Professional Islamists

Weekly Standard ^ | Feb. 16, 2011 | Stephen Schwartz

[livius]

The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, or al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun, is more than a radical network, comparable to al Qaeda; more than an ideological phenomenon, like the followers of Khomeini in the 1979 Iranian Revolution; and more than a political insurgency, similar to Pakistani jihadism. It is an Egyptian Islamist subculture of great depth and influence...

But the Brotherhood today is not identical with the paramilitary Arabist-Islamist Ikhwan that functioned in the 1930s through the 1960s. After those decades, the Brotherhood underwent a social and political transformation that was both impressive in its novelty and disturbing in its effect...

Beginning under Nasser, the Brotherhood came out of the shadows and began organizing to take over the Egyptian professional guilds of doctors and engineers...

[livius]

This is an excellent analysis of the strategy of the modern MB. It also explains why people can cheerfully announce that it's no longer a radical Islamist organization, even though it clearly is; only the strategy has changed.

In my opinion, it may also answer the question of why such a disproportionate number of Muslim suicide bombers and mass murderers are or have trained as doctors or engineers. Look at their education in MB dominated universities, regardless of where they later did their professional training.

[livius]

Speak of the devil! I just saw that Jimmuh came out and announced that the Muslim Brotherhood is “nothing to be afraid of.” I would suggest he read this article, except that he’s too dense and blinded by Islamophilia to understand it.