196-532: Sayyid Ibrahim Husayn Shadhili Qutb (9 October 1906 – 29 August 1966) was an Egyptian political theorist and revolutionary who was a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood . He is dubbed the "father of Salafi jihadism ", the religio-political doctrine that underpins the ideological roots of global jihadist organisations such as al-Qaeda and ISIL . Author of 24 books, with around 30 books unpublished for different reasons (mainly destruction by
392-627: A civil war fought between the Yishuv and al-Husseini's Arab Higher Committee, eventually ending in a Palestinian defeat by May 1948. Of the 10,000 fighters al-Banna had promised in October 1947 some 1.500 were present by March 1948. The fighters came from all three branches and were originally engaged in guerilla activities. The end of Mandatory Palestine and Israel's declaration of independence on 14 May resulted in an invasion by five Arab states in 15 May, among them Egypt. Brotherhood fighters assisted
588-548: A harat , which in many cases had gates that could be closed off at night or during disturbances. When the traveller Ibn Battuta first came to Cairo in 1326, he described it as the principal district of Egypt. When he passed through the area again on his return journey in 1348, the Black Death was ravaging most major cities. He cited reports of thousands of deaths per day in Cairo. Although Cairo avoided Europe 's stagnation during
784-463: A province , with Cairo as its capital. For this reason, the history of Cairo during Ottoman times is often described as inconsequential, especially in comparison to other time periods. During the 16th and 17th centuries, Cairo still remained an important economic and cultural centre. Although no longer on the spice route, the city facilitated the transportation of Yemeni coffee and Indian textiles , primarily to Anatolia , North Africa , and
980-767: A branch for Shi'ites, Olga Davidson and Mohammad Mahallati claim the Brotherhood has had influence among Shia in Iran. Iranian Call and Reform Organization , a Sunni Islamist group active in Iran, has been described as an organization "that belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood" or "Iranian Muslim Brotherhood", while it has officially stated that it is not affiliated with the latter. Cairo Cairo ( / ˈ k aɪ r oʊ / KY -roh ; Arabic : القاهرة , romanized : al-Qāhirah , Egyptian Arabic pronunciation: [el.qɑ(ː)ˈheɾɑ] )
1176-492: A campus demonstration by Brotherhood students in uniforms, demonstrating martial arts drills, betrayed to some such as Jameel Theyabi, "the group's intent to plan for the creation of militia structures, and a return by the group to the era of 'secret cells'". Another report highlighted the Muslim Brotherhood's efforts in Parliament to combat what one member called the "current US-led war against Islamic culture and identity," forcing
1372-614: A centre of the region's political and cultural life, and is titled "the city of a thousand minarets " for its preponderance of Islamic architecture . Cairo's historic center was awarded World Heritage Site status in 1979. Cairo is considered a World City with a "Beta +" classification according to GaWC . Cairo has the oldest and largest film and music industry in the Arab world , as well as Egypt's oldest institution of higher learning, Al-Azhar University . Many international media, businesses, and organizations have regional headquarters in
1568-503: A commander of Turkic origin named Bakbak was sent to Egypt by the Abbasid caliph al-Mu'taz to restore order after a rebellion in the country. He was accompanied by his stepson, Ahmad ibn Tulun , who became effective governor of Egypt. Over time, Ibn Tulun gained an army and accumulated influence and wealth, allowing him to become the de facto independent ruler of both Egypt and Syria by 878. In 870, he used his growing wealth to found
1764-526: A complex and multilayer eschatological vision, partly grounded in the counter-hegemonic re-articulation of the traditional ideal of Islamic universalism. Following the 1952 coup , he espoused a 'just dictatorship' that would 'grant political liberties to the virtuous alone.' Later he wrote that rule by sharia law would require essentially no government at all. In an earlier work, Qutb described military jihad as defensive, Islam's campaign to protect itself, while later he believed jihad must be offensive. On
1960-558: A death sentence for Qutb and six other members of the Muslim Brotherhood. He was sentenced to death for his part in the conspiracy to assassinate the President and other Egyptian officials and personalities, though he was not the instigator or leader of the actual plot. On 29 August 1966, he was executed by hanging . Qutb held that belief in matters that cannot be seen (or are imperceptible) was an important sign of man's ability to accept knowledge from fields outside of science: The concept of
2156-572: A feature of the city's housing during the later Ottoman period. These apartments were often laid out as multi-story duplexes or triplexes. They were sometimes attached to caravanserais, where the two lower floors were for commercial and storage purposes and the multiple stories above them were rented out to tenants. The oldest partially-preserved example of this type of structure is the Wikala of Amir Qawsun , built before 1341. Residential buildings were in turn organized into close-knit neighbourhoods called
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#17328481973042352-518: A general strike protesting the Balfour declaration that eventually escalated into deadly riots targeting Jews and foreigners . In March 1948 the "Secret Apparatus" assassinated a respected judge for issuing a life sentence against a Muslim Brother for attacking British soldiers. In late 1948 the Brotherhood was estimated to have 2,000 branches and 500,000 members or sympathizers. In November, following several bombings and alleged assassination attempts by
2548-567: A key originator of Islamist ideology, and an inspiration for violent Islamist groups such as al-Qaeda. Qutb is widely regarded as one of the most leading Islamist ideologues of the twentieth century. Strengthened by his status as a martyr , Qutb's ideas on Jahiliyya and his close linking of implementation of sharia (Islamic Law) with Tawhid (Islamic monotheism) has highly influenced contemporary Islamist and Jihadist movements. Today, his supporters are identified by their opponents as " Qutbists " or "Qutbi". Sayyid Ibrahim Husayn Shadhili Qutb
2744-706: A local Brotherhood leader to spread the influence of the new Palestinian branch established in October 1945. Another small branch was founded in Jordan at the turn of 1946. The Brotherhood opposed the UN 's involvement in Palestine from April 1947, with the latter eventually voting for its partition into a Jewish and an Arab state in November 1947. Consequently, the society prepared for war, with volunteers entering Palestine as early as October 1947. By 30th November 1947 Palestine descended into
2940-734: A major power in the region and was responsible for repelling the advance of the Mongols (most famously at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260) and for eliminating the last Crusader states in the Levant. Despite their military character, the Mamluks were also prolific builders and left a rich architectural legacy throughout Cairo. Continuing a practice started by the Ayyubids, much of the land occupied by former Fatimid palaces
3136-433: A much higher population density than formal housing. By 2009, over 63% of the population of Greater Cairo lived in informal neighbourhoods, even though these occupied only 17% of the total area of Greater Cairo. According to economist David Sims, informal housing has the benefits of providing affordable accommodation and vibrant communities to huge numbers of Cairo's working classes, but it also suffers from government neglect,
3332-444: A neighbourhood of urban villas with gardens and curved streets. The British occupation was intended to be temporary, but it lasted well into the 20th century. Nationalists staged large-scale demonstrations in Cairo in 1919, five years after Egypt had been declared a British protectorate . Nevertheless, this led to Egypt's independence in 1922 . The King Fuad I Edition of the Qur'an
3528-502: A new administrative capital, al-Qata'i ( Arabic : القطائـع , lit. 'the allotments'), to the northeast of Fustat and of al-Askar. The new city included a palace known as the Dar al-Imara , a parade ground known as al-Maydan , a bimaristan (hospital), and an aqueduct to supply water. Between 876 and 879 Ibn Tulun built a great mosque, now known as the Mosque of Ibn Tulun , at
3724-497: A number of authors believe he was influenced by European fascism ( Roxanne L. Euben , Aziz Al-Azmeh , Khaled Abou El Fadl ). Qutb was a staunch antisemite . Influenced by Islamists like Rashid Rida , Qutb embraced anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and believed in the existence of global Jewish conspiracies. In 1950, he published a book Our Struggle against the Jews , which forms a central part of today's Islamist antisemitism . Blaming
3920-526: A police building and killed at least 14 people in the city of Mansoura , which the government blamed on the Muslim Brotherhood, despite no evidence and an unaffiliated Sinai-based terror group claiming responsibility for the attack. On 24 March 2014, an Egyptian court sentenced 529 members of the Muslim Brotherhood to death following an attack on a police station, an act described by Amnesty International as "the largest single batch of simultaneous death sentences we've seen in recent years [...] anywhere in
4116-470: A political and economic hub for North Africa and the Arab world , with many multinational businesses and organisations, including the Arab League , operating out of the city. In 1979 the historic districts of Cairo were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site . In 1992, Cairo was hit by an earthquake causing 545 deaths, injuring 6,512 and leaving around 50,000 people homeless. Cairo's Tahrir Square
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#17328481973044312-513: A protest at Al-Azhar University wearing military-style fatigues, after which the Mubarak government accused the organization of starting an underground militia. When it came to power, the Muslim Brotherhood indeed tried to establish armed groups of supporters and it sought official permission for its members to be armed. Supreme guides or General leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood have been: Following parliamentary elections in 2002, Al Menbar became
4508-531: A rare sort of Western thinker, one who understood that his civilization "depreciated humanity" by honouring the "machine" over the "spirit and soul" (al-nafs wa al-ruh). He saw Carrel's critique, coming as it did from within the enemy camp, as providing his discourse with an added measure of legitimacy." From 1948 to 1950, he went to the United States on a scholarship to study its educational system, spending several months at Colorado State College of Education (now
4704-524: A relative lack of services, and overcrowding. The "formal" city was also expanded. The most notable example was the creation of Madinat Nasr , a huge government-sponsored expansion of the city to the east which officially began in 1959 but was primarily developed in the mid-1970s. Starting in 1977 the Egyptian government established the New Urban Communities Authority to initiate and direct
4900-449: A religious and political manifesto for what he believed was a true Islamic system. It was also in this text that Qutb condemned Muslim governments, such as Abdul Nasser's regime in Egypt, as secular, with their legitimacy based on human (and thus corrupt), rather than divine authority. This work, more than any other, established Qutb as one of the premier Islamists of the 20th century, and perhaps
5096-512: A series of demonstrations, marches, acts of civil disobedience, and labour strikes. Millions of protesters from a variety of socio-economic and religious backgrounds demanded the overthrow of the regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Despite being predominantly peaceful in nature, the revolution was not without violent clashes between security forces and protesters, with at least 846 people killed and 6,000 injured. The uprising took place in Cairo, Alexandria, and in other cities in Egypt, following
5292-484: A short period, serious public opposition developed to President Morsi. In late November 2012, he "temporarily" granted himself the power to legislate without judicial oversight or review of his acts, on the grounds that he needed to "protect" the nation from the Mubarak-era power structure. He also put a draft constitution to a referendum that opponents complained was "an Islamist coup". These issues —and concerns over
5488-418: A significant movement online. In the 2005 parliamentary elections , the Brotherhood became "in effect, the first opposition party of Egypt's modern era". Despite electoral irregularities, including the arrest of hundreds of Brotherhood members, and having to run its candidates as independents (the organization being technically illegal), the Brotherhood won 88 seats (20% of the total) compared to 14 seats for
5684-538: A sizeable city existed. The city was important enough that its bishop , Cyrus, participated in the Second Council of Ephesus in 449. The Byzantine-Sassanian War between 602 and 628 caused great hardship and likely caused much of the urban population to leave for the countryside, leaving the settlement partly deserted. The site today remains at the nucleus of the Coptic Orthodox community, which separated from
5880-598: A succession of government crackdowns from 1948 up until the present. It remained a fringe group in the politics of the Arab World until the 1967 Six-Day War , when Islamism managed to replace popular secular Arab nationalism after a resounding Arab defeat by Israel. The movement was also supported by Saudi Arabia, with which it shared mutual enemies like communism . The Arab Spring brought it legalization and substantial political power at first, but as of 2013 it has suffered severe reversals. The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood
6076-623: A warm welcome, especially by al-Banna, who ennobled him to a "miracle of a man" with "a divine spark in his heart which makes him above human beings", followed by a martial pledge of loyalty against the Zionists. Soon after his arrival the Arab League established the Arab Higher Executive (rebranded as Arab Higher Committee in January 1947) as supreme Palestinian party with Amin al-Husseini as Cairo-based chairman. al-Banna designated al-Husseini
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6272-456: Is another Coptic name for Cairo, although others think that it is rather a name for the Abbasid province capital al-Askar . Ⲕⲁϩⲓⲣⲏ ( Kahi•ree ) is a popular modern rendering of an Arabic name (others being Ⲕⲁⲓⲣⲟⲛ [Kairon] and Ⲕⲁϩⲓⲣⲁ [Kahira]) which is modern folk etymology meaning 'land of sun'. Some argue that it was the name of an Egyptian settlement upon which Cairo was built, but it
6468-517: Is attested in the modern Coptic text Ⲡⲓⲫⲓⲣⲓ ⲛ̀ⲧⲉ ϯⲁⲅⲓⲁ ⲙ̀ⲙⲏⲓ Ⲃⲉⲣⲏⲛⲁ (The Tale of Saint Verina ). Lioui ( Ⲗⲓⲟⲩⲓ Late Coptic: [lɪˈjuːj] ) or Elioui ( Ⲉⲗⲓⲟⲩⲓ Late Coptic: [ælˈjuːj] ) is another name which is descended from the Greek name of Heliopolis ( Ήλιούπολις ). Some argue that Mistram ( Ⲙⲓⲥⲧⲣⲁⲙ Late Coptic: [ˈmɪs.təɾɑm] ) or Nistram ( Ⲛⲓⲥⲧⲣⲁⲙ Late Coptic: [ˈnɪs.təɾɑm] )
6664-657: Is considered a terrorist organization by the governments of Bahrain , Egypt , Russia , Syria , Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates . Hassan al-Banna founded the Muslim Brotherhood in the city of Ismailia in March 1928 along with six workers of the Suez Canal Company, as a Pan-Islamic , religious, political, and social movement . They appointed Al-Banna as their leader and vowed to work for Islam through Jihad and revive Islamic Brotherhood. Thus,
6860-820: Is derived from the Arabic al-Qāhirah ( القاهرة ), meaning 'the Vanquisher' or 'the Conqueror', given by the Fatimid Caliph al-Mu'izz following the establishment of the city as the capital of the Fatimid dynasty. Its full, formal name was al-Qāhirah al-Mu'izziyyah (القاهرة المعزيّة), meaning 'the Vanquisher of al-Mu'izz'. It is also supposedly due to the fact that the planet Mars , known in Arabic by names such as an-Najm al-Qāhir ( النجم القاهر , 'the Conquering Star'),
7056-417: Is disputed. The Mubarak government's state media portrayed the Brotherhood as secretive and illegal, and numerous TV channels such as OnTV spent much of their air time vilifying the organization. But the Brotherhood took a number of controversial steps and also acquiesced to or supported crackdowns by the military during Morsi's presidency. Before the revolution, the Muslim Brotherhood's supporters appeared at
7252-437: Is dominated by wide boulevards, open spaces, and modern architecture of European influence, the eastern half, having grown haphazardly over the centuries, is dominated by small lanes, crowded tenements, and Islamic architecture . Northern and extreme eastern parts of Cairo, which include satellite towns , are among the most recent additions to the city, as they developed in the late-20th and early-21st centuries to accommodate
7448-555: Is either a calque meaning 'man breaker' ( Ϯ- , 'the', ⲕⲁϣ- , 'to break', and ⲣⲱⲙⲓ , 'man'), akin to Arabic al-Qāhirah , or a derivation from Arabic قَصْر الرُوم ( qaṣr ar-rūm , "the Roman castle"), another name of Babylon Fortress in Old Cairo . The Arabic name is also calqued as ⲧⲡⲟⲗⲓⲥ ϯⲣⲉϥϭⲣⲟ , "the victor city" in the Coptic antiphonary. The form Khairon ( Coptic : ⲭⲁⲓⲣⲟⲛ )
7644-503: Is failing, although this was the only foundation on which its structure was based. Russia, which is the leader of the communist countries, is itself suffering from shortages of food. Although during the times of the Tsars Russia used to produce surplus food, it now has to import food from abroad and has to sell its reserves of gold for this purpose. The main reason for this is the failure of the system of collective farming , or, one can say,
7840-536: Is informally referred to as Cairo by people from Alexandria ( IPA: [ˈkæjɾo] ; Egyptian Arabic : كايرو ). The area around present-day Cairo had long been a focal point of Ancient Egypt due to its strategic location at the junction of the Nile Valley and the Nile Delta regions (roughly Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt ), which also placed it at the crossing of major routes between North Africa and
8036-472: Is on the brink of a precipice, not because of the danger of complete [nuclear] annihilation which is hanging over its head – this being just a symptom and not the real disease – but because humanity is devoid of those vital values which are necessary not only for its healthy development but also for its real progress. Even the Western world realises that Western civilization is unable to present any healthy values for
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8232-497: Is positive and constructive, and which is practicable." "Democracy in the West has become infertile to such an extent that it is borrowing from the systems of the Eastern bloc, especially in the economic system, under the name of socialism. It is the same with the Eastern bloc. Its social theories, foremost among which is Marxism, in the beginning attracted not only a large number of people from
8428-463: Is rather doubtful as this name is not attested in any Hieroglyphic or Demotic source, although some researchers, like Paul Casanova, view it as a legitimate theory. Cairo is also referred to as Ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ( Late Coptic: [ˈkɪ.mi] ) or Ⲅⲩⲡⲧⲟⲥ ( Late Coptic: [ˈɡɪp.dos] ), which means Egypt in Coptic, the same way it is referred to in Egyptian Arabic. Sometimes the city
8624-400: Is sparse and only happens in the colder months, but sudden showers can cause severe flooding. The summer months have high humidity due to its coastal location. Snowfall is extremely rare; a small amount of graupel , widely believed to be snow , fell on Cairo's easternmost suburbs on 13 December 2013, the first time Cairo's area received this kind of precipitation in many decades. Dew points in
8820-592: Is that the conditions he witnessed in prison from 1954 to 1964, including the torture and murder of the Muslim Brotherhood members, convinced him that only a government bound by Islamic law could prevent such abuses. Another is that Qutb's experiences in America as a darker-skinned person and the insufficiently anti-Western policies of Nasser demonstrated to him the powerful and dangerous allure of jahiliyyah (pre-Islamic ignorance)—a threat unimaginable, in Qutb's estimation, to
9016-677: Is the capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate , being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa , the Arab world and the Middle East . The Greater Cairo metropolitan area is the 12th-largest in the world by population with over 22.1 million people. Cairo is associated with ancient Egypt , as the Giza pyramid complex and
9212-515: Is unlikely, as the latter vehemently opposed the Italian occupation of Libya . Over the course of the war, the Brotherhood displayed pro-Axis sympathies. Worried, the British kept the Brotherhood under firm control by temporarily banning its newsletters, surveiling its meetings and arresting various provincial leaders. al-Banna himself was briefly taken into custody and eventually acknowledged his loyalty to
9408-546: The 2011 Egyptian parliamentary elections , far more than any other party. The party rejected the "candidacy of women or Copts for Egypt's presidency", but not for cabinet positions. The Muslim Brotherhood's candidate for Egypt's 2012 presidential election was Mohamed Morsi , who defeated Ahmed Shafiq —the last prime minister under Mubarak's rule—with 51.73% of the vote. Although during his campaign Morsi himself promised to stand for peaceful relations with Israel, some high level supporters and former Brotherhood officials (from
9604-512: The Balkans . Cairene merchants were instrumental in bringing goods to the barren Hejaz , especially during the annual hajj to Mecca . It was during this same period that al-Azhar University reached the predominance among Islamic schools that it continues to hold today; pilgrims on their way to hajj often attested to the superiority of the institution, which had become associated with Egypt's body of Islamic scholars . The first printing press of
9800-611: The Belgian industrialist Édouard Empain and his Egyptian counterpart Boghos Nubar , built a suburb called Heliopolis (city of the sun in Greek) ten kilometers from the center of Cairo. In 1905–1907 the northern part of the Gezira island was developed by the Baehler Company into Zamalek , which would later become Cairo's upscale "chic" neighbourhood. In 1906 construction began on Garden City,
9996-515: The Botroseya Church bombing and claimed it was a false flag conspiracy by the Egyptian government and Copts, in a statement released in Arabic on the FJP's website, but its claim was challenged by 100 Women participant Nervana Mahmoud and Hoover Institution and Hudson Institute fellow Samuel Tadros. The Muslim Brotherhood released an English-language commentary on the bombing and said it condemned
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#173284819730410192-576: The British invasion in 1882. The city's economic centre quickly moved west toward the Nile , away from the historic Islamic Cairo section and toward the contemporary, European-style areas built by Isma'il. Europeans accounted for five percent of Cairo's population at the end of the 19th century, by which point they held most top governmental positions. In 1906 the Heliopolis Oasis Company headed by
10388-471: The Khalij , continued to be a major feature of Cairo's geography and of its water supply until the 19th century. In 861, on the orders of the Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil , a Nilometer was built on Roda Island near Fustat. Although it was repaired and given a new roof in later centuries, its basic structure is still preserved today, making it the oldest preserved Islamic-era structure in Cairo today. In 868
10584-537: The Late Middle Ages , it could not escape the Black Death, which struck the city more than fifty times between 1348 and 1517. During its initial, and most deadly waves, approximately 200,000 people were killed by the plague, and, by the 15th century, Cairo's population had been reduced to between 150,000 and 300,000. The population decline was accompanied by a period of political instability between 1348 and 1412. It
10780-700: The Levant . Memphis , the capital of Egypt during the Old Kingdom and a major city up until the Ptolemaic period , was located a short distance south west of present-day Cairo. Heliopolis , another important city and major religious center, was located in what are now the modern districts of Matariya and Ain Shams in northeastern Cairo. It was largely destroyed by the Persian invasions in 525 BC and 343 BC and partly abandoned by
10976-500: The Mamluks and Ottomans further contributed to expansion on the east bank of the river. Because of the Nile's movement, the newer parts of the city— Garden City , Downtown Cairo , and Zamalek—are located closest to the riverbank. The areas, which are home to most of Cairo's embassies , are surrounded on the north, east, and south by the older parts of the city. Old Cairo , located south of
11172-513: The Mamluks , partly with the help of al-Salih's wife, Shajar ad-Durr , who ruled for a brief period around this time. Mamluks were soldiers who were purchased as young slaves and raised to serve in the sultan's army. Between 1250 and 1517 the throne of the Mamluk Sultanate passed from one mamluk to another in a system of succession that was generally non-hereditary, but also frequently violent and chaotic. The Mamluk Empire nonetheless became
11368-458: The Muslim Brotherhood ( الإخوان المسلمون al-Ikhwān al-Muslimūn ) is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna in 1928. Al-Banna's teachings spread far beyond Egypt, influencing today various Islamist movements from charitable organizations to political parties. Initially, as a Pan-Islamic , religious, and social movement , it preached Islam in Egypt, taught
11564-560: The Qur'an and the Sunnah were seen as laws passed down by God that should be applied to all parts of life, including the organization of the government and the handling of everyday problems. Al-Banna was populist in his message of protecting workers against the tyranny of foreign and monopolist companies. It founded social institutions such as hospitals, pharmacies, schools, etc. Al-Banna held highly conservative views on issues such as women's rights, opposing equal rights for women, but supporting
11760-458: The Quran . During most of his life, Qutb's inner circle mainly consisted of influential politicians, intellectuals, poets and literary figures, both of his age and of the preceding generation. By the mid-1940s, many of his writings were included in the curricula of schools, colleges and universities. In 1966, he was convicted of plotting the assassination of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and
11956-461: The Shi'a Isma'ili Fatimid empire conquered Egypt after ruling from Ifriqiya. The Fatimid general Jawhar Al Saqili founded a new fortified city northeast of Fustat and of former al-Qata'i. It took four years to build the city, initially known as al-Manṣūriyyah, which was to serve as the new capital of the caliphate. During that time, the construction of the al-Azhar Mosque was commissioned by order of
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#173284819730412152-492: The Tunisian revolution that resulted in the overthrow of the long-time Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali . On 11 February, following weeks of determined popular protest and pressure, Hosni Mubarak resigned from office. Under the rule of President el-Sisi , in March 2015 plans were announced for another yet-unnamed planned city to be built further east of the existing satellite city of New Cairo , intended to serve as
12348-620: The University of Northern Colorado ) in Greeley, Colorado . Qutb's first major theoretical work of religious social criticism, Al-'adala al-Ijtima'iyya fi-l-Islam ( Social Justice in Islam ), was published in 1949, during his time in the West. Though Islam gave him much peace and contentment, he suffered from respiratory and other health problems throughout his life and was known for "his introvertedness, isolation, depression and concern." In appearance, he
12544-581: The great Arab revolt . While absent before the outbreak of the revolt, the Brotherhood now began to make use of aggressive anti-Jewish rhetorics which also targeted the Jewish community in Egypt . The official weekly of the Brotherhood, al-Nadhir , published a series of articles titled "The Danger of Jews", warning of alleged Jewish plots against Islam like Freemasonry or Marxism . In 1938 al-Nadhir demanded from Egypt's Jews to either adopt an openly anti-Zionist stance or to face "hostility". It also criticized
12740-466: The illiterate , and set up hospitals and business enterprises. It later advanced into the political arena, aiming to end British colonial control of Egypt . The movement's self-stated aim is the establishment of a state ruled by sharia law under a caliphate –its most famous slogan is "Islam is the solution". Charity is a major aspect of its work. The group spread to other Muslim countries but still has one of its largest organizations in Egypt, despite
12936-548: The imams and their traditional approach to education. This confrontation would persist throughout his life. Qutb moved to Cairo , where between 1929 and 1933 he received an education based on the British style of schooling before starting his career as a teacher in the Ministry of Public Instruction. During his early career, Qutb devoted himself to literature as an author and critic, writing such novels as Ashwak ( Thorns ) and even helped to elevate Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz from obscurity. He wrote his very first article in
13132-404: The new capital of Egypt . Cairo is located in northern Egypt , known as Lower Egypt , 165 km (100 mi) south of the Mediterranean Sea and 120 km (75 mi) west of the Gulf of Suez and Suez Canal . The city lies along the Nile River , immediately south of the point where the river leaves its desert-bound valley and branches into the low-lying Nile Delta region. Although
13328-467: The "Faruq edition" in honour of then ruler, King Faruq . British troops remained in the country until 1956. During this time, urban Cairo, spurred by new bridges and transport links, continued to expand to include the upscale neighbourhoods of Garden City, Zamalek, and Heliopolis. Between 1882 and 1937, the population of Cairo more than tripled—from 347,000 to 1.3 million —and its area increased from 10 to 163 km (4 to 63 sq mi). The city
13524-402: The 1950s and 1960s many Brotherhood members sought sanctuary in Saudi Arabia. From the 1950s, al-Banna's son-in-law Said Ramadan emerged as a major leader of the Brotherhood and the movement's unofficial "foreign minister". Ramadan built a major center for the Brotherhood centered on a mosque in Munich, which became "a refuge for the beleaguered group during its decades in the wilderness". In
13720-537: The 1970s after the death of Nasser and under the new President ( Anwar Sadat ), the Egyptian Brotherhood was invited back to Egypt and began a new phase of participation in Egyptian politics. During the Mubarak era, observers both defended and criticized the Brotherhood. It was the largest opposition group in Egypt, calling for "Islamic reform", and a democratic system in Egypt. It had built a vast network of support through Islamic charities working among poor Egyptians. According to ex- Knesset member and author Uri Avnery
13916-434: The 1970s. However, Hamas , a Palestinian militant group that currently controls the Gaza Strip , is an off-shoot of the Brotherhood that continues to use violence. The Brotherhood itself claims to be a peaceful, democratic organization, and that its leader "condemns violence and violent acts". In recent times, the primary state backers of the Muslim Brotherhood have been Qatar and the AKP -ruled Turkey . As of 2015, it
14112-405: The 20th century Cairo continue to grow enormously in both population and area. Between 1947 and 2006 the population of Greater Cairo went from 2,986,280 to 16,292,269. The population explosion also drove the rise of "informal" housing ( 'ashwa'iyyat ), meaning housing that was built without any official planning or control. The exact form of this type of housing varies considerably but usually has
14308-451: The Albanians, and the long-weakened Mamluks jostling for control of the country. Continued civil war allowed an Albanian named Muhammad Ali Pasha to ascend to the role of commander and eventually, with the approval of the religious establishment , viceroy of Egypt in 1805. Until his death in 1848, Muhammad Ali Pasha instituted a number of social and economic reforms that earned him
14504-433: The British, although the latter remained suspicious. Between 1938 and 1940 or 1941 the Brotherhood formed an armed wing called the "Secret Apparatus" ( al-Nizam al-Khas ), also known as "Special Apparatus". This group was a successor of the "battalions" ( kata'ib ) established in late 1937. Its goal was to fight the British until their expulsion from Egypt, British collaborators as well as Zionists. It also protected
14700-471: The Brotherhood against the police and infiltrated the Communist movement. The "Secret Apparatus" was led by a committee of five, with each of them commanding one tightly knit cell. Only the most committed members, mostly young students or men with salaried jobs, were invited to join. New members of the "Secret Apparatus" were taught to obey, were given weapons, underwent heavy physical training and were taught
14896-459: The Brotherhood disagreed on whether to adhere to Egypt's 32-year peace treaty with Israel. A deputy leader declared the Brotherhood would seek dissolution of the treaty, while a Brotherhood spokesman stated the Brotherhood would respect the treaty as long as "Israel shows real progress on improving the lot of the Palestinians". Following the 2011 Egyptian revolution and fall of Hosni Mubarak ,
15092-467: The Brotherhood voiced admiration for aspects of Nazi ideology , including its militarism and its centralization revolving around a charismatic leader , but opposed others like its racial policies and ethnic nationalism. The outbreak of the war ended the relationship between Germany and the Muslim Brothers. al-Banna denied that he had ever received German funding. Italian funding of the Brotherhood
15288-450: The Brotherhood was legalized and was at first very successful, dominating the 2011 parliamentary election and winning the 2012 presidential election , before the overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi a year later, leading to a crackdown on the Brotherhood again. On 30 April 2011, the Brotherhood launched a new party called the Freedom and Justice Party , which won 235 of the 498 seats in
15484-432: The Brotherhood was religious but pragmatic, "deeply embedded in Egyptian history, more Arab and more Egyptian than fundamentalist". It formed "an old established party which has earned much respect with its steadfastness in the face of recurrent persecution, torture, mass arrests and occasional executions. Its leaders are untainted by the prevalent corruption, and admired for their commitment to social work". It also developed
15680-401: The Brotherhood's leaders were in custody. On that day Supreme Leader Mohammed Badie was arrested, crossing a "red line", as even Hosni Mubarak had never arrested him. On 23 September, a court ordered the group outlawed and its assets seized. Prime Minister , Hazem Al Beblawi on 21 December 2013, declared the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation after a car bomb ripped through
15876-579: The Brotherhood, he promptly quit. Nasser then tried to persuade Qutb by offering him any position he wanted in Egypt except its Kingship, saying: "We will give you whatever position you want in the government, whether it's the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Arts, etc." Qutb refused every offer, having understood the reality of Nasser's plans. Upset that Nasser would not enforce a government based on Islamic ideology, Qutb and other Brotherhood members allegedly plotted to assassinate him in 1954. The alleged attempt
16072-408: The Brotherhood, the Egyptian government arrested 32 leaders of the Brotherhood's "Secret Apparatus" and banned the Brotherhood. It was accused of preparing the overthrow of the government, linked to a jeep loaded with weapons. The headquarters were closed and its funds confiscated, while 4,000 Brothers were detained and al-Banna was placed under temporary house arrest. The reaction to the dissolution
16268-401: The Cairo metropolis extends away from the Nile in all directions, the city of Cairo resides only on the east bank of the river and two islands within it on a total area of 453 km (175 sq mi). Geologically, Cairo lies on alluvium and sand dunes which date from the quaternary period. Until the mid-19th century, when the river was tamed by dams, levees, and other controls,
16464-590: The Citadel, Saladin also began the construction of a new 20-kilometre-long wall that would protect both Cairo and Fustat on their eastern side and connect them with the new Citadel. These construction projects continued beyond Saladin's lifetime and were completed under his Ayyubid successors. In 1250, during the Seventh Crusade , the Ayyubid dynasty had a crisis with the death of al-Salih and power transitioned instead to
16660-691: The District of Columbia ), Colorado State College for Education (now the University of Northern Colorado) in Greeley , and Stanford University . He visited the major cities of the United States and spent time in Europe on his journey home. Before his departure from the United States, even though more and more conservative, he still was " Western in so many ways – his dress, his love of classical music and Hollywood movies. He had read, in translation,
16856-568: The East but also from the West, as it was a way of life based on a creed. But now Marxism is defeated on the plane of thought, and if it is stated that not a single nation in the world is truly Marxist, it will not be an exaggeration. On the whole this theory conflicts with man's nature and its needs. This ideology prospers only in a degenerate society or in a society which has become cowed as a result of some form of prolonged dictatorship. But now, even under these circumstances, its materialistic economic system
17052-465: The Egyptian army northeast of Gaza , although some were also active in the West Bank. The volunteers suffered a few hundred casualties dead and wounded and had only a limited impact on the course of the war, although they played a decisive role in several engagements. The war was an Arab failure, resulting in a truce fiercely opposed by the Muslim Brothers. On 2 November 1945 the Brotherhood organized
17248-453: The Jews for advocating secularising reforms in the Ottoman empire and inciting various turmoils that resulted in its dissolution , Qutb wrote: "A Jew was behind the incitement of various kinds of tribal arrogance in the last Caliphate; the (fomenting) of revolutions which began with the removal of the shari‘ah from the legislation and substituting for it ‘The Constitution’ during the period of
17444-663: The Middle East, printing in Hebrew , was established in Cairo c. 1557 by a scion of the Soncino family of printers, Italian Jews of Ashkenazi origin who operated a press in Constantinople. The existence of the press is known solely from two fragments discovered in the Cairo Geniza . Under the Ottomans, Cairo expanded south and west from its nucleus around the Citadel. The city
17640-478: The Minister of Culture at the time, Farouk Hosny , to ban the publication of three novels on the ground they promoted blasphemy and unacceptable sexual practices. In October 2007, the Muslim Brotherhood issued a detailed political platform. Among other things, it called for a board of Muslim clerics to oversee the government, and limiting the office of the presidency to Muslim men. In the "Issues and Problems" chapter of
17836-454: The Muslim Brotherhood of seeking to monopolize power, while Morsi's allies say the opposition is trying to destabilize the country to derail the elected leadership". Adding to the unrest were severe fuel shortages and electricity outages, which raised suspicions among some Egyptians that the end of gas and electricity shortages since the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi was evidence of a conspiracy to undermine him, although other Egyptians say it
18032-540: The Muslim Brotherhood welcomed the coup d'état against the monarchist government—which they saw as un-Islamic and subservient to the British Empire —and enjoyed a close relationship with the movement prior to and immediately following the coup. Nasser would go to the house of Syed Qutb and ask him for ideas about the Revolution. Many members of the Brotherhood expected Nasser to establish an Islamic government. However,
18228-501: The Muslim Brotherhood were accused of taking part in the Cairo Fire that destroyed some 750 buildings in downtown Cairo – mainly night clubs, theatres, hotels, and restaurants frequented by British and other foreigners. In 1952 Egypt's monarchy was overthrown by a group of nationalist military officers ( Free Officers Movement ) who had formed a cell within the Brotherhood during the first war against Israel in 1948. However, after
18424-472: The Muslim Brotherhood, which became the leading political movement in the wake of Egypt's 2011 popular uprising, are languishing in prison, unfairly branded as terrorists. ... Egypt's crushing authoritarianism could well persuade a significant number of its citizens that violence is the only tool they have for fighting back". Mohamed Morsi was sentenced to death on 16 May 2015, along with 120 others. The Muslim Brotherhood claimed that Muslims did not carry out
18620-703: The Muslim Brothers were born; under the pledge that its members would be soldiers in the call to Islam, and in that is the life for the country and the honour for the Umma ... We are brothers in the service of Islam.. Hence we are the "Muslim Brothers". The Suez Canal Company helped Banna build the mosque in Ismailia that would serve as the Brotherhood's headquarters, according to Richard P. Mitchell 's The Society of Muslim Brothers . According to al-Banna, contemporary Islam had lost its social dominance, because most Muslims had been corrupted by Western influences. Sharia law based on
18816-511: The Nile Corniche , and improved the city's network of bridges and highways. Meanwhile, additional controls of the Nile fostered development within Gezira Island and along the city's waterfront. The metropolis began to encroach on the fertile Nile Delta , prompting the government to build desert satellite towns and devise incentives for city-dwellers to move to them. In the second half of
19012-467: The Nile in the vicinity of Cairo was highly susceptible to changes in course and surface level. Over the years, the Nile gradually shifted westward, providing the site between the eastern edge of the river and the Mokattam highlands on which the city now stands. The land on which Cairo was established in 969 (present-day Islamic Cairo ) was located underwater just over three hundred years earlier, when Fustat
19208-503: The Qur'an ), Qutb developed a literary appreciation of the Qur'an and a complementary methodology for interpreting the text. His hermeneutics were applied in his extensive commentary on the Qur'an, Fi zilal al-Qur'an , which served as the foundation for the declarations of Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq . Late in his life, Qutb synthesized his personal experiences and intellectual development in Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq ,
19404-414: The Qur'an, which would fuel the artistic side of his personality. He eventually memorized the whole Qur'an at 10. A precocious child , during these years, he began collecting different types of books, including Sherlock Holmes stories, A Thousand and One Nights , and texts on astrology and magic that he would use to help local people with exorcisms ( ruqya .) In his teens, Qutb was critical of
19600-510: The Roman and Byzantine churches in the late 4th century. Cairo's oldest extant churches, such as the Church of Saint Barbara and the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus (from the late 7th or early 8th century), are located inside the fortress walls in what is now known as Old Cairo or Coptic Cairo . The Muslim conquest of Byzantine Egypt was led by Amr ibn al-As from 639 to 642. Babylon Fortress
19796-560: The Sultan Abdul Hamid II ; and the ‘hero’ Ataturk ’s ending of the Caliphate. Then behind the subsequent war declared against the first signs of Islamic revival, from every place on the face of the earth ... stood the Jews." Muslim Brotherhood Non-state allies: Affiliated militant groups only: The Society of the Muslim Brothers ( Arabic : جماعة الإخوان المسلمين Jamāʿat al-Ikhwān al-Muslimīn ), better known as
19992-537: The Village ) makes little mention of Islam or political theory and is typically classified as a secular, literary work. However, it is replete with references to village mysticism, superstition, the Qur'an, and incidences of injustice. Qutb's later work developed along similar themes, dealing with Qur'anic exegesis, social justice, and political Islam. Qutb's career as a writer also heavily influenced his philosophy. In al-Taswiir al-Fanni fil-Quran ( Artistic Representation in
20188-651: The Zionists. Such conflations of Jews and Zionists were common. In the years preceding World War II the Muslim Brothers grew connections with Nazi Germany , maintained via the Deutsches Nachrichtenbüro in Cairo and Amin al-Husseini, who himself received funds from the Abwehr . Being interested in strengthening a militant anti-British organization, Germany may have funded the Brotherhood as early as 1934. One later British source claimed that in 1936 alone, Germany transferred over £5.000. al-Banna and other members of
20384-596: The ancient cities of Memphis and Heliopolis are located in its geographical area. Located near the Nile Delta , the city first developed as Fustat following the Muslim conquest of Egypt in 641 next to an existing ancient Roman fortress, Babylon . Cairo was founded by the Fatimid dynasty in 969. It later superseded Fustat as the main urban centre during the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods (12th–16th centuries). Cairo has long been
20580-403: The area now composing Downtown Cairo , came to fruition. Isma'il also sought to modernize the city, which was merging with neighbouring settlements, by establishing a public works ministry, bringing gas and lighting to the city, and opening a theatre and opera house. The immense debt resulting from Isma'il's projects provided a pretext for increasing European control, which culminated with
20776-516: The beauty and harmony that existed amongst the creation as a whole. He said that, the sweetness of Iman hit him." Political Militant [REDACTED] Islam portal Qutb's mature political views always centered on Islam—Islam as a complete system of morality, justice and governance, whose sharia laws and principles should be the sole basis of governance and everything else in life—though his interpretation of it varied. Qutb's political philosophy has been described as an attempt to instantiate
20972-500: The caliph, which developed into the third-oldest university in the world. Cairo would eventually become a centre of learning, with the library of Cairo containing hundreds of thousands of books. When Caliph al-Mu'izz li Din Allah arrived from the old Fatimid capital of Mahdia in Tunisia in 973, he gave the city its present name, Qāhirat al-Mu'izz ("The Vanquisher of al-Mu'izz"), from which
21168-569: The capital of the caliphate in Arabia . Ibn al-As also founded a mosque for the city at the same time, now known as the Mosque of Amr Ibn al-As , the oldest mosque in Egypt and Africa (although the current structure dates from later expansions). In 750, following the overthrow of the Umayyad caliphate by the Abbasids , the new rulers created their own settlement to the northeast of Fustat which became
21364-512: The center of the city, next to the palace. After his death in 884, Ibn Tulun was succeeded by his son and his descendants who continued a short-lived dynasty, the Tulunids . In 905, the Abbasids sent general Muhammad Sulayman al-Katib to re-assert direct control over the country. Tulunid rule was ended and al-Qatta'i was razed to the ground, except for the mosque which remains standing today. In 969,
21560-417: The centre, holds the remnants of Fustat and the heart of Egypt's Coptic Christian community, Coptic Cairo . The Boulaq district, which lies in the northern part of the city, was born out of a major 16th-century port and is now a major industrial centre. The Citadel is located east of the city centre around Islamic Cairo , which dates back to the Fatimid era and the foundation of Cairo. While western Cairo
21756-642: The city walls in stone and constructed the city gates of Bab al-Futuh , Bab al-Nasr , and Bab Zuweila that still stand today. During the Fatimid period Fustat reached its apogee in size and prosperity, acting as a center of craftsmanship and international trade and as the area's main port on the Nile. Historical sources report that multi-story communal residences existed in the city, particularly in its center, which were typically inhabited by middle and lower-class residents. Some of these were as high as seven stories and could house some 200 to 350 people. They may have been similar to Roman insulae and may have been
21952-639: The city's infrastructure and cleanliness. Its economy and politics also became more deeply connected with the wider Mediterranean. Some Mamluk sultans in this period, such as Barbsay (r. 1422–1438) and Qaytbay (r. 1468–1496), had relatively long and successful reigns. After al-Nasir Muhammad, Qaytbay was one of the most prolific patrons of art and architecture of the Mamluk era. He built or restored numerous monuments in Cairo, in addition to commissioning projects beyond Egypt. The crisis of Mamluk power and of Cairo's economic role deepened after Qaytbay. The city's status
22148-581: The city's rapid growth. The western bank of the Nile is commonly included within the urban area of Cairo, but it composes the city of Giza and the Giza Governorate . Giza city has also undergone significant expansion over recent years, and today has a population of 2.7 million. The Cairo Governorate was just north of the Helwan Governorate from 2008 when some Cairo's southern districts, including Maadi and New Cairo , were split off and annexed into
22344-460: The city, from March to May and the air often becomes uncomfortably dry. Winters are mild to warm, while summers are long and hot. High temperatures in winter range from 14 to 22 °C (57 to 72 °F), while night-time lows drop to below 11 °C (52 °F), often to 5 °C (41 °F). In summer, the highs often exceed 31 °C (88 °F) but rarely surpass 40 °C (104 °F), and lows drop to about 20 °C (68 °F). Rainfall
22540-516: The city; the Arab League has had its headquarters in Cairo for most of its existence. Cairo, like many other megacities , suffers from high levels of pollution and traffic. The Cairo Metro , opened in 1987, is the oldest metro system in Africa, and ranks amongst the fifteen busiest in the world, with over 1 billion annual passenger rides. The economy of Cairo was ranked first in the Middle East in 2005, and 43rd globally on Foreign Policy 's 2010 Global Cities Index . The name of Cairo
22736-522: The civil service, he joined the Muslim Brotherhood in the early 1950s and became editor-in-chief of the Brothers' weekly Al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin, and later head of its propaganda section, as well as an appointed member of the working committee and of its guidance council, the highest branch in the organization. In July 1952, Egypt 's pro-Western government was overthrown by the nationalist Free Officers Movement headed by Gamal Abdel Nasser . Both Qutb and
22932-520: The co-operation between the Brotherhood and Free Officers which marked the revolution's success soon soured as it became clear the secular nationalist ideology of Nasserism was incompatible with the Islamism of the Brotherhood. Nasser had secretly set up an organisation that would sufficiently oppose the Muslim Brotherhood once he came to power. This organisation was called "Tahreer" ("Liberation" in Arabic). It
23128-448: The composition of his two most important works: a commentary of the Qur'an Fi Zilal al-Qur'an ( In the Shade of the Qur'an ), and a manifesto of political Islam called Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq ( Milestones ). These works represent the final form of Qutb's thought, encompassing his radically anti-secular and anti-Western claims based on his interpretations of the Qur'an, Islamic history, and
23324-734: The concepts of Jihad and underground operations. The result was a zealous elite force. Its first operation was allegedly towards the end of World War II, when members of the group threw a bomb at a British club. Militarized youth sections were also raised, namely the junior kashafa ("scouts") and the more senior jawala ("travellers"). In 1948, al-Banna denounced fascism and militarism in his book Peace in Islam : "Nazism came to power in Germany, Fascism in Italy and both Hitler and Mussolini began to force their people to conform to what they thought; unity, order, development, and power. Certainly, this system led
23520-457: The condition of contemporary Islam, identified its benighted state as having two principal causes. The first was that many Muslims were forsaking their faith in the Qur'an, failing to enforce Sharia law. This had led to the virulent spread of a secular culture within Muslim societies, which, with the assistance of the innate and centuries-long Western hatred towards Islam, was a second important cause of
23716-497: The death of its leader, Hassan al-Banna, and repeated his words calling for the teachings of Islam to spread all over the world and to raise the "flag of Jihad", taking their land, "regaining their glory", "including diaspora Muslims" and demanding an Islamic state and a Muslim government, a Muslim people, a Muslim house, and Muslim individuals. Mekameleen TV , a Turkey-based free-to-air satellite television channel run by exiled Brotherhood supporters, mourned his death and claimed it
23912-441: The development of new planned cities on the outskirts of Cairo, generally established on desert land. These new satellite cities were intended to provide housing, investment, and employment opportunities for the region's growing population as well as to pre-empt the further growth of informal neighbourhoods. As of 2014, about 10% of the population of Greater Cairo lived in the new cities. Concurrently, Cairo established itself as
24108-495: The entrance of a canal connecting the Nile to the Red Sea that was created earlier by emperor Trajan (r. 98–117). Further north of the fortress, near the present-day district of al-Azbakiya , was a port and fortified outpost known as Tendunyas ( Coptic : ϯⲁⲛⲧⲱⲛⲓⲁⲥ ) or Umm Dunayn. While no structures older than the 7th century have been preserved in the area aside from the Roman fortifications, historical evidence suggests that
24304-407: The establishment of chosen tyrants. Eventually after a deadly war in which innumerable men, women, and children died, these regimes collapsed." After the war the Brotherhood lobbied for granting Amin al-Husseini, who had served as a German propaganda mouthpiece between 1941 and 1945, asylum in Egypt. In May 1946 al-Husseini managed to escape from French imprisonment and arrived in Cairo. He received
24500-509: The establishment of justice towards women. The Brotherhood grew rapidly going from 800 members in 1936, to 200,000 by 1938 and over 2 million by 1948. As its influence grew, it opposed British rule in Egypt starting in 1936. al-Banna had been in contact with Amin al-Husseini since 1927. A central concern for the early Muslim Brotherhood was its pro-Arab activism for the Arab-Zionist conflict in Palestine, which in 1936–1939 culminated in
24696-638: The expense of form and rhetoric ." In 1939, he became a functionary in Egypt's Ministry of Education ( wizarat al-ma'arif ). In the early 1940s, he encountered the work of Nobel Prize -winner French eugenicist Alexis Carrel , who would have a seminal and lasting influence on his criticism of Western civilization , as "instead of liberating man, as the post- Enlightenment narrative claimed, he believed that Western modernity enmeshed people in spiritually numbing networks of control and discipline, and that rather than building caring communities, it cultivated attitudes of selfish individualism. Qutb regarded Carrel as
24892-531: The failure of a system which is against human nature." These experiences would prompt Qutb to adopt a radical stance, of excommunicating the Muslim governments as well as their supporters out of the pale of Islam. These revolutionary ideas published through his 1960s prison writings " In the Shade of the Qur’an " and its spin-off, " Milestones ", would lay the ideological foundations of future Jihadist movements. In Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq Qutb argues that anything non-Islamic
25088-743: The family of the last Fatimid caliph, al-'Āḍid . As the first Sultan of Egypt , Saladin established the Ayyubid dynasty , based in Cairo, and aligned Egypt with the Sunni Abbasids, who were based in Baghdad . In 1176, Saladin began construction on the Cairo Citadel , which was to serve as the seat of the Egyptian government until the mid-19th century. The construction of the Citadel definitively ended Fatimid-built Cairo's status as an exclusive palace-city and opened it up to common Egyptians and to foreign merchants, spurring its commercial development. Along with
25284-412: The foremost proponent of Islamist thought in that era. Qutb denounced secularism as an inherently "oppressive system" since it sabotaged freedom of religion by constraining all religious practice to the private realm; whereas an Islamic state would grant full religious freedom to Muslims by implementing Islamic laws publicly while delegating non-Muslim faiths to the private realm. Qutb, dissatisfied with
25480-400: The genders (which "went on even in churches"), and strong support for the new Israeli state . Qutb noted with disapproval the openly displayed sexuality of American women: The American girl is well acquainted with her body's seductive capacity. She knows it lies in the face, and in expressive eyes, and thirsty lips. She knows seductiveness lies in the round breasts, the full buttocks, and in
25676-498: The genesis of present-day Cairo to the foundation of Fustat. The choice of founding a new settlement at this inland location, instead of using the existing capital of Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast, may have been due to the new conquerors' strategic priorities. One of the first projects of the new Muslim administration was to clear and re-open Trajan's ancient canal in order to ship grain more directly from Egypt to Medina ,
25872-406: The group's most prominent thinkers, promoted takfirism in Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq ( Milestones ), a doctrine that permits "the stigmatisation of other Muslims as infidel or apostate, and of existing states as unIslamic, and the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society"; this doctrine continues to inspire many Jihadist movements. The group abandoned the use of violence in
26068-413: The guidance of mankind... It is the same with the Eastern bloc. Its social theories, foremost among which is Marxism ... is defeated on the plane of thought ... It is essential for mankind to have new leadership! At this crucial and bewildering juncture, the turn of Islam and the Muslim community has arrived – the turn of Islam". Qutb's intense dislike of the West and ethnic nationalism notwithstanding,
26264-471: The imperceptible is a decisive factor in distinguishing man from animal. Materialist thinking, ancient as well as modern, has tended to drag man back to an irrational existence, with no room for the spiritual, where everything is determined by sensory means alone. What is peddled as " progressive thought " is no more than dismal regression . Simultaneously, he rejected magical beliefs asserted by traditional interpretations of Islamic narratives, such as rejecting
26460-499: The incident resulting in the most casualties in Egypt's modern history. In retaliation, Brotherhood supporters looted and burned police stations and dozens of churches in response to the violence, though a Muslim Brotherhood spokesperson condemned the attacks on Christians and instead blamed military leaders for plotting the attacks. The crackdown that followed has been called the worst for the Brotherhood's organization "in eight decades". By 19 August, Al Jazeera reported that "most" of
26656-565: The issue of Islamic governance, Qutb differed with many modernist and reformist Muslims who claimed that democracy was Islamic because the Quranic institution of Shura supported elections and democracy. Qutb pointed out that the Shura chapter of the Qur'an was revealed during the Mekkan period, and therefore, it does not deal with the problem of government. It makes no reference to elections and calls only for
26852-491: The knowledge he had to them. In many occasions he would be shy because he was a young man, but in some occasions he would go and teach the knowledge he had to the people who asked him." Time in the United States , pursuing further studies in educational administration, cemented some of Qutb's views. Over two years, he worked and studied at Wilson Teachers' College in Washington, D.C. (one of the precursors to today's University of
27048-508: The largest joint party with eight seats in the forty-seat Chamber of Deputies . Prominent members of Al Menbar include Dr. Salah Abdulrahman, Dr. Salah Al Jowder, and outspoken MP Mohammed Khalid . Additionally, it has strongly opposed the government's accession to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights . Although Iran is a predominately Shi'ite Muslim country and the Muslim Brotherhood has never attempted to create
27244-457: The late first century BC. However, the origins of modern Cairo are generally traced back to a series of settlements in the first millennium AD. Around the turn of the fourth century, as Memphis was continuing to decline in importance, the Romans established a large fortress along the east bank of the Nile . The fortress, called Babylon , was built by the Roman emperor Diocletian (r. 285–305) at
27440-529: The legal opposition. During its term in parliament, the Brotherhood "posed a democratic political challenge to the regime, not a theological one", according to one The New York Times journalist, while another report praised it for attempting to transform "the Egyptian parliament into a real legislative body", that represented citizens and kept the government "accountable". But fears remained about its commitment to democracy, equal rights, and freedom of expression and belief—or lack thereof. In December 2006,
27636-575: The life of Jahiliyyah . If someone wishes to deceive himself or to deceive others by believing that Islam can be brought in line with this Jahiliyyah , it is up to him. But whether this deception is for others, it cannot change anything of the actual reality. This is not Islam, and they are not Muslims. Today the task of the Call is to return these ignorant people to Islam and make them into Muslims all over again". According to an anonymous work ( The Lives of Hassan elBanna & Syed Qutb available on Scribd), Qutb
27832-663: The literary magazine al-Balagh in 1922, and his first book, Muhimmat al-Sha’ir fi al-Haya wa Shi’r al-Jil al-Hadir (The Mission of the Poet in Life and the Poetry of the Present Generation), in 1932, when he was 25, in his last year at Dar al-Ulum . As a literary critic, he was particularly influenced by ‘ Abd al-Qahir al-Jurjani (d. 1078), "in his view one of the few mediaeval philologists to have concentrated on meaning and aesthetic value at
28028-456: The money now, so let me borrow it and I'll give it you next time you come around. And Amsaalih would let him do that. At the age of 12, he had his own library collection of 25 books, even though books were really expensive during that time. He would imitate the scholars by reading the books, and then give lectures to the rest of the village. If any women needed any information, they would wait till Syed Qutb came back from school, and ask him to share
28224-441: The name "Cairo" ( al-Qāhira ) originates. The caliphs lived in a vast and lavish palace complex that occupied the heart of the city. Cairo remained a relatively exclusive royal city for most of this era, but during the tenure of Badr al-Gamali as vizier (1073–1094) the restrictions were loosened for the first time and richer families from Fustat were allowed to move into the city. Between 1087 and 1092 Badr al-Gamali also rebuilt
28420-755: The new governorate, to 2011 when the Helwan Governorate was reincorporated into the Cairo Governorate. According to the World Health Organization , the level of air pollution in Cairo is nearly 12 times higher than the recommended safety level. In Cairo, and along the Nile River Valley, the climate is a hot desert climate ( BWh according to the Köppen climate classification system ). Wind storms can be frequent, bringing Saharan dust into
28616-415: The new provincial capital. This was known as al-Askar ( Arabic : العسكر , lit. 'the camp') as it was laid out like a military camp. A governor's residence and a new mosque were also added, with the latter completed in 786. The Red Sea canal re-excavated in the 7th century was closed by the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur in al-Mansur ( r. 754–775 ), but a part of the canal, known as
28812-400: The one hand and to excite bestial tendencies on the other. The American's intoxication in "jazz" music does not reach its full completion until the music is accompanied by singing that is just as coarse and obnoxious as the music itself. Meanwhile, the noise of the instruments and the voices mounts, and it rings in the ears to an unbearable degree ... The agitation of the multitude increases, and
29008-495: The organization's 15-member Guidance Council) reiterated hostility towards Zionism. For example, Egyptian cleric Safwat Hegazi spoke at the announcement rally for the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate Morsi and expressed his hope and belief that Morsi would liberate Gaza, restore the Caliphate of the "United States of the Arabs" with Jerusalem as its capital, and that "our cry shall be: 'Millions of martyrs march towards Jerusalem.'" Within
29204-402: The platform, it declared that a woman was not suited to be president because the office's religious and military duties "conflict with her nature, social and other humanitarian roles". While proclaiming "equality between men and women in terms of their human dignity", the document warned against "burdening women with duties against their nature or role in the family". Internally, some leaders in
29400-447: The prominent role of Jews in Egypt's society and their prominence in journalism, commercial spheres and the entertainment industry. al-Nadhir even called for a boycott and their expulsion, "for they have corrupted Egypt and its population." In another instance the Jews were referred to as a "societal cancer". The Brotherhood eventually distributed a list of Jewish business owners and called for their boycott, claiming that they supported
29596-512: The prosecutions of journalists, the unleashing of pro-Brotherhood gangs on nonviolent demonstrators, the continuation of military trials, new laws that permitted detention without judicial review for up to 30 days, brought hundreds of thousands of protesters to the streets starting in November 2012. By April 2013, Egypt had "become increasingly divided" between President Mohamed Morsi and "Islamist allies" and an opposition of "moderate Muslims, Christians and liberals". Opponents accused "Morsi and
29792-475: The prototypes for the rental apartment complexes which became common in the later Mamluk and Ottoman periods. However, in 1168 the Fatimid vizier Shawar set fire to unfortified Fustat to prevent its potential capture by Amalric , the Crusader king of Jerusalem . While the fire did not destroy the city and it continued to exist afterward, it did mark the beginning of its decline. Over the following centuries it
29988-408: The reign of the Mamluk sultan al-Nasir Muhammad (1293–1341, with interregnums ), Cairo reached its apogee in terms of population and wealth. By 1340, Cairo had a population of close to half a million, making it the largest city west of China . Multi-story buildings occupied by rental apartments, known as a rab' (plural ribā' or urbu ), became common in the Mamluk period and continued to be
30184-495: The religious institutions with which he came into contact, holding in contempt the way in which those institutions were used to form public opinion and thoughts. He had a special disdain, however, for schools that specialized in religious studies only, and sought to demonstrate that local schools that held regular academic classes as well as classes in religion were more beneficial to their pupils than religious schools with lopsided curricula. At this time, Qutb developed his bent against
30380-400: The revolution Gamal Abdel Nasser , the leader of the 'free officers' cell, after deposing the first President of Egypt, Muhammad Neguib , in a coup, quickly moved against the Brotherhood, blaming them for an attempt on his life. The Brotherhood was again banned and this time thousands of its members were imprisoned, many being tortured and held for years in prisons and concentration camps . In
30576-492: The ruler to consult some of the ruled, as a particular case of the general rule of Shura. Qutb also opposed the then popular ideology of Arab nationalism , having become disillusioned with the 1952 Nasser Revolution after having been exposed to the regime's practices of arbitrary arrest, torture, and deadly violence during his imprisonment. In the introduction to his influential 1964 theological and political manifesto Maʿālim fī aṭ Ṭarīq , Sayyid Qutb declared: "Mankind today
30772-422: The secular mind. In the opening of his book Milestones he presents the following views: "It is necessary for the new leadership to preserve and develop the material fruits of the creative genius of Europe, and also to provide mankind with such high ideals and values as have so far remained undiscovered by mankind, and which will also acquaint humanity with a way of life which is harmonious with human nature, which
30968-500: The shapely thighs, sleek legs—and she shows all this and does not hide it. He also commented on the American taste in arts: The American is primitive in his artistic taste, both in what he enjoys as art and in his own artistic works. "Jazz" music is his music of choice. This is that music that the Negroes invented to satisfy their primitive inclinations, as well as their desire to be noisy on
31164-590: The social and political problems of Egypt. The school of thought he inspired has become known as Qutbism . Qutb was let out of prison in May 1964 at the behest of the President of Iraq , Abdul Salam Arif , for only 8 months before being rearrested on August 9, 1965. He was accused of plotting to overthrow the state and subjected to what some consider a show trial . Many of the charges placed against Qutb in court were taken directly from Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq and he adamantly supported his written statements. The trial culminated in
31360-533: The standard for modern printings of the Quran for much of the Islamic world. The publication has been called a "terrific success", and the edition has been described as one "now widely seen as the official text of the Qur'an", so popular among both Sunni and Shi'a that the common belief among less well-informed Muslims is "that the Qur'an has a single, unambiguous reading". Minor amendments were made later in 1924 and in 1936 -
31556-417: The state), and at least 581 articles, including novels, literary arts critique and works on education, he is best known in the Muslim world for his work on what he believed to be the social and political role of Islam , particularly in his books Social Justice and Ma'alim fi al-Tariq ( Milestones ). His magnum opus , Fi Zilal al-Qur'an ( In the Shade of the Qur'an ), is a 30-volume commentary on
31752-418: The straying of many Muslims from the right path. Qutb asserted that the Islamic world had sunk into a state of jahiliyyah . This led Qutb to advocate in his book Milestones that the general masses weren't Muslims and that a revolutionary Islamic vanguard should return the ignorant people back to what he considered as pristine Islam: "Indeed, people are not Muslims, as they proclaim to be, as long as they live
31948-403: The terrorist attack. Qatar-based Muslim Brotherhood members are suspected to have helped a Muslim Brotherhood agent carry out the bombing, according to the Egyptian government. The Qatar-based supporter was named as Mohab Mostafa El-Sayed Qassem. The terrorist was named as Mahmoud Shafiq Mohamed Mostaf. The Arabic-language website of the Muslim Brotherhood commemorated the anniversary of
32144-465: The title of founder of modern Egypt. However, while Muhammad Ali initiated the construction of public buildings in the city, those reforms had minimal effect on Cairo's landscape. Bigger changes came to Cairo under Isma'il Pasha (r. 1863–1879), who continued the modernisation processes started by his grandfather. Drawing inspiration from Paris , Isma'il envisioned a city of maidans and wide avenues; due to financial constraints, only some of them, in
32340-476: The tradition that Surah al-Falaq was meant to be sent down to break a curse. Beginning from 1948, Qutb's ideological orientation would radically shift to an Islamist worldview, when he penned his first Islamist treatise al-‘Adāla . Qutb would later denounce the literary works he published during the 1940s as "un-Islamic". Different theories have been advanced as to why Qutb turned away from his secularist tendencies towards Islamic sharia. One common explanation
32536-400: The two countries to stability and a vital international role. This cultivated much hope, reawakened aspiration, and united the whole country under one leader. Then what happened? It became apparent that these seemingly powerful systems were a real disaster. The inspiration and aspirations of the people were shattered and the system of democracy did not lead to the empowerment of the people but to
32732-504: The uprising. On 14 August, the interim government declared a month-long state of emergency, and riot police cleared the pro-Morsi sit-in during the Rabaa sit-in dispersal of August 2013 . Violence escalated rapidly following armed protesters attacking police, according to the National Council for Human Rights ' report; this led to the deaths of over 600 people and injury of some 4,000, with
32928-478: The voices of approval mount, and their palms ring out in vehement, continuous applause that all but deafens the ears. Qutb concluded that major aspects of American life were primitive and "shocking"; he saw Americans as "numb to faith in religion, faith in art, and faith in spiritual values altogether". His experience in the United States formed in part the impetus for his rejection of Western values and his move towards Islamism upon returning to Egypt. Resigning from
33124-664: The works of Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein , Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley , and had immersed himself in French literature , especially Victor Hugo ". On his return to Egypt, Qutb in 1951 published "The America that I Have Seen", where he became explicitly critical of things he had observed in the United States, eventually encapsulating the West more generally: its materialism , individual freedoms , economic system, "poor" haircuts , superficiality in conversations and friendships, restrictions on divorce , enthusiasm for sports , lack of artistic feeling, "animal-like" mixing of
33320-481: The world". By May 2014, approximately 16,000 people (and as high as more than 40,000 by what The Economist calls an "independent count"), mostly Brotherhood members or supporters, have allegedly been arrested by police since the 2013 uprising. On 2 February 2015, an Egyptian court sentenced another 183 members of the Muslim Brotherhood to death. An editorial in The New York Times claimed that "leaders of
33516-454: Was "martyrdom". Mekameleen supports the Brotherhood. Condolences were sent upon Omar Abdel Rahman's death by the website of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party in Egypt. How much of the blame for the fall from power in Egypt of the Brotherhood and its allied Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) can be placed on the Brotherhood, and how much of it can be placed on its enemies in the Egyptian bureaucracy, media and security establishment
33712-431: Was "pale with sleepy eyes." Qutb never married, in part because of his steadfast religious convictions. While the urban Egyptian society he lived in was becoming more Westernized, Qutb believed the Quran taught women that 'Men are the managers of women's affairs ...' Qutb lamented to his readers that he was never able to find a woman of sufficient "moral purity and discretion" and had to reconcile himself to bachelorhood. It
33908-594: Was Cairo, the former palace-city, that became the new economic center and attracted migration from Fustat. While the Crusaders did not capture the city in 1168, a continuing power struggle between Shawar, King Amalric, and the Zengid general Shirkuh led to the downfall of the Fatimid establishment. In 1169, Shirkuh's nephew Saladin was appointed as the new vizier of Egypt by the Fatimids and two years later he seized power from
34104-456: Was at the height of Mamluk—and Cairene—influence in the mid-14th century. The French occupation was short-lived as British and Ottoman forces, including a sizeable Albanian contingent, recaptured the country in 1801. Cairo itself was besieged by a British and Ottoman force culminating with the French surrender on 22 June 1801. The British vacated Egypt two years later, leaving the Ottomans,
34300-565: Was besieged in September 640 and fell in April 641. In 641 or early 642, after the surrender of Alexandria (the Egyptian capital at the time), he founded a new settlement next to Babylon Fortress. The city, known as Fustat ( Arabic : الفسطاط , romanized : al-Fusṭāṭ , lit. 'the tent'), served as a garrison town and as the new administrative capital of Egypt. Historians such as Janet Abu-Lughod and André Raymond trace
34496-531: Was born on 9 October 1906. He was raised in the Egyptian village of Musha , located in Upper Egypt 's Asyut Province . His father, whose sixth great-grandfather was an Indian Muslim , was an Upper Egyptian landowner and the administrator of the family estate, but he was also well known for his political activism , holding weekly meetings to discuss the political events and Qur'anic recitation . At this young age, Sayyid Qutb first learned about melodic recitations of
34692-409: Was clear from his childhood that Qutb valued education, playing the part of a teacher to the women in his village: "Syed Qutb from a young age would save up his money for a man called Amsaalih, who used to sell books around the local villages. He would have a big collection of books, and another small collection specifically for Syed Qutb. If Syed never had the money, he would tell him that I don't have
34888-426: Was devastated during the 1952 riots known as the Cairo Fire or Black Saturday, which saw the destruction of nearly 700 shops, movie theatres, casinos and hotels in downtown Cairo. The British departed Cairo following the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 , but the city's rapid growth showed no signs of abating. Seeking to accommodate the increasing population, President Gamal Abdel Nasser redeveloped Tahrir Square and
35084-401: Was diminished after Vasco da Gama discovered a sea route around the Cape of Good Hope between 1497 and 1499, thereby allowing spice traders to avoid Cairo. Cairo's political influence diminished significantly after the Ottomans defeated Sultan al-Ghuri in the Battle of Marj Dabiq in 1516 and conquered Egypt in 1517. Ruling from Constantinople , Sultan Selim I relegated Egypt to
35280-443: Was evidence of Morsi's mismanagement of the economy. On 3 July 2013, Mohamed Morsi was removed from office and put into house arrest by the military, that happened shortly after mass protests against him began. demanding the resignation of Morsi. There were also significant counter-protests in support of Morsi; those were originally intended to celebrate the one-year anniversary of Morsi's inauguration, and started days before
35476-567: Was evil and corrupt, and that following sharia as a complete system extending into all aspects of life, would bring every kind of benefit to humanity, from personal and social peace, to the "treasures" of the universe. Qutb's experiences as an Egyptian Muslim—his village childhood, professional career, and activism in the Muslim Brotherhood—left an indelible mark on his theoretical and religious works. Even Qutb's early, secular writing shows evidence of his later themes. For example, Qutb's autobiography of his childhood Tifl min al-Qarya ( A Child From
35672-460: Was executed by hanging . Even though most of his observations and criticism were leveled at the Muslim world , Qutb also intensely disapproved of the society and culture of the United States , which he saw as materialistic , and obsessed with violence and sexual pleasures. He advocated violent, offensive jihad . Qutb has been described by followers as a great thinker and martyr for Islam , while many Western observers (and some Muslims) see him as
35868-442: Was first built. Low periods of the Nile during the 11th century continued to add to the landscape of Cairo; a new island, known as Geziret al-Fil , first appeared in 1174, but eventually became connected to the mainland. Today, the site of Geziret al-Fil is occupied by the Shubra district. The low periods created another island at the turn of the 14th century that now composes Zamalek and Gezira . Land reclamation efforts by
36064-479: Was first published on 10 July 1924 in Cairo under the patronage of King Fuad . The goal of the government of the newly formed Kingdom of Egypt was not to delegitimize the other variant Quranic texts (" qira'at "), but to eliminate errors found in Qur'anic texts used in state schools. A committee of teachers chose to preserve a single one of the canonical qira'at "readings", namely that of the " Ḥafṣ " version, an 8th-century Kufic recitation . This edition has become
36260-399: Was foiled and Qutb was jailed soon afterwards; the Egyptian government used the incident to justify a crackdown on various members of the Muslim Brotherhood for their vocal opposition towards the Nasser administration. During his first three years in prison, conditions were bad and Qutb was tortured. In later years he was allowed more mobility, including the opportunity to write. This period saw
36456-400: Was inspired to abandon his secular world view for Islam by how Allah prevented the ship he was traveling in to America from sinking into the ocean. "His journey started when he studied the Qur'an in a literal way, and he slowly began to understand the principles lined in the religion. Then something happened to him in America to remove his doubts. He says; that while he was going to America, he
36652-458: Was legalized in 2011 and won several elections, including the 2012 presidential election when its candidate Mohamed Morsi became Egypt's first president to gain power through an election. A year later, following massive demonstrations and unrest, he was overthrown by the military and placed under house arrest; with a later review finding that the group failed to moderate its views or embrace democratic values during its time in power. The group
36848-526: Was nonetheless in this period that the largest Mamluk-era religious monument, the Madrasa-Mosque of Sultan Hasan , was built. In the late 14th century, the Burji Mamluks replaced the Bahri Mamluks as rulers of the Mamluk state, but the Mamluk system continued to decline. Though the plagues returned frequently throughout the 15th century, Cairo remained a major metropolis and its population recovered in part through rural migration . More conscious efforts were conducted by rulers and city officials to redress
37044-418: Was on the boat (ferry), and he saw the way the boat he was travelling in—was rocking in the huge sea—all under the control of Allah without it sinking or capsizing. At that point he realized the power of Allah. He said Iman (belief) entered into his heart due to this. His second scenario was in San Francisco, when he went on top of a mountain, and he could see the whole of creation in front of him, and he realized
37240-436: Was rising at the time of the city's founding. Egyptians often refer to Cairo as Maṣr ( IPA: [mɑsˤɾ] ; مَصر ), the Egyptian Arabic name for Egypt itself, emphasizing the city's importance for the country. There are a number of Coptic names for the city. Tikešrōmi ( Coptic : Ϯⲕⲉϣⲣⲱⲙⲓ Late Coptic: [di.kɑʃˈɾoːmi] ) is attested in the 1211 text The Martyrdom of John of Phanijoit and
37436-432: Was sold and replaced by newer buildings, becoming a prestigious site for the construction of Mamluk religious and funerary complexes. Construction projects initiated by the Mamluks pushed the city outward while also bringing new infrastructure to the centre of the city. Meanwhile, Cairo flourished as a centre of Islamic scholarship and a crossroads on the spice trade route among the civilisations in Afro-Eurasia . Under
37632-431: Was the assassination of prime minister Nokrashy Pasha in 28 December by a young "Secret Apparatus" member. al-Banna claimed that the killer acted independently and publicly denounced his faith. After a failed yet lethal bombing in mid-January 1949 which was intended to destroy legal evidence pending against the Brotherhood al-Banna himself was killed in 12 February by vengeful Nokrashy supporters. In 1952, members of
37828-421: Was the focal point of the 2011 Egyptian revolution against former president Hosni Mubarak . More than 50,000 protesters first occupied the square on 25 January, during which the area's wireless services were reported to be impaired. In the following days Tahrir Square continued to be the primary destination for protests in Cairo. The uprising was mainly a campaign of non-violent civil resistance, which featured
38024-399: Was the second-largest in the empire, behind Constantinople, and, although migration was not the primary source of Cairo's growth, twenty percent of its population at the end of the 18th century consisted of religious minorities and foreigners from around the Mediterranean . Still, when Napoleon arrived in Cairo in 1798, the city's population was less than 300,000, forty percent lower than it
38220-527: Was then banned in Egypt and declared a terrorist organization. The Persian Gulf monarchies of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates followed suit, driven by the perception that the Brotherhood is a threat to their authoritarian rule. The group's founder accepted the utility of political violence and members of Brotherhood conducted assassinations and attempted assassinations on Egyptian state figures during his lifetime, including Egyptian Prime Minister Mahmud El Nokrashi in 1948. Sayyid Qutb , one of
38416-413: Was well known that the Brotherhood were made popular by their extensive social programs in Egypt, and Nasser wanted to be ready once he had taken over. At this time, Qutb did not realize Nasser's alternate plans, and would continue to meet with him, sometimes for 12 hours a day, to discuss a post monarchical Egypt. Once Qutb realized that Nasser had taken advantage of the secrecy between the Free Officers and
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