In a recent interview, extremism expert Khaled Hassan sat down with Stefan Thompson of Visegrad24 to dissect the sophisticated operations of the Muslim Brotherhood, arguing that the United Kingdom, particularly London, has inadvertently become one of the three primary global capitals for Islamist movements. Hassan’s analysis paints a picture of a pragmatic, secretive, and highly effective transnational network that has successfully mainstreamed its political ideology in the West.
The New Triumvirate of Islamism
Hassan names three geographical locations as the primary global bases for Islamists, particularly after the Muslim Brotherhood’s political setback in Egypt: Doha (Qatar), Turkey, and London (UK).
London’s inclusion, Hassan explains, is particularly alarming because the city serves as the “most significant, the most efficient, and the most powerful project of political Islam”. This success is achieved by exploiting the West’s foundational liberal values, using democratic freedoms and tolerance as a shield for operation.
The Muslim Brotherhood: A Shadow Network
The Muslim Brotherhood, established in Egypt during the British occupation (mostly in the 1940s), initially gained influence as a nationalist, anti-Western force. However, its enduring power lies in its structure, which was “designed in its very nature to operate as a secret society”.
- Cellular Organization: The movement maintains its security through a cellular structure, often referred to as “families.” These small groups of five to ten people, consisting of professionals like accountants and doctors, operate in isolation, with no family aware of the others in the same area. This renders the network incredibly resilient to arrests and infiltration.
- Pragmatic Partnerships: The movement’s ideology is transnational, aiming to install leaders who subscribe to their values in various countries, thereby achieving a “caliphate in anything but name”. To this end, the Muslim Brotherhood is highly pragmatic, willing to partner with “unlikely partners,” including liberals and non-Muslims, as long as these associations serve the organization’s goals.
- Funding Streams: The movement’s financial backbone relies on three main sources, often flowing through the West:
- Zakat (Charity): Wealthy Muslim businessmen and women provide Zakat (obligatory charity) to the organization.
- State/Organizational Support: Funding is received from governments and other organizations.
- The Charity Sector: Exploiting a concept that allows charity collectors to take a commission for maintaining operations, the movement channels money collected for causes like Gaza into its own network.
The Threat of Mainstreaming Islamism
Hassan argues that the Muslim Brotherhood’s single greatest achievement is “mainstreaming Islamism”. Through a sustained campaign, they have fostered an environment in the West where voicing concerns about the threat political Islam poses to Western values results in the accuser being branded an “Islamophobe”.
This movement maintains a significant global footprint: - Hamas Affiliation: Hamas is officially recognized by the organization itself as the Gaza chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood.
- Regional Conflicts: Muslim Brotherhood-aligned groups are heavily involved in conflicts and political structures across the Middle East, including in Libya, Yemen, Tunisia, and maintaining “huge influence” in the Parliament of Kuwait.
Deep Infiltration in the UK
The interview focuses heavily on the UK, highlighting instances of deep institutional infiltration: - Academic Sector: Individuals aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood have secured positions as university professors, particularly in Middle East studies programs. Some have even authored books that “romanticiz[e] Hamas” and promote it as a liberation movement.
- Publicly Funded Media: An examination of nearly 400 people involved with BBC Arabic found that the “overwhelming majority” of them had ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, or other terrorist organizations, all funded by the British taxpayer.
- The Mortaz Mat Case: Hassan detailed his two-year campaign against Mortaz Mat, a famous Egyptian broadcaster with a history of supporting terrorism and anti-Semitic rhetoric. Mat was granted a visa to live and operate his media platform from London. After the October 7th attack, when Mat made a video celebrating the killings and kidnappings, the UK government finally revoked his visa in November 2023.
The Path Forward: Restoring Democracy’s Defenses
Hassan suggests that Western resistance to designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization stems from either political naiveté or a misguided fear by security services that proscribing the group would simply drive it “even deeper underground”. He counters this by asserting that fearing a terrorist response means terrorism has already won.
The expert argues that a democratic state must actively defend itself: - A Robust Democracy: Citing the words of former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, Hassan reminds listeners that “democracy has teeth and that it can bite back”. Democracy is not passive; fighting back against illiberal values is not illiberal—it is self-defense.
- Policy Solutions: Hassan advocates for tough measures to combat the network without waiting for an inevitable escalation, which he suggests could lead to a “civil war style” conflict. These solutions include:
- Making Citizenship Meaningful: Requiring new citizens to be screened for adherence to Western values, as “no one asked me about my values” during the naturalization process.
- Excluding Illiberal Actors from Public Life: Individuals who hold anti-democratic values must be removed from positions of influence in Parliament, government, and taxpayer-funded media.
- Following Arab Leadership: Ironically, Hassan advises that Western governments should look to anti-Islamist Arab states like the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt—who have successfully banned and countered these extremist groups—for a playbook. These nations, he contends, “know about the Muslim Brotherhood that that that we don’t in the West”.
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