The struggle against the Muslim Brotherhood by Egyptian President Jamal ‘Abd al-Nasir and the Asad family in Syria resulted, among other things, in the migration of numerous Brotherhood members to the Gulf Arab states to work in the government, schools and religious institutions. The Brotherhood also recruited Gulf students either locally or during their higher education in Egypt.
The GCC states do not allow the formation of political parties, so the Brotherhood members worked initially through the Jam’iyat al-Islah al-Ijtima’i (Society for Social Reform) in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE. In Kuwait, some of the members became prominent Islamists in parliament and opposition leaders. In the UAE, the Jam’iyat al-Islah was established in 1974 and, as in other GCC states, initially restricted itself to social work, while maintaining contact with the Cairo-based international Muslim Brotherhood organization. (CONTINUED - 968 WORDS)
