What the movements themselves published about their aims - and what government reviews concluded after reading it.
The United Kingdom's Muslim Brotherhood Review was commissioned by the Prime Minister in April 2014 and laid before the House of Commons on 17 December 2015. It traced the movement from its founding in Egypt in 1928, whose first Supreme Guide, in the review's words, "called for the religious reformation of individual Muslims, the progressive moral purification of Muslim societies and their eventual political unification in a Caliphate under sharia law" (para. 8).
Its overarching conclusion (para. 39) is quoted in full in the source entry below. The review also records the movement's own counter-claims - see paras. 18 and 36 - and this archive cites those too. A close reading is on the blog.
Ten years later, France's Interior Ministry published the second such review by a European government - Frères musulmans et islamisme politique en France (May 2025), presented to the Conseil de défense after 45 academic interviews and fourteen field visits. Like the British review, it states its own limits in the same conclusion: it finds a threat to national cohesion from "islamisme municipal", while recording that no recent document shows an intent by Musulmans de France to establish an Islamic state in France, and that the threat "ne recourt pas à l'action violente" (our translation: it does not resort to violent action). Both halves are quoted in the source entry below.
The Muslim Brotherhood is founded in Egypt.
UK Muslim Brotherhood Review, para. 8Hamas's founding charter calls the movement a wing of the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine.
Hamas Covenant, Article TwoThe UK Government's review finds aspects of the Brotherhood's ideology and tactics contrary to British values, national interests and national security.
UK Muslim Brotherhood Review, para. 39France's Interior Ministry reports a threat to national cohesion through municipal Islamism - and no recent document showing a plan for an Islamic state in France.
Ministère de l'Intérieur, May 2025, p. 65Austria's security service: the Brotherhood seeks influence in institutions - a danger above all in the long term, by legal means.
DSN, Verfassungsschutzbericht 2025"aspects of Muslim Brotherhood ideology and tactics, in this country and overseas, are contrary to our values and have been contrary to our national interests and our national security."
"Les éléments recueillis accréditent [...] l'existence d'une menace pour la cohésion nationale présentée par la montée de l'islamisme municipal, dans lequel la mouvance frériste a une responsabilité historique et actuelle."
"Another actor whose influence extends to Europe is Hamas, which was founded in 1987 as the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. It is not only a terrorist organization designated as such in Europe and an armed group, but also a political party and a charitable organization. The Islamist group uses its dual structure - religious and charitable activities - to gain a foothold in European countries and to conceal its military operations. In this context, Europe has become a venue for fundraising, recruitment, propaganda, and operational preparations."
Illustration generated by an AI image model. It depicts nothing real and documents nothing - the evidence on this site is the source register.