Rise of the Muslime Brotherhood

The Rise of the Muslim Brotherhood

The Muslim Brotherhood is the largest Islamist organization in Egypt. It was founded in the 1920s by Hassan Al-Banna. The movement was a model of political activism combined with Islamic charity work. At first, it only aimed to spread Islamic morals, but soon became involved in politics. While the Muslim Brotherhood claims that it supports democratic principles, it aims to create a state ruled by Al Shariaa. Al Shariaa is the Islamic law stated in the Quran. The Brotherhood's mostly used slogan is "Islam is the solution", and it is known worldwide. It officially opposes violence to achieve goals; however, some of the movement's members were involved in massacres, bombings and assassinations of political opponents. In 1954, the movement was blamed and banned after trying to assassinate President Gamal Abdul Nasser. In the 1980s, they attempted to rejoin the political mainstream. It lead public opposition to the National Democratic Party of President Hosni Mubarak ("Profile: Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood"). The movement had different positions through the years. The Muslim Brotherhood's position has radically changed and this has political, social and economic implications for Egypt.

It is impossible to completely understand the importance of the Muslim Brotherhood's position today without denoting its violent past. The Brotherhood has made many efforts since the 1970s to position itself as a conventional religious and political movement in Egypt. In the 1940s, its members had risen to more than 500,000 supporting three major causes: "battling British colonialism, resistance to a new Jewish state and fighting corruption in Egypt" (Gerges). Even though the movement was supposed to be political and religious, it established a paramilitary wing. Its main concerns were prominent Jews and targeting political leaders in Egypt. In 1948, the Egyptian Prime Minister Mahmoud El-Nokrashy was assassinated by one of the Brothers. As a result, the security services killed Al-Banna, which created conflicts in the Muslim Brotherhood between the political and paramilitary wings (Gerges). After several assassination attempts, the Muslim Brotherhood was banned. In the 1980s, it attempted to rejoin the political mainstream ("Profile: Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood"). The Muslim Brotherhood at that time was seen as a violent movement.

Though the Muslim Brotherhood was seen earlier as violent and unaccepted by most Egyptians, it was keen to participate in the revolution that expelled President Hosni Mubarak. It recognized the importance of young people in organizing the mass protests and called for all opposition groups to unite against the corrupt regime (Gerges). The Muslim Brotherhood along with the Egyptian youth who participated in the revolution demanded that President Hosni Mubarak stands down as soon as possible. They also necessitated that those who marred the protests of Egypt must be brought to trial, the old parliamentary and local councils to be disbanded, and the immediate termination of the emergency law (Mursi). Although they did not have a very active role in the 25th of January revolution, the deporting of Mubarak and the change in power that took place after the revolution was an opportunity for the Muslim Brotherhood to legitimize its power (Holden). This was the main aim of the movement when participating in the revolution. Post revolution, Mohammed Badie, the Muslim Brotherhood leader, was anxious about losing the support of the youth. As a result, the Muslim Brotherhood's political party was formed, known as the Freedom and Justice Party, with Mohammed Saad al-Katatni as the head (Munish).

The Muslim Brotherhood proved their strength after the revolution in the 2011 elections by their dominance over the People's Assembly and Shura Council; however, their true color is now known to many people even to some of their supporters. The Freedom and Justice Party won a total of 235 seats in the parliament, which consists of 508 seats. Those who supported the Brotherhood believe that the Islamists will improve Egypt economically, given that unemployment is high and 40% of the citizens make less than $2 a day. The movement is currently seeking to avoid full authority. It is, however, focusing on the longer term. The Brotherhood is aiming for a leading role in the process of writing a new constitution. Indeed, it is not clear if the old strategies of the Muslim Brotherhood will guide their actions through the coming days (Brown). Another cause to the success of the Muslim Brotherhood is that its offices acted as social service agencies. During winter people used to drop in asking for blankets, which the party handed them out along with their brochures. They as well helped several people in paying their medical bills (Kristof).

According to interviews I have conducted with different Freedom and Justice Party's supporters, I have discovered some of the reasons why they voted for them in the elections. Some people believe that Islam is the only solution for building a new, better and safer Egypt after the 25th of January revolution. They believe that if the candidates are God-fearing and obeying they won't be corrupt. Another reason is that some members of the Freedom and Justice Party offered financial help for those who would vote for them. Most of the people I interviewed were from a low social standard; therefore, they were in need of this help. In fact, the Muslim Brotherhood exploited poor people to gain more votes. That is mostly how they attempted to win most of the parliamentary seats. Some interviewees, on the other hand, expressed their concerns as the Freedom and Justice Party turned out to be only hiding behind Islam. They are only aiming to dominate and expand their power all over Egypt.

As some of the interviewees mentioned, the dominance of the Muslim Brotherhood over the parliament has in fact some political implications for Egypt. The decisions of the party clearly show their intentions to expand their power. After the 25th of January revolution, the movement stated that they only aim for one third of the seats in the parliament. However, they actively pushed large numbers of people to vote as much as possible to their favor (Brown). Their actions thus completely contradict their words. Moreover, the Muslim Brotherhood had initially vowed it would not nominate a candidate from the party for the presidency. Nonetheless, Khairat El-Shater, a Muslim Brotherhood leader and a businessman, was actually one of the names that were announced for the presidential elections (Mohyeldin). The decision of the movement angered many Egyptians, as it has been clear that the brotherhood is gradually trying to take over all aspects of the political life, starting with the parliament,