Encyclopedia of Islam

Muslim Brotherhood

  

507  J

---

Brotherhood now favored implementing Islamic 

law through peaceful participation in the politi-

cal process, more radical Islamist groups arose, 

incited by the ideology of Qutb and the success 

of Ayatollah Khomeini’s Islamic revolution in Iran 

(1978–79). One of these radical organizations, 

the Jihad Group, assassinated al-Sadat in October 

1981, because of their anger at his increasingly 

oppressive rule and the peace agreement he had 

signed with i

srael

. In Syria, meanwhile, the 

Muslim Brotherhood had become the most seri-

ous domestic threat to the government of Hafiz 

al-Asad and the ruling b

aath

 p

arty

. In 1982 it led 

a popular uprising in the city of Hama, which was 

quelled violently by Syrian troops, resulting in the 

loss of thousands of lives. It has never recovered 

from this blow. Syrian and Egyptian members or 

former members of the Muslim Brotherhood car-

ried its ideology to Saudi Arabia, where it became 

combined with W

ahhabism

. This fusion of radical 

Islamic jihadist ideas influenced U

sama

 

bin

 l

adin

(b. 1957) and others, who used them to recruit 

followers to fight against the Soviets in a

Fghani

-

stan

, as well as other Arab governments, and to 

conduct terrorist attacks against U.S. and Euro-

pean interests. In Palestine, former members of 

the Muslim Brotherhood created h

amas

 in 1987. 

This was an Islamist organization opposed to 

Yasir Arafat’s secular p

alestine

  l

iberation

  o

rga

-

nization

. Moreover, Hamas sought to engage in a 

jihad to bring the illegal Israeli occupation of the 

Palestinian homeland. At the same time, however, 

the nonviolent tactics of the mainline branches of 

the Muslim Brotherhood have allowed it to suc-

cessfully compete in legislative elections in both 

Egypt and Jordan, despite having to face periodic 

restrictions and government crackdowns.

See also  a

rab

-i

sraeli

 

conFlicts

; 

colonialism

; 

g

hazali

,  z

aynab

 

al

-; 

Jihad

 

movements

; 

reneWal

and

 

reForm

 

movements

.