How did brotherhood develop and expand in the Gulf Cooperation Council?

Many people believe that the fundamental reason of the Gulf issue is the development of the Muslim Brotherhood and Qatar’s continuous backing for it. Sufficient evidence reveals that, since 2013, the GCC has signed an agreement to improve the integration of cultures and practices between the GCC, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. However, many people believe that the Muslim Brotherhood is a threat to political governments in Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar. As a result, concerns have been expressed about these elements. As a result, it is critical to do research to better comprehend the situation. The causes will involve political issues which are mandatory case to refer considering the political climate in the Middle East especially because the GCC has been strained and challenged. The purpose of this research proposal is to dig dipper on Muslim Brotherhood topic, its evolution and impact to the countries involved with its development.

Research Question

The purpose of this research is to investigate the relationship between GCC states within the context of brotherhood. GCC states consist of namely: U.A.E, Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar. The study aims at exploring how the relationship between the GCC countries has changed and divided since GCC was first formed. Considering the recent boycott of Qatar by U.A.E, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, the scenario left behind Kuwait and Oman who opted not to boycott Qatar. Notably, the GCC has been strained and challenged. It is within this context that the study at hand evaluates the trends and mindset of the GCC brotherhood concerning how it has evolved, what interests resulted in their division and how it has impacted their relationship with each other overall. The causes will involve political issues which are imperative considering the political climate in the Middle East..

Background

It is important to note that Muslim Brotherhood is among the significant developments in the GCC lifeline and has a significant impact on the same. According to Hedges and Cafiero (2017), Muslim Brotherhood was founded in 1928 within Egypt by a school teacher known as Hasan al-Banna. The individual was an intellectual thereby attributing to the finding of the common umbrella for Muslims. The group engaged in practices entailing teaching and educating the Islamic way of life while engaging in charity works purposed to support the disadvantaged. This is among the practices which led to improved systems and practices in the region. Over time, the movement developed and gained political roles within European colonialism especially within the western and Arab Worlds of the Islamic culture. In 1952, the movement was submerged due to its political rivalry with Gamal Abdel Nasser, whose major preference was to have a socialist and secular Egypt that would lead the pan-Arab movement.

Late in the 1960s, King Faisal countered the Arab Nationalism of Nasser and led to spreading of most of the Muslim Brotherhood ideas in Saudi Arabia. However, with the notion that the movement was attributed to the terrorist attacks in major countries, it was hard to fully be in support of the same especially following the estimated economic and political impact of the same. In 2014, Muslim Brotherhood was declared as a terrorist organization in Saudi Arabia. As a result, Qatar left off the economic ties with Saudi Arabia. Moreover, its ties with Iran were formed to support the Islamic group (Hedges, and Cafiero, 2017). Moreover, their political and social practices were under influence and were extensively impacted by the same.

Significance of the Research

It is important to note that the research is of vital significance and will provide essential information about the development of the GCC along with how the movement aligns with Muslim Brotherhood. The group is of importance to GCC practices and development in their lifeline, hence being part of the significant information, which is required to have an understanding of their relationship. The research will demonstrate key impacts of the brotherhood movement towards development of economic, political and social practices and approaches within the GCC. As such, significant information provided will be useful in the event of conducting further studies in area of research. There arose limitations concerning research which are inclusive of lack of proper literature sources with significant information documented regarding the realm.

Literature Review

According to Hedges and Cafiero (2017), Muslim Brotherhood movement in the GCC has major influences in political, social and theological landscape of the countries involved such as Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. The said are countries which are among nations that were affected by practices of Muslim Brotherhood and policies that the group developed leading to the downfall and rise of the same. Hedges and Cafiero (2017) argue that Muslim Brotherhood is viewed as a political catalyst that has had major impacts on the aforementioned countries and as a legitimate opposition. The policies and leadership strategies of foreign countries have acted against the Muslim brotherhood movement, with the formal rise of Egyptian movement that influences major cities in the said countries. As noted, leadership practices are essential in every aspect. Notably, as argued by the author, their influence is notable in diluting the Muslim brotherhood movement activities.

It is notable from the arguments of Hedges and Cafiero, (2017) that GCC has fragile social dynamics, which range from tribal rivalries, sectarian strife and chanting families. The authors, however, argue that during the reign of King Abdullah, Muslim Brotherhood has been viewed as a threat to the Islamic legitimacy and to the political regime. The leader’s ruling was not effective. The legislation developed by the said figurehead was guided towards reducing the support that the Muslim brothers would receive from major countries. After the uprising in 2011 involving Arabs, the UAE and Saudi Arabia have pressured more countries to crack down this movement. As such, the relationship existing between these countries was derailed. The effect resulted in the general impact of the economic, political and social practices being cut off.

Freer (2015) explains that there have been major issues concerning countries whose wealth is based on oil such as Qatar and Kuwait concerning their economic largesse and political prowess owing to the Muslim Brotherhood and how the same developer in the GCC. Freer (2015) purports that the GCC was largely influenced by the case where the Muslim Brotherhood was considered a terrorist movement. For instance, the author argues that the Brotherhood members in Egypt who were under Nasser within the late Syria’s massacre in Hama engaged in practices aligned at fostering development of the GCC. There was massive pressure arising from the Gulf States in 2014 in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE with the influence of the ambassadors. The pressure was directed towards elimination of the Muslim Brotherhood. However, due to the number of countries in support movement, it was not easy to eliminate the brotherhood resulting to myriad issues arising between the countries their major leaders. Among the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood were seven individuals who left Qatar and never came back. The authors argue that such actions led to the need to have GCC develop and limit the support of the movement.

Darwich (2017) supports the arguments of the above authors by suggesting that Military in Egypt had declared Muslim Brotherhood as being an organization involved with terror attacks concerning their negative influence in the political, economic and social aspects. In 25th December 2013, Military Government of Egypt actions trimmed the support that the group received. The author suggests that there was a difficult period since there existed countries which supported Muslim movement while other nations were against it. This is essential noting that it resulted in most of these countries lacking proper collaboration and integration of practices. The United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi resisted against supporting Muslim Brotherhood as an approach aligned towards reducing the group’s domestic sphere. However, countries such as the Saudi Kingdom did not refrain from the support and saw the opportunity for growth in the same.

Various variations are evidence to suggest that autocratic leadership engaged by leaders in the Saudi Kingdom to not only compelled other regimes to follow their approach but also exerted pressure on various recipients to foster willingness to support and cover Muslim Brotherhood. Darwich, (2017) argues that the autocrat’s actions may have resulted in the interactions between the regional regimes and interest autonomies within the societal groups. Moreover, the diffusion of repression was among the most imperative aspects that may have led to the contribution of the development of the GCC. Socially, the author argues, the countries did not interact properly. They faced challenges following the decisions that were aligned together. The nations were focused on proper decisions coming from an agreed perspective.

Discussion and Analysis

It is important to note that the development of the GCC is aligned with the impact of the movement developed by the Muslim Brotherhood, which was among the important Islamic movements in the GCC countries. One of the impacts seen in the course of development of these regions is the economic nature. The authors argue that the economy of the region was highly affected with the naming of the Muslim Brotherhood as one of the terrorist’s attackers in the region back in 2014. As such, countries such as Qatar and Kuwait were unable to provide significant oil sales to major firms as they were not trusted. Similarly, the social practice was influenced since there was lack of proper interaction between states.

On the other hand, there is the influence of having countries being socially and politically divided. While other countries were aimed at ensuring the Muslim Brotherhood was not supported, and they did not have enough funds and grounds for their practice, other countries were aligned at supporting the movement. As such, there is a social breakdown and negative political impacts since there is no integration and alignment of their practices and hence the reduced interaction.

Conclusion

The purpose of this research proposal was to dig dipper on the Muslim Brotherhood, its evolution and impact on the countries involved with its development. The GCC states consist of namely: U.A.E, Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar. It is within this context we evaluate the trends and mindset of the GCC brotherhood how this has evolved, what interests resulted in their division and how it has impacted their relationship with each other overall. It is important to note that the development of the GCC is aligned with the impact of the movement developed by the Muslim Brotherhood, which was among the important Islamic movements in the GCC countries. Various variations are evidence to suggest that the autocratic leadership engaged in by the leaders in the Saudi Kingdom to not only compel other regimes to follow their approach but also in exerting pressure on the various recipients to ensure they were willing to support and cover the Muslim Brotherhood.

References

Darwich, M. (2017). Creating the enemy, constructing the threat: the diffusion of repression against the Muslim Brotherhood in the Middle East. Democratization, 1-18.

Freer, C. (2015). Rentier Islamism: the role of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Gulf.

Hassan, I. (2014). The Muslim Brotherhood in Kuwait. A Historical Analysis of the Islamic Movement.

Hedges, M., & Cafiero, G. (2017). The GCC and the Muslim Brotherhood: What Does the Future Hold?. Middle East Policy, 24(1), 129-153.