The Muslim Brotherhood & The Cairo Codex 4

Meanwhile, in 1948, the Brotherhood was banned because of the 1948 assassination of Egypt’s prime minister, Mohamed Pasha. The assassination by a Brotherhood member was thought to be revenge for crackdowns on the organization. While the Brotherhood supported the revolution, the Junta that took charge immediately afterwards refused to share power. The Brotherhood reaction was a violent upheaval that destroyed massive amounts of property. So, when Nasser assumed the presidency in ’54 and experienced his own assassination attempt at the hands of the Brotherhood, he abolished the organization and imprisoned thousands.

By 1965, another assassination attempt caused yet another crackdown. However, the Egypt Brotherhood then largely rejected a more radical, violence ideology that was taking root in other countries and sought more peaceful strategies. By now, the organization well-organized, disciplined and largely professional.

Yet, radicals in the organization possessed and projected significant influence from the prisons. They were instrumental in training Hamas and Hezbollah in the art of securing mass loyalties. These were the same strategies working at home in Egypt: support the poor and helpless, provide essential medical care, pack warehouses with school uniforms and family necessities. It is not surprising that the Brotherhood was enlarging its following and surging in the polls by the late ‘80’s.

Tags: Hamas, Hezbollah, Nasser

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 25th, 2017 at 11:23 am and is filed under Arab press, Egypt, history, Muslim Brotherhood, political essay, The Justine Trilogy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.