The Muslim Brotherhood - Essay Example

?The Muslim Brotherhood Introduction The Muslim Brotherhood was born amid growing frustration among the young Egyptians in the 1920s because of denial of right to freedom for the Egyptians. This brotherhood is the most important organization of Sunni revivalist Islam. It is the oldest among all the other existing Islamist factions in the current day Arab world. At present, it is considered as the most influential non-state activist in Egypt, and its number of member exceeds eighty million across the world. It is regarded as the original Islamist organization and all other associated groups of the Brotherhood in other countries like Jordan, Palestine, Kuwait, Syria, Iraq, Sudan and Bahrain are offshoots of the Muslim Brotherhood. The brotherhood was initially formed essentially as a small charitable society with religious goals. During the authoritarian regime in Egypt, the brotherhood became the most prominent and effective opposition sector. The brotherhood’s ambitions were shaped by the existing political and social scenario. It was during mid 1980s, that the brotherhood spread its activities and asserted its presence in different facets of public life. Starting from this period, the brotherhood designed its objectives towards global democracy and human rights (Wickham, 20,46). It is an organization whose ultimate goal is to establish a full Muslim state where there will be no extreme disparity of wealth distribution with the rich and poor holding equal status (Oliver & Atmore, 194). Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers or the Muslim Brotherhood was founded by Hasan al-Banna in the year 1928. Hasan was a scholar and schoolteacher born in Egypt. He was born to a local sheikh in Cairo, and his father instilled in him “classical and traditional religious learning and piety” (Wickham, 21). During his higher education at an institute in Cairo, he witnessed the disturbing political scenario in Egypt that caused disruptions and chaos between different sections. Hasan belonged to the era when British rule existed in Egypt. The political ambiance of Egypt was highly influenced and controlled by the British regime. During his final year in the university, he decided to devote his life on directing the young people towards the Islamic way of life. He made this his mission, and the way he chose was to preach and teach the Islamic ideals and concepts both to the young people and their parents. In the following years, he established himself as a powerful and intensely effective orator with the skill to spread his message. He began to give his sermons in local mosques and coffee houses. His mission of bringing to the forefront the Islamic way of life, and his dedication to look after the welfare of the Muslims influenced six labourers from a British military camp. These laborers approached him, and requested him to become their leader. The name of the group as Muslim Brotherhood was selected by Hasan since all the member of the brotherhood was primarily dedicated towards the service of Islam (Wickham, 21). The Muslim Brotherhood is a religious and social movement that is composed of Sunni Muslims, and is one of the biggest, oldest and the most significant Islamist organizations in the world. Initially, Egypt was the only country where the Brotherhood concentrated its activities and movements. However, currently it is estimated that the group has spread its wings in more than 70 countries, while according to other estimates the group is establishing itself in more than 100 countries. When Hasan formed this Brotherhood, his main assertion was that Islam be granted the supreme authority over all matters of life. With this ultimate goal, the Muslim Brotherhood strives to establish an Islam kingdom or monarchy extending over not only the current day Muslim population across the world, but over all communities around the globe. Another purpose of the Brotherhood is to establish the Islam law or the Shari’a as the sole law of court in all countries across the globe. This is the principle philosophy in the military regiment of the Brotherhood: “God is our objective. God’s messenger is our guide. The Koran is our constitution. Struggle is our path. Death on the road that leads to God is our ultimate desire” (Fourest, 13). After the formation of the Muslim Brotherhood, in the first few years it followed Ismailyya by spreading its activities mostly in coffee houses, mosques and private homes. It also established myriad service centers for the benefit of the community at large. In order to emphasize Islamist faith, the brotherhood constructed a mosque, and to spread education among the young generation, it constructed a boys’ school, a boys’ club and also a girls’ school. In later years, brotherhood affiliated schools and mosques were spread in many towns and cities of Egypt. In the beginning, the principle goal of the brotherhood was to reinforce loyalty towards Islam and inhibit the growing influence of Western culture and lifestyles. However, in the following two decades, under Hasan’s dynamic leadership, the brotherhood gained national status with increasing number of members getting involved in social and welfare activities. The brotherhood’s rapid ascend eclipsed many civic associations in Egypt (Wickham, 21-22). Muslim Brotherhood in the Middle East For more than thirty years, Islamist rule has dominated the political arena of the Middle East. It is this Islamist politics that has directly affected the global politics in various disastrous forms in the recent past starting from Iranian revolution in 1979 to the September 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. in 2001. Its impact has been extremely strong in both regional as well as international events. Although the importance of Islamist movement in the Middle East is undisputed, its mode of operations and strategies applied for far reaching consequences are highly argumentative. Moreover, media attention remains mostly on terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and its subgroups, therefore more significant groups like the Muslim Brotherhood do not get the required attention. However, the Brotherhood’s impact on the Middle East is extremely important (Shehata, 1). In the year 1981, Hosni Mubarak became the President of Egypt. Under his regime, the Islamists were distinguished into the peaceful ones and the bad ones. While the latter was destroyed, Mubarak encouraged the peaceful Islamists to engage in activities that were least threatening for the government. These sector of Islamists found themselves being moved away from any real power, and were encouraged to own newspapers, or were encouraged to become engaged in social and public works. However, even with the limited power granted to the Islamists, they managed to exert their influence far beyond the government could ever imagine (Miles, Ch.3). The 30 year rule of the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak ended in 2011 as a result of insistent protects all over the country against the Mubarak regime. The fall of Mubarak along with the removal of his National Democratic Party (NDP) has marked the beginning of the Muslim Brotherhood’s reinforcement. After the removal of Mubarak and the dismantle of NDP, the Brotherhood could enjoy its new found liberty, and had been successful in creating a political party, Hizb al Hurriya wa la Adala or the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP). This party reflects the political ambitions of the Brotherhood (Zahid, xii-xiii). Therefore, in 2011, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt embarked in the political arena and gained the focus of the global media. In the year end Parliamentary elections, the brotherhood participated amidst apprehension that Islamist groups and secular parties formed by the youth would split. However, the brotherhood’s main mission behind joining politics was to get transform its activities from military aggression to civilian service. In spite of its future ambitions, the party’s main strength lies in its historical role in shaping institutions to determine the power of Egypt’s democracy. The principle characteristics of the Muslim Brotherhood are its “composition, structure, guiding ideology, and political history” (Bae, 11). The FJP’s superior performance in the parliamentary election since the early 2011 had made them obtain almost half of the votes. FJP was joined by a newly created group, Hizb al Nour or Party of Light, and together they secured almost a quarter of all seats (Zahid, xii-xiii). Muslim Brotherhood in the West Though there is no official Muslim Brotherhood in the West, there are myriad organizations and movements that are affiliated to the Brotherhood based on personal, historical and ideological bonds. There is in fact a small unofficial network of members who regard themselves as part of Western Brotherhood, and the members are mainly attached by marriage, business or friendship. Each organization has a distinct identity and plans its activities according to the changing political and social environments. However, all the organizations share identical goals and ideologies (Vidino, 1972). It was between late 1950s and early 1960s that groups of Islamist militants began to settle in Europe and North America. Many of these were powerful members of the Brotherhood and wanted to escape from Nasser’s regime. This continued for several decades as Brotherhood members began to settle in the Western countries to escape the oppressive local regimes. Most of these escapists were students or urban middle classes who continued their Islamic movements in the West. The combined association of militants and students succeeded in forming Muslim organizations in the West. The principle advantage was that the Muslims in the West could freely carry on their Islamic activities for which they were oppressed in home countries. Although, the associations lacked funds, there were enough enthusiasms to conduct lectures and activities to spread their ideologies in the West. Today, the Western Brothers act as a bridge between the West and the Muslim communities in the rest of the world. When Western governments try to interact with Muslim communities in the Middle East, it is not uncommon that many individuals or organizations are attached to the Western Brotherhood. It is now true that among all the Muslim organizations, it is the Western Brotherhood that has the most impact in the political arena of the West (Vidino, 1939). Conclusion The Muslim Brotherhood is a religious and social movement that is composed of Sunni Muslims, and is one of the biggest, oldest and the most significant Islamist organizations in the world. The brotherhood in Egypt has faced severe oppression under Mubarak regime. It has seen liberty and enjoyed political limelight since 2011. Initially, the activities of the brotherhood focused mainly on political and charitable activities, its principle objective was to spread Islam law and religious principles across the globe. The brief period of command that the members enjoyed from 2011 went through a dramatic decent because of major public dissent and military intervention. However, the brotherhood has gained a strong foothold in the Muslim community around the world, and its popularity faces no apparent challenge. References Bae, Lena “Big Brother Politics: The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt”, Harvard International Review, 33.3 (2011) 10-11 Fourest, Caroline. Brother Tariq: The Doublespeak of Tariq Ramadan, N.Y.: Encounter Books, 2013 Miles, Hugh. Playing Cards in Cairo, London: Hachette, 2011 Oliver, Roland & Anthony Atmore. Africa since 1800, Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2005 Shehata, Samer. Islamist Politics in the Middle East: Movements and Change, New York: Routledge, 2012 Vidino, Lorenzo. The New Muslim Brotherhood in the West: Evolution and Western Policies, Columbia: Columbia Univ. Press, 2013 Wickham, Carrie Rosefsky. The Muslim Brotherhood: Evolution of an Islamist Movement, N.J.: Princeton Univ. Press Zahid, Mohammed. The Muslim Brotherhood and Egypt’s Succession Crisis, London: I.B. Tauris, 2012 Read More