After world wars, there was a spread of ideas related to globalization and transmission of western ideology all over the globe. This led to rising of many restoration societies which are against of such spread of western ideology. Such was the Muslim Brotherhood which was founded in 1928 by Hassan Al-Banna in Egypt.

It could be called a terrorist group in the vision of some people, or just a political party in the sight of others. Muslim Brotherhood had risen in the following ways-

• To end the colonial rule in Egypt, the Brotherhood was formed. their motive was to end the western influence and to restore the originality of the nation by ending British colonialism in Egypt. And they did it indeed.
• A branch of brotherhood was spread over Algeria to sweep off the French from there. Again with the same ideology of ending western influence and to gain influence of itself in Algeria. And influenced the formation of another party- Peace movement society.
• During the first intifada of 1987, the Muslim Brotherhood gave birth to Hamas. Hamas fought for Palestine and had great influence over the Gaza strip, having a very important role in Isreal civil conflict today also. However, it had been stamped as a terrorist group by many nations and organizations.
• Politicians of Muslim brotherhood are somewhat connected to the government of Libya, Morocco, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan from the past 20 years.
• In Egypt, Mubarak’s party was overthrown by Muslim Brotherhood-influenced party- The freedom and Justice party. Which had widespread support as Mubarak was blamed for many unethical practices during his regime. But it did not last long, as military coup overthrew the freedom and Justice party in 2013.
• An affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood was also there in Sudan. In 1985, Turabi, a Brotherhood-linked leader in Sudan founded the national Islamic Front(NIF) in Sudan. The NIF is an outgrowth of the Muslim Brotherhood, with the same “Pan Islamic” feeling. It led the coup in Sudan and formed its government in 1989, providing a base for the Muslim Brotherhood.

It is crystal clear that the Brotherhood is hostile to Monarchy and want to set up Pan-Islamic government over the Arab World. Saudi Arabia is a monarchy and tries to weaken the stance of the Brotherhood.

Iran and the Brotherhood are allied to each other, despite the fact that the Brotherhood is a Sunni organization and Iran is a major Shiite nation. Iran supports Hezbollah and Hamas, and so do the Muslim Brotherhood. Both are rivals of Saudi Arabia. Also, Iran had many indirect links with the Muslim Brotherhood like Turabi had with relations of Tehran. Iran sent its elites to train Sudanese army and also gave financial support to the NIF. Even when the Muslim Brotherhood is a Sunni political party and Iran being Shiite, a question could be that why are they with each other? There is two explanation for the same. First of all, there is a common interest of both and common rivals like Isreal. The second reason could be that according to many experts when such a situation arises when Sunni and Shiite have to unite to fight third party enemy, they will. If there will be a mightier and third party enemy, they unite and finish them first. Ultimately, both preach Islam.

Prior to all the Iranian revolution and the Muslim Brotherhood, there existed an ideology which was similar to both. The society of Islamic devotees, founded by Iranian cleric Navvab Safavi in 1945, evolved the ideology, need to restore Islamic type of government. Safavi, Hassan Al-Banna and Ayattolah Khamenei(Current leader of Iran)  were friends. All three of them were greatly influenced by the ideology to get united if the situation occurs and to fight a greater enemy. Khamenei, the current leader of Iran even translated two books in Farsi written by prominent members of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Taking it back to Egypt where without any doubt, the Muslim Brotherhood had greater influence. Mubarak’s government finally fell in 2011 and Morsi took the office. Morsi was representing the Muslim Brotherhood party. But things turned upside down when military coup lead to fall of Morsi government and military established an ultimate dictatorship with infinite judicial and legislature power. Morsi was sentenced jail for 20 years and Muslim brotherhood was clamped down. This lead to many protests against such move. Muslim Brotherhood had good support of people. There were also supporters of military dictatorship, According to them, the Muslim Brotherhood was a terrorist group, not a political party. Pro-Morsi government supporters organized rallies and protest, often which got violent. many of the supporters died and each of the supporters tried to contribute. Many supporters and politicians were arrested in 2013.

Finally, in 2014 referendum took place in Egypt and 98% voted in favor of the new constitution.

Muslim Brotherhood reveals again its terrorist face after sympathizing with terrorist Adel Habara

-Egypt MFA spokeperson tweeted on 12:39 PM – 18 Dec 2016

(Note- Updates on the topic after the date of publishing have not been recorded.)