This paper highlights how the Muslim Brotherhood instrumentalized antisemitic conspiracies in its journal al-Daʻwa in its bid to strengthen its socio-political authority under Sadat. After discussing theoretical insights on conspiracy theories and (Muslim and Muslim Brotherhood) antisemitism, the paper zooms in on the return of the Muslim Brotherhood under Sadat, focusing on the movement’s internal dynamics and its growing socio-political ambitions, followed by a content analysis of antisemitic conspiracy theories found in al-Daʻwa. The final part of the paper analyses the different dimensions and the functions of these antisemitic conspiracies for the movement. The paper concludes that through the antisemitic conspiracies, the Muslim Brotherhood has positioned itself as a religious, moral and political authority. Although al-Daʻwa promulgated classical (European) antisemitic conspiracies, these were utilized by the movement for purposes other than mere hatred and distrust of the Jews and Jewish–Muslim polemics.
This paper examines why the MB was cautious in its revision of views on women under Anwar Sadat when it was, at the same time, changing the way it dealt with politics and the issue of revolutionary violence, by looking at the movement’s view on women as expressed in its own writings. I argue that the MB’s view on women was in line with the Islamic revival Egypt experienced. Given the nature of Egyptian society under Sadat, in which women still mainly played central roles in the domestic setting, reconsidering their traditional position was not viewed by the movement and many of the Egyptians it reached out to as something that needed change, contrary to the country’s administrative situation. Additionally, women’s issues were used by the MB as a tool to showcase its piety. This was instrumental in its search for political and religious authority, which the movement needed in order to expand its membership, lead the fragmented Islamic movement, deal with its own divided rank-and-file, and challenge the Sadat administration.
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