Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt

Egypt Population: 93.2 Million

Capital: Cairo

Current President: Abdel Fattah al-Sisi 
90% of the Egyptian population are Sunni

By: Haylie Smith

    The Muslim Brotherhood was founded by Hassan al-Banna in March of 1928 (Esposito, 2003).

Hassan founded the group as an Islamist religious, political, and social movement. It is the oldest

political Islamist group in the Arab world (Al Jazeera, 2017). Hassan originally created the movement

in the small city of Isma’iliya, but realized in order for the movement to grow,

they needed to move to Cairo (Munson, 2001). 

    The brotherhood began small and focused more on private conversations between members on religion and morals, but began to take on a political tone in the late 1930s (Munson, 2001).

 After WWII, civil unrest increased in Egypt, and the Brotherhood was in the middle of it.

The Society was rendered in1948 due to the Egyptian police discovering a hidden arms cache and confiscating a Jeep belonging to the Brotherhood that was filled with explosives (Munson, 2001).

The dissolving of the Brotherhood meant a retaliation was in the works and they assassinated the

Egyptian Prime Minister Mahmud Fahmi al-Nuqrashi (Munson, 2001). In Turn, the leader of the

Brotherhood, Al-Banna, was murdered two months later by Egyptian police (Munson, 2001).

    The tactics of the Muslim Brotherhood have ranged from social activism to anti-regime assassinations and

violence. After the death of Al-Banna, a new leader emerged named Hasan Isma’il al-Hudaybi.

He was accomplished a a leader and kept the organization up and running despite the imprisonment

of thousands of its members and its dismissal by the government (Munson, 2001). The Muslim

Brotherhood had initially been an ally with the Free Officers who were a group of nationalist officers

in the armed forces of Egypt as well as Sudan who overthrew the Monarchy in Egypt in 1952

(Esposito, 2003). However, the alliance was ended by newly elected president Gamal Abdel Nasser,

who helped overthrow the Monarchy. In 1970, when new president Anwar Sadat came into power,

he tried to have The Muslim Brotherhood back and he sought their help but refused to allow them to

be a valid political party. He released their members from prison and wanted them to organize against the

left. He was signalling a shift away from the dictatorship of his predecessor, Gamal Abdel Nasser (Sainsbury, 2018).

He was also repaying a debt to the Brotherhood, who cared for his family while he was imprisoned

as a young army officer (Sainsbury, 2018).

    In 1980’s, the brotherhood moved toward a more docile and nonviolent

manner and became an opposition movement. The Muslim Brotherhood even participated in and won

elections since 1984 and gained mass appeal across the population despite socio-economic differences

among them. During the uprisings in 2011, The Muslim Brotherhood played a pivotal role in

overthrowing President Mubarak, especially the Brotherhoods youthful members, who were a

"pressure group" and led to the belief that the youth members are more "revolutionary" (Martini et al, 2012).

Children can start being a part of the Brotherhood as early as school age and can be enrolled in the

Brotherhoods scout program, known as "cubs and flowers" (Martini et al, 2012). Mohammed Morsi

(The Brotherhood’s political leader) even won the first democratic election in Egypt and reigned from 2012-2013,

when he was finally overthrown in a coup during Egyptian protests (Esposito, 2003).

    After the overthrow of Mohammed Morsi in July of 2013 by Egyptian military,

The Muslim Brotherhood’s leaders were imprisoned and the organization

was banned (Esposito, 2003). 5 months later, the Brotherhood was assigned the label of a

“terrorist organization”, and its members have been subsequently hunted down and forced to flee to

avoid imprisonment (Munson, 2001).

During the height of the Muslim Brotherhood's popularity in Egypt, they had half a million (500 million) active members in a population of less than 20 million (Munson, 2001). The Muslim Brotherhood had many concerns for the country of Egypt which included the domination by foreign powers, poverty among the population, and the decline of what they considered moral (Munson, 2001). The Brotherhood was created to advocate a return to the Qur'an and the Hadith as examples and guidelines for Islamic Society. The Brotherhood also has served as a gateway for young Islamists including Osama Bin Laden (founder of Al-Qaeda) and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (founder of Isis)(Press Release, 2017) although their tactics are very different (for example the Brotherhood is primarily NON-Violent) they share similar values and hopes for a pure and moral Arab world. 

References:

Al Jazeera. (2017, June 18). What is the Muslim Brotherhood? Retrieved from https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/06/muslim-brotherhood-explained-170608091709865.html

Baker, R. W., Goldschmidt, A. E., Hopwood, D., Little, D. P., Holt, P. M., & Smith, C. G. (2018, November 16). Egypt. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/place/Egypt

Esposito, J. L. (Ed.). (2003). The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. Oxford University Press. Retrieved November 20, 2018, from http://www.oxfordreference.com.libproxy.mtroyal.ca/view/10.1093/acref/9780195125580.001.0001/acref-9780195125580-e-1637

Hassan al-Banna [Photo of Hassan al-Banna]. (n.d.). Retrieved November 25, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hassan_al-Banna.jpg

Google Maps (2018). Ismailia. Retrieved from https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Ismailia,+Ismailia+Governorate,+Egypt/@30.5020352,32.1977774,11z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x14f85956191e10b9:0x3b0933775b0f5b95!8m2!3d30.5964923!4d32.2714587

Logo Muslim Brotherhood [Emblem of Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood]. (n.d.). Retrieved November 23, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_Brotherhood_in_Egypt#/media/File:Muslim_Brotherhood_Emblem.jpg

Martini, J., Kaye, D. D., & York, E. (2012). The Muslim Brotherhood, its youth, and implications for U.S. engagement. Santa Monica, CA: Rand.

Minion Egypt GIF [Digital image]. (2016, April 4). Retrieved November 23, 2018, from https://tenor.com/view/minion-egypt-gif-5290623

Munson, Z. (2001). Islamic Mobilization: Social Movement Theory and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. The Sociological Quarterly, 42(4), 487-510. doi:10.1111/j.1533-8525.2001.tb01777.x

Press Release - November 27, 2018, Press Release - October 30, 2018, & Press Release - October 16, 2018. (2018, October 31). The Muslim Brotherhood's Ties to ISIS and Al-Qaeda. Retrieved from https://www.counterextremism.com/content/muslim-brotherhood’s-ties-isis-and-al-qaeda

Sainsbury, J. (2018, May 11). Egypt should remember Sadat. Retrieved from https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/remembering-sadat/article13852260/

Sunnis and Shia in the Middle East. (2013, December 19). Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-25434060

The Radical Left and Muslim Brotherhood Continue Their Assault on Protecting Our Constitutional Rights [Rioting Muslim Brotherhood Members]. (2018, March 2). Retrieved November 23, 2018, from https://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/2018/03/02/the-radical-left-and-muslim-brotherhood-continue-their-assault-on-protecting-our-constitutional-rights/