Very Informal Poll: What Do You Know About the Muslim Brotherhood?
Without looking up anything on Google, just off the tops of your heads, would you all mind telling me what you know about the history and significance of the Muslim Brotherhood?
It's not a test or a mystery question; there's no punchline. I just want to know what that name says to Americans who are generally interested in politics and well-informed about world affairs. I can't find any polling data to answer that question for me, and I really don't have any clue.
I'm trying to figure out how much explanation I need to give if I refer to someone's youthful involvement with the Muslim Brotherhood. Does that speak for itself? Does it require a sentence of explanation, a paragraph?
If I write, "Elmer was an Eagle Scout," I feel fairly confident you won't need much more elaboration to get the picture. Likewise, "Klaus was a member of the Waffen SS."
But "Elmer and Klaus were in the Muslim Brotherhood?"--I'm just not sure.
I'd appreciate your help a lot. (Please don't cheat: There are no prizes.)
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Nov '10
Re: Very Informal Poll: What Do You Know About the Muslim Brotherhood?
I don't have an informed understanding of the Muslim Brotherhood, except what I might have learned while playing Assassin's Creed, which is not a trustworthy source of historical fact.
Sep '10
Re: Very Informal Poll: What Do You Know About the Muslim Brotherhood?
I really want to cheat but I won't.
My understanding is that the Muslim Brotherhood started in Egypt and was oppressed and further radicalized by Anwar el Sadat who they subsequently assassinated. They are the forerunners of al Qaeda and advocate and fund jihad all over the world.
Re: Very Informal Poll: What Do You Know About the Muslim Brotherhood?
Thanks for not cheating--I know it's tempting. I'd be glad if others sort of averted their eyes from the previously-posted comments, too, and tried to answer as much in the spirit of this as possible. If the answer is "no idea," I'd really appreciate knowing that, too.
May '10
Re: Very Informal Poll: What Do You Know About the Muslim Brotherhood?
I won't cheat either. It is an actual organization with branches around the globe. Hamas is the sometimes referred to as the Israeli branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. It deals mostly in anti-west ideology. Therefore, probably influenced by Sayid Qutb, who is Bin Laden favorite philosopher. They are bad news. So I guess I don't know very much.
Jul '10
Re: Very Informal Poll: What Do You Know About the Muslim Brotherhood?
Firstly, there have been different organizations around the globe named Muslim Brotherhood of wide ranging character. The most famous, and most malignant, being the Egyptian branch which, by the 1950's, was a Cold War ally of the Soviet Union and being used to plant Islamist seeds such as Hamas and Hezbollah, and counter Western imperialism in the name of Islam.
Today there is an intricate spider web of global connections in countries including Mexico, several South American states, Africa, and Asia, including Pakistan and western China. They have been heavily involved in the transformation of Lebanon from a tolerant pluralist state in the 60s and 70s to the modern nightmare version chewed on by Muslim militias and subverted by UN "peace keepers".
Activities include bombing, kidnapping, assassination, intimidation, rape, as well as "front office" activities like organizing hegira and sponsoring schools and hospitals. In college I was briefly a recruitment target by a retired Muslim assassin that likely fell into this web somewhere. My photostat copy of the Protocols of Zion came from this encounter, and is shelved with my copies of Das Kapital, Mein Kampf, and Mao's Little Red Book.
These people rank with the worst Nazis.
Re: Very Informal Poll: What Do You Know About the Muslim Brotherhood?
The problem with this polling method is that people won't want to say "no idea"--too against human nature, I think. So maybe I should have phrased it differently--what do you think the answer would be if you stepped outside and asked the first random person you saw this question?
Nov '10
Re: Very Informal Poll: What Do You Know About the Muslim Brotherhood?
OK, quick word association on Muslim Brotherhood:
Islamist movement that began in Egypt 60-80 years ago. It has been influential in Hamas and Egyptian anti-government movements, and it informed much of Sadaam Husein's world view. The MB has been linked to CAIR in that they have both supported the Holy Land Fund, which, of course, the latter denies. I think of it as strictly Arabist, so I would be surprised to hear that the MB had links into Turkey and Iran. On the other hand both the Mullahs and the MB seem to be happy supporting Hamas together.
Jul '10
Re: Very Informal Poll: What Do You Know About the Muslim Brotherhood?
Ricochet is clearly a well-informed bunch. All I knew about the brotherhood was they were Muslim fundamentalists mixed up in politics. More Waffen SS than Boy Scouts.
Nov '10
Re: Very Informal Poll: What Do You Know About the Muslim Brotherhood?
I'll be honest: I have a vague sense that this is a bad, radical, Islamist organization. That's all I know, and I'm pretty informed for an MD. My residents, on the other hand, would have no clue at all. One of my more politically aware residents told me the other day that he had never heard of Marco Rubio, and had never heard of an upcoming law affecting lightbulbs; I got, "How do you know these things?"
Jun '10
Re: Very Informal Poll: What Do You Know About the Muslim Brotherhood?
Know Egypt, know Qutb as fundamentalist but not Wahibi, know Qutb was in Wisconsin(?) 1930ish, know Qutb family connection to Al-Quida #2 (one of them Omars or Muhammeds), know Brotherhood is kin to Al-Quida but less operational ("Know" is used loosely)
Edited on Dec 6, 2010 at 6:50amSep '10
Re: Very Informal Poll: What Do You Know About the Muslim Brotherhood?
Most people don't really know. Worse, they don't want to know.
Edited on Dec 6, 2010 at 6:51amMay '10
Re: Very Informal Poll: What Do You Know About the Muslim Brotherhood?
I know that the Muslim Brotherhood is an Islamist political organization that gained quite a few seats in the Egyptian government via elections. I remember reading this in a critique of the idea that classical democracy, i.e., rule by the majority, should be established in the Middle East where it was argued that Hamas, Hezbollah, the Islamic Daawa Party, the Supreme Council on Islamic Revolution in Iraq, and the Nazi Party all gained their political power through democratic processes, hence debunking mere democracy.
Edited on Dec 6, 2010 at 6:57amJul '10
Re: Very Informal Poll: What Do You Know About the Muslim Brotherhood?
My family, and most of my extended family, are aware of them through exposure to me. Among my defense clients, up to a third of coworkers will tend to show knowledge, including most that have been in-theater in Iraq and Afghanistan. By the time you get to the 04, 05, 06 level (major to colonel) the knowledge rate becomes very high. Commercial and civilian clients have scattered, knowledgeable pockets. Local area liberal media are claueless, frequently providing CAIR air time as Muslim spokespeople, even after readers and listeners paint the picture for them.
May '10
Re: Very Informal Poll: What Do You Know About the Muslim Brotherhood?
From my general reading of news (mostly from conservative sources) I understand them to be an arm of international jihad. Bad guys. Spreading Wahbism, infiltrating, intimidating and radicalizing otherwise moderate Muslim populations.
But even as I type I feel how shaky my "knowledge" is.
Nov '10
Re: Very Informal Poll: What Do You Know About the Muslim Brotherhood?
My own particular free association: Sayed Qutb, extreme fundamentalist, "first principles" for jihad, worldwide influence.
If I needed to find out more about the MB, without a general Google search, I'd probably start with Andrew McCarthy at National Review, and my copy of "Knowing the Enemy" by Mary Habeck.
Re: Very Informal Poll: What Do You Know About the Muslim Brotherhood?
I'm being quiet because I don't want to interrupt the train of associations, but I'm reading with great interest.
Nov '10
Re: Very Informal Poll: What Do You Know About the Muslim Brotherhood?
The main things I know off the top of my head:
a) They were founded by an Egyptian who was apparently horrified by the licentiousness of American culture in the 1950's. Literally a sock hop so offended his sensibilities that he decided America needed to be taken down.
b) One of their leaders or former leaders recently renounced violence as counter-productive. He apparently realized that the fall of the Taliban (which he viewed as a bad thing, naturally) was a direct result of annoying America.
c) Other than those two bits of trivia I know the obvious stuff: Egypt based Shariists who heavily support Hamas and whose association with CAIR and ISNA is viewed as a reason why those two American organizations should be shunned from public discourse.
Jun '10
Re: Very Informal Poll: What Do You Know About the Muslim Brotherhood?
Jeff S.: My own particular free association: Sayed Qutb, extreme fundamentalist, "first principles" for jihad, worldwide influence.
If I needed to find out more about the MB, without a general Google search, I'd probably start with Andrew McCarthy at National Review, and my copy of "Knowing the Enemy" by Mary Habeck. · Dec 6 at 7:07am
What little I remember comes from Lawrence Wright's The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (2007 Pulitzer winner - general non-fiction)
Edited on Dec 6, 2010 at 7:47amAug '10
Re: Very Informal Poll: What Do You Know About the Muslim Brotherhood?
I don't know anything about the Muslim Brotherhood or its history, but I have the same free association as Jeff S. minus Sayed Qutb. I'll pick up "Knowing the Enemy" if that book would prepare me for understanding what you're going to write.
Aug '10
Re: Very Informal Poll: What Do You Know About the Muslim Brotherhood?
My off-the-cuff understanding of the Muslim Brotherhood is extremely poor. I always have to look them up to remember how they came about, where they are, what they do...
My vague impression is that they're one of those Islamofascist groups that nonetheless has managed to convince a great many people that they're just a bunch of earnest, naive, though perhaps overenthusiastic "good guys":
It's just that they care about injustice and oppression so much that they just can't help abetting injustice and oppression themselves -- oh, and terrorism, too -- from time to time.