Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

460 • MUSLIM BROTHERHOODare hostile the Ikhwan tends to define its mission in term of an Islamicrevolution. The Ikhwan have used terrorism instrumentally to achievetheir agenda when electoral means or other forms of political participationhave been denied to them. Although individual territorial Ikhwanorganizations have sought the support of other Muslim governments,whether of religious regimes such as Saudi Arabia or of secular regimessuch as the former Ba’thist regime in Iraq, these amounted tolittle more than tactical alliances with those whom the Ikhwan mayregard as its own strategic enemies.Hassan al Banna, a primary school teacher in Ismailia, founded theIkhwan to educate young men in the values of Islam and to protectthem from seduction by Western values. A brilliant organizer, Bannaquickly developed the group into a nationwide network. By 1933 theheadquarters were moved to Cairo, and by 1940 the Ikhwan had 500branches. The political strength of the Ikhwan aroused the fear andjealousy of the ruling Waqf party, which threw Banna into prisonbriefly in 1941. In 1942 Banna ordered the formation of the secret apparatusof “spiritual messengers” skilled in the “art of death.” By 1946the Ikhwan had 5,000 branches comprising at least 500,000 membersas well as 40,000 employed in its secret apparatus. Members of theIkhwan were to be found even among the teaching faculty of Al AzharUniversity, which remains the most esteemed Islamic theologicalschool in the Sunni Muslim world and from which students of 22 differentMuslim countries brought back home the message of the Ikhwanand began to create new branches of the organization abroad.During the period 1946–1947 the Ikhwan clashed with Waqf supportersin street riots, which led to the December 1948 ban on theorganization. On 28 December 1948 Ikhwan members assassinatedthe Egyptian prime minister, Mahmud Fahmi Naqrashi. In reprisal,government agents murdered Banna on 12 February 1949. From1950 to 1954, the Ikhwan collaborated with the Egyptian Free Officersin overthrowing King Farouk. Conflict then broke out betweenthe Islamic fundamentalist Ikhwan and the secular, modernizingmilitary junta under Gamal Abdel Nasser. With the failure of the 23October 1954 assassination attempt against Nasser, a ban on the Ikhwanand crackdown ensued in which six Ikhwan leaders were hangedand 4,000 followers arrested.Following Nasser’s death in 1971, his successor, Anwar Sadat,pardoned the remaining imprisoned Ikhwan members, allowed the