Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt 7

The Muslim Brotherhood

Leader Mohammed Badie

Founded 1928Ismailia, Egypt

Headquarters Cairo, Egypt

Ideology Sunni IslamismReligious ConservatismEconomic liberalism[1]

Political position Right-wing

International affiliation Muslim Brotherhood

Party flag

Website

www.ikhwanonline.com(http://www.ikhwanonline.com/)

www.ikhwanweb.com (http://www.ikhwanweb.com)

Politics of EgyptPolitical parties

Elections

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Muslim Brotherhood (Arabic: gammat al-iwn/al-ikhwan/el-ekhwan al-muslimn,IPA: [elexwn]) in Egypt is a Sunni Islamist religious,political, and social movement.[2] It is, or was, considered thelargest, best-organized political force in Egypt,[3][4] estimatedby different sources to have 2 million[5] or 2.5 millionadherents/supporters.[3] Founded in Egypt by Hassanal-Banna in March 1928, the group spread to other Muslimcountries but has its largest, or one of its largest, organizationsin Egypt despite a succession of government crackdowns in1948, 1954, 1965, and 2013 after plots, or alleged plots, ofassassination and overthrow were uncovered.[6][7][8]

Following the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, it first had greatsuccess. It launched a civic political partythe Freedom andJustice Partyto contest elections, which it described ashaving "the same mission and goals, but different roles" thanthe Brotherhood,[9] and agreeing to honor all Egypt'sinternational agreements.[10] The party won almost half theseats in the 201112 parliamentary elections, and itscandidate, Mohamed Morsi, won the June 2012 presidentialelection.[11] However Morsi was overthrown after massprotests within a year[12] and a crackdown ensued that somehave called more damaging to the movement than any "ineight decades".[13] Hundreds of members were killed orarrested, and Morsi and most of the Brotherhood's leadershipwere imprisoned. In September 2013, Egyptian court bannedthe Brotherhood and its associations,[14] and ordered that itsassets be seized.[15] The military-backed interim governmentdeclared the movement a terrorist group following theDecember 2013 Mansoura bombing.[16] The Brotherhoodreleased a statement on 8 April 2014 condemningviolence.[17]

1 History1.1 Under the monarchy1.2 After the 1952 revolution1.3 Mubarak era

Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_Brotherhood_in_Egypt

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1.4 2011 revolution and Morsi1.5 Post-2013 Egyptian revolution

2 Leadership3 Beliefs

3.1 Stated platform and goals3.2 Political strategy3.3 Political viewpoints3.4 Relations with non-Muslims

4 Organization4.1 Supporter levels4.2 Offices and organs4.3 Social services4.4 Muslim Sisterhood

5 See also6 References7 Further reading8 External links

Under the monarchy

The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna, an Egyptian schoolteacher, who preachedimplementing traditional Islamic Sharia law in all aspects of life, from everyday problems to the organization ofthe government.[18] Inspired by Islamic reformers Muhammad Abduh and Rashid Rida, he believed that Islamhad lost its social dominance to corrupt Western influences and British imperial rule.

The organisation initially focused on educational and charitable work, but quickly grew to become a majorpolitical force as well. (Sources disagree as to whether the Brotherhood was hostile to independentworking-class and popular organisations,[18] or supported efforts to create trades unions and unemploymentbenefits.[19]) It championed the cause of poor Muslims, and played a prominent role in the Egyptian nationalistmovement, fighting the British, Egypt's occupier/dominator. It engaged in espionage and sabotage, as well assupport for terrorist activities orchestrated by Haj Amin al-Husseini in British Mandate Palestine, and up to andduring World War II some association with Britain's enemy, the German Nazis,[20] dissemination of anti-Jewish,and anti-Western propaganda.[21]

Over the years, the Brotherhood spread to other Muslim countries, including Syria[22][23] Jordan, Tunisia, etc. aswell as countries where Muslims are in the minority. These groups are sometimes described as "very looselyaffiliated" with the Egyptian branch and each other.[24]

In November 1948, following several bombings and assassination attempts, the government arrested 32 leaders


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of the Brotherhood's "secret apparatus" and banned the Brotherhood.[25] At this time the Brotherhood wasestimated to have 2000 branches and 500,000 members or sympathizers.[26] In succeeding months Egypt's primeminister was assassinated by Brotherhood member, and following that Al-Banna himself was assassinated inwhat is thought to be a cycle of retaliation.

In 1952, members of the Muslim Brotherhood are accused of taking part in an event that marked the end ofEgypt's "liberal, progressive, cosmopolitan" era an arson fire that destroyed some "750 buildings" indowntown Cairo mainly night clubs, theatres, hotels, and restaurants frequented by British and otherforeigners.[27]

After the 1952 revolution

In 1952 the monarchy was overthrown by nationalist military officers of the Free Officers Movement. While theBrotherhood supported the coup it vigorously opposed the secularist constitution that the coup leaders weredeveloping. In 1954 another unsuccessful assassination was attempted against Egypt's prime minister (GamalAbdel Nasser), and blamed on the "secret apparatus" of the Brotherhood. The Brotherhood was again bannedand this time thousands of its members were imprisoned, many of them held for years in prisons and sometimestortured.

One of them was the very influential theorist, Sayyid Qutb, who before being executed in 1966, issued amanifesto proclaiming that Muslim society had become jahiliyya (no longer Islamic) and that Islam must berestored by the overthrow of Muslim states by an Islamic vanguard, also revitalising the ideal of Islamicuniversalism.[28] Qutb's ideology became very influential outside of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, but theBrotherhood's leadership distanced itself from Qutb and adhered to nonviolent reformist posture.

Imprisoned Brothers were gradually released after Anwar Sadat became president of Egypt in 1970, and weresometimes enlisted to help fight Sadat's leftist opposition. Brethren were allowed to publish the magazine Da'wa,though the organization remained illegal. During this time, more radical Qutb-inspired Islamist groupsblossomed, and after he signing a peace agreement with Israel in 1979, became confirmed enemies of Sadat.Sadat was assassinated by a violent Islamist group Tanzim al-Jihad on 6 October 1981, shortly after he hadBrotherhood leaders (and many other opposition leaders) arrested.

Mubarak era

Again with a new president, (Hosni Mubarak), Brotherhood leaders (Supreme Guide Umar al-Tilmisani andothers) were released from prison. Mubarak cracked down hard against radical Islamists but offered a "olivebranch" to the more moderate Brethren. The brethren reciprocated, going so far as to endorse Mubarakscandidacy for president in 1987.[29]

The Brotherhood dominated the professional and student associations of Egypt and was famous for its networkof social services in neighborhoods and villages.[29] However, the government did not approve of theBrotherhood's renewed influence (it was still technically illegal), and resorted to repressive measures starting in1992.[30]

In the 2000 parliamentary elections, the Muslim Brotherhood won 17 parliamentary seats.[31] In 2005, it won 88seats (20% of the total compared to 14 seats for the legally approved opposition parties) to form the largestopposition bloc, despite the arrest of hundreds of Brotherhood members. It lost almost all but one of these seatsin the much-less-free 2010 election, which was marred by massive arrests of both Brethren and polling place


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observers.[32] Under Egypt's emergency law Brethren could only stand as independents, but were easilyidentified since they campaigned under the slogan 'Islam Is the Solution'.[33]

During and after the 2005 election the Brethren launched what some have called a "charm offensive." Itsleadership talked about its "responsibility to lead reform and change in Egypt." It addressed the `Coptic issue',insinuating that the Brethren would do away with Egypt's decades-old church building-permit system thatCoptic Christians felt was discriminatory.[34] Internationally the Brethren launched an English-language websiteand some of the Muslim Brotherhood's leaders participated in an Initiative to 'Re-Introduc[e] the Brotherhood tothe West', "listing and addressing many 'Western misconceptions about the Brotherhood.'"[34]

Seeing this campaign as a direct threat to its position as an indispensable ally of the west against radicalIslamism, the Egyptian government introduced an amendment to the constitution that removed the reference toIslam as 'the religion of the state,` and would have allowed women and Christians to run for the presidency.Brotherhood MPs responded by walking out of parliament rather than voting on the bill.[35] In addition, themovement has also reportedly played into the government's hands provoking non-Islamist Egyptians by staging amilitia-style march by masked Brotherhood students at Cairo's Al Azhar University,[36][37] complete withuniforms and martial arts drills, reminding many of the Brotherhood's era of 'secret cells'.[38]

According to another observer:

"after a number of conciliatory engagements and interactions with the West", the Brotherhoodretreated into its comfort zone of inflammatory rhetoric intended for local consumption: all suicidebombers are `martyrs`; `Israel` regularly became `the Jews`; even its theological discourse becamemore confrontational and oriented to social conservatism.[39]

Two years later the Egyptian government amended the constitution, skewing future representation againstindependent candidates for parliament, which are the only candidates the Brotherhood can field. The statedelayed local council elections from 2006 to 2008, disqualifying most Muslim Brotherhood candidates. TheMuslim Brotherhood boycotted the election. The government incarcerated thousands of rank-and-file MuslimBrotherhood members in a wave of arrests and military trials, the harshest such security clampdown on theBrotherhood "in decades." [36]

2011 revolution and Morsi

Following the 2011 revolution that overthrew Hosni Mubarak, the Brotherhood was legalized[6] and emerged as"the most powerful"[40] and "most cohesive political movement" in Egypt.[3] Its newly formed political partywon two referendums, far more seats than any other party in the 201112 parliamentary election,[41] and itscandidate Mohammed Morsi won the 2012 presidential election. However within a year there were massprotests against his rule[42][43] and he was overthrown by the military.[43]

In the JanuaryFebruary 2011 uprising itself, the Brotherhood remained "on the sidelines",[3][44][45] but evenbefore it was officially legalized[46] it launched a new party called the Freedom and Justice Party.[47] The partyrejected "the candidacy of women or Copts for Egypt's presidency", although it did not oppose their takingcabinet positions.[48] In its first election the party won almost half of 498 seats in the 201112 Egyptianparliamentary election,.[41]


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In the first couple of years after the revolution, critics speculated about both secret collusion between theBrotherhood and the powerful (secular oriented) military,[40][49][50] and a looming showdown between thetwo.[51] The Brotherhood and the military both supported the March constitutional referendum which mostEgyptian liberals opposed as favoring established political organizations.[52] It was said to have stopped the"second revolution" against military rule[53][54] by remaining uninvolved during violent clashes betweenrevolutionaries and the military in late 2011,[55] and protests over the thousands of secretive military trials ofcivilians, (unless fellow Islamists were being prosecuted).[56]

Egyptian author Ezzedine C. Fishere worried that the Brotherhood had

"managed to alienate its revolutionary and democratic partners and to scare important segments ofsociety, especially women and Christians. Neither the Brotherhood nor the generals showedwillingness to share power and both were keen on marginalising the revolutionary and democraticforces. It is as if they were clearing the stage for their eventual showdown."[51]

While the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) dissolved the parliament dominated by theBrotherhood and other Islamists.,[57] the Brotherhood won the presidential election, defeating Ahmed Shafiq, aformer military officer and prime minister of Mubarak.[58][59][60][61]

Within a short period, serious public opposition developed to President Morsi. In late November 2012 he'temporarily' granted himself the power to legislate without judicial oversight or review of his acts, on thegrounds that he needed to "protect" the nation from the Mubarak-era power structure.[62][63] He also put a draftconstitution to a referendum that opponents complained was an Islamist coup.[64] These issues[65]andconcerns over the prosecutions of journalists, the unleashing of pro-Brotherhood gangs on nonviolentdemonstrators; the continuation of military trials; and new laws that permitted detention without judicial reviewfor up to 30 days,[66] and impunity given to Islamist radical attacks on Christians and other minorities[43]

brought hundreds of thousands of protesters to the streets starting in November 2012.[67][68] During Morsi'syear-long rule there were 9,000 protests and strikes.[69]

By April 2013, Egypt had "become increasingly divided" between President Mohammed Morsi and "Islamistallies" and an opposition of "moderate Muslims, Christians and liberals". Opponents accused "Morsi and theMuslim Brotherhood of seeking to monopolize power, while Morsis allies say the opposition is trying todestabilize the country to derail the elected leadership".[70] Adding to the unrest were severe fuel shortages andelectricity outageswhich evidence suggests were orchestrated by Mubarak-era Egyptian elites.[71]

By 29 June the Tamarod (rebellion) movement announced it had collected more than 22 million signaturescalling for Morsi to step down.[72][73] A day later somewhere between 17 and 33 million Egyptian protestersdemonstrated across Egypt urging Morsi to step down[43] A lesser number demonstrated in support of him.[74]

Post-2013 Egyptian revolution

On 3 July, the head of the Egyptian Armed Forces, General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, announced President MohamedMorsi's removal by the 2013 Egyptian coup d'tat, suspension of the constitution. Brotherhood supporters stagedfrom sit-ins throughout the country, setting up camps and shutting down traffic.


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The crackdown that followed has been called the worst for the Brotherhood's organization "in eightdecades".[13] On 14 August, the military declared a month-long state of emergency and commenced raids toremove the camps. In retaliation Brotherhood supporters looted and burned police stations and dozens ofchurches.[75]

Violence escalated rapidly, lasting several days and resulting in the deaths of 638 people and injury of some4000.[76][77] By 19 August, al Jazeera reported that "most" of the Brotherhood's leaders were in custody.[78][79]

On that day Supreme Leader Mohammed Badie was arrested,[80] crossing a "red line", as even Hosni Mubarakhad never arrested him.[81]

On 23 September, a court ordered the group outlawed and its assets seized.[82] Two days later security forcesshuttered the main office of the newspaper of the Freedom and Justice Party, and confiscated its equipment.[82]

Muslim Brotherhood criticized the decision of seizing it's assets and MB linked charities saying that Seizing ofMuslim Brotherhood linked charities helps the Coptic Church keep Muslims away of their religion consideringit a war on Islam.[83]

Some question whether the military and security services can effectively crush the Brotherhood. Unlike the lastmajor crackdown in the 1950s, when Egypt's "public sphere and information space" was tightly-controlled, theBrotherhood has a larger and broader international presence beyond the reach of Egypt's government to sustainitself.[84]

Otherssuch as Hussein Ibish and journalist Peter Hesslerbelieve its "unlikely" that the Brotherhood willreturn to political prominence" soon, because of its aggressive but incompetent performance while in power.[85][86] According to Hessler, the group antagonized the powerful entrenched government institutions, the newsmedia and millions of non-supporters, acting "with just enough aggression to provoke an outsized response",while not having nearly enough military resources to defend itself against that response.[85] It no longer leads theopposition to the coup, and has even lost its "religious credibility", such that "at mosques, even staunchopponents of the coup told me that they wouldn't vote for the Brotherhood again."[85]

Hussein Ibish believes the Brotherhood is being challenged by the Salafi movement, and is undergoing a crisis sosevere that "what ultimately emerges from the current wreckage [may] be unrecognisably different" from thetraditional Brotherhood.[86]

A day after the 2013 Mansoura bombing, the military-backed interim government declared the MuslimBrotherhood movement a terrorist group[16][87]despite the fact that another group, the Sinai-based Ansar Baital-Maqdis, claimed responsibility for the blast.[88][89] On 24 March 2014 An Egyptian court sentenced 529members of the Muslim Brotherhood to death,[90] an act described by Amnesty International as "the largestsingle batch of simultaneous death sentences we've seen in recent years [] anywhere in the world."[91] On 15April 2014, an Egyptian court banned current and former members of the Muslim Brotherhood from running inthe presidential and parliamentary elections.[92]

Murshid ("supreme guide" or "General leaders" (G.L.)) of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt have been:

Founder & First G.leader : Hassan al-Banna


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2nd G.L : Hassan al-Hudaybi 3rd G.L : Umar al-Tilmisani 4th G.L : Muhammad Hamid Abu al-Nasr 5th G.L : Mustafa Mashhur 6th G.L : Ma'mun al-Hudaybi 7th G.L : Mohammed Mahdi Akef 8th G.L & Current Leader: Mohammed Badie

Stated platform and goals

The Brotherhood itself describes the "principles of the Muslim Brotherhood" as including firstly the introductionof the Islamic Shari`ah as "the basis controlling the affairs of state and society;" and secondly work to unify"Islamic countries and states, mainly among the Arab states, and liberating them from foreign imperialism". Itdenounces the "catchy and effective terms and phrases" like "fundamentalist" and "political Islam" which itclaims are used by "Western Media" to pigeonhole the group, and points to its "15 Principles" for an EgyptianNational Charter, including "freedom of personal conviction... opinion... forming political parties... publicgatherings... free and fair elections..."[93]

In October 2007, the Muslim Brotherhood issued a detailed political platform. Amongst other things it called fora board of Muslim clerics to oversee the government, and for limiting the office of the presidency to Muslimmen. In the 'Issues and Problems' chapter of the platform, it declared that a woman was not suited to bepresident because the post's religious and military duties 'conflict with her nature, social and other humanitarianroles.' While underlining 'equality between men and women in terms of their human dignity,` the documentwarned against 'burdening women with duties against their nature or role in the family.'[94]

Political strategy

In his writing, Hassan Al-Banna outlined a strategy for achieving power of three stages:

the initial propaganda stage (preparation),the organization stage (in which the people would be educated by the Muslim Brotherhood), andfinally, the action stage (where power would be taken or seized).[95]

Political viewpoints

The Brotherhood's self-description as moderate and rejecting violence has created disagreement amongobservers.[96] A Western author, (Eric Trager), interviewing 30 current and former members of the Brotherhoodin 2011 and found that the Brethren he talked to emphasised "important exceptions" to the position ofnon-violence, namely conflicts in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya, Iraq, and Palestine.[3] Trager quotes theformer Supreme Guide Mohammed Mahdi Akef as telling him

We believe that Zionism, the United States, and England are gangs that kill children and women and


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men and destroy houses and fields. .... Zionism is a gang, not a country. So we will resist them untilthey don't have a country.[3]

Trager and other have also noted the MB's use of the honorific "sheikh" to refer to Osama bin Laden.[3][97]

While the Brotherhood differs with bin Laden and al-Qaeda, it has not condemned them for the 9-11 attacksbecause it does not believe they were responsible. A recent statement by the Brotherhood on the issue ofviolence and assassinations condemned the killing of "Sheikh Osama bin Laden" by the United States, saying:"The whole world, and especially the Muslims, have lived with a fierce media campaign to brand Islam asterrorism and describe the Muslims as violent by blaming the September 11th incident on al-Qaeda."[96]

However, according to authors writing in the Council on Foreign Relations magazine Foreign Affairs: "Atvarious times in its history, the group has used or supported violence and has been repeatedly banned in Egyptfor attempting to overthrow Cairo's secular government. Since the 1970s, however, the Egyptian Brotherhoodhas disavowed violence and sought to participate in Egyptian politics."[98] Jeremy Bowen, BBC Middle Easteditor, calls the Brotherhood "conservative and non-violent".[99]

According to the Israeli-affiliated media-watchdog group Memri, the Arabic language (but not the Englishlanguage) website of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood has displayed much anti-Semitic and anti-Israel content.A report by Memri found articles engaging in Holocaust denial, praising jihad and martyrdom, condemning theEgyptian-Israeli peace treaty, calling for the destruction of Israel, and condemning negotiations withnon-Muslims to regain lands lost by Islam. A "common motif" of the website is Antisemitic conspiracy theorieswarning Muslims against "the covetous and exploitative nature of the 'Jewish character'".[100]

On 13 March 2013, the Muslim Brotherhood released a statement opposing the UN declaration 'End Violenceagainst Women' on the grounds that it would "undermine Islamic ethics and destroy the family", and "wouldlead to complete disintegration of society".[101][102]

In the book Secret of the Temple, written by Tharwat al-Khirbawy, a former member of the MuslimBrotherhood of Egypt, Khirbawy "explores the ideology of Mursi and the small group of leaders at the top of themovement, examining their devotion to Sayyid Qutb, a radical ideologue executed in 1966 for plotting to killpresident Gamal Abdel Nasser."[103] The book has been "dismissed by Brotherhood leaders as part of a smearcampaign."[103]

Relations with non-Muslims

Talking to television channel France 24 shortly before he was elected president, Mohammed Morsi stated: "Themajority of the people are Muslims and the non-Muslims, our brothers, are citizens with full responsibilities andrights and there is no difference between them. If any Muslim says anything other than this, he is notunderstanding Sharia."[104]

However after he became president critics complained that attitudes of and actions by Brotherhood leadersconcerning non-Muslims changed. In late April 2013 a fatwa issued by a member of the MB general guide'soffice -- 'Abd Al-Rahman Al-Barr (who is often referred to as the movement's mufti) -- forbade Muslims fromgreeting Christians on their Easter holiday,[105] explaining that Easter and resurrection were contrary to theMuslim faith. "Jesus did not die and was not crucified, but rather Allah gave him protection from the Jews andraised [Jesus] up to Him... which is why we do not greet anyone for something we strongly believe is wrong...."[106] The Israeli-affiliated media-watchdog group Memri quoted Coptic and opposition leaders attacking the


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fatwa and noting that in the past MB leaders and even Al-Barr himself had not only allowed but practiced thegreeting of Christians on Easter. Columnist A'la Al-'Aribi in the daily Al-Wafd attacked the fatwa as "politicsdisguised as shari'a..." Al-Barr's previous "view reflected the position of the MB at that time but now thatcircumstances have changed [and the MB is in power], he has changed his position..."[106]

Another article in newsobserver.com noted President and former MB official Mohammed Morsi "has done littleto assuage concerns" of Christians by being "slow to condemn the latest round of sectarian violence" in April2013, not attend the naming of the new Coptic pope, and having no plans to attend Coptic Easter services anannual custom of the former Egyptian President.[107]

In August 2013, following the 3 July 2013 Coup and clashes between the military and Morsi supporters, therewere widespread attacks on Christian Coptic churches and institutions. USA Today reported that "forty churcheshave been looted and torched, while 23 others have been attacked and heavily damaged". The Facebook page ofthe Muslim Brotherhoods Freedom and Justice Party was "rife with false accusations meant to foment hatredagainst Copts", according to journalist Kirsten Powers. The party's page claimed that the Church had declared"war against Islam and Muslims". Despite the Christians relatively minor role in the campaign against PresidentMorsi, the page justified the attacks by saying: After all this people ask why they burn the churches. Later itposted: "For every action there is a reaction" and "The Pope of the Church is involved in the removal of the firstelected Islamist president. The Pope of the Church alleges Islamic Sharia is backwards, stubborn, andreactionary."[108][109][110] On 15 August, nine Egyptian human rights groups under the umbrella group "EgyptianInitiative for Personal Rights", released a statement saying,

In December Brotherhood leaders began fomenting anti-Christian sectarian incitement. Theanti-Coptic incitement and threats continued unabated up to the demonstrations of June 30 and,with the removal of President Morsi morphed into sectarian violence, which was sanctioned by the continued anti-Coptic rhetoric heard from the groups leaders on the stage throughout thesit-in.[109][111]

The Brotherhood applies a highly selective membership process which gives its "internal cohesiveness andideological rigidity" and is unique among Egyptian political/social organizations in its "breadth" and "depth" ofnetworks.[3] The long (typically at least four and a half years) and closely monitored membership process isthought to have prevented infiltration by state security during the presidencies of Anwar Sadat and HosniMubarak.[3] Its structure bears some similarity to a similar Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, in having ahierarchical organization where many supporters do not reach the level of full members. Potential members arerecruited by recruiters who do not at first identify themselves as Brothers to prospective members.

Estimates of the Brotherhood's membership and supporters vary between 600,000 and 100,000. According toanthropologist Scott Atran, while the Brotherhood has 600,000 dues paying members in Egypt it can count ononly 100,000 militants in a population of more than 80 million Egyptians.[112] The New York Times describes itas having drawing on "support from hundreds of thousands of members and millions of affiliates andsympathizers throughout" Egypt.[113]

How unified and powerful the Brotherhood is, is disputed. Former deputy chairman, Muhammad Habib has said,"there are fissures" in the Brotherhood, "and they may be to the very core. There is concern among the younger


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members that the leadership does not understand whats going on around it."[50] Another high-ranking member,Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, who was recently expelled from the Brotherhood, warned of the possibility of "anexplosion."[50] Other observers (Eric Trager) have described the Brotherhood as "Egypt's most cohesive politicalmovement, with an unparalleled ability to mobilize its followers ..."[3]

According to journalist Kareem Fahim, following the 2013 crackdown, group has "fallen back on theorganizational structure that sustained it for decades" when it was banned.[113] He reports that the Brotherhoodis "becoming more decentralized, but also more cohesive and rigid".[113]

Supporter levels

muhib ("lover" or "follower"). The lowest level of the Brotherhood is the muhib. One is typically a muhibfor six months, but the period can be as long as four years. A muhib is part of an usra ("family") whichclosely monitors the muhib's piety and ideological commitment, working to "improve the morals" of themuhib. An usras meets at least once a week and "spends much of its time discussing members' personallives and activities." The usra usually has four or five members and is headed by a naqib ("captain").muayyad ("supporter"). A muhib graduates to muayyad after confirmation that the muhib prays regularlyand possesses basic knowledge of major Islamic texts. This stage lasts from one to three years. A muayyadis a nonvoting member of the brotherhood. Their duties include carrying out tasks such as preaching,recruiting, teaching in mosques assigned to them by superiors. They also follow a "rigorous curriculum ofstudy", memorizing sections of the Quran and studying the teachings of Hasan Al Banna, the founder ofthe Brotherhood.muntasib ("affiliated"). This process lasts a year and is the first step toward full membership. As oneBrother put it, a muntasib "is a member, but his name is written in pencil." A muntasib continues to studyIslam (hadith and Tafsir) and now tithes the brotherhood, (typically giving 5% to 8% of their earning).muntazim ("organizer"). This stage typically lasts another two years. A muntazim must continuememorizing hadith and complete memorization of the Quran and "can assume a lower-level leadershiprole, such a forming an usra or heading a chapter" of usras.ach'amal ("working brother"). This final level is reached after the subject loyalty is "closely probed." Anach'amal can vote in all internal elections, participate in all of the Brotherhood's working bodies, andcompete for higher office within the group's hierarchy."[3]

Offices and organs

Murshid ("Supreme Guide"). Head of the Brotherhood (and of its Maktab al-Irshad)[3]

Maktab al-Irshad ("Guidance Office"). Maktab al-Irshad consists of approximately 15 longtime MuslimBrothers including the Murshid, who heads the office. Each member of the office oversees a portfolio onan issue such as university recruitment, education, politics, etc. The office execute decisions made by theMajlis al-Shura and passes down orders through a chain of command, consisting of "its deputies in eachregional sector, who call their deputies in each subsidiary area, who call their deputies in each subsidiary


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Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt 7

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