The Muslim Brotherhood, also known as Al-Ikhwan al-Muslimeen, is a political party with a primarily Egyptian orientation, but which also has a presence and offices in several other regional Arab states. The Muslim Brotherhood was established by an Egyptian scholar, Hassan al-Banna, in the wake of the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire or Caliphate. Its objective was to foster the unification of Muslims into a cohesive community, or Ummah. Despite facing bans and persecution from authoritarian Egyptian rulers who sought to establish a secular state, the Muslim Brotherhood remained an active part of the Egyptian political landscape. A number of its leaders were executed by the Egyptian security services or courts operating under military influence, including the founder Hassan al-Banna and Sayyed Qutb. The Muslim Brotherhood employed social work, welfare, education, and charity as a means of expanding its support base within Egyptian society, largely eschewing the use of violent tactics against the government. In the wake of the Arab Spring, it briefly attained power, but was subsequently deposed by the formidable Egyptian military and designated a terrorist organization by the Egyptian courts. Since then, its leaders have been incarcerated, facing either life or death sentences.