The Muslim Brotherhood have been antagonistic toward the Arab national state since their inception, viewing it as an obstacle to their quest for power. MB have waged a relentless campaign against the modern foundations and principles of the national state, deeming them contradictory to the tenets of their version of religiosity, which they have reduced Islam to and appropriated for their own agenda. It is important not to be deceived by any development or change in MB’s discourse that may suggest reconciliation with this modern political entity and adaptation to its modernist principles and foundations. Such developments are merely deceitful tactics aimed at gaining sympathy, publicity, and support in their ascent to power. This deception becomes evident as we explore the foundational ideas shaping MB’s perspective on the state—a perspective that is fundamentally at odds with rational orientations like enlightenment, modernity, and the national state.
The foundational texts of Islamism regarding the concept of the state reject diversity, believing it exclusively possess the absolute truth. Consequently, Islamism inherently clashes with the fundamental values of citizenship and peaceful coexistence. It can be argued that adherents to this ideology inevitably resort to violence against others. Islamism represents a totalitarian, political, and activist view of religion. Its followers assert that there is a predetermined model of governance that Muslims must adhere to, rejecting any alternative models, even if described as ‘Islamic,’ as long as they deviate from their own model.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s understanding of politics and governance has led to a severe distortion of the epistemological framework adopted by such Islamist movements. Their view of political work or system of governance is fundamentally based on a mixture of concepts claiming to be Islam and distorted contemporary Western ideas. This mixture has resulted in one of the worst instances of political practices in Islamic history. The belief of these Islamist movements that politics is about power, authority, influence, or the art of state governance, coupled with their reliance on sources of Islamic legitimacy, has led them to zealously pursue control of state affairs. This has resulted in a complex form of authoritarianism, especially intellectual authoritarianism, founded on the presumption of possessing the truth. Consequently, they delegitimize dissenters—even questioning their right to exist—and cast them out of society, or in some cases, deny their existence altogether.
Almost all terrorist and extremist groups operating today have drawn their conceptualization of the state, which is based on the belief that the Islamic Caliphate is the exclusive model of governance, from the Muslim Brotherhood. This is not only because MB is the parent group from which all others have emerged, but also because it was the first to theorize and establish the sanctity of the Caliphate concept in modern times, considering it a pillar of Islam. Although subsequent organizations sought to add some of their distinctive characteristics to the concept of the Caliphate to align it with their intellectual foundations, they did so while simultaneously working to destroy the image of the national state, both politically and religiously, by portraying it as a product of foreign occupation in the Islamic world.
