Muslim Brotherhood Origin, Core Ideology, Leaders | Strange Military Stories

The Muslim Brotherhood (MB) emerged in Egypt as a resistance movement against foreign presence. 

After Napoleon's invasion of Egypt, the territory subsequently fell into the hands of Western powers, As the Western powers began to increase their influence in Egypt, it saw the erosion of Islamic values in the society. 

It is in this backdrop that Hasan al Bana emerged on the scene and established the Muslim Brotherhood. Hasan al Bana began to follow a grassroots mechanism to promote Islamic values. He began to focus on issues like health, education, and other humanitarian issues. 

His aim was to establish a direct touch with the people of Egypt. He used this grassroots platform to popularise his version of Islam and preached the need for Sharia and a Caliphate as guiding forces in society.

The core ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood

• Advocates for a political approach.
• The focus is to go for the "Islamic Way Sharia to be followed.
• Advocates Caliphate.
• Allah is their objective.
• Quran is their law.
• The prophet is their leader.
• Jihad is their way (holy war).
• Death for Allah is the highest aspiration.

Core Leader of the Muslim Brotherhood

• Hasan al Banna (founder) -----Promotion of anti-westernization
• Sayyed Qutb (Successor)-------Promotion of radicalisation

As the Muslim Brotherhood has established a strong mass base in Egypt, it emerged powerfully on the political scene of Egypt after the Arab Spring in 2011. The Muslim Brotherhood accepts Islam with modern components and is, therefore, more pragmatic and accommodating than both Salafism and Wahhabism. 

Saudi Arabia does not support the MB as it advocates the establishment of a Caliphate which endangers Saudi Monarchy and their dynastic rule. Thus, Saudi Arabia prefers to support the Egyptian military over the Muslim Brotherhood.

What is Wahhabism Meaning, History, Teaching, Ideology | Strange Military Stories

Shaikh Muhammad Ibn Abd Al Wahhab is the founder of Wahabism. 

Wahhabis actually consider the term pejorative and prefer to call themselves al-Muwahhidun or  al-Tawhid, “Those who uphold the unity of God.” By these terms, Wahhabis presume an exclusive claim on Tawhid, The Oneness of God, the fundamental principle of Islam.

History

Al Wahab was born in 1703 in Nejd in Central Arabia. At the age of 10, Al Wahab learns the Quran and found a lot of discrepancies in what was mentioned in the Quran and what was being practiced in reality. 

AI Wahab noticed people deviating from the path advocated in Quran by worshipping saints and tombs, which were practices that were completely against the Quran. 

AI Wahab began to preach the ideas of the Quran which went against the existing practices of people. 

In 1724, AI Wahab went to Basra in Iraq and found many followers and sympathizers in Basra, among whom ere several prominent persons. However, he was asked to leave Basra, In 1727, AI Wahab came back to his village Uyayna in Nejd from Basra. In his village, Al Wahab again began to preach his ideas which were not appreciated by the ruler of Nejd who ordered him into exile. Al Wahab reached a small emirate in Arabia by the name Diriya. The king of Diriya was Mohammad Ibn Saud. 

Monotheism

Al Wahab preached in Diriya, he began to increase his followership. This was not appreciated by Ibn Saud who wanted Al Wahab to leave Diriya, but Ibn Saud's wife, being a follower of Al Wahab, convinced Ibn Saud to let him stay in Diriya. Al Wahab's ideology was based on monotheism. In Kitab at-Tawhid book, Al Wahab explains that Muslims should only follow Allah, and those who believe in one God are true Muslims. He said that all others who are Muslim but believe in practice other than Allah and monotheism live in a state of Jahiliya. 

Al Wahab demanded conformity to one God or Caliph and advocated that the true followers of unity and monotheism, who are the chosen ones, can eliminate non-true Muslims like Sufis and Shias, and so on. When Al Wahab preached these doctrines in Diriya, Ibn Saud saw in these doctrines a grand design to enforce conformity, gain acceptance, and expand his empire in other emirates of Arabia. 

Ibn Saud began his territorial expansion and conquest over other emirates of Arabia on the pretext of the enforcement of Wahabi doctrine and gave birth to a unified Arabia which was now called Saudi Arabia (derived from the name of Muhammad Ibn Saud).

Wahhabi Teachings Incorporate 

• The concepts of hejira (flight from non-Wahhabi traditions).
• takfir (ex-communication of other Muslims as infidels).
• armed jihad as not only permissible but obligatory against unbelievers and non- Wahhabi Muslims, who are stigmatized as mushrikin or idolators.

Wahhabism owes its influence to a personal and political alliance that Ibn al-Wahhab forged with Muhammad ibn Saud, the ruler of Diriyya, in Najd. Ibn Saud pledged his support to Al-Wahhab in waging jihad against all those who deviated from Wahhabi doctrines in return for religious sanction for his military campaigns. Nevertheless, Wahhabism remained a marginal and heterodox tendency within Islam until Abd al-Azziz ibn Saud expelled the Hashemites from the Hejaz, the region containing the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, and established the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932.

Ikhwan and Wahabi Ideology

Flag of Ikhwan

After the death of Ibn Saud, his successor Abdal Aziz also used territorial expansion and violence to ensure the spread of Wahabi ideology and this is how, after the unification of Saudi Arabia, Wahhabism emerged as the core ideology of the ruling state and ruling family. Abdal Aziz established an army of people named Ikhwan to spread Wahabi ideology through forced coercion. The members of Ikhwan used to slaughter people who did not conform to the Wahabi ideology. 

The Ikhwan soldiers used to wear black clothes, raise black flags, and wear a black robe to cover their faces. It is this Ikhwan spirit which is visible in the ISIS today. In the period during the Second World War, the US and Saudi Arabia developed an alliance whereby the US would buy Saudi oil in return for money, arms, and ammunition, and Saudi was allowed to export Wahhabism in the Middle East to gain hegemony in the Middle East. Saudi used the money to provide training to West Asians and also provided support to extremists who Would seek conformity. 

The ideological underpinnings of ISIS, the Taliban, and Al Qaeda trace their roots to Wahhabism. Post the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, the CIA revived the Ikhwan spirit, leading to the formation of the Al Qaeda and Saudi Arabia used it to expand its influence and hegemony, while the US used the ideology and its army to contain the Soviet.

Al-Saud (Mid-eighteenth century) 

Abdulaziz (1902 to 1953) 1932-Saudi Arabia is established

King Saud

King Faisal

King Khalid

King Fahd

King Abdullah

King Salman (Since 2015)

Read how The campaign of the Khalistan Referendum 2020 is a brainchild of ISI of Pakistan.

Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and India | Strange Military Stories

Organization of Islamic Cooperation Council of Foreign Minister Summit

Since the 1969 Rabat Summit India had been craving to seek participation in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the collective of the Islamic world. In 1969, an Indian delegation was led by Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed to participate in the Rabat summit, but the Indian delegation was kept out because of the leverage Pakistan enjerved the OIC. 

The invitation to India in 2019 CFM was out of the proximate relations between the Indian PM and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi From the fact that India and UAE relations have been growing in the recent times as evidenced in the chapter in India and United Arab Emirates Relations), it is clear that the UAE was able to convince Saudi Arabia to allow India to participate in the CFM. At the end of the CEM, the Abu Dhabi Declaration was adopted. 

Organization of islamic cooperation Country members

The declaration did mention about the need for a stable Afghanistan. The most crucial aspect of the declaration was that it did mention Jammu and Kashmir. The declaration mentioned that the OIC supports the struggle of the Kashmiri people and it condemned Indian excesses in Kashmir by asserting that the human right violations tantamount to Indian terror. 

Organisation of Islamic Cooperation members

There has been a huge debate in public discourse in India that when India knew that the OIC would ma a statement that may affect India, why did India accept the invitation? It is important to note that 57 nation strong bloc the OIC is a large bloc that India would not afford to miss. Secondly, by refusin to accept the invitation, India would have allowed Pakistan to use the OIC to continue to breed a India hatred Thirdly, India has brought about a radical shift in the way it wants to counter the Pakistani anti-India and anti-Kashmir propaganda. It wants to use the OIC as a platform in the long run to put up its own narrative on Kashmir. This in the long run involves an Indian attempt to showcase to the oIe the state sponsorship of terrorism by Pakistan in Kashmir India has realised that in the Information Age today, what the OIC says and what it does do not matter but its words do shape perceptions and eventually influence policy. Even though the present participation was not an unalloyed triumph ke India, but has portents for the future.

The success of India's participation in the OIC is a classic case of success of India's West Asia outreach. It is significant to note that India was able to break the mould of Islamabad's tried and tested policy of countering India in the OIC. The OIC states have realised the importance India holds for their strategy to diversify from oil The Arab states are appreciative of India's secular-free market and talent for assimilation More important is the fact that despite India being hume to third largest Muslim population, a fractious minority have fallen to the charm of Islamic radicalisation of ISIS. 

The next step for India is the India-Arab League meet and India-North Africa meets.There have been some fiscal this time too. During her speech Indian Foreign Minister denounced terrorism (and indirect reference to Pakistan). But, the Abu Dhabi Declaration at the end of the meet did not even mention that India was a guest of honour. It also did not make a reference that the Indian Foreign Minister delivered her maiden keynote speech at the plenary session. This is surprising that the Decstatia made mention of unimportant stuff like 2020 Expo to be hosted by the UAE To add salt to the injury, the Declaration made a specific mention of Pakistan's step towards de-escalation by returning the IndP and made no mention of the Pulwama attack. The mention of indian terrorism in Kashmir' for azociter and hunan rights violations' was a big failure on part of India that only diminished its image internationally.

 

Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Country members 

OIC Member State Countries

1. Islamic Republic of AFGHANISTAN 
2. Republic of ALBANIA
3. People’s Democratic 
4. Republic of ALGERIA 
5. Republic of AZERBAIJAN 
6. Kingdom of BAHRAIN
7. People’s Republic of BANGLADESH 
8. Republic of BENIN
9. BRUNEI-DARUSSALAM BURKINA-FASO
10. Republic of CAMEROON Republic of CHAD
11. Union of The COMOROS
12. Republic of COTE D'IVOIRE 
13. Republic of DJIBOUTI Arab R
14. Republic of EGYPT Republic of GABON
15. Republic of The GAMBIA
16.  Republic of GUINEA
17. Republic of GUINEA-BISSAU
18.  Republic of GUYANA
19.  Republic of INDONESIA Islamic
20.  Republic of IRAN
21. Republic of IRAQ
22. Hashemite Kingdom of JORDAN
23. Republic of KAZAKHSTAN 
24. State of KUWAIT
25. KYRGYZ
26. Republic Republic of LEBANON 

OIC Observers States

1. Bosnia and Herzegovina
2.  Central African
3.  Republic
4. Kingdom of Thailand
5.  The Russian Federation
6. Turkish Cypriot State

organisation of islamic cooperation twitter Account

organisation of islamic cooperation twitter Account

Delhi and Riyadh Declarations : India and Saudi Arabia ties

As the cold war ended, firstly India began to initiate warmer relations with the USA. In 1998 after conducting the nuclear test test, it emerged as a confident player. The power assertion of India began when, by 2000s, its Economy began to grow. Tectonic events in the post-Cold War era brought India and Saudi Arabia closer rain. The first event of considerable impact was the 9/11 in the US. After 9/11, when the US invaded Afghanistan and Iraq, it created immense tension in Saudi Arabia. Iraq was under Saddam, who was a Sunni. He had kept the neighbouring Iran (a Shia-dominated state) under check. Saudi now feared that after the deposition of Saddam, there would be no more checks on Iran, which would in turn fuel Iranian hegemonic ambitions. 

The subsequent rise of a hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran strengthened the fears of Saudi Arabia. In order to counter such fears, the then King of Saudi, Abdullah, decided to forge regional partnerships. In 2006, King Abdullah visited India. This visit marked a new chapter in Saudi Arabian foreign policy as Saudi decided to now strengthen its relations beyond the US. In 2006, King Abdullah was made the Chief Guest of the Republic Day parade celebrations. India and Saudi Arabia, in 2006, concluded the Delhi Declaration. This was the first-ever comprehensive document bilaterally signed to envisage a deep relationship between the two states. The components are explained below.

India-Saudi Arabía Delhi Declaration of 2006

1. Agricultural research
2. Cooperation on terrorism and mechanisms to curb it
3. Trade and commerce
4. Energy cooperation
5. Investments
6. Biotechnology
7. Tourism
8. Healthcare-
9. Youth Exchanges

As the Delhi Declaration of 2006 opened up the cooperation, Indian PM Dr Manmohan Singh visited Riyadh in 2010. The aim of the visit was to build cooperation on a platform beyond the Delhi Declaration. During PM's visit to Riyadh, not only did he conclude the Riyadh Declaration but the partnership was now taken to the level of strategic partnership. The components are explained below.

Riyadh Declaration of strategic partnership between India and Saudi Arabia-2010

1. Space
2. cooperation
3. Renewable energy
4. Extradition treaty
5. Transfer of sentenced persons
6. Economic cooperation Investment promotion
7. Hydrocarbons and oil diplomacy
8. IT
9. Intelligence sharing
10. Science and technology cooperation