Feb. 1 – The Muslim Brotherhood (Arabic: al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun) is Egypt’s strongest and oldest Islamist group and has spawned numerous offshoots such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. In Egypt’s current political upheaval, the radical anti-West, anti-Israel group backs the anti-government demonstrators and said they should be prepared to do away with Israel.
“The people should be prepared for war against Israel,” said Muhammad Ghannem, a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood. “The Egyptian people are prepared for anything to get rid of this regime.” Muslim Brotherhood Deputy General guide Mahmoud Izzat has rejected the notion that the mass demonstrations are anything other than a popular uprising.
The Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna and quickly proliferated throughout the country, using a model of combining preaching radical Islam with building educational and charitable institutions. The group soon became politically active, fighting in particular against Western influence. It now has an estimated 600,000 adherents.
Egypt attempted to do away with the Brotherhood in 1948 after it attacked Jewish and British targets at the time of Israel’s founding. The same year , the group was accused of killing Prime Minister Mahmoud al-Nuqrashi. In 1954, the Brotherhood attempted to assassinate President Gamal Abdul Nasser.
The Brotherhood’s Islamist ideology calls for strict adherence to Islamic, or Sharia law. It also advocates destroying Egypt’s almost 32-year peace treaty with Israel and is against allowing a woman or a Christian as Egypt’s leader. One of its most popular mottos, “Islam is the solution,” has proliferated throughout the Arab world. Additionally, the Muslim Brotherhood maintains informal ties with Iran and played a role in the Islamic republic’s increased radicalism.
Though banned in Egypt, the well-organized group has gained popularity in part for its opposition to President Hosni Mubarak’s three-decade rule. In 2005, Muslim Brotherhood members – posing as independents – won 20 percent of seats in Egypt’s parliament. They lost those seats in last year’s elections but suspicions remain of fraudulent balloting.
In the current political upheaval that aims to oust Mubarak and his National Democratic Party, the Brotherhood supports former International Atomic Energy Agency head Mohamed elBaradei as Egypt’s leader.
For more on this subject, please see the following articles:
“Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and Iran” by Mehdi Khalaji, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, PolicyWatch/PeaceWatch, Feb. 12, 2009
“Egypt’s Turmoil Leaves Israel Silent and Worried”, Reuters Op-Ed By Alan Elsner, TIP Senior Communications Director
