BEIRUT (AP) — The Trump administration waded into a regional debate over the Muslim Brotherhood on Tuesday, designating the Lebanese, Jordanian and Egyptian chapters of the transnational Sunni Islamist group as terrorist organizations.
The Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in the 1920s, inspired Islamist political movements around the region. Its ideology has been both popular and divisive in the Arab and Muslim world, with the group’s leaders saying they renounced violence decades ago and seek Islamic rule through elections and other peaceful means, while critics—including several autocratic governments—view it as a threat.
Here is how the group started and where it stands now.
Early days
The Muslim Brotherhood rose as a pan-Arab Islamist political movement, founded in Egypt in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna. In the group’s early framing, al-Banna believed Islamic teachings should be the basis for governance. In its early days, the group largely focused on providing social services.
Over time, it also developed an armed wing. The Brotherhood later turned to militancy, with that wing fighting against British colonialists and Israel.
The group was implicated in the assassination of Egyptian Prime Minister Mahmoud Fahmi al-Nokrashi in 1948 after he outlawed the group. Two months later,