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Egypt Muslim Extremism
The main organization advocating the establishment of an
Islamic government in Egypt was the Muslim Brotherhood (Al Ikhwan
al Muslimun; also known as the Brotherhood). The Brotherhood,
founded in 1928, was closely linked to groups that opposed the
British and the monarchy in the 1940s. It also provided some of the
ideas that inspired the Free Officers' coup in 1952. The government
suppressed the Brotherhood after some of the organization's members
were suspected of involvement in an assassination attempt against
Nasser in 1954. In an attempt to offset the strength of Egypt's
political left, Sadat permitted the reemergence of the Brotherhood.
He freed hundreds of Brotherhood members who had been jailed for
political reasons. Shifting to nonviolent tactics, the dominant
elements of the Brotherhood sought respect and attempted to
permeate the government and its institutions with Brotherhood
adherents. Because it was a religious party, it could not
participate directly in elections. Still, it ran a number of
candidates in the 1984 and 1987 elections in alliances with other
opposition parties. The Brotherhood's successful campaign in 1987,
in which it captured thirty-eight seats in the People's Assembly,
indicated an intensifying pro-Islamist sentiment in Egypt
(see Islam
, ch. 2;
The Limits of Incorporation: The Rise of Political Islam and the Continuing Role of Repression
, ch. 4).
The Brotherhood represented the mainstream of the Islamic
movement, in comparison with the estimated fifty more radical
Islamic groups, collectively known as the Jamaat al Islamiyah
(Islamic Associations), that operated clandestinely. Most of these
other groups sought to overthrow the state and to reorder society
in accordance with the sharia (Islamic law--see
The Judicial System
, this ch.). They also sought to renounce Western political
and social influence and to promote Arab militancy against Israel.
In 1981 the followers of Al Jihad (Holy War) in the armed forces
were responsible for the assassination of Sadat during a military
parade. As a result of the assassination, the military dismissed 30
officers and 100 enlisted men because of their extreme religious
views. An offshoot of Al Jihad, Baqaya Jihannam (Survivors of
Hell), attempted in 1987 to assassinate the former minister of
interior and a prominent editor. Religious extremists, some of whom
were military officers, also set fire to video rental shops, movie
theaters, pharmacies, shops selling alcohol, automobiles, and
Coptic churches
(see Coptic Church
, ch. 2). Some soldiers had
stolen arms and ammunition from military stocks. Nonetheless, the
government insisted on the ability of the intelligence services to
keep radical groups from infiltrating the military.
Radical Islam drew adherents from various social classes and
particularly among university students. By the 1980s, Muslim
student organizations started to dominate campus life and have a
strong influence over faculties and university administrations. The
total number of activists was believed to be several hundred
thousands, but the membership in clandestine organizations was
small, with estimates ranging from 3,000 to 20,000. Activists
involved in violence were thought to number as few as 1,000.
The government was fairly successful in controlling underground
movements in a series of crackdowns during each of which
authorities arrested as many as 1,500 activists. Most of these
activists were released after interrogation. The government did,
however, prosecute some of these activists on charges ranging from
undermining the security of the state to terrorism. Police carried
out an effective surveillance program that included infiltration of
campus groups and monitoring the activities of extremist leaders in
Egypt and abroad. The police also closely watched twenty-five
mosques that were suspected of being the headquarters of outlawed
political groups and storage places for arms.
Data as of December 1990
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