Ikhwani Violence and Militancy

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

والصلاة والسلام على رسوله الامين

In the Name of Allah, the Rahman, the Merciful

ِThe so-called Muslim Brotherhood, or Ikhwan al-Muslimin, is a group and ideology that has been attempting to takeover the leadership of the Muslim Ummah for about a century now. This group is dangerous because it seeks to penetrate ideas of modernism, liberal reform, anti-state political activity, unity and cooperation with the Rafidah, and even religious pluralism into the Sunni ethos. The founder of this group, Hassan al-Banna, came from an orthodox Sunni background. His father was a respected Hanbali teacher and local imam. Like his father, he was an initiate of the Hasafi sub-order of the Shadili Sufi silsilah, that was begun by Shaikh Hasan al-Hasafi (d.1905). But Hassan al-Banna became highly influenced by the famous Salafi Rashid Rida. The latter was initially a disciple of the modernist deviant and Freemason Muhammad Abduh, but later on moved away from liberal reformism toward Wahhabism. He openly supported the Sa’udi-Wahhabi Emirate as it was rapidly expanding in the Arabia Peninsula, even celebrating its victory over the Hashemites in the Hejaz, whereby it took possession of the sacred towns of Mecca and Medina. He founded the so-called Muslim Brotherhood in 1928, initially for the purpose of organizing Muslims effectively to deal with political and social issues. But his Muslim Brotherhood clearly represented a break with the conservative traditionalism of the Sunni Ulama. This break can be demonstrated in Hassan al-Banna’s discarding of his white galabiya in favor of the European suit and tie. The so-called Muslim Brotherhood was not so much an organization for preaching Islam and effecting spiritual and moral reform of the Muslims as a political party aimed at seizing power. It embraced the Batini methods of secrecy and political violence when the Secret Apparatus, al-Jihaz as-Sirri or an-Nizam al-Khas was established. This secret organization of the Brotherhood was responsible for assassinating the Egyptian Prime Minister Mahmoud El Noqrashy on 28 December 1948, shot by one Abdel Meguid Ahmed Hassan who was disguised as a police officer. Such activity is quite reminiscent the secretive terrorist cell, the Nizari assassins of Alamut led by Hasan as-Sabbah, who assassinated Nizam al-Mulk. The Brotherhood claims it is a peaceful and moderate Islamic organization. Yet after the ouster of their short lived government in Egypt led by President Morsi in a military coup, the Hasm (Harakat Sawa’id Misr) movement emerged, engaging in acts of terrorism against the State. The Hasm movement was seeking revenge for the coup that had overthrown Morsi and his Brotherhood government. In fact, many of the terrorist groups operating in the name of Islam, like Al-Qaeda and ISIS are mutations of offshoots of the Brotherhood. If one studies their roots they go back to the Brotherhood of Hassan al-Banna. Virtually all of the Takfiri and Jihadist factions that emerged in Egypt after the execution of Sayyid Qutb—originally a member of the Brotherhood—were inspired by his ideology and manifesto, and some of them later morphed to form Al-Qaeda and then Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia members in the 2010s had mutated into ISIS. In summary, all of these violent and terrorist sects and factions have their roots in the so-called Muslim Brotherhood, and it shouldn’t escape notice that they become particularly active and ferocious at times when the Brotherhood is under a great deal of pressure, such as in the mid-2010s.