Muslim Brotherhood

The Muslim Brotherhood “Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. Quran is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope.” This is the motto of the world’s largest, oldest, and most influential Islamist organization known as the Muslim Brotherhood, or al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun. They are an organization that operates under an umbrella of secrecy with an agenda to remove westernization of Muslim culture and establish Shari’ah law and Sunni Islamic governments throughout the Middle East, including Israel, and eventually across the globe. Though this “revolutionary movement that rejects Western values and influence” (Ehrenfeld, 2011, p. 69) asserts its intention to simply spread freedom and institute democratic elections to replace dictatorships, many are not “oblivious to the movement’s true agenda and well-honed methods of operation.” (Ehrenfeld, 2011, p. 70) Established in 1928 by a primary school teacher, Hassan al-Banna, the Muslim Brotherhood, as Sunni entity, was formed by al-Banna and six of his friends in Egypt upon their taking of an oath to present an alternate pathway to modernization in order to advocate the return of Muslim societies to an ideal Islamic State. According to Leiken and Brooke (2007), the intention of the Brotherhood was to pursue “an Islamic society through tarbiyya (preaching and educating), concentrating first on changing the outlook of individuals, then families, and finally societies” (Leiken, 2007, p. 108). By 1939, the original social youth club emerged into a political organization and finally into the world’s most influential Islamist movement” that it is today with satellite groups in more than 70 countries. During the process of expansion and globalization, despite its perception as a social philanthropic organization, the Brotherhood pursued its goals through political activity, ideological influence and acts of violence. Scholar Martin Kramer suggests it held “a double identity”:

References: Backgrounder: The holy land foundation for relief and development. (2009, May 28). Anti Defamation League Ehrenfeld, Rachel. (2011). The Muslim Brotherhood Evolution: An Overview. American Foreign Policy Interest, 33: 69-85 FBI Chief: Muslim brotherhood supports terrorism. (2011, February 10). The Investigative Project on Terrorism Leiken, Robert S., and Brooke, Steven. (2007, March-April). The Moderate Muslim Brotherhood