Jump to content

Muslim Brotherhood

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 209.89.183.89 (talk) at 14:46, 12 October 2006 (→Iraq). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

File:Muslim brotherhood 1.gif
Muslim Brotherhood symbol. The Arabic script reads, "...and be prepared."

The Muslim Brotherhood or The Muslim Brothers (Arabic: الإخوان المسلمون al-ikhwān al-muslimūn, full title "The Society of the Muslim Brothers", often simply الإخوان al-ikhwān, "the Brotherhood") is the name of a world-wide Islamist movement, which has spawned several religious and political organizations in the Middle East dedicated to the credo: "God is our objective, the Quran is our Constitution, the Prophet is our leader, struggle is our way, and death for the sake of God is the highest of our aspirations." As stated on its charter and its website, the Muslim Brotherhood seeks to install a just Islamic empire and a worldwide Caliphate, through stages designed to Islamicize targeted nations by whatever means available. Although the Brotherhood itself renounced violence in the 1970s, many of its branches continue to practice violence through terrorism and assassination. Osama bin Laden, while studying at a university, was impressed by several professors with strong ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. Among them was Muhammad Qutb, an Egyptian, whose brother, the late Sayyid Qutb, had written one of the Brotherhood’s most important tracts about anti-Western jihad, Signposts on the Road.

Some branches of the Muslim Brotherhood include groups dedicated to jihad and resistance, such as al-Jihad (Egypt), al-Gama'at al-Islamiyya (Egypt), Hamas (Palestine), and mujahideen groups in Afghanistan. These branches are normally structurally separate, yet linked by a common ideology of political Islam, as well as extensive cross-border organization and financial support.

The Muslim Brotherhood advocates the creation of Islamic government, believing that God has set out a perfect way of life and social organization in the Quran (as seen in the slogan, "The Quran is our constitution"). As such, members of the Muslim Brotherhood believe that disagreeing with them is tantamount to disagreeing with Allah, as stated by the former leader Mustafa Mashhour: “whoever stands against the Muslim Brotherhood is also standing against God and His Prophet.” [1] It expresses its interpretation of Islam through a strict religious approach to social issues such as the role of women, but also believes that Islam enjoins man to strive for social justice, the eradication of poverty and corruption, and political freedoms as defined by the Islamic state. It has previously been and continues to be strongly opposed to colonialism, and was an important actor in the struggle against Western military and economic domination in Egypt and other Muslim nations during the early 20th century. Their goal as stated by founder Hassan al-Banna was the “doctrine of reclaiming Islam’s manifest destiny; an empire, founded in the seventh century, that stretched from Spain to Indonesia.”

The Brotherhood is one of the most influential movements in the Islamic world, and especially so in the Arab world. The first Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928, and Egypt is still considered the center of the movement; it is generally weaker in the Maghreb, or North Africa, than in the Arab Levant. Brotherhood branches form the main opposition to the governments in several countries in the Arab world, such as Egypt, Syria and Jordan, and are politically active to some extent in nearly every Muslim country. There are also diaspora branches in several Western nations, composed by immigrants previously active in the Brotherhood in their home countries.

The movement is immensely influential in many Muslim countries, and where legally possible, it often operates important networks of Islamic charities, guaranteeing it a support base among Muslim poor. However, most of the countries where the Brotherhood is active are ruled by undemocratic regimes. As a consequence, the movement is banned in several Arab nations, and the lack of a democratic system prevents it from gaining power through elections. Inconsistent with popular belief in the West, the Muslim Brotherhood normally does not pursue its goals through acts of terror. However, the Brotherhood has advocated martyrdom to fight Zionism. For example, the Brotherhood views militant acts by Hamas as a legitimate struggle against Israel, despite targeting both the Israeli military and civilians, many civilians of whom are required to serve in mandatory conscription in the Israeli military.

Many of the Brotherhood's writings in the Arab world and in the US have argued that the September 11th attacks were a proper response to US actions in the world. In the US, the European Union, and throughout the Arab world, the Brotherhood is often regarded by experts as the source of all modern jihadi terrorism. In July 2005, Arab columnist and former Kuwaiti official Dr. Ahmad Al-Rabi, wrote that the "beginnings of all of the religious terrorism that we are witnessing today were in the Muslim Brotherhood's ideology." [2]

The following article will deal with each national branch separately.

Egypt

For details and sources, see the main History of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt article. Also known as the Muslim Brethren

Hassan al-Banna founded the Muslim Brotherhood in the city of Ismailia in March 1928 along with six workers of the Suez Canal Company. It was both a religious and a political and social movement with the credo is “God is our objective; the Quran is our constitution, the Prophet is our leader; Struggle is our way; and death for the sake of God is the highest of our aspirations” . Al-Banna called for the return to an original Islam and followed Islamic reformers like Muhammad Abduh and Rashid Rida. According to him, contemporary Islam had lost its social dominance, because most Muslims had been corrupted by Western influences. 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.[1]

The Brotherhood also saw itself as a political and social revolutionary movement. Al-Banna strived to be a populist. The Muslim Brotherhood claimed to want to protect the workers against the tyranny of foreign and monopolist companies. It founded social institutions such as hospitals, pharmacies, schools, etc. However, in addition to holding extremely conservative views on issues such as women's rights, it was from the start extremely hostile to independent working-class and popular organisations such as trade unions. [1]

By 1936, it had 800 members, then this number increased greatly to up to 200 000 by 1938. By 1948, the Brotherhood had about half a million members. The Muslim Brotherhood also tried to build up something like an Islamist International, thus founding groups in Lebanon (in 1936), Syria (1937), and Transjordan (1946). It also recruited among the foreign students in Cairo. Its headquarters in Cairo became a center and meeting place for representative from the whole Muslim world. [1]

On December 28, 1948, a member of the Brotherhood assassinated the Prime Minister of Egypt, Mahmud Fahmi Nokrashi. Al-Banna himself was killed by government agents in Cairo in February, 1949. The Brotherhood has been an illegal organization, tolerated to varying degrees, since 1954 when it attempted to assassinate Gamal Abdel Nasser, head of the Egyptian government. Nasser's successor, Anwar Sadat, promised the Brotherhood that shari'a would be implemented as the Egyptian law and released all of the Brotherhood prisoners. However, after Sadat signed a peace agreement with Israel in 1979, the Brotherhood considered him a traitor. As a result, four members of the Brotherhood assassinated Sadat in September, 1981.

The Brotherhood is still periodically subjected to mass arrests. It remains Egypt's most popular opposition group, advocating Islamic reform, democratic system and maintaining a vast network of support through Islamic charities working among poor Egyptians.[3]. A fact that worries most intellectuals, women rights activits and copts due to the openly declared opposition of this party to the agenda of these groups [4]. In particular, the following declaration “For now we accept the principle of party plurality, but when we will have an Islamic rule we will either accept or reject this principle” (in Refaat Al-Said’s Against Islamization by Mustafa Mashour), seems to imply that the Muslim Brotherhood may abolish democratic institutions once it comes to power.

Generally, the Brotherhood's leaders and members have demonstrated a commitment to a non-violent, reformist approach to Islamism. In the 2005 parliamentary elections, the Brotherhood's candidates, who since the movement is formally banned stood as independents, won 88 seats (20% of the total) to form the largest opposition bloc. The electoral process was marred by many irregularities, including the arrest of hundreds of Brotherhood members. Meanwhile, approved opposition parties won only 14 seats. This revived the debate within the Egyptian political elite about whether the Brotherhood should remain banned.

General leaders (G.L) or Mentors of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt المرشد العام لجماعة الإخوان المسلمون

Afghanistan

Before the U.S. removed the Taliban regime from Afghanistan, the Muslim Brotherhood operated training camps in that country. Furthermore, the Brotherhood worked with Kashmiri militants and worked to expand Islamist influence in Central Asian states such as Tajikistan.

Bahrain

In Bahrain, the Muslim Brotherhood play a full role in political life; following parliamentary elections in 2002, the Muslim Brotherhood affiliated Al Menbar became the joint largest 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 clamp down on pop concerts, sorcery and soothsayers. It has strongly opposed the government's accession to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on the grounds that this would give Muslim citizens the right to change religion, when in the party's view they should be "beheaded" [5]. Municipal councillor, Dr Salah Al Jowder, has campaigned against people being able to look into other people's houses, changing the local by-laws in Muharraq to ensure that all new buildings are fitted with one way glass to prevent residents being able to see out[6]. Although a competitor with the salafist Asalah party, it seems likely that Al Menbar will opt for a political alliance in 2006's election to avoid splitting the Sunni Islamist vote.

Syria

For details and sources, see the main History of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria article.

Founded in the 1930s by Syrian students who had participated in the Egyptian Brotherhood, the Brotherhood in Syria played a major role in the mainly Sunni-based resistance movement that opposed the secularist, pan-Arabist Baath Party, which seized power in 1963 (since 1970, it has been dominated by the Alawite Assad family, adding a religious element to its conflict with the Brotherhood). This conflict developed into an armed struggle that continued until culminating in the Hama uprising of 1982, when the rebellion was bloodily crushed by the military.[7] Since then, the Brotherhood has ceased to be an active political force inside Syria, but it retains a network of support in the country, of unknown strength, and has external headquarters in London and Cyprus. In recent years it has renounced violence and adopted a reformist platform, calling for the establishment of a pluralistic, democratic political system. However, membership of the Brotherhood remains a capital offence in Syria, as specified under Emergency Law 49 of 1980. The leader of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood is Ali Sadr al-Din al-Bayanuni, who lives as a political refugee in London.

Palestine

The first group in Palestine was formed in Jerusalem in 1946, with other groups springing up the same year in Jaffa, Lod, Haifa, Nablus, and Tulkarm.[2] The Brotherhood members fought alongside the Arab armies during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, which encouraged many Palestinian Muslims to join the movement in the wake of Israel's creation, which caused the Palestinian refugee crisis.

The Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas, founded in 1987 in Gaza, is a wing of the Brotherhood[8], formed out of Brotherhood-affiliated charities that had gained a strong foothold among the local population. These had been permitted by Israeli occupation authorities to operate in the Palestinian Territories to counter the influence of the secular Palestinian resistance movements, but during the First Intifada (1987-93), Hamas and the Brotherhood militarized and transformed into one of the most violent Palestinian resistance groups.

Hamas refused to accept the 1993 Oslo Accords, and has, particularly during the al-Aqsa Intifada, launched a series of attacks (including suicide bombings) against Israeli civilians. This led many governments, including the USA, Canada, and the European Union, to label Hamas terrorist movement, while the prevailing view in the Arab-Muslim world has been that Hamas is carrying out a war of legitimate resistance.

In the general elections of January 2006, Hamas swept to victory, claiming 74 out of the 132 seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC). Palestine, while still under occupation, thus became the only present-day Arab nation where the Muslim brotherhood has gained power through democratic elections. However, when the movement later formed the first non-Fatah government, this engendered considerable controversy, as Western governments refused to deal with a group that they had formally listed as a terrorist organization. This has caused an economic crisis for the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), as these governments withheld the foreign aid that is the main source of the PNA's income. While these developments are primarily a part of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, they are also closely monitored by supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood in other countries, and seen as a setback to its strategy of participating in democratic elections.

Among the most prominent leaders of Hamas are Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, the founder of the movement who was assassinated by Israel in March of 2004, his successor Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi, who was also assassinated by Israel in April of 2004, and Mahmoud al-Zahar. The political head of the movement is now Khaled Mashal, a hardliner living in exile in Syria, who survived an assassination attempt by Israeli agents in Jordan in 1997.

  • For more information, see Hamas.

Jordan

The Jordanian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood was formed in 1942, and is a strong factor in Jordanian politics. While most political parties and movements were banned for a long time in Jordan, the Brotherhood was exempted and allowed to operate by the Jordanian monarchy. The Jordanian Brotherhood has formed its own political party, the Islamic Action Front, which has the largest number of seats of any party in the Jordanian parliament.[9]

Iran

No Islamic country has been as impressed with the Muslim Brotherhood as Iran. Fadaian Islam, the Islamic fundamentalist organization active in Iran in the 1950s and 60s, was highly impressed by the Muslim Brotherhood.

Iraq

The Iraqi Islamic Party was formed in 1960 as the Iraqi branch of the Brotherhood[10], but as government repression hardened under the Baath Party, the group was forced underground. After the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime in 2003, the Islamic Party has reemerged as one of the main spokesmen of the country's Sunni community. It has been sharply critical of the US-led occupation of Iraq, but participates in the political process.[11] Its leader is Tariq Al-Hashimi.

Saudi Arabia

The Muslim Brotherhood's brand of Islam and Islamic politics differs from the strict Wahhabi creed officially held by the state of Saudi Arabia. Despite this, the Brotherhood has been tolerated by the Saudi government, and maintains a presence in the country. Aside from tolerating the Brotherhood organization, Prince Nayef of Saudi Arabia commented that the Muslim Brotherhood was the "mother of all terror." [12][13]

Sudan

Sudan, always close to Egyptian politics, has had a Muslim Brotherhood presence since 1949. Islamist scholar Hasan al-Turabi does not represent Muslim Brotherhood in Sudan

Kurdistan

There are several Islamic movements inspired by or part of the Muslim Brotherhood network in the different parts of Kurdistan. In Iraqi Kurdistan, the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) holds seats in the Kurdish parliament, and is the main political force outside the dominance of the two main secularist parties, the PUK and KDP. [14]

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c Küntzel, 2002. Pg. 17-19
  2. ^ Cohen, 1982. Pg. 144

References

  • Baer, Robert. "See No Evil" Peguin Press, 2001.
  • Cohen, A. "Political Parties in the West Bank under the Jordanian Regime, 1949-1967" Cornell University Press 1982.
  • Grundmann, Johannes: Islamische Internationalisten - Strukturen und Aktivitäten der Muslimbruderschaft und der Islamischen Weltliga. Reichert Verlag, Wiesbaden, 2005, ISBN 3-895-00447-2 (Review)
  • Küntzel, Matthias. "Djihad und Judenhaß" Ça-Ira-Verlag, Freiburg, 2002.

See also

Egypt

Syria

Jordan

Iraq

Palestine

Sudan

Iraqi/South Kurdistan

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Muslim_Brotherhood&oldid=81017202"