Brotherhood’s dilemma

The crisis of Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood group is deepening, less than two years after internal differences first came to the surface. 

The 70-year-old movement is facing existential challenges as defections from the Islamic Action Front (IAF), the political arm of the group, continue following last week’s mass resignations, which included senior founding members.

The Brotherhood’s debacle began in 2013 as a result of local and regional upset that came in the wake of the Arab Spring. A small faction launched the Zamzam Initiative, which called for internal reforms to be carried out, affecting the Brotherhood’s agenda and goals. The initiative was rejected by the group’s leadership, forcing the reformists to break away from the Brotherhood.

The group’s leadership has been described as hawkish, rejecting proposals to review the Brotherhood’s political stands and its control of the IAF, which remains the largest opposition party in Jordan.

For years, the Brotherhood’s leadership boycotted legislative elections and failed to participate in national dialogues. The leadership’s recalcitrance widened the gap between
the group and moderate senior members who had historically maintained strong relationship with the regime.

Last year, and following the Zamzam incident, another splinter group, led by a former Brotherhood overseer, broke away and applied for a licence under the name of the Muslim Brotherhood Society.

The group claimed that it was never properly registered with the government and that it was the only legitimate body. Following its recognition by the government, the group was prevented from holding public activities as it engaged in legal battles with the newly registered society.

And recently, veteran group leaders dubbed as the “Group of Elders” resigned from the IAF and vowed to form a new political party. But the proposed party will not be associated with the Muslim Brotherhood Society, further fragmenting Jordan’s Islamist movement.

Experts on Jordan’s Islamist groups believe that while the IAF will continue to function, the original Brotherhood group is likely to crumble and may in the end be banned by the government.

In its place, the society and the Zamzam group may join efforts, with the latter mulling setting up its own political party.

In addition to the Group of Elders Party, Jordan will have three Islamist parties few months before the holding of legislative elections, expected later this year.

The fragmentation of the Muslim Brotherhood cannot be disconnected from regional upsets, particularly following the overthrow of Egypt’s president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

Jordan’s Islamists are being blamed for failing to understand the lessons of the Arab Spring and admitting the mistakes of the past. 

At the heart of the crisis of Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood is the state of denial that its leadership is going through despite calls for revision and reforms by veteran leaders and younger members alike.

The hardline leadership failed to appreciate major geopolitical shifts that have gripped the region since 2011. It failed to study and analyse the Islamist experiences in Tunisia and Morocco, where the clerical structure of the Brotherhood was separated from the political arm of the group, allowing it to engage freely in politics away from ideological constraints.

Furthermore, those calling for reforms often complained that the Brotherhood failed to prove itself as a nationalist body concerned with the problems and challenges that Jordan is facing.

They claim that the Brotherhood has been unable to present itself as a fully democratic entity that is willing to carry out reforms from within the existing political structure.

The current Brotherhood leadership has been slow to react to recent defections. The mass resignations took the group by surprise. But there are signs that an internal discussion may soon begin to understand the repercussions of the earthquake that has rattled the group and affected its grassroots supporters.

On the other hand, the political legacy of the group will be hard to erase.

The Muslim Brotherhood has been active on the scene for many decades. It has grown in strength following the collapse of rival political ideologies in the 1960s and onwards. 

Having failed to renew its political platform, it slowly began to lose ground to other more extreme Islamist dogmas. The rise of salafist movements and the birth of jihadist splinter groups robbed the Brotherhood of many young and disgruntled Muslims who were lured by extreme ideas.

This is something for the government to think of. 

Further fragmentation of the group could drive younger members to go underground. Ties with the group should not be severed and it must be allowed to review its course and attempt to change it.

The government must not be seen as taking sides at this crucial stage when the moderate flank of political Islam attempts to evolve and cope with today’s realities.

The writer is a journalist and political commentator based in Amman.