Ikhwanweb :: The Muslim Brotherhood Official English Website

Is There an Egyptian Nation?

The current protests aren't about the President Mohamed Morsi's power grab -- this fight is over something far more basic...

The Muslim Brotherhood's New Power In Egypt's Parliament

The question of what Islamists want has acquired new urgency, thanks to Egypt's ongoing elections -- which appear poised to hand the Muslim Brotherhood's political party, Freedom and Justice (FJP), more than 40 percent of the seats in parliament. But despite the perception of the Brotherhood as rigid and hard-line, the fact is that even Islamists themselves are not entirely sure what they want...

Shadi Hamid: What Obama and American Liberals Don’t Understand About the Arab Spring

Throughout the Arab spring, analysts and policymakers have debated the proper role that the United States should be playing in the Middle East...

Don't Postpone Egypt's Elections

Even with ongoing protests, escalating disorder, and a likely big win by the Muslim Brotherhood, rescheduling next week's vote would be the wrong move for Egypt's new democracy...

The Struggle for Middle East Democracy

It always seemed as if Arab countries were ‘on the brink.’ It turns out that they were. And those who assured us that Arab autocracies would last for decades, if not longer, were wrong...

The New Egypt and the Muslim Brotherhood

The Brotherhood, in its current form, will not run in the coming elections. It is forming a new “Freedom and Justice Party,” which will be administratively separate from the Brotherhood, opening its doors to new members outside the movement. What form will the new party take and what will exactly will it want?..

In Egypt, Democracy Is The Only Avenue To Economic Stability

Egypt's would-be revolution is causing not only a political earthquake, but an economic one as well...

After Tunisia: Obama's Impossible Dilemma in Egypt

The Middle East just got more complicated for the Obama administration. The January 14 popular revolt in Tunisia, the first ever to topple an Arab dictator, has called into question a basic premise of U.S. policy in the Middle East - that repressive regimes, however distasteful, are at least stable...

When Pro-Western Regimes Fall: What Should the U.S. Do?

One month ago, Tunisia seemed quiet, stable. Quiet and stable is generally what Western governments like to see in the Middle East. But Tunisia may be on the brink of the first genuine Arab revolution in recent memory...

Is President Obama Weak in the Eyes of Arab Leaders?

Neoconservatives are likely to be wrong on any number of issues. But there is one critique of theirs that, somewhat to my dismay, has struck me as more compelling than I would have originally hoped...

Egypt Is Holding Elections: Will They Matter?

will what transpires on election day actually matter much? We can probably predict the results. The ruling National Democratic Party, of course, will win enough seats to have a veto-proof two-thirds majority. But the real story will be the Muslim Brotherhood's neutralization...

Egyptian Opposition Announces Boycott of Upcoming Parliamentary Election

In an interview with Voice of America News, Shadi Hamid discusses the recent announcement of Egypt's al-Ghad Party to boycott upcoming parliamentary elections...

Muslims, Quran Burnings, and the Problem of Freedom of Speech

People often ask me how Muslims can get so worked up about symbolic acts but have trouble summoning the same anger over the killing of innocent civilians. It is understandable, if somewhat loaded, question. It is also difficult to explain. This is a civilization under siege and so its reactions and preferences become distorted. The slow, difficult work of understanding how this distortion occurred - and what we can do about it - is more critical than ever...

The Islamist Response to Repression: Are Mainstream Islamist Groups Radicalizing?

Today, some of the Middle East’s most prominent Islamist groups are in a state of crisis, racked by internal divisions and struggling to respond to regime repression. With key U.S. allies in the region placing increasingly crippling limits on political opposition...

Mubarak’s Regime may be a Victim of its Own Success

By focusing on western demands for economic restructuring – and the personal enrichment that has accompanied it – Egypt’s ruling elites have become almost comically out of touch with their own people, says Shadi Hamid...

Why Are Liberals So Angry With President Obama?

A new conventional wisdom is emerging: more and more liberals seem to be disillusioned with President Obama when they should actually be grateful, presumably because of all the wonderful landmark legislation he's passed (stimulus, healthcare, etc.)..

Can't We All Just Get Along?

Egyptian voters cast their ballots Tuesday for the Shura council, the country's upper house of Parliament, amidst widespread allegations of vote-rigging and outright government violence and intimidation...

Insta-Reactions to Today's Pro-Democracy Protest in Egypt

I was just at the pro-democracy protest in Tahrir Square, Cairo, which finished up about 30 minutes ago (although I think many of the protestors are still trapped in by police)...

Four Things Obama Needs to Do in the Middle East

In a recent piece, I discussed the growing sense of “Bush nostalgia” among Arab reformers. Such nostalgia has less to do with George W. Bush and more to do with the period of democratic promise the Middle East experienced in 2004-5, partly a result of aggressive, but short-lived, efforts to put pressure on authoritarian regimes...

The Structural Hopelessness of US Policy Toward the Middle East

Daniel Larison has made one of the strongest arguments I’ve seen for the structural hopelessness of US policy toward the Middle East. In response to my piece calling on Obama to focus more on democracy promotion, he writes...