Editing Muslim Brotherhood (section)

==Criticism==
The Brotherhood was criticised by [[Ayman al-Zawahiri]], then the Deputy Emir of al-Qaeda, in 2007 for its refusal to advocate the violent overthrow of the Mubarak government. [[Essam el-Erian]], a top Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood figure, denounced the al-Qaeda leader: "Zawahiri's policy and preaching bore dangerous fruit and had a negative impact on Islam and Islamic movements across the world".<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Jones |first=Seth G. |year=2012 |title=Think Again: Al Qaeda |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/04/23/think_again_al_qaeda?page=0,4 |magazine=Foreign Policy |issue=May/June 2012 |access-date=28 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120428182928/http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/04/23/think_again_al_qaeda?page=0%2C4 |archive-date=28 April 2012}}</ref>

[[Dubai]] police chief, Dhahi Khalfan accused Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood of an alleged plot to overthrow the [[UAE]] government. He referred to the Muslim Brotherhood as "dictators" who want "Islamist rule in all the Gulf States".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Muslim-Brotherhood-sowing-subversion-in-Gulf-states-308530|title=Muslim Brotherhood subversion in Gulf States|date=3 April 2013|publisher=The Jerusalem Post|access-date=3 April 2013|archive-date=3 April 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130403200515/http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Muslim-Brotherhood-sowing-subversion-in-Gulf-states-308530|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Motives===
{{Prose|section|date=August 2017}}
Numerous officials and reporters question the sincerity of the Muslim Brotherhood's pronouncements. These critics include, but are not limited to:
*[[Juan Zarate]], former U.S. [[White House]] counterterrorism chief (quoted in the conservative publication, ''[[FrontPage Magazine]]''): "The Muslim Brotherhood is a group that worries us not because it deals with philosophical or ideological ideas but because it defends the use of violence against civilians".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://97.74.65.51/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=3996|last1=Ehrenfeld|first1=Rachel|last2=Lappen|first2=Alyssa A.|date=16 June 2006|title=The Truth about the Muslim Brotherhood|magazine=FrontPage Magazine|access-date=13 February 2011|archive-date=19 May 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100519232241/http://97.74.65.51/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=3996|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://97.74.65.51/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=3996|last=Guitta|first=Olivier|date=20 February 2006|title=The Cartoon Jihad|publisher=The Weekly Standard|access-date=21 November 2017|archive-date=19 May 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100519232241/http://97.74.65.51/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=3996|url-status=dead}}<!--citing Sylvain Besson, La Conquête De L'Occident: Le Projet Secret Des Islamistes}}</ref>
*[[Miles Axe Copeland, Jr.]], a prominent U.S. [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) operative who was one of the founding members of the [[Office of Strategic Services]] (OSS) under [[William Joseph Donovan|William Donovan]], divulged the confessions of numerous members of the Muslim Brotherhood that resulted from the harsh interrogations done on them by Egyptian president [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]], for their alleged involvement in the assassination attempt made against him (an assassination attempt that many believe was staged by Nasser himself).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gulfnews.com/about-gulf-news/al-nisr-portfolio/weekend-review/articles/revolutionary-leader-1.40238|title=Revolutionary leader|work=Gulf News|access-date=27 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101218025444/http://gulfnews.com/about-gulf-news/al-nisr-portfolio/weekend-review/articles/revolutionary-leader-1.40238|archive-date=18 December 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> They revealed that the Muslim Brotherhood was merely a "guild" that fulfilled the goals of western interests: "Nor was that all. Sound beatings of the Moslem Brotherhood organizers who had been arrested revealed that the organization had been thoroughly penetrated, at the top, by the British, American, French and Soviet intelligence services, any one of which could either make active use of it or blow it up, whichever best suited its purposes. Important lesson: fanaticism is no insurance against corruption; indeed, the two are highly compatible".<ref>{{cite book|last=Copeland Jr.|first=Miles Axe|author-link=Miles Axe Copeland, Jr.|title=The Game of Nations: The Amorality of Power Politics|location=New York, USA|publisher=Simon & Schuster|year=1970|url=https://archive.org/details/gameofnationsamo00cope <!-- quote="by the British, American, French and Soviet intelligence services". -->|page=184]</ref>
*Former U.S. Middle East peace envoy Dennis Ross, who told ''[[Asharq Alawsat]]'' newspaper that the Muslim Brotherhood is a global, not a local organization, governed by a Shura (Consultative) Council, which rejects cessation of violence in Israel, and supports violence to achieve its political objectives elsewhere too.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=3&id=8310|author=Lufti, Manal|title=The Brotherhood and America Part III|date=14 March 2007|work=Asharq Alawsat|access-date=25 April 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101111220039/http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=3&id=8310|archive-date=11 November 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref>
*Sarah Mousa of Al Jazeera reported on the Muslim Brotherhood's highly improbable claim that opposition leader and [[Nobel Peace Prize]] laureate [[Mohammad ElBaradei]] (who has had a "rocky" relationship with the US) was "an American agent", and observed that the since-defunct Muslim Brotherhood-controlled Shura Council's support of the slander demonstrated a lack of commitment to democracy.<ref>{{cite web|last=Mousa|first=Sarah|title=Egypt's parliamentary hypocrisy|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/02/201222991153423424.html|publisher=Al Jazeera|access-date=8 March 2014|archive-date=14 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150214030052/http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/02/201222991153423424.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
*Scholar Carrie Rosefsky Wickham finds official Brotherhood documents ambiguous on the issue of democracy: "This raises the question of whether the Brotherhood is supporting a transition to democracy as an end in itself or as a first step toward the ultimate establishment of a political system based not on the preferences of the Egyptian people but the will of God as they understand it".<ref>{{cite journal|last=Wickham|first=Carrie|year=2011|title=The Muslim Brotherhood and Democratic Transition in Egypt|journal=Middle East Law and Governance|volume=3|issue=1–2|pages=204–233|doi=10.1163/187633711X591558}}</ref>

===Status of non-Muslims===
*In 1997, Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide [[Mustafa Mashhur]] told journalist Khalid Daoud<ref>{{cite book|title=Passion for Islam: Shaping the Modern Middle East: the Egyptian Experience|last=Murphy|first=Caryle|year=2002|publisher=Simon & Schuster|pages=241, 330}}<!--quotes article printed in ''Al Ahram Weekly'' 5–9 July 1997--></ref> that he thought Egypt's Coptic Christians and Orthodox Jews should pay the long-abandoned ''[[jizya]]'' poll tax, levied on non-Muslims in exchange for protection from the state, rationalized by the fact that non-Muslims are exempt from military service while it is compulsory for Muslims. He went on to say, "we do not mind having Christian members in the [[People's Assembly of Egypt|People's Assembly]]. ... [T]he top officials, especially in the army, should be Muslims since we are a Muslim country. ... This is necessary because when a Christian country attacks the Muslim country and the army has Christian elements, they can facilitate our defeat by the enemy".<ref>{{cite book|title=Passion for Islam: Shaping the Modern Middle East: the Egyptian Experience|last=Murphy|first=Caryle|year=2002|publisher=Simon & Schuster|pages=241, 330}}</ref> According to ''[[The Guardian]]'' newspaper, the proposal caused an "uproar" among Egypt's 16 million Coptic Christians and "the movement later backtracked".<ref>{{cite web|last1=Shenker|first1=Jack|last2=Whitaker|first2=Brian|date=8 February 2011|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/feb/08/egypt-muslim-brotherhood-uncovered|title=The Muslim Brotherhood uncovered|work=The Guardian|access-date=12 December 2016|archive-date=14 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221014030521/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/feb/08/egypt-muslim-brotherhood-uncovered|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Response to criticisms===
According to authors writing in the Council on Foreign Relations magazine ''[[Foreign Affairs]]'': "At various times in its history, the group has used or supported violence and has been repeatedly banned in Egypt for attempting to overthrow Cairo's secular government. Since the 1970s, however, the Egyptian Brotherhood has disavowed violence and sought to participate in Egyptian politics".<ref name="Crane">{{cite web|url=http://www.cfr.org/publication/9248/ |title=Does the Muslim Brotherhood Have Ties to Terrorism |last=Crane |first=Mary |publisher=Council on Foreign Relations |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090531081741/http://www.cfr.org/publication/9248/ |archive-date=31 May 2009}}</ref> Jeremy Bowen, the Middle East editor for the [[BBC]], called it "conservative and non-violent".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12325128|work=BBC News|title=Egypt unrest: What if Mubarak goes?|date=31 January 2011|access-date=21 June 2018|archive-date=29 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181129084459/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12325128|url-status=live}}</ref> The Brotherhood "has condemned" terrorism and the [[9/11 attacks]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unc.edu/~kurzman/terror.htm|title=Muslim Brother Hood Condemns 9/11 attack|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090215024930/http://www.unc.edu/~kurzman/terror.htm|archive-date=15 February 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ikhwanweb.com/article.php?ID=14069&LevelID=1&SectionID=71|title=Morsi: 9/11 a global calamity, not only for U.S. – Ikhwanweb|website=ikhwanweb.com|access-date=5 May 2020|archive-date=8 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308210502/https://www.ikhwanweb.com/article.php?ID=14069&LevelID=1&SectionID=71|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Brotherhood itself denounces the "catchy and effective terms and phrases" like "[[fundamentalist]]" and "political Islam" which it claims are used by "Western media" to pigeonhole the group, and points to its "15 Principles" for an Egyptian National Charter, including "freedom of personal conviction ... opinion ... forming political parties ... public gatherings ... free and fair elections ..."<ref name="ikhwanweb1" />

Similarly, some analysts maintain that whatever the source of modern Jihadi terrorism and the actions and words of some rogue members, the Brotherhood now has little in common with radical Islamists and modern jihadists who often condemn the Brotherhood as too moderate. They also deny the existence of any centralized and secretive global Muslim Brotherhood leadership.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20070301faessay86208/robert-s-leiken-steven-brooke/the-moderate-muslim-brotherhood.html |title=The Moderate Muslim Brotherhood |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120525084606/http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/62453/robert-s-leiken-and-steven-brooke/the-moderate-muslim-brotherhood |archive-date=25 May 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Some claim that the origins of modern Muslim terrorism are found in [[Wahhabi]] ideology, not that of the Muslim Brotherhood.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/4-10-2006-93214.asp|archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20090316025337/http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/4-10-2006-93214.asp|url-status=usurped|archive-date=16 March 2009|title=The root of terrorism is Wahabism}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ataturksociety.org/letters/tarhan.html |title=The root of terrorism |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501171628/http://www.ataturksociety.org/letters/tarhan.html |archive-date=1 May 2011}}</ref>

According to anthropologist [[Scott Atran]], the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood even in Egypt has been overstated by Western commentators. He estimates that it can count on only 100,000 militants (out of some 600,000 dues paying members) in a population of more than 80&nbsp;million, and that such support as it does have among Egyptians—an often cited figure is 20 percent to 30 percent—is less a matter of true attachment than an accident of circumstance: secular opposition groups that might have countered it were suppressed for many decades, but in driving the [[Egyptian revolution of 2011]], a more youthful constellation of secular movements has emerged to threaten the Muslim Brotherhood's dominance of the political opposition.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/opinion/03atran.html|title=Egypt's Bumbling Brotherhood|work=The New York Times|first=Scott|last=Atran|date=2 February 2011|access-date=22 February 2017|archive-date=19 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170119070653/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/opinion/03atran.html|url-status=live}}</ref> This has not yet been the case, however, as evidenced by the Brotherhood's strong showing in national elections. Polls also indicate that a majority of Egyptians and other Arab nations endorse laws based on "Sharia".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchivesid=a5bKgVG4RXu0|title=Egyptians Want Shariah, End of Israel Treaty, Pew Poll Shows|date=26 April 2011|publisher=Bloomberg}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/25/arab-women-islamic-law_n_1625570.html|title=Arab Women As Likely As Men To Support Islamic Law In Middle East After Arab Spring, Says Survey|publisher=[[Huffington Post]]|date=25 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010025407/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/25/arab-women-islamic-law_n_1625570.html, |archive-date=10 October 2017}}</ref>