What is the Muslim Brotherhood?
Hasan al-Banna (1906–1949), generally acknowledged as the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood (1927), was a well-educated man from a religiously conservative Egyptian family who believed that Muslims should be more active in promoting the broader societal implications of the Islamic faith. His theoretical works on “politicizing” Islam have been widely influential in the growth of a wide variety of contemporary activist Muslim organizations especially in the Middle East and North Africa. Politically activist organizations related to the Brotherhood include, for example, Hamas. Though the Brotherhood began and developed largely in Egypt, it has gained a political footing in other Middle East nations by running for office and having members elected to national assemblies. In countries such as Jordan, independent branches of the Brotherhood have arisen. More recently, the Brotherhood has exerted considerable influence in the aftermath of early 2011 “revolutionary” events that resulted in the ouster of long-time dictator Husni Mubarak. Al-Banna himself did not advocate violent means, and his contemporary disciples generally strive to bring about their goal of integrating society under religious values—acknowledging religious pluralism and rights of non-Muslims— through political activism and reform. Some other organizations indirectly influenced by Brotherhood values have, however, embraced the use of violence as necessary for overthrowing non-Islamic rule. This includes such groups as al-Qaeda and its spinoffs, the Taliban, and a host of Islamic “jihadist” organizations based in various states from North Africa through the Middle East and into Central and South Asia.
Protestors against the Muslim Brotherhood march in Cairo, Egypt, in 2013. The Brotherhood originated in Egypt.
Who are the Salafi Muslims and how influential are they?
Muslim religious scholars began using the term salaf over a millennium ago to refer to pious ancestors in faith. The term comes from an Arabic root meaning “to precede” and was for many years a general designation for early Muslims whose religious commitment made them exemplars for subsequent generations. About a century ago, prominent reformers Muhammad Abduh and Jalal ad-Din al-Afghani used the name Salafiya for their movement aimed at renewal of traditional values. More recently, the term has returned to more common usage in reference to a religio-cultural style or loosely organized school of thought that represents a decidedly “idealistic” interpretation of history. For contemporary Salafis, the concept of “reform” really means a return to, or recovery and renewal of, the values and practices they associate with the age of the Prophet and the Four Rightly Guided Caliphs (i.e., up to 661).
What is the current impact of the Salafis?
Salafi groups are reasserting their influence in many different political and cultural contexts, from the central Arab Middle East especially, but also well beyond. In places such as Egypt they have reinforced their influence by alliances with such politically organized and connected groups as the Muslim Brotherhood. Unfortunately, some Salafi groups have become increasingly prone to violent means in enforcing their more radical social and ethical norms. They are as hostile toward other self-described Muslims whom they declare destined for eternal damnation because they are guilty of all manner of “innovation” and heresy (that is, not truly Muslims at all), as they are to non-Muslims.
Who are the Wahhabi?
During the mid-late eighteenth century, a preacher and religious scholar named Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703–1792, wah-HAAB) mounted an attack on what he regarded as un-Islamic elements among Muslims of the Arabian Peninsula. He targeted Sufi groups in particular and called for the destruction of shrines dedicated to holy personages and often associated with Sufi organizations. He influenced Ibn Saud, “founder” of the Saudi dynasty, who in turn adopted the nascent Wahhabi ideology.
Among the more interesting features of the Wahhabi approach to religion and theology is its insistence on the principle of the scholar’s responsibility for “independent investigation” (ijtihad, ij-ti-HAAD) and commensurate rejection of “unquestioning acceptance of tradition” (taqlid, tahk-LEED)—that is, simply swallowing whole what one has been told. Another is that Wahhabism claims as its theological forebear the redoubtable Ibn Taymiya—a brilliant, creative medieval thinker whose legacy has unfortunately been tarnished by uncritical (and unfair) association with more extreme forms of Wahhabi and Salafi elements.
Saudi public policy remains broadly influenced by the Wahhabi ideology, including an accelerated campaign to destroy historical sites (such as cemeteries and structures believed to date to Muhammad’s time) judged to foster inappropriate devotion and distract from “pure monotheism.” Wahhabi influence also characterizes the kingdom’s practice of funding projects elsewhere that adhere to Wahhabi standards of piety—such as replacing ornately decorated classic mosque architecture in regions such as war-ravaged Bosnia with much simpler, less colorful structures.
What kinds of organizations call themselves Ansar?
The Arabic term ansar (ahn-SAAR) means “helpers” and takes its broader religious meaning from a segment of the early Muslim community in Medina (after the Hijra) who earned the name from their deliberate support and assistance for the Prophet in engaging various factions in Medina. Various organizations have adopted the term in their formal titles, beginning more recently in the nineteenth-century Mahdist movement in the Sudan. There the Ansar continued to function well into the twentieth century even after Sudan’s independence in 1955. They were influential among tribal groups in Darfur (a large western region of the Sudan), and they supported the ongoing struggle against the central government in Khartoum. Still other groups far from Sudan have adopted the name more recently, as in one Ansar ash-Sharia (Partisans of Revealed Law), which rose as a faction in the post-Kaddafi Libyan revolution, and another based in Yemen. Both are extremist Salafi groups bent on eradicating “un-Islamic” beliefs and practices by violent means if necessary.
What are the factions called Hamas and Hizb Allah (Hezbollah)?
Hamas is an acronym for an Arabic expression meaning “Islamic Resistance Movement” (harakat al-muqawamat al-is-lamiyya). Originating, and still based, in the Palestinian region of Gaza, Hamas was in effect an activist offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. Not satisfied with the Brotherhood’s relative passivity during the 1987 Palestinian intifada (in-ti-FAA-da, uprising), Hamas mobilized for the express purpose of resisting Israeli occupation. It continues to refuse to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist as a state and advocates engaging with Israel through military means. Hezbollah, the “Party of God,” is in itself a generic title for a variety of factions in various regions that adopt the name to distinguish themselves from enemies of Muslim community labeled as “Parties of Satan” (Hizb ash-Saytan). Political parties by this name exist, for example, in Iran, Libya, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia. But by far the most publicized in recent events is the Lebanese Hezbollah, which arose to prominence during Lebanon’s protracted civil war, and especially during the years after the suicide bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in 1983. Whereas membership in Hamas is largely (if not exclusively) Sunni, Hezbollah’s religious affiliation is Twelver Shi’i, with direct connections to Twelver Shi’i Iran. As such, the organization espouses the “political theology” of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, according to which true “Islamic” governance centers on the “rule of the [Islamic] jurisprudent”—vested, in this instance, in the Ayatollah Khomeini and his current successor, Ali Khamenei.
A Hezbollah flag is draped on a wall behind a praying Lebanese woman sitting next to the grave of her family, victims of an Israeli bombardment.
Are there any other analogous “parties” or “factions” active today? Are they all politically oriented? Do any espouse explicit use of violent means of protest or political engagement?
There are in fact dozens of such organizations in the Middle East