The Muslim Brotherhood: How its Troubled History Suggests that it Will Not merely Survive but Thrive in the Twenty-First Century

Abstract: My thesis is that from its foundation in 1928 the social, religious, and ideological views officially propounded and supported by the Muslim Brotherhood have been an uneasy synthesis of violently opposing social, political, and spiritual views embraced by the more influential and articulate theorists and operatives within its ranks and that these varying views are broadly representative of the profound social, religious, and political divisions that have characterized the evolution of Egyptian society since the 19th century. My thesis will argue that the ways in which the radically opposed approaches of various theorists and operatives active within the Brotherhood have been instrumental in promoting ideological positions that have at key moments in recent Egyptian history resulted in rancorous, nearly crippling, discord within the organization itself and have on a number of critical occasions inspired unofficially sanctioned violence in the public sphere