July 2008 | By Specialists Husain Haqqani and Hillel Fradkin
Excerpt: The Brotherhood and its offshoots, however, took a further step by insisting that the state take the lead in applying shari‘a, thereby making the political act of establishing an Islamic state central to their ideology. The call for an Islamic state was the crucial ingredient that al-Banna and the Brotherhood added to beliefs—in the lost purity of Islam and the need for laws based on shari‘a—that had already won the endorsement of such older movements as the Wahhabis of the Arabian Peninsula, the Deobandis of India, and the Salafis of Egypt.

June 2010 | By Dr. Hedieh Mirahmadi
Like most Muslims across America, I watched the news of the Ft Hood tragedy, holding my breath and praying that the crazed gunman was not a Muslim. As the days passed, we learned Major Malik Hasan was not only a Muslim; but that his actions were motivated in large part by a deviant, manipulated interpretation of Islamic law. The case of Malik Hasan and the slew of other “homegrown terrorists” take us to the larger crisis of confronting Islamist radicalism in our communities.

June 12, 2009 | By Congressman Frank R. Wolf
Excerpt: I stand today with other elected officials who have raised questions about CAIR. Senator Schumer describes CAIR as an organization “which we know has ties to terrorism.” Democratic Senator Dick Durbin has said that CAIR is “unusual in its extreme rhetoric and its associations with groups that are suspect.” Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer withdrew an award she gave to an official at a local CAIR chapter because she “had concerns about statements by some CAIR officials and about claims of financial links to terrorism.” And other senators, including Republicans Jon Kyl and Tom Coburn, have voiced support for the FBI’s actions in severing ties with CAIR.

March 2010 | By Specialist Ziad Alahdad
In developed and developing countries alike, strategies to diminish the threat of radical and violent extremism give insufficient emphasis to the development paradigm. This is despite the rhetoric of the two-pronged approach of military action and capacity building through the development process. In terms of action, the latter takes a back seat. This article attempts to explain why this is so and why it needs to change. It briefly describes what role the international development institutions are playing and why this work needs more visibility when identifying strategies and priorities to counter extremism.

By Specialist Shaykh Hisham Kabbani
Radicalism, in various forms, has made significant inroads in several countries of Central Asia and in the Caucasus – in particular the three countries that share the Ferghana Valley, namely Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikstan, Chechnya, and the Russian Republic of Daghestan. Known as fundamentalism or “Wahhabism,” it poses a direct challenge to the ideal vision of a state that the newly founded nations of the region have embraced. In addition, the broader ideology name “Wahhabism” represents a serious challenge to the theology and practice of the mainstream Sunni Islam to which most of these nations’ populations adhere.

March 18, 2008 | By Specialist Husain Haqqani
Since its inception, the Muslim Brotherhood has defined itself as the vanguard of a global Islamic revival. After starting out in Egypt in 1928, the Brotherhood had set up branches in Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Morocco, Hyderabad (India), Hadramawt (Yemen) and Paris by 1937.1 The universality of the Brotherhood’s ideology and organization was described by its founder, Hassan al-Banna when he said:

A Muslim individual, Muslim family, Muslim nation, Muslim government and Muslim state should be able to lead Islamic governments, should be able to unite the dispersed Muslims, should be able to regain their honor and superiority, and should be able to recover their lost lands, their usurped regions and their occupied territories. Then it should be able to raise the flag of Jihad and the call towards Allah until the entire world is benefited by the teachings of Islam.

Opening Remarks at Hudson Institute By Specialist Hillel Fradkin
This conference is on a most important subject—the subject of the organization, or group of organizations, known as the Muslim Brotherhood. The importance of this subject partially derives from the importance of another related subject: the worldwide Islamic phenomenon and movement variously known as Islamism, Salafism, radical Islam, militant Islam, political Islam and the like. Since the events of 9/11, we have all learned that understanding this movement properly—broadly, deeply and accurately—is a very great necessity.

April 2, 2004 | By Specialist Zeyno Baran
An Islamist terror group is undermining a U.S. ally
Uzbekistan, a predominantly Muslim U.S. ally bordering Afghanistan, has been shaken by terrorist attacks this week. Hosting a U.S. military base in Khanabad, supporting U.S actions in Afghanistan and Iraq, and insisting on a secular regime while repressing political dissent, this former Soviet republic has for years been a prime target for the spread of radical Islamist ideology and its terrorist adherents.

December 2005 | By Specialist Zeyno Baran
Extremist Islamist organizations such as al Qaeda have become well known in recent years for trying to accomplish their objectives through terrorism and political violence. Less well known, however, are the complementary organizations devoted not to direct action but to ideological struggle. Of these, the most important has been Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT, or the Party of Liberation), a transnational movement that has served as radical Sunni Islamism’s ideological vanguard.
HT is not itself a terrorist organization, but it can usefully be thought of as a conveyor belt for terrorists. It indoctrinates individuals with radical ideology, priming them for recruitment by more extreme organizations where they can take part in actual operations. By combining fascist rhetoric, Leninist strategy, and Western sloganeering with Wahhabi theology, HT has made itself into a very real and potent threat that is extremely difficult for liberal societies to counter.

Zeyno Baran Weekly Standard, April 23, 2007 Don’t mistake Islamic extremists for moderates Even though Congress was in recess the first week of April, a number of lawmakers kept busy. A bipartisan delegation led by House majority leader Steny Hoyer paid a visit to Cairo, meeting with several Egyptian members of parliament, including members of [...]