The Muslim Brotherhood in Europe: A General Framework

Individual members of the Muslim Brotherhood have been active in Europe since the 1950s. Over time, this presence has grown substantially in size and visibility. In each European country in which they are active, in fact, the still relatively small clusters of full-fledged Brotherhood members have created a broad network of NGOs, mosques, schools, lobbying groups and other sorts of entities that exert a disproportionate influence both within Muslim communities and with European policymakers and civil society. Various aspects of this presence are heatedly debated, including the Brothers’ goals. It is arguable that the European Brothers seek to sway European Muslim communities to their political-religious worldview and become their official or de facto representative, managing all aspects of what they envision to be a parallel community.