Detachment of religious reform from Brotherhood in Yemen… Is it true or a ploy?

There's has been a historical, deep-rooted association between the Yemeni Congregation for Reform and the Muslim Brotherhood as the party is deemed to be its lawful descendant.

The Brotherhood has established its presence in Yemen since the 1950s when Al-Fudail Al-Wartlany settled in Yemen to lay the foundation of a corporation. Al-Wartlany urged Imam Yahya, Yemen's ruler at that time, to introduce a number of political, administrative and economic reforms for the Brotherhood's best interest.

He handed Imam Yahya written reports on what should be done in the wake of strong ties between Yemenis and Hassan el-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood.

By 1963, the Brotherhood set its cemented its presence in Yemen through direct coordination between the Brotherhood's leaders in Egypt and Yemeni students there. However, the Brotherhood had no legal recognition in Yemen as the country's 1970 constitution banned any parties based on faith or religious references.

Following the unity of Yemen in May 1990, the Yemeni Brotherhood founded the Yemeni Congregation for Reform.

The Brotherhood benefited from the 1990 constitution, which granted citizens the right to set up parties, syndicates and organizations.

The birth of the Yemeni Congregation for Reform as a coalition couldn't conceal its pro-Brotherhood orientation. In fact,  the Yemeni Congregation for Reform is an offshoot of the Brotherhood for the following reasons:

-         The party was established in 1990 by the Brotherhood's envoys in Yemen such as Abdel Majeed al-Zendany, Abdallah al-Ahmar and others.

-         Yemeni students in Egypt had contacts with the Brotherhood and joined the organization. The Yemeni students, like Abdel Majeed al-Zendany and Abdo Mohamed al-Makhlafy, returned home to promote the Brotherhood's doctrines.

-         The party set the Brotherhood's concept "shura democracy" as one of its doctrines, emulating el-Banna's viewpoint, which he explained in his article "The Constitution and the Holy Qur'an".

Detachment attempts

Despite the historical, cultural, political and intellectual association between the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the Yemeni Congregation for Reform, the party has announced disintegration in a number of occasions.

The party has released a number of statements declaring disassociation with Egypt's Brotherhood in a way that serves its best interests.

However, such disassociation raises a number of questions about the party's real orientation. Is it a maneuver to gain advantages?

In October 2013, late Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh accused the Yemeni Congregation for Reform in a televised speech of targeting security and army officers, citing the party as an offshoot of the Brotherhood.

The Yemeni Congregation for Reform retorted in a statement that it respects the Muslim Brotherhood's experience as a moderate example for preaching and living. The statement stressed that the Yemeni Congregation for Reform is an official Yemeni political party.

However, that statement was released after the June 30 Revolution in Egypt, and Saleh wanted to put the Yemeni Congregation for Reform in a tight corner by linking it to Egypt's Brotherhood and put it under fire from the Egyptian government and its allies in the Arab Gulf, i.e. Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

The party realized such attempt to link it with Egypt's Brotherhood, so it equivocally declared detachment with the organization in Cairo. It also tried to vindicate itself by stressing it is a Yemeni political party, and not an offshoot of Egypt's Brotherhood.

In September 2016, the Yemeni Congregation for Reform dismissed any association with Egypt's Brotherhood in a statement marking its 26^th anniversary.

"The Yemeni Congregation for Reform clearly stresses that it has no organizational or political links to the International Organization of the Muslim Brotherhood," the statement said.

The party released the statement following media attacks from the Arab Gulf in the wake of its ineptitude in the war against Houthis and contradiction between words and deeds.

The Brotherhood was designated a terrorist group in Saudi Arabia and UAE in 2014.

Is it true or false?

When it comes to the party's links to the Brotherhood, it dismisses any organizational or administrative relations with Egypt's Brotherhood in its official statements, stressing that it is a Yemeni political party.

However, the party's officials do not deny the cultural impacts of the Brotherhood on the party. This is an implicit recognition of the party's links to the Brotherhood.

The party is also maneuvering by declaring its detachment from Egypt's Brotherhood as it wooed the Egyptian government after the June 30 Revolution in 2013. However, it asserted the Brotherhood's cultural impact.

Regionally, it declared detachment from the Brotherhood, but it allied with Houthis on the ground for the sake of Iran.

Therefore, we can say the party maneuvers by declaring detachment from the Brotherhood. The party adopts that attitude for two reasons: (1) the Brotherhood's opportunistic approach, seeking only its best interests with no regard to the national interests, (2) the blow that seriously hit the Brotherhood in Egypt following the June 30 Revolution.

The Brotherhood's offshoots denied any links to the organization in Egypt to avoid any crisis on the local, regional and international levels.