What is the Muslim Brotherhood – explained in 30 seconds

The Muslim Brotherhood is a pan-Islamist organisation that was founded in Egypt in 1928 as an Islamic political movement to counter the spread of secular and nationalist ideas. It swiftly spread through Muslim countries, becoming a major player but often operating in secret. Its founder, Egyptian schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna, believed that reviving Islamic principles in society could enable the Muslim world to resist Western colonialism. The Muslim Brotherhood is now outlawed as a terrorist group in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. More recently, Jordan banned it in April 2025. It is popular in Jordan, and had continued to operate there even though the country’s top court in 2020 ruled to dissolve the group. Authorities have turned a blind eye to its activities in the past. Related: Trump begins process of designating Muslim Brotherhood chapters as terrorist groups In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood has been banned since 2013, after the overthrow of its leader and then-president Mohamed Morsi, who was deposed in a military coup led by then military chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Sisi has led Egypt since then, forging a key alliance with Washington in the process. In May 2025, president Emmanuel Macron of France ordered his government to draw up proposals to counter the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood and the spread of political Islam in that country. In November, the US president, Donald Trump, began the process of designating certain Muslim Brotherhood chapters as foreign terrorist organisations and specially-designated global terrorists, a move would bring sanctions against one of the Arab world’s oldest and most influential Islamist movements.