On July 24, Egyptian-born Michael Youssef, senior pastor of Church of The Apostles in Atlanta and author of more than 50 books, including The Third Jihad, wrote that while visiting a Middle Eastern nation, he met with a highly placed Muslim official.
"He leaned toward me and said, 'Doctor Youssef, can you tell me why the Muslim Brotherhood is outlawed as a terrorist organization in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Egypt – but is allowed to flourish in America?' I said, 'I can think of no answer except foolishness and ignorance.'"
Recently, Jordan joined the list of countries that have banned the Muslim Brotherhood: Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Austria.
The move came after Jordanian authorities announced that they had arrested 16 people suspected of planning attacks aimed at "targeting national security, sowing chaos and sabotage."
Jordanian Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya told a press conference that the authorities found explosives and automatic weapons in the possession of the suspects. Members of the Muslim Brotherhood "operate in the shadows and engage in activities that could undermine security and stability," Faraya said.
Youssef, who supports efforts in the US to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a Foreign Terrorist Organization, noted that the logo of the organization, established in Egypt in 1928, depicts two crossed swords and the command (in Arabic script) Wa-aiidu! (Get Ready!) from Quran 8:60 -- a call to prepare for jihad (holy war) against the unbelievers.
The efforts are led by US Senator Ted Cruz, Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health Policy. Cruz has introduced the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act of 2025. Cruz said on July 16:
"The Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization, and it provides support to Muslim Brotherhood branches that are terrorist organizations. One of those branches is Hamas, which on October 7 committed the worst single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, which included the murder and kidnapping of at least 53 Americans. They are committed to the overthrow and destruction of America and other non-Islamist governments across the world, and pose an acute threat to American national security interests. American allies in the Middle East and Europe have already labeled the Brotherhood a terrorist organization, and the United States should do the same, and do so expeditiously"
Pastor Youssef agreed:
"In 2001,the Muslim Brotherhood's London publication Risalat al-Ikhwan (Epistles of the Brethren of Purity) featured the slogan "Our Mission: World Domination."
In 2004, Youssef added, the former Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohammed Mahdi Othman Aker, declared:
"I have complete faith that Islam will invade Europe and America, because Islam has logic and a mission."
Cruz is right about Hamas being one of the branches of the Muslim Brotherhood. Hamas, which has repeatedly pledged to destroy Israel, emerged from the Muslim Brotherhood, although it 2017, it tried to disown its close affiliation after the Muslim Brotherhood was banned by Egypt. The original ban came in 1954, after the organization tried to assassinate Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser. It was legalized in 2011, and banned again in 2013, after the catastrophic one-year reign of President Mohammad Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood member. The Egyptian government also designated it as a terrorist group in 2013.
Article Two of the Hamas Covenant openly states:
"The Islamic Resistance Movement [Hamas] is one of the wings of Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine. Muslim Brotherhood is a universal organization which constitutes the largest Islamic movement in modern times. It is characterized by its deep understanding, accurate comprehension and its complete embrace of all Islamic concepts of all sects of life, culture, creed, politics, economic, education, society, justice and judgement, the spreading of Islam, education, art, information, science of the occult and conversion to Islam."
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the founder of Hamas, was a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Gaza Strip. Before the establishment of Hamas in 1987, Yassin had formed the Islamist group Mujama al-Islami (Islamic Center), a Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated charity.
Yassin's successor and Hamas co-founder Abdel Aziz Rantisi was also one of the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Gaza Strip.
Ismail Haniyeh, another Hamas leader, was also an active member of the Islamist Bloc, a university student group affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Muslim Brotherhood, in addition, has served as an inspiration for Islamist terror groups Islamic State (ISIS) and Al-Qaeda. According to the Counter Extremism Project, a nonprofit international policy organization working to combat the growing threat exposed by extremist ideologies:
"Before ascending to the highest positions of ISIS and Al-Qaeda, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Osama bin Laden, and Ayman Zawahiri belonged to a common ideological precursor, the Muslim Brotherhood....
"As the progenitor of the modern Islamist movement, the Muslim Brotherhood... has had a profound influence on the belief system that fuels al-Qaeda, ISIS, and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Despite their disagreements, these groups share ideological underpinnings based on the writings of the late Brotherhood ideologue Sayyid Qutb...
"The Brotherhood has also served as a bridge for young Islamists – including bin Laden, Baghdadi, and Zawahiri – to more violent jihadist groups. Although their execution strategies may differ, at their core, all three groups maintain a shared Islamist vision of establishing a global caliphate."
Qutb, an Egyptian scholar who served as the Muslim Brotherhood's head of propaganda, is believed to have been the key figure in providing the ideological template of contemporary militant Islam and its philosophy of terror. He was so extreme and dangerous that the Egyptians executed him for treason in 1966. according to a report by the Australian Army Research Center:
"The term jihad, meaning 'struggle' or 'striving' (in the way of God), was central to Qutb's radical form of Islam. Jihad was necessary in order to make the Islamic way dominant in the world and was commanded by the Qur'an...
"Qutb's rationale for using armed violence was associated with the notion of justified conflict against one's enemy. The reasons for jihad are 'to establish God's authority on the earth; to arrange human affairs according to the true guidance provided by God; to abolish all the Satanic forces and Satanic systems in life; to end the lordship of one man over others.'"
This is precisely why Al-Qaeda's bin Laden and Zawahiri identified with Qutb's Islamist ideology.
In Montasser al-Zayyat's critical biography of Zawahiri, the author describes the extensiveness of Qutb's influence on [the Al-Qaeda] leader's ideology and principles:
"In Zawahiri's eyes, Sayyid Qutb's words struck young Muslims more deeply than those of his contemporaries because his words eventually led to his execution. Thus, those words both provided the blueprint for his long and glorious lifetime, and eventually led to his end."
As a student at King Abdul Aziz University in Saudi Arabia, bin Laden was tutored by Qutb's brother, Mohammed, and close friend Abdullah Azzam. The Australian Army Research Center noted:
"[Azzam] was bin Laden's Islamic Law professor and later went on to found Afghan–Arab terrorist training camps in Peshawar, Pakistan. Of Palestinian origin, Azzam chiefly instructed his students with the works of Islamist ideologues such as Qutb...
"Militarily, the al-Qa'ida leadership has adopted Qutb's understanding of jihad and embraced his overall objective—that is, the destruction of jahiliyya ["ignorance" - reference to the period before the revelation of the Quran to Islam's prophet Mohammed] for the creation of 'freedom' defined in an Islamist sense. This view is reflected in al-Qa'ida's rhetorical emphasis on an overall international strategy. By appropriating Qutb's interpretation of the justification for jihad, al-Qa'ida has been able to rationalise war against the United States."
While jahiliyya refers to a specific historical period, the concept can also be applied to any situation or individual lacking the guidance of Islam. The US, Israel, and all non-Muslim countries fall into this category.
Another Muslim Brotherhood figure was Egyptian Islamic scholar Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who had issued a fatwa (Islamic ruling) supporting suicide bombings against Israel. Suicide bombings are, in Qaradwai's words, "[O]ne of the greatest types of jihad ...valid heroic martyrdom operations and very different from suicide." The suicide bomber, he added, "has sold his soul to Allah and placed his heart on gaining martyrdom and purchasing Paradise." Qaradawi had also expressed support for targeting American forces and civilians in Iraq.
In 2004, Qaradawi published a fatwa allowing the abduction and murder of American citizens in Iraq to put pressure on the US military to withdraw its forces:
"All the Americans in Iraq are fighters, there is no difference between a civilian and soldier, and they should be fought because the American citizen came to Iraq to serve the occupation. The abduction and killing of Americans in Iraq is a [religious] duty in order to make them get out of [Iraq] and leave immediately."
The Muslim Brotherhood has been able to fool many Westerners by pretending that most of its work is based on charity and humanitarian aid. The Muslim Brotherhood's Mujama al-Islami (Islamic Center) in the Gaza Strip started as a charity and was even licensed by Israel. Several years later, the Israelis discovered that they had been duped. Hamas was born out of the Mujama al-Islami.
Pastor Youssef adds:
"Since the 1970s, the Muslim Brotherhood has been aggressively whitewashing its image. By doing charitable work, the Brotherhood pretends to be a humanitarian agency. The charitable work, however, is camouflage for the Brotherhood's real mission — undermining Western society, promoting Sharia law, and pursuing global domination....
"The Brotherhood will use any tactic, including subversion and violence, to dismantle Western societies."
Designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a Foreign Terrorist Organization would give US law enforcement and intelligence agencies the legal tools they need to protect Americans. It would allow them to:
- Freeze financial assets used to fund radical networks;
- Block the travel of known Brotherhood operatives;
- Investigate and prosecute U.S.-based affiliates;
- Expose front groups that serve as recruitment pipelines;
- And cut off the flow of resources from foreign governments and donors.
Designating the Muslim Brotherhood a Foreign Terrorist Organization is vital not only for the national security of the United States, but also for combating Islamist terrorism around the world. If America's Arab allies have reached the conclusion that the Muslim Brotherhood is a dangerous Islamist terror organization, there is no reason why the US and other Western countries should continue to pretend that it is all about charitable and humanitarian work.
Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.
Sandra Smth