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, Milestones.
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."
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