• November 19, 2006
  • 9 minutes read

Al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya is Not MB Offshoot

Al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya is Not MB Offshoot

In its research, "Beyond al-Qaeda, part 2, the Outer Rings of the Terrorist Universe", Rand Corporation, a US think tank that works closely with the US military, committed a grave mistake; when it said that Egypt’s Al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya movement is an "offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood", something that totally diverges from historical facts.

Historically, Al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya movement first emerged in most Egyptian universities as groups of young Muslim students who distanced themselves from the Muslim Brotherhood. Al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya didn’t have specific organizational ideology; their thought was a blend of Islamic Salafist and traditional ideologies.

In 1977, students associated with Al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya began to split into groups, with most of the group’s followers in Lower Egypt (north) joining the Muslim Brotherhood due to its moderate thought and its renounce of violence. As for Al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya followers in Upper Egypt (south), they rejected and combated Muslim Brotherhood’s ideology and principles, in ways reaching sometimes the extent of physical clashes. Those affiliates established their own group- the so called Egyptian Al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya- which adopted violent means as method of action, differing in terms of methodology and action from the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.

 


 

 

Related Topics:

Beyond al-Qaeda

Part 2, The Outer Rings of the Terrorist Universe

Cover: Beyond al-Qaeda: Part 2

By: Angel Rabasa, Peter Chalk, Kim Cragin, Sara A. Daly, Heather S. Gregg, Theodore W. Karasik, Kevin A. O’Brien, William Rosenau

This book examines terrorist groups that, while not formally allied with al-Qaeda, pose a threat to Americans, at home and abroad, and to the security of our friends and allies. Although the temptation for policymakers is to set aside as less dangerous those groups that have not chosen to join al-Qaeda, such terrorist or insurgent groups and criminal organizations still pose a threat to the United States, its interests, and its allies. The authors first look at violent Islamist terrorist and insurgent groups without formal links to al-Qaeda, such as Hamas and Hezbollah in the Middle East and Islamist groups in Africa. They then examine a number of non-Islamist terrorist groups — for example, the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, the FARC and ELN in Colombia, Maoist insurgencies, and the violent antiglobalist movement — and explain how these groups might fit into the al-Qaeda agenda and how they use criminal organizations and connections to finance their activities. Finally, they show how the presence of these threats affects U.S. security interests, and they identify distinct strategies that the United States may take to neutralize or mitigate each of them.

 

 

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Contents

Chapter One:
Introduction

Chapter Two:
Hezbollah and Hamas

Chapter Three:
Other Islamist Groups Outside the al-Qaeda Network

Chapter Four:
The Iraqi Insurgency

Chapter Five:
Non-Islamist Groups

Chapter Six:
Antiglobalization Movements

Chapter Seven:
The Convergence of Terrorism, Insurgency, and Crime

Chapter Eight:
Conclusions and Recommendations

The research described in this report was sponsored by the United States Air Force and conducted by RAND Project AIR FORCE.

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