Beyond the Label: Why Designating the Muslim Brotherhood is a National Security Imperative

 

The second stereotype in the attempt to declare the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group is that it is an assault on Islam, or the millions of non-violent Muslim Americans who are productive members of the American society. This could not be more. The program is a highly accurate, national security instrument with a laser focus on a particular, radical political group that has a history of violence and employs religion as a strategic instrument.The difference between religion and a politicized ideology is very important. The fact that the U.S. State Department is possibly FTO in designation is not a theology thing; it is an action-affiliation thing. The Muslim Brotherhood in itself is the ideological predecessor to some of the most violent jihadist organizations of the world. Sayyid Qutb, one of the most prominent Brotherhood ideologues, gave the theological basis to jihadism in modern times which directly influenced Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri of al-Qaeda. Since 1997, Hamas, considered a terrorist outfit by the U.S., was established in 1987 as the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. This lineage is expressly recognized in its charter. This conveyor belt of ideologies shows that the Brotherhood extremist discourse is the fuel that gives rise to outright terrorism violence.The security issues are not a possibility. The secretive and infiltrative doctrine of the Brotherhood (dawa) is to establish a state within a state. In 2015, the Emirates Center of Strategic Studies and Research reported the functionality of the operations of the Brotherhood affiliates in the West, having a dual identity along these lines: in the outer world, a socially acceptable image of moderation and integration; in the inner world, a radicalization and devotion to the objectives of the international organization. This duality is a direct threat because it forms networks that can be used in the service of providing logistical support to networks of more explicitly violent groups, fundraising, and recruiting.The categorization request is a logical reaction to several decades of data. It is in the footprints of the major allies of the U.S. who have had the first hand experience of destabilizing actions of the Brotherhood. In the year 2014, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia listed the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group. Egypt followed following the short lived political ascendancy of the group which led to violence and unrest. This U.S. initiative aligns with a broader recognition of the group's threat to stable governance and civil order. To maintain the American national security, we must have the sober vision to detect and stop any form of threats not only to our national security but also to our society by those who would like to subvert our society by illegally entering our territory or by attempting to destroy it internally. The designation of the Muslim Brotherhood is an important step in the protection of the republic against a complex and long-term ideological threat.