MUST READ: COMPARING THREE MUSLIM BROTHERHOODS: SYRIA, JORDAN & EGYPT

Comparing Three Muslim Brotherhoods: Syria, Jordan and Egypt
by Prof. Barry Rubin

The banner of the Islamist revolution in the Middle East today has largely passed to groups sponsored by or derived from the Muslim Brotherhood. This article develops an introductory examination of three key Muslim Brotherhood groups and compares their politics, interrelations, and methods. Each, of course, is adapted to the conditions of a particular country.

The banner of the Islamist revolution in the Middle East today has largely passed to groups sponsored by or derived from the Muslim Brotherhood. This article develops an introductory examination of three key Muslim Brotherhood groups and compares their politics, interrelations, and methods. Each, of course, is adapted to the conditions of a particular country.

First, it is important to understand the Brotherhood's policy toward and relations with both jihadist groups (al-Qa'ida, the Zarqawi network, and others such as Hizb al-Tahrir and Hamas) and theorists (such as Abu Mus'ab al-Suri and Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi).

The Brotherhoods do not have ongoing relationships with Hizb al-Tahrir--which is regarded by them as a small, cultish group of no importance. Other than in Jordan, they have had little contact with it at all.

Regarding al-Qa'ida--both its theorists and its terrorist infrastructure--the Brotherhoods approve generally of its militancy, attacks on America, and ideology (or respect its ideologues), but view it as a rival. An example of this kind of thinking comes from Rajab Hilal Hamida, a Brotherhood member in Egypt's parliament, who said:

From my point of view, bin Ladin, al-Zawahiri and al-Zarqawi are not terrorists
in the sense accepted by some. I support all their activities, since they are a thorn in the side of the Americans and the Zionists.... [On the other hand,] he who kills Muslim citizens is neither a jihad fighter nor a terrorist, but a criminal and a murderer. We must call things by their proper names!

His final sentence is intended to show the difference between the Brotherhood's and al-Qa'ida's views of strategy and tactics.

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Pertinent Links:

1) Comparing Three Muslim Brotherhoods: Syria, Jordan and Egypt