Current Affairs Middle East

Saudi Arabia Extends Hand to Muslim Brotherhood

Written by Shoaib

Saudi Arabia and the Muslim Brotherhood may have an erratic relationship but its a much older relationship than most care to remember. With this in mind Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has extended a friendly hand to the Muslim Brotherhood to mend disagreements.

The Muslim Brotherhood had the first glimmer of hope when Saudi Foreign Minister Saud bin Faisal said “We do not have a problem with the Muslim Brotherhood; our problem is with a small group affiliated to this organisation”. The Foreign Minister’s comments were far from a lone voice from Salman’s government, Saudi Deputy Crown Prince made his first official visit to Qatar, a country which pledges full support for the Muslim Brotherhood.

The chance of friendship was signalled most strongly by the King himself when he officially invited the head of Egypt’s Al-Azhar University to a historic conference denouncing terrorism, despite ideological differences. While the Muslim Brotherhood has political ideological differences with Saudi Arabia, the King has made indications of attempting to rise above this to give the Muslim Brotherhood a role outside of politics.

Forgotten History

It should be noted that the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al-Banna, had good relations with Saudi Arabia. When some members of the Muslim brotherhood tried to kill Egyptian leader Nasser, Saudi Arabia went as far as allowing Muslim Brotherhood members into Saudi Arabia for protection and granting their leader citizenship. Saudi Arabia even allowed Muslim Brotherhood members to control some Saudi institutions.

Unfortunately after years of Saudi help the Muslim Brotherhood sided with the Iranian revolution. Matters got worse when the Muslim Brotherhood supported Saddam Hussein while he made threats against Saudi Arabia during the gulf war. Even recently when the Muslim Brotherhood gained power in Egypt, they invited the Iranian leadership, a sworn enemy against Saudi Arabia, for an official visit to Egypt . This turned the warm history stone cold and from the Saudi perspective was seen as severing the old friendship.

A New Chance

Experts have said that it seems that King Salman is ready to forget the past and reconcile old differences. They have suggested that the King wishes for Sunnis worldwide to unite despite differences, something which many in Saudi and the Muslim world see as a wise move.

“There’s a growing sense of hope now, things are changing around us with new leaders coming to power and it’s time we have a voice again and clarify to the world who we really are” said a Muslim Brotherhood member living in Qatar

In the last few weeks King Salman has also met with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. Both countries have expressed that they have never felt closer to Saudi Arabia.

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About the author

Shoaib

CEO of Hujjaj.co | Director of the Organisation for the Conservation of Islamic Heritage | President of itiba.tv | Editor Muslim World Journal | Pharmacist | You can find me on Instagram and Facebook

shoaib@muslimworldjournal.com

5 Comments

  • You have said muslim brotherhood want to kill naseer but it was a conspiracy against Muslim brotherhood and we also said muslim brotherhood was supporting sadden. In90s Saudi support saddem.

    • I didn’t say MB wanted to kill Nasser, I said “some members of the Muslim brotherhood tried to kill Egyptian leader Nasser” and this is what was reported at the time but also this is what the military use to attack MB. So closing our eyes to this won’t help.

  • ………writing is my passion,pharmacy is my career,truth is my resolve and i am a saudi paid agent.working on their behalf to spread further untruth.Nothing can be more hypocritical than this.Saudis extending hand to MB.shame on you to spread all this.Saudis are in cahoots with the evil Al-sisi to exterminate the MB and has helped Al-sisi and even his predecessors to crush MB.Saudis are dead scared of any mass uprising and would not like any people’s movement to succeed posing a threat to their own kingdom.Saudis offered billions of dollars of money to crush this Arab Spring and overthrow a legitimately elected democratic government of Mohammad Morsi.They are a big hypocrite,they have always played a damning role allying themselves with the US-UK axis which destroyed other muslim countries.they even provided their own land as bases for attacks.People like you are many singing paeans of the kings coz you enjoy the privilege and perks offered to you.Have the courage to speak the Truth.Had your intro. did not have the sentence and “Truth is my resolve” i would not have bothered to reply even.Be honest.

    • I live in the UK and I’m amused you think I’m paid by Saudi. My article was completely referenced. You can check everything I said and you will find it is backed up.

      I discussed the history between MB and KSA in the article, going back to Hasan al-Banna. Also most Muslim countries are allied with Western countries, we live in a globally functioning world, its not possible or sensible to boycott the UK or the USA or Europe, as you have suggested Saudi should do.

      I don’t live a privileged life in any way and I’m not funded at all, which is a shame sometimes 🙂

      Truth is my resolve, which is why I am open to discussion and criticism. It is not very nice of you to accuse me of being an agent of anyone simply for disagreeing with your outlook of the world.

      I look forward to your reply.

  • May Allah make it easy for this king. He seems to have more wisdom than the last one who really had no clue in running such a great country. Muslim Brotherhood has millions of followers and they have been around for ages. Some one who has a brain of donkey, like Sisi, can only imagine in trying to purge them. If they do not change their strategy in demonizing them, soon we will see them joining forces with ISIS. May Allah help us then.

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