The Muslim Brotherhood’s 'entry in Europe' is seen by some as 'threatening'

On both sides of the Atlantic, a realism seems to be setting in that the Muslim Brotherhood could be just as much of a threat in Europe and the United States as it is in the Middle East and Africa.

There had previously been a false sense that their alleged conduct of terrorism over there meant that they’re relatively harmless over here.  There now appears to be an increased understanding that the Brotherhood’s raison d’être is the same wherever they operate. They just vary their methods according to the territory, it has been argued by some.

The Brotherhood was founded in Egypt almost 100 years ago and has local branches across the world. One of its aims is to create a state ruled by Islamic law, or Sharia.

It is a transnational Sunni Islamist movement founded in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna and is a religious, political, and social organization that seeks to implement Islamic principles in all aspects of life.

The founder said he wants to create a more democratic and modern state and turn the economy around  and its backers say it is time to put into practice the Brotherhood's policy but that this will have "a moderate Islamic reference".

The Brotherhood grew into an important social movement and political opposition in Egypt and its Islamist ideology – which calls for public policies in line with its interpretation of Islam – has become highly influential throughout the world.

The respected publication, “The Conversation”, said, “Appealing to Egyptians disillusioned with the country’s existing religious institutions, critical of its political system and angered by the Western interference in the Muslim world, the Brotherhood grew into a grassroots movement with an intricate network of schools, newspapers and social services.”

It is, even so, outlawed in Egypt and several Arab countries, whose governments reportedly see it as a threat.

In some countries, their tactics are overt and, according to report in the media and elsewhere, perceived as alleged terrorism. In The Secret Apparatus: The Muslim Brotherhood’s Industry of Death, Cynthia Farahat argued that the Muslim Brotherhood is “the world’s incubator of modern Islamic terrorism” and “the world’s most dangerous militant cult.” Certainly the arrests, plots and attacks across the Middle East and Africa would appear to support that view.

No one was immediately available to address such allegations but the Brotherhood is surprisingly versatile in the way it adapts tactics to the local environment. In France, the French Government has spent the summer strategising on how to respond to the entry method that the organisation has been using. A  recent French government report explained that the Brotherhood controls 139 places of worship while being affiliated to a further 68. It runs 280 French sporting, education and charitable associations, and 21 schools with an apparent aim to set up ecosystems at local level to structure the lives of Muslims “from birth till death.”

The  French report, drawn up by two senior civil servants, claims to find evidence for a policy of "entryism" by the Muslim Brotherhood into public bodies like schools and local government.

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said the Brotherhood's ultimate goal is to push all of French society towards sharia law, which - he says-  is allegedly unacceptable and incompatible with the principles of France and the goals of national cohesion.

In the United States, a new bill is making its way through Congress. The Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act of 2025 is bipartisan legislation, led by the senior Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Florida Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart and Jared Moskowitz. The bill, it is reported, aims to  classify the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation, allowing sanctions against its perceived operations around the world. The measure is gaining support in Congress. If it does not pass, there is speculation that  President Donald Trump may choose to move against the Brotherhood in an executive order. Lorenzo Vidino, director of the Program on Extremism at The George Washington University, has stated that, “Domestically, law-enforcement agencies should use existing legal tools to go after the web of US-based Brotherhood spin-offs”.

Security services across Europe, meanwhile, are in agreement that the Muslim Brotherhood allegedly operates an extensive and sophisticated covert network, both at the national and pan-European level (apparently through its reported umbrella organization, FIOE/CEM, and spinoffs like FEMYSO). Intelligence services also agree that the Brotherhood has, it is claimed, created “front organizations” that allow them to operate within society and advance their agenda without being easily recognizable as being part of the Brotherhood. They also concur that although the Brotherhood is not yet engaged in terrorism on the continent, their views and goals are, it is again further alleged, “problematic, subversive, undemocratic, and incompatible with basic human rights and Western society.”

It has to be stressed that no one from The Muslim Brotherhood, the FIOE-CEM or FEMYSO was available for comment at the time of publication but all have very robustly rebutted any kind of wrongdoing or any involvement in terrorist-related activities.

There can be no doubt there has been a naivety in both Europe and the United States until recently. How could we think that an organisation that, at least some argue, appears to be in “terrorist mode” in some territories does not have harmful ambitions in others? Why else, it is further argued, would they conduct this system of alleged covert entry, laying down roots across Europe, allegedly bringing in funds, infiltrating places of worship, education and sports clubs, as has been claimed? Did we really think they were Islamist on one continent and just spiritual on another?

Again, no one from the organization was available for comment and it has,in the past, refuted any kind of wrong doing whatsoever but the challenge is to identify where terror threats are posed and where democratic ideals are undermined, all the while protecting the rights and safety of the population, including the millions of integrated, law-abiding Muslims across Europe, the US and beyond.

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