Inside the Muslim Brotherhood: Religion, Identity, and Politics

ISBN-13: 9780190279738 / Angielski / Twarda / 2016 / 224 str.

Khalail Anaanai; Khalil Al-Anani

Opis

Over the past three decades, through rises and falls in power, regime repression and exclusion, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood has endured, proving more resilient than any other Islamist movement in the world. In this book Khalil al-Anani explores the factors that have enabled the Brotherhood to survive so long within an ever-changing political landscape.

Inside the Muslim Brotherhood unpacks the principal factors that shape the movement's identity, organization, and activism. Investigating the processes of socialization, indoctrination, recruitment, identification, networking, and mobilization that characterize the movement, al-Anani argues that the Brotherhood is not merely a political actor seeking power but an identity-maker that aims to change societal values, norms, and morals to line up with its ideology and worldview. The Brotherhood is involved in an intensive process of meaning construction and symbolic production that shapes individuals' identity and gives sense to their lives. The result is a distinctive code of identity that binds members together, maintains their activism, and guides their behavior in everyday life. Al-Anani attributes the Brotherhood's longevity to its tight-knit structure coupled with a complex membership system that has helped them resist regime penetration. The book also explores the divisions and differences within the movement and how these affect its strategy and decisions.

The culmination of over a decade of research and interviews with leaders and members of the movement, this book challenges the dominant narratives about Islamists and Islamism as a whole.

Recenzje

Al-Anani's book is a significant contribution to the literature on the Brotherhood, filling in a significant gap by closely examining and explaining the organizational role of ideology and group identity in the movements activism, organization, and decision-making. Though focused on the Egyptian Brotherhood, the book includes many relevant discussions to readers interested in Brotherhood groups in other countries as well as political Islam and Islamist movements more broadly. Theoretically sophisticated, it is written in clear prose and will be of great use and interest to students and researchers in Middle East politics, Islamic studies, and social movements.

O autorze

Khalil al-Anani is Associate Professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies in Qatar.