Muslim Brotherhood (redirected from The Muslim Brotherhood)

Muslim Brotherhood, officially Jamiat al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun [Arab.,=Society of Muslim Brothers], religious and political organization founded (1928) in Egypt by Hasan al-Banna. Early opposed to secular tendencies in Islamic nations, the organization has sought to foster a return to the original precepts of the Qur'an. It grew rapidly, establishing an educational, economic, military, and political infrastructure. Threatened by its power, Egypt's government twice banned (1948, 1954) the organization. It has since existed largely as a clandestine but militant group, marked by its rejection of Western influences. The Muslim Brotherhood remains strong in Egypt, Syria, Sudan, and other Arab countries and has resorted to acts of political violence. It was permitted to operate openly in Egypt in the late 1980s and early 90s after disavowing violence in the 1970s, but the government again moved against the group beginning in the mid-1990s. Members have been elected to Egypt's parliament as independents, and in 2005 candidates linked to the group won a fifth of the seats in parliament, a record. Egypt subsequently mounted a new crackdown on the group, beginning in late 2006, and in 2007 the nation's constitution was amended to religious-based political parties. In Jordan the Muslim Brotherhood's political arm, the Islamic Action Front, is an important opposition party. The Muslim Brotherhood has given rise to a number of more militant and violent organizations, such as Hamas, Gama'a al-Islamiya, and Islamic Jihad.

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Muslim Brotherhood

 Arabic Al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun

Religio-political organization founded in Egypt in 1928 by Hasan al-Banna (1906–49) that promoted the Qur'an and Hadith as the proper basis for society. It quickly gained many followers throughout North Africa and the Middle East and influenced the development of Muslim groups in other regions. It became politicized after 1938, rejecting Westernization, modernization, and secularization. Suppressed in Egypt after a 1954 assassination attempt on Gamal Abdel Nasser, it operated clandestinely in the 1960s and '70s. Beginning in the late 1980s, it experienced an upsurge; though its candidates were often listed under other parties, Brotherhood candidates competed in legislative elections in Egypt and Jordan.

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Muslim Brotherhood 

(Arabic, al Ikhwan al Muslimun), political and religious pan-Islamic association, founded on Apr. 11, 1929, by a small group that was established in Al Isma’iliyah (Egypt) in 1928 by the teacher Hassan al-Banna. The association reflected the mood of the most conservative groups of the petite bourgeoisie. Its center was transferred to Cairo in 1934. In 1937 sections of the brotherhood were founded in Syria and Lebanon and later in Iraq, Jordan, Sudan, and Palestine. The association called on all Muslims to unite in the struggle against the West; it sought the reestablishment of the caliphate, in which life would be regulated by the principles of the Koran.

Striving for political power, the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood employed social demagoguery and the slogans of the struggle for national liberation. By 1939 it had turned into a mass organization with a large network of local cells; it had paramilitary battalions, youth detachments of the boy scout variety, and secret terrorist groups. After an unsuccessful attempt to take power in Egypt, the association was banned (Dec. 8, 1948). Hassan al-Banna was killed on Feb. 12, 1949. The period 1948-54 was filled with internal factional struggle. Hassan al-Banna’s successor, Hassan al-Hudaibi, was not able to restore completely the brotherhood’s influence in Egypt, and the association was dissolved on Oct. 29, 1954. Since that time it has operated underground, unifying the forces of reaction. The brotherhood has branches in Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Sudan. Imperialist and reactionary forces attempt to utilize the Muslim Brotherhood for subversive activity against progressive forces and movements in the Arab countries.

REFERENCES

Sultanov, A. F. “Klassy i partii v sovremennom Egipte.” Tr. Moskovskogo in-ta vostokovedniia, 1953, no. 7.
Goldobin, A. M. “Razgrom assotsiatsii brat’ev-musul’man v Egipte v 1954.” Uch. zap. LGU. 1962, no. 304, issue 14.
Seiranian, B. G. Egipet v bor’be za nezavisimost’: 1945-1952. Moscow, 1970.
Harris, C. P. Nationalism and Revolution in Egypt. The Hague, 1964. (It has a detailed bibliography.)
Al’-Huseini Ishaq, Musa. Al’Ikhvan al’-musliman-kubra al’-khara-kat al’-islamiia al’-khadisa. (The Muslim Brotherhood—a Most Important Present-day Islamic Movement), 2nd ed. Beirut, 1955.

V. G. SEIRANIA