Updated May 2015
Recent news events have brought the Muslim Brotherhood back to the forefront, particularly the death sentence imposed on former Egyptian President Morsi. While most readers of the mainstream media are aware of this organization, most of us are somewhat less familiar with its history. Here is some background information on the Brotherhood, outlining its history from its foundation to the Sadat era.
Recent news events have brought the Muslim Brotherhood back to the forefront, particularly the death sentence imposed on former Egyptian President Morsi. While most readers of the mainstream media are aware of this organization, most of us are somewhat less familiar with its history. Here is some background information on the Brotherhood, outlining its history from its foundation to the Sadat era.
Founding Years and Motto
The Muslim Brotherhood (or al-Ikhwan
al-Muslimeen) was founded in March 1928 by Hassan al-Banna and is considered to
be Egypt's oldest and largest Islamic organization. The Brotherhood's
motto is
"God is our purpose, the
Prophet our leader, the Qur'an our constitution, Jihad our way and dying for
God's cause our supreme objective.".
Hassan al-Banna was involved in
politics at a very early age; when he was 13 years old, he participated in
anti-British demonstrations during the 1919 revolution. He was trained as
a teacher, however, as time passed he became increasingly concerned about the secularization
of Islam and the rise of Western culture in Egypt and the abandonment of Islam
by younger Egyptians as western culture took hold. He believed that the
only way to reverse this trend was to return to a pure form of Islam and, in
1927, took a job as a teacher of Arabic to school children in Isma'iliya,
near the Suez Canal Zone. As well, he taught local adults, instructing
them in the objectives of Islam.
Here are the original pillars of the
Brotherhood:
1. Singleness of purpose,
2.
Gathering people around the basic principles of Islam and not worrying about
minor differences,
3. Following the proper Islamic manners in case of
disagreement,
4. Thinking positively of those who disagree with one's
idea,
5. Avoiding despotism,
6. The possibility of more than one
right opinion for a single issue,
7. Cooperation in what is agreed upon
and forgiveness in what is disagreed upon,
8. Calling all Muslims to
face the common enemy,
9. Encouraging work and productivity,
and
10. Feeling of pity, not malice, for those who have gone
astray.
The original purpose of the
Brotherhood was the Islamization of Egyptian society through the promotion of Islamic values,
morals and law (i.e. Sharia); these goals were originally accomplished through
a combination of social welfare and religion. Branches were set up
throughout Egypt; each was responsible for running a mosque, school and
sporting club, a social welfare network and some branches even had factories. As time
passed, the Brotherhood became more politically active, particularly in its
actions to rid Egypt of its colonial rulers, Great Britain, while maintaining
its original goal of leading a world revolution that would establish Islam as
the dominant religion of the entire world, that is, the restoration of the
Caliphate.
World War II
By the beginning of World War II,
there were more than half a million Brotherhood members in more than 2000
branches around the Arab world, including Jordan and Palestine. A
paramilitary wing called the Special Apparatus was formed to achieve the goal
of ejecting the British; underground cells called usar formed; these groups
trained fighters and assassination squads and had supporters in both the armed
forces and the police. During World War II, the Brotherhood had a strong
connection with the German Nazi party since their ideology of
anti-Jew/anti-Britain was held in common. Hassan al-Banna used the
intelligence network of the Brotherhood to supply Germany with information on
the movements of the British armed forces in the region as well as information
on the Egyptian ruling regime.
Post-World War II to the Sadat Era
After the end of World War II,
underground cells of the Brotherhood began to carry out terrorist attacks
against the British occupation and Jewish-owned businesses in Cairo. On
December 18, 1948, Egyptian Prime Minister Mahmoud al-Nuqrashi issued a
military decree dissolving the Brotherhood, however, less than two weeks later, al-Nuqrashi himself was assassinated by a young Brotherhood member. Despite
the attempts of al-Banna to distance himself from the assassination,
on February 12, 1949, an unknown gunman gunned down 43 year old al-Banna.
It is widely believed that the assassination was carried out by
government agents.
Despite these events, it is
estimated that the Brotherhood had more than 2 million followers by the late
1940s. The Egyptian government legalized the Brotherhood again in 1948
and reversed the move again in 1954 because the Brotherhood insisted that Egypt be governed under
Sharia law. In 1954, Abdul Munim Abdul Rauf, a member of the Brotherhood
attempted to assassinate Egyptian President Nasser and was executed for his
efforts. Four thousand members of the Brotherhood were arrested and
thousands fled to Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. Nasser granted
amnesty to those imprisoned in 1964, a move that was followed by three more
assassination attempts. In 1966, Nasser executed the top leaders of the
Brotherhood and imprisoned many others.
When President Anwar-as-Sadat took
over as leader of Egypt, he promised that Sharia law would be implemented,
largely because he realized that he needed to counter the political strength of
the leftist, Nasserite and nationalist groups. As such, he released many
Islamists from prison and encouraged them to take over trade and student union
bodies. The Brotherhood still remained an officially banned group,
however, they recovered some of their prominence in Egyptian society and Sadat
allowed them to participate in Egypt's Parliament through the political parties
that arose from the multi-party system that flourished under his Presidency.
Unfortunately, as a result of the Brotherhood's disagreement with the
signing of the peace accord with Israel in 1979, four members of an affiliated
group assassinated Sadat on October 6, 1981. The assassins, four enlisted
men in the army, had hatched the plot along with Al Gamaa al'Islamiyya, an
offshoot of the Brotherhood that was chiefly responsible for the 1997 terrorist
attack on tourists in Luxor that resulted in the deaths of 62 men, women and
children.
Currently, it is estimated that the
Brotherhood in Egypt has more than 300,000 members.
Summary
In 1947, al-Banna, the founder of
the Muslim Brotherhood sent a lengthy letter to King Faruq of Egypt and the
leaders of other Islamic nations around the world. Here is a link to the letter in its entirety
and I will close with this extract:
"In concluding this discussion,
we assert that the Western civilisation, which was for a long time, brilliant
by virtue of its scientific perfection subjugating the whole world with the products
of this science, is now in ruin, Its foundations are crumbling, and its
institution and guiding principles are being torn down. Its political
foundations are being destroyed by dictatorships, while its economy is in
crisis. The millions of wretched, unemployed and hungry people will bear
witness to this. Strange ideologies and widespread revolutions are undermining
its social foundations. Its people are at a loss as to the cure and have
strayed far of the path . Their conferences are all failures, their treaties
have not lasted and their covenants are torn to pieces: The League of Nations
is an empty shell, possessing neither spirit nor influence. On one hand they
are signing un-Islamic treaties and taking comfort therein, while on the other
hand they are receiving violent blows, so that the world, thanks to these
tyrannical and self seeking policies, has become like a ship in the midst of
the sea, with its captain distraught while blustering gales assault it on all
sides. All of humanity is tormented, wretched, worried and confused, having
been scorched by the fires of greed and materialism. They are in dire need of
the sweetness of True Islam to wash from them the filth of misery and to lead
them to happiness.
The leadership of the world was at
one time entirely in the hands of the East, then it fell to the West after the
rise of the Greeks and Romans. After that, the Prophetic eras of Moses, Christ
, and Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon them all) brought it back
to the East for a second time, but then the East fell into its long sleep, and
the West enjoyed a new rebirth. It was Allah"s Sunnah which does not fail
to manifest itself and the West inherited leadership of the world. But lo and
behold! It was tyrannical and unjust, insolent, misguided, and stumbling
blindly, all it requires is a strong Eastern power to exert itself under the
shadow of Allah"s banner, with the standard of the Qur"an fluttering
at its head, and backed up by the strong soldiers of unyielding faith; then you
will see the World living under the tranquillity of Islam, and on the lips of
everyone will be the following slogan:
‘Praise be unto Allah
who guided us to this. for truly we would not have been guided if Allah had not
guided us.’
References:
Ikwanweb (the official English website of the
Muslim Brotherhood)
Posts
More humans have died because of religion than any other cause. When will humanity understand that religions of any kind are just another way of imposing control by the more powerful clans of the times? We are Spiritual beings, borne out of this Earth. There is an Intelligence to the Universe. That's all there is to it.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately by the time West really understands what is going on it may be too late to combat. Most European countries already have large Muslim minorities. It is not a secret the end game of Islam is world domination. Already 1/6th of the world is Muslim. I fear what will happen if/when it creeps into China and South America.
ReplyDeleteThose who are not well-educated join organized religions to obtain a sense of belonging, a sense of strength, a sense of purpose, and a sense of understanding that which they don't understand. America's 'Born-Again Christians' are among the worst for hatred of others and bigotry. I can't believe that all Muslims wish to kill all others, any more than I can believe that all Christians wish to kill all others---despite the Crusades.
ReplyDeleteIslam isn't a violence religion , The Prophet (PBUH) said : " A Muslim is the one from whose tongue and hand the people are safe " .
ReplyDeletethere isn't a single word in Quran or Sunnah ordring or even mentioning killing any one who's not Muslim .
Islam has no thing to do with Muslim Brotherhood way of thinking infact its pretty much the opposite .
Hassan al-Banna's idea was shifted 180 degree while he was still alive infact he left the MB shortly before he died and he called them in an interview and i quote " niether Brothers nor Muslims " . and its said that they where behind his assasination not the government .
World Domination doesn't have to happen through violence, in fact it won't. There will be violence in some areas think Africa & South Eastern Asia. In Europe Islam will spread through converts and having a higher birth rate and migration rates higher than the Europeans. Enlightened Europeans will not create civil war and will over a few hundred years just become a majority Muslim place. The secular governments will slowly erode and become more religious. Think of it the same as US slowly becoming a majority latino country. There is nothing wrong with that but its the same with Islam. I would tend to think anyone ready this will be long dead by the time the whole world following Islam. But for anyone who reads this here is my bet, there are 1.6 billion Muslims at present making up about 23% of the worlds population. Check out the number in 5 years then 10 then 20 after 25 years. My guess is after 25 years Muslims will make up 27-28% of the worlds population. So say a 3% gain since it growth rate must slow down over the next 25-100 years. After 100 years it will be about 30% Another 100 years 40% and on and on....
ReplyDeleteislam IS SATAN worship. PERIOD!
ReplyDelete