In US, demands for designating Brotherhood as a 'terrorist' group
The designation by Arab states of the Muslim Brotherhood as a "terrorist" organization has encouraged some Western political forces to ask their governments to do the same.
A number of US
lawmakers strive to include the group on the list of extremist organizations,
using Arab experiences as justification for this demand.
Egypt, the UAE, and
Saudi Arabia classified the Brotherhood as a "terrorist" group.
Egypt was affected by
intense violence carried out by the group against the backdrop of the overthrow
of Muslim Brotherhood president Mohamed Morsi in June 2013.
The violence
perpetrated by the group in Egypt offered the impetus for the international
community to denounce the group's actions.
Some US Congressmen are
discussing the need for giving a terrorist designation to the Brotherhood.
They highlight the
dangers the Islamist movement poses to the American society.
These dangers, they
say, emanate from the ideology of the group, noting that almost all terrorist
organizations in the world derive their ideological lines from the Muslim
Brotherhood.
The same members of
Congress refer to dangerous terrorist organizations, such as the Islamic State
of Iraq and Syria and al-Qaeda and draw links between them and the ideology of
the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Brotherhood, they
say, played an important role in shaping the radical thoughts of the leaders of
these organizations.
The current leader of
al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, referred to the Brotherhood in his book "Knights
under the Banner of the Prophet".
He especially refers to
the ideas of Brotherhood theoretician Sayed Qotb.
Al-Zawahiri describes Qotb
as an "inspirer" who formed his consciousness and from whom he drew
his ideas about fighting non-believers.
He thanks the Brotherhood
for laying the foundations of extremist thought.
