The mid-sized town of Greeley, Colorado, might seem an unlikely place for the roots of 20th-century Islamist extremism to take hold. But it was here in the late 1940s that Sayyid Qutb, an Egyptian student at a local teacher-training college who would go on to become a leading ideologue of the Muslim Brotherhood, is said to have become radicalised.
Repelled by what he saw as suburban Colorado's decadent and permissive culture, on his return to Egypt he published a book called What I have Seen in America before resigning from his civil service job and joining the Islamist political party.
Founded in Egypt nearly a century ago, the Brotherhood is an international political organisation that has provided much of the intellectual scaffolding for modern violent extremism in the Middle East and other parts of the world. It is designated a terrorist organisation by several countries, including Egypt itself, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Russia, while countries like Austria and Jordan have banned their activities. Now, the US appears set to join them.
On Sunday, US President Donald Trump said he would designate the Brotherhood as a foreign terrorist organisation (FTO). The move, telegraphed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio in August, would be an important step in a process of curbing the group’s activities in America. The US is right to take action; although the Brotherhood has not directly claimed responsibility for any attacks on American soil, its preachers are thought to have inspired many who have participated in such attacks. There are few strands of Islamist radicalism that do not have the movement’s fingerprints on it.
Through fundraising and inculcating ideological sympathy for violent radicals through various front groups, the Brotherhood is an influential and deceptive organisation that is not to be underestimated. Should the FTO designation come to pass, the Brotherhood will find itself alongside other extremist groups, such as Yemen’s Houthi rebels, on the list. On a practical level, proscribing the Brotherhood will give US law enforcement more legal tools to disrupt the radicals, showing opponents and allies alike that Washington takes Brotherhood-linked threats seriously. It would also indicate that the US authorities are not fooled by the group’s hijacking of religion; the Brothers are to be regarded as political operators and a security threat, not pious Muslims.
This is not to argue that an FTO designation is some sort of quick fix. Some wings of the Brotherhood are more clearly a security risk than others. As a largely clandestine network, the group is skilled in obfuscation - for the US move to be effective, the authorities must have a laser-like focus when it comes to sanctions or prosecutions. Recklessly punishing non-violent fellow travellers or those who are on the fringes of Brotherhood activity risks fuelling support for the organisation.
As many in the Arab and Muslim world can attest, the Brotherhood is an organisation that cloaks its desire for political power in the clothes of charity and piety. The world’s leading superpower has come to the same conclusion highlighting how profound that danger is.
