The Muslim Brotherhood: Mission, Terror Designations, and Evidence of Financing

The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Ismailia, Egypt in March 1928 by Hassan al-Banna, a 22-year-old schoolteacher. Al-Banna's founding premise was that the decline of the Muslim world resulted from departure from Islamic governance, and that the solution was to work systematically — from individual piety outward through family, society, and state — toward an Islamic political order.

The Brotherhood's official motto:

"Allah is our objective; the Prophet is our leader; the Quran is our constitution; Jihad is our way; dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope."

This is not a metaphorical statement. Al-Banna was explicit in his writings that the Brotherhood's ultimate aim was a caliphate unifying the Muslim world under Islamic law, and that armed struggle was a legitimate and necessary means to that end when other means failed. A passage widely attributed to al-Banna reads: "It is the nature of Islam to dominate, not to be dominated, to impose its law on all nations and to extend its power to the entire planet." (source and original work needed)

The Brotherhood's gradualist strategy — often summarized as: reform the individual → reform the family → reform society → reform the government → restore the caliphate — made it distinctive from purely armed movements. It worked through schools, mosques, charities, and professional associations before political confrontation.

The Muslim Brotherhood did not stay Egyptian. By the time of al-Banna's assassination by Egyptian secret police in 1949, it had chapters in multiple countries. Its diaspora — accelerated by Nasser's brutal suppression in the 1950s–60s — spread Brotherhood-trained operatives into the Gulf states, Europe, and eventually North America.

Hamas is the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood. Founded in 1987 by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin at the outset of the First Intifada, Hamas's founding charter explicitly identified itself as the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. Article Two of the Hamas Charter (1988): "The Islamic Resistance Movement is one of the wings of the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine."

Other significant offshoots and influenced movements:

• Al-Qaeda: Osama bin Laden's ideological formation was heavily shaped by MB thinker Sayyid Qutb, whose Milestones (1964) — written in an Egyptian prison — radicalized the movement's conception of armed jihad. KSM, the 9/11 planner, emerged from a Brotherhood-affiliated family and movement.
• Islamic Jihad (PIJ): Emerged as a breakaway from the Palestinian MB in the 1980s, impatient with the Brotherhood's gradualism.
• ISIS/ISIL: Emerged from al-Qaeda in Iraq; its ideological lineage runs through Qutb and the Brotherhood's most radical wing. ISIS has actually denounced the Brotherhood as insufficiently jihadist — but the ideological DNA is shared.
• Ennahda (Tunisia), Justice and Development Party/AKP (Turkey), Freedom and Justice Party (Egypt under Morsi): the Brotherhood's electoral/parliamentary face in various countries.

As of 2026, the following countries have designated the Muslim Brotherhood — in whole or in specified branches — as a terrorist organization:

Egypt (2013): Following the military's removal of President Mohamed Morsi, the Egyptian government designated the Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. Egypt has since prosecuted thousands of Brotherhood members and sentenced several to death, including former President Morsi (died in custody 2019).

Russia (2003): The Russian Supreme Court designated the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization in February 2003.

Saudi Arabia (2014): Saudi Arabia designated the Brotherhood alongside al-Qaeda and ISIS in March 2014. The designation reflected Saudi concerns about the Brotherhood's challenge to Gulf monarchies' religious legitimacy.

United Arab Emirates (2014): UAE designated the Brotherhood, including all affiliated organizations operating in the UAE, in November 2014.

Bahrain (2017)

Jordan (April 2025): Jordan's Interior Ministry outlawed the Brotherhood as an "illegal group" after alleged weapons and sabotage plots (as reported by UAE state agency WAM).

Kazakhstan (banned as terrorist organization)

Austria: Austria has not designated the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization. Its November 2020 "Operation Luxor" raids against alleged Brotherhood members were found partly unjustified by the Graz Higher Regional Court, and terrorism investigations against a number of suspects were dropped (Middle East Forum).

Syria (Assad government): Long-standing designation; the Brotherhood led an armed uprising in 1982 that ended with the Hama massacre.

United States (January 2026 — partial): On January 13, 2026 (under Executive Order 14362 of November 2025), the State Department designated the Lebanese Muslim Brotherhood a Foreign Terrorist Organization, and the Egyptian and Jordanian Brotherhood branches were designated Specially Designated Global Terrorists for material support to Hamas (Algemeiner). The designation did not cover the global MB movement or US-based Brotherhood-affiliated organizations. The Biden administration (2021–2025) had declined to pursue MB designation.

Countries that have explicitly declined to designate (globally):

• United Kingdom: Conducted a 2015 review; concluded the Brotherhood met the criteria for "extremism" but did not meet the statutory threshold for terrorist designation. The UK has not proscribed the Brotherhood as of this writing.
• United States (globally): The US has designated Hamas (which describes itself as the Palestinian wing of the MB) and, since January 2026, three national Brotherhood branches. Full global MB designation remains politically contentious — affecting relationships with Turkey (AKP), Qatar, and Jordan.
• Turkey: The Erdogan government has close ties to the Brotherhood; Turkey hosts MB-affiliated media and leadership figures.

The Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) The largest Hamas terror financing prosecution in US history. The Holy Land Foundation was a US-based charity that was convicted of providing approximately $12.4 million to Hamas from 1995 to 2001. All five defendants were convicted on all counts in November 2008.

The trial produced an evidentiary record that is the most detailed public documentation of the Muslim Brotherhood's North American organizational network:

• The Explanatory Memorandum (1991): An internal MB strategic document recovered by the FBI from a buried cache in Annandale, Virginia. Written by Mohamed Akram Adlouni, a senior Brotherhood figure, it describes the Brotherhood's mission in North America as "a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and 'sabotaging' its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious over all other religions."

• The Philadelphia Meeting (1993): FBI surveillance recorded a meeting of senior Hamas and Brotherhood figures in Philadelphia discussing how to undermine the Oslo peace process and support Hamas financially while avoiding US law enforcement.

• The Organizational Chart: The MB document listed US organizations as part of the Brotherhood network, including ISNA (Islamic Society of North America), CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations), MSA (Muslim Students Association), and others. These organizations were named as unindicted co-conspirators in the HLF case — meaning prosecutors presented evidence connecting them to the conspiracy but did not indict them separately.

Qatar's Global Financing Network Qatar has been the Muslim Brotherhood's primary state financial sponsor since the Brotherhood's expulsion from Saudi Arabia in the 1990s. Qatar:

• Hosts the Muslim Brotherhood's global leadership and media infrastructure, including Al Jazeera
• Has funded Gaza's Hamas-run administration (civil-servant salaries, fuel, reconstruction), with the post-2018 cash transfers made with the Israeli government's approval; critics argue this freed Hamas resources for military use (figure and source needed)
• Hosted Khaled Meshaal (Hamas political bureau chief) for years
• Has been the conduit for Hamas's "civilian" payments that free up other funds for military use

The US-Qatar relationship has been tense on this point; Qatar's Al Udeid Air Base hosts US CENTCOM forward HQ while Doha hosts Hamas leaders.

Turkey President Erdogan's AKP government has hosted MB-affiliated figures expelled from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. Turkish state media (TRT Arabic) broadcasts Brotherhood programming. Turkey intervened in Libya (2019–2020) alongside MB-affiliated Libyan factions.