Aims of the brotherhood

Make no mistake: the Muslim Brothers’ vision for Egypt is a frightening one

Hosni Mubarak should be given credit for at least one achievement in his three decades in power: his deft exploitation of Washington’s fears about the Muslim Brotherhood. There is, in fact, no evidence that the Brotherhood has ever been able to count on the support of more than a small minority. For its part, the Brotherhood has used Mubarak’s persecution of its rank-and-file membership with equal cleverness to elevate its status within Egypt and, perhaps more importantly, among the champions of ‘moderate Islam’ in the West.

The Brotherhood was formed as a fundamentalist group in 1928 with the aim of Islamising Egyptian society from below and thus purging the country of decadent Western influence and customs. From an Egyptian population of 80 million, it has today perhaps two million supporters and half a million members. Many of these supporters are ordinary people who do not wish to live in an Islamist state, but who would be willing to vote for the devil himself if it meant ridding the country of its hated Last Pharaoh.