The Caliphate and the Political Ideology of the Iraqi and Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood

Abstract

The term “Islamic caliphate” often conjures up fears of an Islamic empire where Muslims seek political control over Muslim and non- Muslim nations. It is often perceived by the West and Westernised Arab elite as unison between religion and politics. Fears of religious wars justified by religious differences are legitimate if the Caliphate (the term denoting the political system under which Muslims were governed until 1924) is synonyms to the papacy in Europe in the Middle Ages. Th e European Wars of Religion and the Crusades are frequently cited as historical examples. Th ere is no denying in the fact that the modern political movement in the Islamic world which takes Islam as its point of reference advocates the unity of both the political and the religious. Th is argument is based on the rationality of Islam as a religion compared to the Christianity of the Middle Ages.1 However in practice Islamists of the mainstream persuasion in general have demonstrated a remarkable degree of ideological pragmatism and adaptability in their political struggle with secular regimes in the Middle East. Expounding on the above, this paper analyses the Iraqi Muslim Brotherhood as a case in point, shedding light on the Brotherhood’s ideology of governance and its evolution over the past sixty years.