open to alternatives.
The Islamic Revolution in Iran offered inspiration
to Palestinians.
The Brotherhood was able to increase its efforts
in Palestine and avoid being dismantled like
militant groups because it did not focus on
the occupation.
While militant groups were being dismantled,
the Brotherhood filled the void.In 2006, the
Brotherhood supported Hezbollah's military
action against Israel.
It does not recognize the State of Israel.
=== Palestine ===
Between 1967 and 1987, the year Hamas was
founded, the number of mosques in Gaza tripled
from 200 to 600, and the Muslim Brotherhood
named the period between 1975 and 1987 a phase
of "social institution building."
During that time, the Brotherhood established
associations, used zakat (alms giving) for
aid to poor Palestinians, promoted schools,
provided students with loans, used waqf (religious
endowments) to lease property and employ people,
and established mosques.
Likewise, antagonistic and sometimes violent
opposition to Fatah, the Palestine Liberation
Organization and other secular nationalist
groups increased dramatically in the streets
and on university campuses.In 1987, following
the First Intifada, the Islamic Resistance
Movement, or Hamas was established from Brotherhood-affiliated
charities and social institutions that had
gained a strong foothold among the local population.
During the First Intifada (1987–93), Hamas
militarized and transformed into one of the
strongest Palestinian militant groups.
The Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip in 2007
was the first time since the Sudanese coup
of 1989 that brought Omar al-Bashir to power,
that a Muslim Brotherhood group ruled a significant
geographic territory.
However, the 2013 overthrow of the Mohammad
Morsi government in Egypt significantly weakened
Hamas's position, leading to a blockade of
Gaza and economic crisis.
=== Jordan ===
The Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan originates
from the merging of two separate groups which
represent the two components of the Jordanian
public: the Transjordanian and the West Bank
Palestinian.
On 9 November 1945 the Association of the
Muslim Brotherhood (Jam'iyat al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin)
was officially registered and Abu Qura became
its first General Supervisor.
Abu Qura originally brought the Brotherhood
to Jordan from Egypt after extensive study
and spread of the teachings of Imam Hasan
al-Banna.
While most political parties and movements
were banned for a long time in Jordan such
as Hizb ut-Tahrir, the Brotherhood was exempted
and allowed to operate by the Jordanian monarchy.
In 1948, Egypt, Syria, and Transjordan offered
"volunteers" to help Palestine in its war
against Israel.
Due to the defeat and weakening of Palestine,
the Transjordanian and Palestinian Brotherhood
merged.
The newly merged Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan
was primarily concerned with providing social
services and charitable work as well as with
politics and its role in the parliament.
It was seen as compatible with the political
system and supported democracy without the
forced implementation of Sharia law which
was part of its doctrine.
However, internal pressures from younger members
of the Brotherhood who called for more militant
actions as well as his failing health, Abu
Qura resigned as the leader of the Jordanian
Muslim Brotherhood.
On 26 December 1953, Muhammad 'Abd al-Rahman
Khalifa, was elected by the movement's administrative
committee as the new leader of the Transjordanian
Brotherhood and he retained this position
until 1994.
Khalifa was different than his predecessor
and older members of the organization because
he was not educated in Cairo, he was educated
in Syria and Palestine.
He established close ties with Palestinian
Islamists during his educational life which
led him to be jailed for several months in
Jordan for criticizing Arab armies in the
war.
Khalifa also reorganized the Brotherhood and
applied to the government to designate the
Brotherhood as "a comprehensive and general
Islamic Committee, instead of the previous
basis of operation under the "Societies and
Clubs Law".
This allowed the Brotherhood to spread throughout
the country each with slight socioeconomic
and political differences although the majority
of the members were of the upper middle class.
The radicalization of the Brotherhood began
to take place after the peace process between
Egypt and Israel, the Islamic Revolution of
Iran, as well as their open criticism towards
the Jordan-US relationship in the 1970s.
Support for the Syrian branch of the Brotherhood
also aided the radicalization of the group
through open support and training for the
rebel forces in Syria.
The ideology began to transform into a more
militant one which without it would not have
the support of the Islamic radicals.The Jordanian
Brotherhood has formed its own political party,
the Islamic Action Front.
In 1989 they become the largest group in parliament,
with 23 out of 80 seats, and 9 other Islamist
allies.
A Brother was elected president of the National
Assembly and the cabinet formed in January
1991 included several MBs.
Its radicalization which calls for more militant
support for Hamas in Palestine has come into
direct conflict with its involvement in the
parliament and overall political process.
The Brotherhood claimed its acceptance of
democracy and the democratic process but only
within their own groups.
There is a high degree of dissent amongst
Brotherhood leaders who do not share the same
values therefore undermining its acceptance
and commitment to democracy.In 2011, against
the backdrop of the Arab Spring, the Jordanian
Muslim Brotherhood "mobilized popular protests
on a larger, more regular, and more oppositional
basis than ever before". and had uniquely
positioned themselves as "the only traditional
political actor to have remained prominent
during [the] new phase of post-Arab Spring
activism" which led King Abdullah II and then-Prime
Minister Marouf al-Bakhit to invite the Muslim
Brotherhood to join Bakhit's cabinet, an offer
they refused.
The Muslim Brotherhood also boycotted the
2011 Jordanian municipal elections and led
the 2011-12 Jordanian protests demanding a
constitutional monarchy and electoral reforms,
which resulted in the firing of Prime Minister
Bakhit and the calling of early general elections
in 2013.As of late 2013, the movement in Jordan
was described as being in "disarray".
The instability and conflict with the monarchy
has led the relationship between the two to
crumble.
In 2015, some 400 members of the Muslim Brotherhood
defected from the original group including
top leaders and founding members, to establish
another Islamic group, with an allegedly moderate
stance.
The defectors said that they didn't like how
things were run in the group and due to the
group's relations with Hamas, Qatar and Turkey,
which put suspicion on the group questioning
if they are under the influence and working
for the benefit of these states and organizations
on the expense of the Jordanian state.On 13
April 2016, Jordanian police raided and shut
the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in Amman.
This comes despite the fact that the Jordanian
branch cut ties with the mother Egyptian group
in January 2016, a designated terrorist organization,
a move that is considered to be exclusively
cosmetic by experts.
Jordanian authorities state that the reason
of closure is because that the Brotherhood
is unlicensed and is using the name of the
defectors' licensed group.
This comes after the Jordanian senate passed
a new legislation for the regulation of political
parties in 2014, the Muslim Brotherhood did
not adhere by the regulations of the new law
and so they did not renew their membership.
=== Qatar ===
Qatar continues to back the Muslim Brotherhood
in Egypt and Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani
denounced the 2013 Egyptian coup d'état that
had taken place in Egypt.
In June 2016, Mohamed Morsi was sentenced
to a life sentence for passing state secrets
to Qatar.The continuous support for the Muslim
Brotherhood by Qatar is considered one of
the stepping stones that started the 2017-18
Qatar diplomatic crisis.
=== Kuwait ===
Egyptian Brethren came to Kuwait in the 1950s
as refugees from Arab nationalism and integrated
into the education ministry and other parts
of the state.
The Brotherhood's charity arm in Kuwait is
called Al Eslah (Social Reform Society) and
its political arm is called the Islamic Constitutional
Movement (ICM) or "Hadas".
Members of ICM have been elected to parliament
and served in the government and are "widely
believed to hold sway with the Ministry of
Awqaf" (Islamic endowment) and Islamic Affairs,
but have never reached a majority or even
a plurality — "a fact that has required
them to be pragmatic about working with other
political groups".
During the Invasion of Kuwait, the Kuwait
MB (along with other MB in the Gulf States)
supported the American-Saudi coalition forces
against Iraq and "quit the brotherhood's international
agency in protest" over its pro-Sadam stand.
However following the Arab Spring and the
crackdown on the Egyptian Brotherhood, the
Saudi government has put "pressure on other
states that have Muslim Brotherhood adherents,
asking them to decree that the group is a
terrorist organization", and the local Kuwaiti
and other Gulf state Brotherhoods have not
been spared pressure from their local governments.
=== Saudi Arabia ===
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia helped the Brotherhood
financially for "over half a century", but
the two became estranged during the Gulf War,
and enemies after the election of Mohamed
Morsi.
Inside the kingdom, before the crushing of
the Egyptian MB, the Brotherhood was called
a group whose "many quiet supporters" made
it "one of the few potential threats" to the
royal family's control.The Brotherhood first
had an impact inside Saudi Arabia in 1954
when thousands of Egyptian Brethren sought
to escape president Gamal Abdel Nasser's clampdown,
while (the largely illiterate) Saudi Arabia
was looking for teachers—who were also conservative
pious Arab Muslims—for its newly created
public school system.
The Muslim Brotherhood's brand of Islam and
Islamic politics differs from the strict Salafi
creed, Wahhabiyya, officially held by the
state of Saudi Arabia, and MB members "obeyed
orders of the ruling family and ulama to not
attempt to proselytize or otherwise get involved
in religious doctrinal matters within the
Kingdom.
Nonetheless, the group "methodically ... took
control of Saudi Arabia's intellectual life"
by publishing books and participating in discussion
circles and salons held by princes.
Although the organization had no "formal organizational
presence" in the Kingdom, (no political groups
or parties are allowed to operate openly)
MB members became "entrenched both in Saudi
society and in the Saudi state, taking a leading
role in key governmental ministries".
In particular, many established themselves
in Saudi educational system.
One expert on Saudi affairs (Stephane Lacroix)
has stated: "The education system is so controlled
by the Muslim Brotherhood, it will take 20
years to change—if at all.
Islamists see education as their base" in
Saudi Arabia.Relations between the Saudi ruling
family and the Brotherhood became strained
with Saudi opposition to Iraq's invasion of
Kuwait and the willingness of Saudi government
to allow US troops to be based in the Kingdom
to fight Iraq.
The Brotherhood supported the Sahwah ("Awakening")
movement that pushed for political change
in the Kingdom.
In 2002, the then Saudi Interior Minister
Prince Nayef denounced the Brotherhood, saying
it was guilty of "betrayal of pledges and
ingratitude" and was "the source of all problems
in the Islamic world".
The ruling family was also alarmed by the
Arab Spring and the example set by the Muslim
Brotherhood in Egypt, with president Mohamed
Morsi bringing an Islamist government to power
by means of popular revolution and elections.
Sahwa figures published petitions for reform
addressed to the royal government (in violation
of Wahhabi quietist doctrine).
After the overthrow of the Morsi government
in Egypt, all the major Sahwa figures signed
petitions and statements denouncing the removal
of Morsi and the Saudi government support
for it.In March 2014, in a "significant departure
from its past official stance" the Saudi government
declared the Brotherhood a "terrorist organization",
followed with a royal decree announced that,
from now on,
belonging to intellectual or religious trends
or groups that are extremist or categorized
as terrorist at the local, regional or international
level, as well supporting them, or showing
sympathy for their ideas and methods in whichever
way, or expressing support for them through
whichever means, or offering them financial
or moral support, or inciting others to do
any of this or promoting any such actions
in word or writing
will be punished by a prison sentence "of
no less than three years and no more than
twenty years".
=== Syria ===
The Muslim Brotherhood in Syria was founded
in the 1930s (according to lexicorient.com)
or in 1945, a year before independence from
France, (according to journalist Robin Wright).
In the first decade or so of independence
it was part of the legal opposition, and in
the 1961 parliamentary elections it won ten
seats (5.8% of the house).
But after the 1963 coup that brought the secular
Ba'ath Party to power it was banned.
It played a major role in the mainly Sunni-based
movement that opposed the secularist, pan-Arabist
Ba'ath Party.
This conflict developed into an armed struggle
that continued until culminating in the Hama
uprising of 1982, when the rebellion was crushed
by the military.Membership in the Syrian Brotherhood
became a capital offense in Syria in 1980
(under Emergency Law 49, which was revoked
in 2011), but the headquarters of the Muslim
Brotherhood-linked Palestinian group, Hamas,
was located in the Syria's capital Damascus,
where it was given Syrian government support.
This has been cited as an example of the lack
of international centralization or even coordination
of the Muslim Brotherhood.The Brotherhood
is said to have "resurrected itself" and become
the "dominant group" in the opposition by
2012 during the Syrian Civil War according
to the Washington Post newspaper.
But by 2013 another source described it as
having "virtually no influence on the conflict".
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad welcomed
the fall of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt
and remarked that "Arab identity is back on
the right track after the fall from power
of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, which had used
religion for its own political gain".
=== United Arab Emirates ===
Muslim Brotherhood presence in the United
Arab Emirates began with the formation of
the Al Islah group in the United Arab Emirates
in 1974 with the approval of Sheikh Rashid
bin Saeed Al Maktoum.Al Islah in the UAE has
openly stated that it shares ideology with
the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
Al Islah has criticized the UAE for the country's
religious tolerance and presence of community
Christian churches in the UAE.
Since its formation, its members have sought
to impose control on state social issues,
such as promoting several measures limiting
the rights of women.
Emirati Al Islah member Tharwat Kherbawi said
the Muslim Brotherhood finds the present UAE
government to be an "impediment", and the
country itself to be a "treasure and a crucial
strategic and economic prize".Al Islah was
reported to have been secretly forming a military
wing that has sought to recruit retired military
officers and young Emiratis and is alleged
to have plotted the overthrow of the current
government and the establishment of an Islamist
state in the UAE.In March 2013, a trial began
in Abu Dhabi for 94 individuals linked to
Al Islah for an attempted coup on the government.
Of the 94, 56 suspects received prison sentences
ranging between three and ten years.
Eight suspects were sentenced in absentia
to 15 years in jail and 26 were acquitted.On
7 March 2014, the Muslim Brotherhood was designated
as a terrorist group by the UAE government.
=== Yemen ===
The Muslim Brothers fought with North Yemen
in the NDF rebellion as Islamic Front.
The Muslim Brotherhood is the political arm
of the Yemeni Congregation for Reform, commonly
known as Al-Islah.
Former President Ali Abdullah Saleh made substantial
efforts to entrench the accusations of being
in league with Al Qaeda.The Treasury Department
of the US used the label "Bin Laden loyalist"
for Abdul Majeed al-Zindani, the Yemeni Muslim
Brotherhood's leader.
== Elsewhere in Africa ==
=== 
Algeria ===
The Muslim Brotherhood reached Algeria during
the later years of the French colonial presence
in the country (1830–1962).
Sheikh Ahmad Sahnoun led the organization
in Algeria between 1953 and 1954 during the
French colonialism.
Brotherhood members and sympathizers took
part in the uprising against France in 1954–1962,
but the movement was marginalized during the
largely secular FLN one-party rule which was
installed at independence in 1962.
It remained unofficially active, sometimes
protesting the government and calling for
increased Islamization and Arabization of
the country's politics.When a multi-party
system was introduced in Algeria in the early
1990s, the Muslim Brotherhood formed the Movement
of Society for Peace (MSP, previously known
as Hamas), led by Mahfoud Nahnah until his
death in 2003 (he was succeeded by present
party leader Boudjerra Soltani).
The Muslim Brotherhood in Algeria did not
join the Front islamique du salut (FIS), which
emerged as the leading Islamist group, winning
the 1991 elections and which was banned in
1992 following a military coup d'état, although
some Brotherhood sympathizers did.
The Brotherhood subsequently also refused
to join the violent post-coup uprising by
FIS sympathizers and the Armed Islamic Groups
(GIA) against the Algerian state and military
which followed, and urged a peaceful resolution
to the conflict and a return to democracy.
It has thus remained a legal political organization
and enjoyed parliamentary and government representation.
In 1995, Sheikh Nahnah ran for President of
Algeria finishing second with 25.38% of the
popular vote.
During the 2000s (decade), the party—led
by Nahnah's successor Boudjerra Soltani—has
been a member of a three-party coalition backing
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
=== Libya ===
A group of the Muslim Brotherhood came to
the Libyan kingdom in the 1950s as refugees
escaping crackdown by the Egyptian leader
Gamal Abdel Nasser, but it was not able to
operate openly until after the First Libyan
Civil War.
They were viewed negatively by King Idris
of Libya who had become increasingly wary
of their activities.
Muammar Gaddafi forbade all forms of Islamism
in Libya and was an archenemy to the Muslim
Brotherhood for long time.
The group held its first public press conference
on 17 November 2011, and on 24 December the
Brotherhood announced that it would form the
Justice and Construction Party (JCP) and contest
the General National Congress elections the
following year.
The Libyan Muslim Brotherhood has "little
history of interactions with the masses."Despite
predictions based on fellow post-Arab Spring
nations Tunisia and Egypt that the Brotherhood's
party would easily win the elections, it instead
came a distant second to the National Forces
Alliance, receiving just 10% of the vote and
17 out of 80 party-list seats.
Their candidate for Prime Minister, Awad al-Baraasi
was also defeated in the first round of voting
in September, although he was later made a
Deputy Prime Minister under Ali Zeidan.
A JCP Congressman, Saleh Essaleh is also the
vice speaker of the General National Congress.The
Party of Reform and Development is led by
Khaled al-Werchefani, a former member of the
Muslim Brotherhood.Sallabi, the Head of Homeland
Party, has close ties to Yusuf al-Qaradawi,
the spiritual leader of the international
Muslim Brotherhood.The Muslim Brotherhood
in Libya has come under widespread criticism,
particularly for their alleged ties with extremist
organizations operating in Libya.
In fact, the text of the U.S. Congress Muslim
Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act of 2015
directly accuses the militias of the Libyan
Muslim Brotherhood of "joining forces with
United States designated terrorist organizations,
particularly Ansar al-Sharia" who the United
States blames for the attack on its compound
in Benghazi.
There have been similar reports that those
tasked with guarding the Benghazi consulate
on the night of the assault were connected
to the Muslim Brotherhood.The Libyan Muslim
Brotherhood has lost much of its popular support
since 2012 as the group was blamed for divisions
in the country.
Secular Libyan politicians have continued
to voice concerns of the Brotherhood's ties
to extremist groups.
In October 2017, spokesman of the Libyan National
Army (LNA) colonel Ahmed Al Masmary claimed
that "branches of the Muslim Brotherhood affiliated
to al-Qaeda" had joined forces with ISIS in
Libya.
In the 2014 parliamentary elections, the Muslim
Brotherhood won only 25 of the 200 available
seats.
=== Mauritania ===
Changes to the demographic and political makeup
of Mauritania in the 1970s heavily contributed
to the growth of Islamism within Mauritanian
society.
Periods of severe drought resulted in urbanization,
as large numbers of Mauritanians moved from
the countryside to the cities, particularly
Nouakchott, to escape the drought.
This sharp increase in urbanization resulted
in new civil associations being formed, and
Mauritania's first Islamist organisation,
known as Jemaa Islamiyya (Islamic Association)
was formed by Mauritanians sympathetic to
the Muslim Brotherhood.There was increased
activism relating to the Muslim Brotherhood
in the 1980s, partially driven by members
of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.In 2007
the National Rally for Reform and Development,
better known as Tewassoul, was legalized as
a political party.
The party is associated with the Mauritanian
branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.
=== Morocco ===
The Justice and Development Party was the
largest vote-getter in Morocco's 2011 election,
and as of May 2015, held the office of Prime
Minister.
It is historically affiliated with the Muslim
Brotherhood, however, despite this, the party
has reportedly "ostentatiously" praised the
King of Morocco, while "loudly insisting that
it is in no sense whatsoever a Muslim Brotherhood
party"—a development one source (Hussein
Ibish), calls evidence of how "regionally
discredited the movement has become".
=== Somalia ===
Somalia's wing of the Muslim Brotherhood is
known by the name Harakat Al-Islah or "Reform
Movement".
Muslim Brotherhood ideology reached Somalia
in the early 1960s, but Al-Islah movement
was formed in 1978 and slowly grew in the
1980s.
Al-Islah has been described as "a generally
nonviolent and modernizing Islamic movement
that emphasizes the reformation and revival
of Islam to meet the challenges of the modern
world", whose "goal is the establishment of
an Islamic state" and which "operates primarily
in Mogadishu".
The organization structured itself loosely
and was not openly visible on the political
scene of Somali society.
=== Sudan ===
Until the election of Hamas in Gaza, Sudan
was the one country where the Brotherhood
was most successful in gaining power, its
members making up a large part of the government
officialdom following the 1989 coup d'état
by General Omar al-Bashir.
However, the Sudanese government dominated
by the Muslim Brotherhood affiliated National
Islamic Front (NIF) has come under considerable
criticism for its human rights policies, links
to terrorist groups, and war in southern Sudan
and Darfur.In 1945, a delegation from the
Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt visited Sudan
and held various meetings inside the country
advocating and explaining their ideology.
Sudan has a long and deep history with the
Muslim Brotherhood compared to many other
countries.
By April 1949, the first branch of the Sudanese
Muslim Brotherhood organization emerged.
However, simultaneously, many Sudanese students
studying in Egypt were introduced to the ideology
of the Brotherhood.
The Muslim student groups also began organizing
in the universities during the 1940s, and
the Brotherhood's main support base has remained
to be college educated.
In order to unite them, in 1954, a conference
was held, attended by various representatives
from different groups that appeared to have
the same ideology.
The conference voted to establish a Unified
Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood Organization based
on the teachings of Imam Hassan Al-banna.An
offshoot of the Sudanese branch of the Muslim
Brotherhood, the Islamic Charter Front grew
during the 1960, with Islamic scholar Hasan
al-Turabi becoming its Secretary general in
1964.
The Islamic Charter Front (ICM) was renamed
several times most recently being called the
National Islamic Front (NIF).
The Muslim Brotherhood/NIF's main objective
in Sudan was to Islamize the society "from
above" and to institutionalize the Islamic
law throughout the country where they succeeded.
To that end the party infiltrated the top
echelons of the government where the education
of party cadre, frequently acquired in the
West, made them "indispensable".
This approach was described by Turabi himself
as the `jurisprudence of necessity`.Meeting
resistance from non-Islamists, from already
established Muslim organisations, and from
non-Muslims in the south, the Sudanese NIF
government under Turabi and the NIF organized
a coup to overthrow a democratically elected
government in 1989, organized the Popular
Defense Force which committed "widespread,
deliberate and systematic atrocities against
hundreds of thousands of southern civilians"
in the 1990s.
The NIF government also employed "widespread
arbitrary and extrajudicial arrest, torture,
and execution of labor union officials, military
officers, journalists, political figures and
civil society leaders".The views of at least
some elements of the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood
were highlighted in a 3 August 2007 Al-Jazeera
television interview of Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood
leader Sheikh Sadeq Abdallah bin Al-Majed.
As translated by the Israeli-based MEMRI,
Bin Al-Majed told his interviewer that "the
West, and the Americans in particular ... are
behind all the tragedies that are taking place
in Darfur", as they "realized that it Darfur
is full of treasures"; that "Islam does not
permit a non-Muslim to rule over Muslims";
and that he had issued a fatwa prohibiting
the vaccination of children, on the grounds
that the vaccinations were "a conspiracy of
the Jews and Freemasons".The NCP was dissolved
in the aftermath of the military takeover
on 11 April 2019.
=== Tunisia ===
Like their counterparts elsewhere in the Islamic
world in general, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood
has influenced the Tunisian Islamists.
One of the notable organization that was influenced
and inspired by the Brotherhood is Ennahda
(The Revival or Renaissance Party), which
is Tunisia's major Islamist political grouping.
An Islamist founded the organization in 1981.
While studying in Damascus and Paris, Rashid
Ghannouchi embraced the ideology of the Muslim
Brotherhood, which he disseminated on his
return to Tunisia.
== Europe ==
=== Germany ===
The Islamic Community of Germany (de: Islamische
Gemeinschaft in Deutschland e.V, IGD) being
constituent and founding organisation of the
MB umbrella organisation FIOE, the MB is active
in Germany with the IGD as a proxy.
IGD members take care to not publicly declare
their affiliation to the MB.
=== Russia ===
The Muslim Brotherhood is banned in Russia
as a terrorist organisation.As affirmed on
14 February 2003 by the decision of the Supreme
Court of Russia, the Muslim Brotherhood coordinated
the creation of an Islamic organisation called
The Supreme Military Majlis ul-Shura of the
United Forces of Caucasian Mujahedeen (Russian:
Высший военный маджлисуль
шура объединённых сил моджахедов
Кавказа), led by Ibn Al-Khattab and
Basaev; an organisation that committed multiple
terror-attack acts in Russia and was allegedly
financed by drug trafficking, counterfeiting
of coins and racketeering.
=== United Kingdom ===
The first MB-affiliated organisations in the
UK were founded in the 1960s, which comprised
exiles and overseas students.
They promoted the works of Indian theologician
Abu A'la Mawdudi and represented the Jama'at-e-Islami.
In their initial phase they were politically
inactive in the UK as they assumed they would
return to their home countries and instead
focused on recruiting new members and to support
the MB in the Arab World.In the late 1980s
and early 1990s, the MB and its associated
organisations changed to a new strategy of
political activity in western countries with
the purpose to promote the MB overseas but
also preserve the autonomy of Muslim communities
in the UK.In the 1990s, the MB established
publicly visible organisations and ostensibly
"national" organisations to further its agenda,
but membership in the MB was and remains a
secret.
The MB dominated the Islamic Society of Britain
(ISB), the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB)
and founded the Muslim Council of Britain
(MCB).
MAB became politically active in foreign policy
issues such as Palestine and Iraq, while MCB
established a dialogue with the then governments.In
1996, the first representative of the Muslim
Brotherhood in the UK, Kamal el-Helbawy, an
Egyptian, was able to say that "there are
not many members here, but many Muslims in
the UK intellectually support the aims of
the Muslim Brotherhood".In September 1999,
the Muslim Brotherhood opened a "global information
centre" in London.Since 2001, the ISB has
distanced itself from Muslim Brotherhood ideology
along with the MCB.In April 2014, David Cameron,
who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
at the time, launched an investigation into
the Muslim Brotherhood's activities in the
UK and its alleged extremist activities.
Egypt welcomed the decision.
After Cameron's decision, the Muslim Brotherhood
reportedly moved its headquarters from London
to Austria attempting to avoid the investigation.In
a 2015 government report, the MB was found
to not have been linked to terrorist related
activity against in the UK and MAB has condemned
Al-Qaeda terrorist activity in the UK.
== Other states ==
=== 
Indonesia ===
Several parties and organizations in Indonesia
are linked or at least inspired by the Muslim
Brotherhood, although none have a formal relationship
with the Muslim Brotherhood.
One of the Muslim Brotherhood-linked parties
is the PKS (Prosperous Justice Party),which
gained 6.79% of votes in the 2014 legislative
election, down from 7.88% in the 2009 election.
The PKS's relationship with the Egyptian Muslim
Brotherhood was confirmed by Yusuf al-Qaradawi,
a prominent Muslim Brotherhood leader.
The PKS was a member of President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono's government coalition with 3 ministers
in the cabinet.
=== Malaysia ===
The Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), the oldest
and largest mainstream Islamist party in Malaysia,
has close personal and ideological ties with
the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.
Founded in 1951, PAS's founders were exposed
to the ideas and teachings while they were
studying in Cairo during the 1940s.
PAS is the main rival to the Malay nationalist
United Malays National Organisation, which
dominated Malaysian politics until 2018.
According to the think tank Institute for
Democracy and Economic Affairs' CEO Wan Saiful
Wan Jan, PAS is regarded by the Muslim Brotherhood
as an electorally successful Islamic political
party; PAS has governed the state of Kelantan
since 2002.
PAS representatives are often invited to Muslim
Brotherhood speaking engagements overseas.
In 2012, PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang spoke
alongside Muslim Brotherhood scholar Sheikh
Yusuf al-Qaradawi at a speaking event in London.
In April 2014, PAS leader Abdul Awang spoke
out against Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the
United Arab Emirates' decision to designate
the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.According
to Bubalo and Fealy, Angkatan Belia Islam
Malaysia (or the Muslim Youth Movement of
Malaysia) was inspired or influenced by the
Muslim Brotherhood.
=== United States ===
According to a 2004 article by The Washington
Post, U.S. Muslim Brotherhood supporters "make
up the U.S. Islamic community's most organized
force" by running hundreds of mosques and
business ventures, promoting civic activities,
and setting up American Islamic organizations
to defend and promote Islam.
In 1963, the U.S. chapter of Muslim Brotherhood
was started by activists involved with the
Muslim Students Association (MSA).
U.S. supporters of the Brotherhood also started
other organizations including: North American
Islamic Trust in 1971, the Islamic Society
of North America in 1981, the American Muslim
Council in 1990, the Muslim American Society
in 1992 and the International Institute of
Islamic Thought in the 1980s.
In addition, according to An Explanatory Memorandum
on the General Strategic Goal for the Group
in North America, the "Understanding of the
Role of the Muslim Brotherhood in North America",
and a relatively benign goal of the Muslim
Brotherhood in North America is identified
as the following:
Establishing an effective and a stable Islamic
movement led by the Muslim Brotherhood which
adopts Muslims' causes domestically and globally,
and which works to expand the observant Muslim
base, aims at unifying and directing Muslims'
efforts, presents Islam as a civilization
alternative, and supports the global Islamic
state wherever it is.
The process of settlement is a 'Civilization-Jihadist
Process' with all the word means.
The Ikhwan [Muslim Brotherhood] must understand
that their work in America is a kind of grand
jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western
civilization from within and 'sabotaging'
its miserable house by their hands and the
hands of the believers so that it is eliminated
and God's religion [Islam] is made victorious
over all other religions.
During the Holy Land Foundation trial in 2007,
several documents pertaining to the Brotherhood
were unsuccessful in convincing the courts
that the Brotherhood was involved in subversive
activities.
In one, dated 1984 called "Ikhwan in America"
(Brotherhood in America), the author alleges
that the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood
in the US include going to camps to do weapons
training (referred to as special work by the
Muslim Brotherhood), as well as engaging in
counter-espionage against U.S. government
agencies such as the FBI and CIA (referred
to as Securing the Group).
Another (dated 1991) outlined a strategy for
the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States
that involved "eliminating and destroying
the Western civilization from within".
Penned in May of 1991 by a man named Mohamed
Akram Adlouni, the 'Explanatory Memorandum
on the General Strategic Goal for the Group
in North America' was discovered during an
FBI raid of a Virginia home in 2004.
The document was admitted as an exhibit to
the court during the 2007 Holy Land Foundation
trial, in which that group was charged with
laundering money.
After the trial, the document became public.
But, according to a 2009 opinion by the presiding
judge, the memo was not considered 'supporting
evidence' for that alleged money laundering
scheme, nor any other conspiracy.
The documents continue to be widely publicized
in American conservative circles.U.S. Congress
attempts to pass legislation criminalizing
the group, put forward by the 114th Congress,
were defeated.
The Bill, called the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist
Designation Act of 2015, was introduced to
the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX).
In it the bill states that the Department
of State should designate the Muslim Brotherhood
as a terrorist organization.
If passed, the bill would have required the
State Department to report to Congress within
60 days whether or not the group fits the
criteria, and if it did not, to state which
specific criteria it had not met.
Senator Cruz announced the legislation along
with Representative Mario Díaz-Balart (R-FL)
in November 2015.
However, it did not pass.This bill came after
a handful of foreign countries made similar
moves in recent years including Egypt, Russia,
Saudi Arabia, and others, and after, according
to Cruz, recent evidence emerged suggesting
that the group supports terrorism.
The senator further alleged that the group's
stated goal is to wage violent jihad against
its enemies, which includes the United States,
and the fact that the Obama administration
has listed numerous group members on its terror
list.
Cruz further stated that the bill would "reject
the fantasy that [the] parent institution
[of the Muslim Brotherhood] is a political
entity that is somehow separate from these
violent activities".The bill identifies three
Muslim Brotherhood entities in the U.S. including
the Council on American Islamic Relations
(CAIR), a non-profit group denounced by the
UAE for its MB ties.
This group is regarded by the Egyptian government
as a Brotherhood lobby in the United States.
The other two entities are the Islamic Society
of North America (ISNA) and the North American
Islamic Trust (NAIT).Conservatives in the
Congress believe that the group is a breeding
ground for radical Islam.
Previous attempts were made in the previous
year by Representative Michele Bachmann (R-MN),
but it failed largely due to her allegation
that Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton's aide,
had links to the organization, a statement
which was dismissed by establishment Democrats
and Republicans.In February 2016, the House
Judiciary Committee approved the legislation
in a 17 to 10 vote, which if enacted could
increase grounds for enforcing criminal penalties
and give permission to the Secretary of Treasury
to block financial transactions and freeze
assets of anyone who has showed material support
for the group.
Scholars against this classification claim
that the group simply promotes Islamism, or
the belief that society should be governed
according to Islamic values and Sharia law.Past
U.S. presidential administrations have examined
whether to designate the Muslim Brotherhood
as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and have
decided not to do so.
During the George W. Bush administration,
the U.S. government investigated the Brotherhood
and associated Islamist groups, but "after
years of investigations, ... the U.S. and
other governments, including Switzerland's,
closed investigations of the Brotherhood leaders
and financial group for lack of evidence,
and removed most of the leaders from sanctions
lists."
The Obama administration was also pressured
to designate the Brotherhood as a terrorist
organization, but did not do so.
== Criticism ==
The Brotherhood was criticised by Ayman al-Zawahiri
in 2007 for its refusal to advocate the violent
overthrow of the Mubarak government.
Issam al-Aryan, a top Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood
figure, denounced the al-Qaeda leader: "Zawahiri's
policy and preaching bore dangerous fruit
and had a negative impact on Islam and Islamic
movements across the world".Dubai police chief,
Dhahi Khalfan accused Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood
of an alleged plot to overthrow the UAE government.
He referred to the Muslim Brotherhood as "dictators"
who want "Islamist rule in all the Gulf States".The
Sudanese Muzammil Faqiri attacked the Muslim
Brotherhood for murdering people and said
that Takfir wal-Hijra, ISIS, Sururism and
Al-Qaeda were products of the Muslim Brotherhood.Dr.
Abd Al-Hamid Al-Ansari denounced the Islamist
and leftist excuse used by people with hidden
motives, who say that Muslim Brotherhood people
being tortured is a reason for radical religious
extremism.The label of "colonialist movement"
was used against the Muslim Brotherhood, which
was accused of anti-Nubian discrimination
and racism by Osama Farouq, a Nubian leader
in Egypt.The Muslim Brotherhood has been denounced
by Bassem Youssef.
=== Motives ===
Numerous officials and reporters question
the sincerity of the Muslim Brotherhood's
pronouncements.
These critics include, but are not limited
to:
Juan Zarate, former U.S. White House counterterrorism
chief (quoted in the conservative publication,
FrontPage Magazine): "The Muslim Brotherhood
is a group that worries us not because it
deals with philosophical or ideological ideas
but because it defends the use of violence
against civilians".
Miles Axe Copeland, Jr., a prominent U.S.
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operative
who was one of the founding members of the
Office of Strategic Services (OSS) under William
Donovan, divulged the confessions of numerous
members of the Muslim Brotherhood; these confessions
resulted from the harsh interrogations done
against them by Egyptian president Gamal Abdel
Nasser for their alleged involvement in the
assassination attempt made against him (an
assassination attempt that many believe was
staged by Nasser himself).
They revealed that the Muslim Brotherhood
was merely a "guild" that fulfilled the goals
of western interests: "Nor was that all.
Sound beatings of the Moslem Brotherhood organizers
who had been arrested revealed that the organization
had been thoroughly penetrated, at the top,
by the British, American, French and Soviet
intelligence services, any one of which could
either make active use of it or blow it up,
whichever best suited its purposes.
Important lesson: fanaticism is no insurance
against corruption; indeed, the two are highly
compatible".
Former U.S. Middle East peace envoy Dennis
Ross, who told Asharq Alawsat newspaper that
the Muslim Brotherhood is a global, not a
local organization, governed by a Shura (Consultative)
Council, which rejects cessation of violence
in Israel, and supports violence to achieve
its political objectives elsewhere too.
The Interior Minister of Saudi Arabia, Prince
Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud has alleged that
the Muslim Brotherhood organization was the
cause of most problems in the Arab world.
'The Brotherhood has done great damage to
Saudi Arabia', he said.
Prince Naif accused the foremost Islamist
group in the Arab world of harming the interests
of Muslims.
'All our problems come from the Muslim Brotherhood.
We have given too much support to this group..."
"The Muslim Brotherhood has destroyed the
Arab world', he said.
'Whenever they got into difficulty or found
their freedom restricted in their own countries,
Brotherhood activists found refuge in the
Kingdom which protected their lives...
But they later turned against the Kingdom...'
The Muslim Brotherhood has links to groups
across the Arab world, including Jordan's
main parliamentary opposition, the 'Islamic
Action Front', and the 'Palestinian resistance
movement, Hamas'".
The Interior Minister's outburst against the
Brotherhood came amid mounting criticism in
the United States of Saudi Arabia's longstanding
support for Islamist groups around the world..."
Sarah Mousa of Al Jazeera reported on the
Muslim Brotherhood's highly improbable claim
that opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize
laureate Mohammad ElBaradei (who has had a
"rocky" relationship with the US) was "an
American agent", and observed that the since-defunct
Muslim Brotherhood-controlled Shura Council's
support of the slander demonstrated a lack
of commitment to democracy.
Scholar Carrie Rosefsky Wickham finds official
Brotherhood documents ambiguous on the issue
of democracy: "This raises the question of
whether the Brotherhood is supporting a transition
to democracy as an end in itself or as a first
step toward the ultimate establishment of
a political system based not on the preferences
of the Egyptian people but the will of God
as they understand it".
=== Status of non-Muslims ===
In 1997, Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide
Mustafa Mashhur told journalist Khalid Daoud
that he thought Egypt's Coptic Christians
and Orthodox Jews should pay the long-abandoned
jizya poll tax, levied on non-Muslims in exchange
for protection from the state, rationalized
by the fact that non-Muslims are exempt from
military service while it is compulsory for
Muslims.
He went on to say, "we do not mind having
Christian members in the People's Assembly...
[T]he top officials, especially in the army,
should be Muslims since we are a Muslim country...
This is necessary because when a Christian
country attacks the Muslim country and the
army has Christian elements, they can facilitate
our defeat by the enemy".
According to The Guardian newspaper, the proposal
caused an "uproar" among Egypt's 16 million
Coptic Christians and "the movement later
backtracked".
=== Response to criticisms ===
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, the Middle East editor for the
BBC, called it "conservative and non-violent".
The Brotherhood "has condemned" terrorism
and the 9/11 attacks.The Brotherhood itself
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
..."Similarly, some analysts maintain that
whatever the source of modern Jihadi terrorism
and the actions and words of some rogue members,
the Brotherhood now has little in common with
radical Islamists and modern jihadists who
often condemn the Brotherhood as too moderate.
They also deny the existence of any centralized
and secretive global Muslim Brotherhood leadership.
Some claim that the origins of modern Muslim
terrorism are found in Wahhabi ideology, not
that of the Muslim Brotherhood.According to
anthropologist Scott Atran, the influence
of the Muslim Brotherhood even in Egypt has
been overstated by Western commentators.
He estimates that it can count on only 100,000
militants (out of some 600,000 dues paying
members) in a population of more than 80 million,
and that such support as it does have among
Egyptians—an often cited figure is 20 percent
to 30 percent—is less a matter of true attachment
than an accident of circumstance: secular
opposition groups that might have countered
it were suppressed for many decades, but in
driving the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, a
more youthful constellation of secular movements
has emerged to threaten the Muslim Brotherhood's
dominance of the political opposition.
This has not yet been the case, however, as
evidenced by the Brotherhood's strong showing
in national elections.
Polls also indicate that a majority of Egyptians
and other Arab nations endorse laws based
on "Sharia".
== Foreign relations ==
On 29 June 2011, as the Brotherhood's political
power became more apparent and solidified
following the Egyptian Revolution of 2011,
the United States announced that it would
reopen formal diplomatic channels with the
group, with whom it had suspended communication
as a result of suspected terrorist activity.
The next day, the Brotherhood's leadership
announced that they welcomed the diplomatic
overture.In September 2014, Brotherhood leaders
were expelled from Qatar.
The New York Times reported: "Although the
Brotherhood's views are not nearly as conservative
as the puritanical, authoritarian version
of Islamic law enforced in Saudi Arabia, the
Saudis and other gulf monarchies fear the
group because of its broad organization, its
mainstream appeal and its calls for elections".
=== Designation as a terrorist organization
===
Countries and organizations below have officially
listed the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist
organization.
Russia – 12 February 2003
CSTO – 7 May 2009
Syria – 21 October 2013
Egypt – 25 December 2013
Saudi Arabia – 7 March 2014
Bahrain – 21 March 2014
United Arab Emirates – 15 November 2014Libya's
Tobruk-based House of Representatives also
designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist
group on May 14, 2019.
==== Outside the Middle East ====
In February 2003, the Supreme Court of Russia
banned the Muslim Brotherhood, labelling it
as a terrorist organization, and accusing
the group of supporting Islamist rebels who
want to create an Islamic state in the North
Caucasus.In January 2017, during his confirmation
hearing, the former U.S. Secretary of State,
Rex Tillerson, referred to the Muslim Brotherhood,
along with Al-Qaeda, as an agent of radical
Islam—a characterization that Human Rights
Watch member Sarah Leah Whitson criticized
on social media, disseminating a statement
from the HRW Washington director saying that
the conflation of the group with violent extremists
was inaccurate.
The following month, The New York Times reported
that the administration of U.S. President
Donald Trump was considering an order designating
the Muslim Brotherhood as a foreign terrorist
organization.The Muslim Brotherhood was criticized
by Secretary Tillerson.
The terrorist designation for the Muslim Brotherhood
is opposed by Human Rights Watch and The New
York Times, both liberal-leaning institutions.
The potential terrorist designation was criticized,
in particular, by Human Rights Watch member
Laura Pitter.
The New York Times set forth its opposition
in an editorial that claimed that the Muslim
Brotherhood is a collection of movements,
and argued that the organization as a whole
does not merit the terrorist designation:
"While the Brotherhood calls for a society
governed by Islamic law, it renounced violence
decades ago, has supported elections and has
become a political and social organization".
The designation of the Muslim Brotherhood
as a terrorist organization is opposed by
the Brennan Center for Justice, Amnesty International,
Human Rights Watch, Council of American-Islamic
Relations and American Civil Liberties Union.Human
Rights Watch and its director Kenneth Roth
oppose proposals to designate the Muslim Brotherhood
as a terrorist organization.Gehad El-Haddad,
a Muslim Brotherhood member, denied that terrorism
was practiced by the Muslim Brotherhood in
an editorial published by The New York Times.In
a report by the Carnegie Middle East Center,
Nathan Brown and Michele Dunne argued that
"designating the Muslim Brotherhood a foreign
terrorist organization may actually backfire,"
writing: "The sweeping measure to declare
the Brotherhood a foreign terrorist organization
now being contemplated not only does not accord
with the facts, but is also more likely to
undermine than achieve its ostensible purpose
and could result in collateral damage affecting
other U.S. policy goals.
The greatest damage might be in the realm
of public diplomacy, as using a broad brush
to paint all Muslim Brotherhood organizations
as terrorists would be understood by many
Muslims around the world as a declaration
of war against non-violent political Islamists—and
indeed against Islam itself."The Muslim Brotherhood
in Egypt avoids directly implicating itself
materially in terrorism while it supports
terrorism with words and encourages it, according
to WINEP fellow Eric Trager, who advocated
pushing them into a corner instead of designating
them due to issues with materially connecting
them to terrorism other than with their words.The
editorial boards of The New York Times and
The Washington Post oppose designation of
the group as a terrorist organization.Civil
rights lawyer and adjunct professor of law
Arjun Singh Sethi wrote that the push to designate
the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization
was based on anti-Islamic conspiracy theories,
noting that "Two previous U.S. administrations
concluded that it does not engage in terrorism,
as did a recent report by the British government."Ishaan
Tharoor of The Washington Post condemned the
movement to designate the Brotherhood as a
terrorist group.A Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA) intelligence report from January 2017
warned that designation of the Brotherhood
as a terrorist organization "may fuel extremism"
and harm relations with U.S. allies.
The report noted that the Brotherhood had
"rejected violence as a matter of official
policy and opposed al-Qa'ida and ISIS" and
that while "a minority of MB [Muslim Brotherhood]
members have engaged in violence, most often
in response to harsh regime repression, perceived
foreign occupation, or civil conflicts", designation
of the organization as a terrorist group would
prompt concern from U.S. allies in the Middle
East "that such a step could destabilize their
internal politics, feed extremist narratives,
and anger Muslims worldwide."
The CIA analysis stated: "MB groups enjoy
widespread support across the Near East-North
Africa region and many Arabs and Muslims worldwide
would view an MB designation as an affront
to their core religious and societal values.
Moreover, a US designation would probably
weaken MB leaders' arguments against violence
and provide ISIS and al-Qa'ida additional
grist for propaganda to win followers and
support, particularly for attacks against
US interests."An article in The Atlantic against
designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist
organization was written by Shadi Hamid.
=== Relationship to diplomatic crises in Qatar
===
Qatar's relationship with Muslim Brotherhood
has been a persistent point of contention
between Qatar and other Arab states, including
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE),
Bahrain, and Egypt, which view the Brotherhood
as a serious threat to social stability in
those countries.Following the overthrow of
Mohamed Morsi in July 2013, Qatar allowed
some Brotherhood members who fled Egypt to
live in the country.
The Qatar-based Al Jazeera "housed them in
a five-star Doha hotel and granted them regular
airtime for promoting their cause"; the station
also broadcast protests against the post-Brotherhood
authorities in Egypt by the Brotherhood, "and
in some cases allegedly paid Muslim Brothers
for the footage."
Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain said that
Qatar had violated the Gulf Cooperation Council
rule against interference in the internal
affairs of other members, and in March 2014
all three countries withdrew their ambassadors
from Qatar.
After two months of diplomatic tensions the
issue was resolved, with Brotherhood leaders
departing from Doha later in 2014.However,
"from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the UAE's
standpoint, Qatar never lived up to the 2014
agreement and continued to serve as the nexus
of the Brotherhood's regional networks."
This led to the 2017 Qatar diplomatic crisis,
which is viewed as being precipitated in large
part by a conflict over the Muslim Brotherhood.
Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt
made 13 demands of the government of Qatar,
six of which reflect the group's opposition
to Qatar's relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood
and demand that the country cut ties to the
Brotherhood.
== See also ==
Politics of Egypt
Islamism
List of designated terrorist organizations
Al-Ahbash
Taqi al-Din al-Nabhani
Sayyid Qutb
Hassan al-Banna
Yusuf al-Qaradawi
Misr 25
== Footnotes
