Brief History of the Muslim Brotherhood

Historical Background During the 8th and 9th centuries, the nomadic tribes of Turkey were attacked by the primarily Arab Muslims, and over a couple centuries of attacks and defeats, Turks were converted to Islam in large numbers. After the Seljuks, the leading Turkish tribe, were defeated and then converted to Islam, they began fighting against the Byzantine Empire. After the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, the Ottoman tribe began gaining power. Osman the First led the Ottomans in their rise to power beginning in 1299, and initially extended the Ottoman Empires borders up to the existing borders of the Byzantine Empire. The Ottoman conquest of Istanbul in 1453 solidified the Empires status as the leading power in southeastern Europe and the eastern Mediterranean. The Ottoman Empire was the Islamic Caliphate led by a succession of Caliphs for centuries. After World War I, the Ottoman Empire was dissolved as a state in July 1923, and the nation of Turkey was formally established thereafter. Mustapha Kemal, who was given the title Ataturk or Father of the Turks was the founder and first President of Turkey. A war hero and a national figure, Ataturk attempted to abolish all Islamic influence in Turkey in favor of European influences and establish secular rule. Ataturk (1) abolished the Caliphate, (2) banned the growing of beards by men and wearing of scarves by women, (3) banned the call to prayer by Muezzins, (4) abolished Arabic script and replaced it with Latin script, and (5) made the Turkish military the custodians of secular tradition.

The Muslim Brotherhood: Beginnings Dissolving the Islamic Caliphate and transforming Turkey from the center of the Islamic world to a non-Muslim secular nation did not sit well with the global Muslim community (Ummah). In 1928, the son of a Muslim Imam outside of Cairo, Egypt named Hassan al Banna created the Muslim Brotherhood. This organization, known as the Society of Muslim Brothers (the Muslim Brotherhood) or al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin, was created to unify the Islamic states, expand the Caliphate, and subordinate all lands under the Caliphate to the Shariah (Islamic Law). Ikhwan is the name used for the Islamic militia which fought for Ibn Saud in the Arabian Peninsula in the 18th century. By the early 1930s, the Brotherhood formalized its organizational structure and formed groups of men with unique spiritual and physical training called Battalions. By 1940, the Brotherhood created the secret apparatus which was the military wing of the Society of Muslim Brothers, and in 1943 abandoned the Battalions for a smaller five (5) man cells called usras or families. During the 1940s and World War II, the Brotherhood pushed for the society to become increasingly adherent to Shariah (Islamic Law), and called for the removal of all British forces from Egypt. During the late 1940s, the Brotherhood assassinated Egyptian officials, British soldiers and their families, and in December of 1948, a Muslim Brother assassinated Egyptian Prime Minister Mahmud Fahmi al-Nuqrashi. In February 1949, the Egyptian security services killed Hassan al Banna in Cairo.

The time following the death of al Banna is marked with significant violence in Egypt against the government and the British. During this time, the Brotherhoods influence spread throughout the Middle East and into the West. It is estimated that by 1950 the Brotherhood had hundreds of branches in dozens of countries. The Muslim Brotherhoods objectives remained: (1) Re-establish the Islamic Caliphate, and (2) Implement Shariah (Islamic Law) worldwide. A key figure in the Muslim Brotherhoods Movement is Sayyid Qutb. Qutb, an Egyptian, traveled to the United States in 1948 and studied in Colorado for two years. Upon arriving back in Egypt, he wrote a series of articles in which he derided Americas moral decay and indicated the world is in need of Islamic revival. Soon thereafter, Qutb joined the Brotherhood Movement. In the 1950s he was arrested along with many other Muslim Brothers in Egypt. While in jail, he wrote his seminal work, Milestones, which operationalizes Islamic Law for the modern jihadi, and is the centerpiece for jihadi organizations around the world. In August 1966, Qutb was executed by the Egyptian government for his association with and activities on behalf of the Brotherhood. He is a beloved martyr in todays Muslim world and his complete writings can be found in nearly every Mosque book store and Islamic Center in the world. Adorations to him have been made in other writings and on public internet sites (YouTube for example). The Muslim Brotherhood is now active in over 80 countries around the world. Each nation has an Organizational Conference, a Shura Council, and a General Masul (Leader) or General Guide. The Supreme Guide is the leader of the International Muslim Brotherhood (IMB), and is based in Cairo, Egypt. It should be noted that when Hamas was created in 1987, it was formed out of the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood. The Muslim Brotherhood is the vanguard or tipof-the-spear of the current Islamic Movement in the world. While there are other parallel Movements, it is the strongest and most organized. Al Qaeda was born out of this Movement.

The Muslim Brotherhood in America There are reports that representatives from the Brotherhood came to America before 1940. It is known that by 1960, Muslim Brothers established Usras (families) around the U.S. primarily settling in Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois. In 1962, Said Ramadan, the assistant to Hassan al Banna who married al Bannas daughter, formed the Muslim World League in Saudi Arabia the first international Brotherhood front organization. Shortly thereafter, the Muslim Brothers in the United States created the Muslim Students Association (MSA), also known as the Muslim Students Union. Out of the MSA came nearly every Muslim organization in America today. As the MSAs grew on campuses across America, they presented Islam as an acceptable alternative to other religions, never mentioning its revolutionary aspects. In the 1970s, a number of trade organizations were formed by the Brotherhood to insinuate the MB into American culture. These included the Association of Muslim Social Scientists (AMSS), the Association of Muslim Scientists and Engineers (AMSE), the Islamic Medical Association (IMA), the Muslim Communities Association (MCA), and others. Also formed in the 1970s were other student groups to include the Muslim Arab Youth Assembly (MAYA). Additionally, in 1973, the North

American Islamic Trust (NAIT), funded by Saudi Arabia, became the financial center of the Muslim Brotherhood activities in the United States. NAIT holds the titles/deeds to the majority of mosques and Islamic schools in America today. Over time, as the students graduated, the Brotherhood realized a need for continued connection with their people in order to grow the Movement across the United States and North America. In 1980, most of these organizations were brought under the authority of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), still one of the largest Muslim Brotherhood front groups in the United States. The creation of ISNA ushered in an era of massive growth of the Movement in North America. Through the 1980s and 1990s, the Brotherhood created hundreds of new organizations and built hundreds of mosques and Islamic schools across North America, and did so primarily with funding from Saudi Arabia. In 1989, the Brotherhood produced a key document (book) entitled Methodology of Dawah by Muslim Brother Shamim Siddiqi, which detailed HOW Muslim Brothers are to subvert American society with specific guidance and means to achieve their goals. By the mid 1990s, the Muslim Brotherhood had insinuated themselves into the U.S. government structure, the academic world, the religious community, the media, and into local communities throughout America. The Brotherhood targeted American society at all levels, to include: the Departments of Education and school boards in order to control and soften the history of Islam and how it is taught to American students; federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies in order to soften investigative efforts, keep them from being educated on the nature of the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic Law, and to ensure the MB is the only entity from which the U.S. government seeks advice on Islamic matters; churches and synagogues through interfaith dialogue; key leaders in communities to encourage them to accept Islam as a part of American culture; the financial community by promoting the implementation of Shariah Compliant Finance into the U.S. banking system; and a multitude of others. During this time, the Brotherhood was able to get one of its leaders, Abdurahman Alamoudi, into the most senior levels of the U.S. government. Alamoudi, from Eritrea, was naturalized in 1979, became a Good Will Ambassador for the State Department, worked with the U.S. Department of Education, and was frequently welcomed on Capitol Hill and the White House. He personally met with Presidents Clinton and Bush on numerous occasions. Alamoudi was the Founder/President of a large number of Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda front groups as noted below. In 2003, Alamoudi was arrested at Heathrow Airport (UK) on his way back from Libya with $340,000 cash given to him by Libyan President Muammar Qaddafi for the jihad, he was involved in a plot to kill Saudi Crown Prince (now King) Abdullah of Saudi Arabia with two UK-based Al Qaeda operatives, and was convicted and sentenced to 23-years in federal prison. Abdurahman Alamoudi founded and created the Muslim Chaplain Program for the Department of Defense, the Islamic Institute (with Republican Strategist Grover Norquist), and was the founder of the American Muslim Armed Forces Veterans Affair Council (AMAFVAC). After Alamoudis demise, several Muslim Brotherhood front organizations gained prominence in the U.S. to include the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR, a Hamas entity), ISNA, the Muslim American Society (MAS), the US-Muslim Engagement Project, the Cordoba Initiative, Muslims for America, the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID), the American-Muslim Task Force (AMTF), and a host of others.

During a November 2001 raid in Switzerland at the residence of Youssef Nada, a senior Muslim Brother, a 14-page document was found. Now known as The Project the document details how the Muslim Brotherhood will subvert and take over Western nations. In 2004 during a raid in Annandale, VA of the residence of a known Hamas operative and senior Muslim Brother in North America, the archives of the Muslim Brotherhood in North America were discovered. The documents reveal, in great detail, the strategic and operational plans of the Brotherhood in America and how they plan to destroy our civilization from within. In short, the Brotherhood intends on subverting our culture at all levels, creating a situation in which we work against ourselves. Here is an excerpt from the Muslim Brotherhoods strategic plan for North America, dated May 1991: Understanding the role of the Muslim Brother in North America: The process of settlement is a "Civilization-Jihadist Process" with all the word means. The Ikhwan must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and "sabotaging" its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious over all other religions. Without this level of understanding, we are not up to this challenge and have not prepared ourselves for Jihad yet. It is a Muslim's destiny to perform Jihad and work wherever he is and wherever he lands until the final hour comes, and there is no escape from that destiny except for those who chose to slack. By Their Hands. The MB intends on using our leadership to do their bidding. Once the leadership in key sectors of society is co-opted by the Brothers and their point of view, these leaders will defend the MBs position against all opposition - even when individuals under the leaders purview provide information contrary to that position. Over time, the Muslim Brotherhood has been able to subvert the decision-making process of our National Security apparatus in just this way. Through this civilization-jihadist process the Muslim Brotherhood is undermining our financial system, softening our reaction to violent acts by jihadis, and rendering our security apparatus ineffective. The MB strategic documents also reveals that nearly every major Muslim organization in America today is, as a matter of fact, affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood Movement. Currently, in the U.S. government, there exists no coherent training and education program for our National Security sector which informs them of the existence of the Muslim Brotherhood and the threat they pose. This should not be surprising since the Muslim advisors consulting U.S. leadership on how to fight the Global War on Terror are all Muslim Brothers.