Congress Weighs Options to Designate Muslim Brotherhood a Terrorist Organization

The Capitol Building in Washington on Jan. 30, 2018. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

The Muslim Brotherhood may soon be designated as a foreign terrorist organization, and a congressional national security panel on July 11 looked at options for how this designation will work.

“This hearing is an opportunity to discuss what the United States’ next step should be in combating the Muslim Brotherhood’s threat,” said Congressman Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.), chairman of the Subcommittee on National Security of the House oversight committee, in a release.

“The Muslim Brotherhood is a militant Islamist organization with affiliates in over 70 countries,” DeSantis said. “There’s no question that the Muslim Brotherhood’s affiliates are involved in terrorism.”

The Muslim Brotherhood is based on a blend of socialism and Islamism, and pushes for a long march through institutions to subvert societies with its form of government. Al-Qaeda was an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood that held that violence should be used to reach the same goals.

A key founder of the Muslim Brotherhood was Sayyid Qutb, whose books “Milestones” (1964) and “In the Shade of the Quran” (written 1951–1965) helped shape the systems of the modern extremist Islamic regimes. Qutb was also an advocate for “offensive jihad,” and former al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden was mentored by a student of Qutb’s brother.

A June 28 Center for Security Policy decision brief called on the Trump administration to designate the Muslim Brotherhood and all of its affiliates as terrorist organizations.

“Thankfully, the Trump Administration has discarded the Obama-era policy of treating the Brotherhood as a potential ally,” DeSantis said. “Now, the questions are focused on how expansive to make the terror designation, and whether it should be done through the State Department or Treasury Department.”

Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy and a longtime associate of the Center for Security Policy, was among those who testified at the hearing, and according to the release, Jasser also recommended the full terrorist designation for the Muslim Brotherhood.