Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood

[Chiron]

The Muslim Brotherhood (known in Arabic as al-Ikhwan al-Muslimeen) is Egypt's oldest and largest Islamist organization. Founded in 1928 by Hasan al-Banna, it is widely considered the world's most influential Islamist organization, with numerous branches and affiliates. It is "the mother of all Islamist movements," says Shadi Hamid, a Middle East expert at the Brookings Institution's Doha Center. The group has emerged as Egypt's biggest opposition movement. Many analysts expect the Brotherhood to play a larger role in the country's future, following the anti-government protests of 2011 in which hundreds of thousands of Egyptians took to the streets to call for political and economic reforms and the ouster of autocratic President Hosni Mubarak. "Without the Muslim Brotherhood, there's no legitimacy in whatever happens in Egypt anymore," says Ed Husain, a senior fellow at CFR. But there are concerns over the group's aim to establish a state ruled by sharia or Islamic law, questions over its support for the Mideast peace process and its policy toward Israel and the United States, and ambiguity over its respect for human rights.


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An interesting read. What most people don’t know or say is that they are a majority if not almost a majority in Egypt. I dare say that if they don’t get their say in government there will be trouble.

[Troglodyte]

The bad news is that there are many worse organizations waiting in the wings there. MB in NOT "moderate" in any way, but they're choirboys comparfed to much of the competition.

I heard a panelist on some show or other dismiss them saying "they only got 20% of the vote in the last election." True, but consider that Hitler took power with about 30% of the German vote, and MB got their 20% in an election where Mubarrak took 99% of the vote. Given Mubarrak's anti-MB policy (remember how he ended up in charge, not pretty), that last bit is scariest of all.

I think that when this is over, our Egyptian friends will see, like their Palestinian neighbors, what happens after "one man, one, vote, one time." It will be ugly.

Trog