‘El-Zayat’: Minister of Finance of Muslim Brotherhood’s Global Organization

‘Ibrahim Farouk Muhammad El-Zayat’ is the son of an Egyptian father and a German mother. His father, ‘Farouk Muhammad El-Zayat’, was the imam of ‘Marburg’ Mosque, and so, he mastered the Arabic and German languages since childhood. He grew up in ‘Marburg’ city, where he attended the Martin-Luther-Schule. Then, he studied industrial economy and obtained MA in economy. His thesis was on Islamic economics. He is married to ‘Sabiha Erbakan’, the niece of ‘Najmeldin Erbakan’, the former Turkish Prime Minister and the founder of ‘Millî Görüş’ movement in Germany. El-Zayat has three daughters.

Since his tender age, El-Zayat was active in student activities. He was known for his “charismatic” and leading character. Also, he was merited for decency, handsomeness, good communication, and speaking seven tongues. El-Zayat proceeded from the membership of student parliament in ‘Darmstadt’ University to the presidency of Student Islamic Union in Germany.

El-Zayat realized the importance of concentrating on the second generation of young German Muslims. For this aim, he launched campaigns to recruit Muslim youth in Islamic organizations. However, a report by “Meckenheim” Police on El-Zayat revealed his financial relation with terrorism-financing organizations. The German authorities openly said he was a member of the Brotherhood. Ibrahim El-Zayat is the senior official in the international organization of Muslim Brotherhood in Germany and is responsible for financing its various activities. He is even called “Brotherhood’s Minister of Finance”. El-Zayat presided over the ‘Islamic Society of Germany’, one of the most important Islamic organizations in Germany, for the period between 2002 until 2010, succeeding ‘Ghaleb Himmat’ (Ali Ghaleb Himmat is a Syrian businessman and a Brotherhood leader in Syria and Europe. He is also one of the prominent leaderships of the Brotherhood international organization and bears the responsibility of the financial and economic file of the Brotherhood. After 11 September 2001, he was included unto the Terror Lists in US and Europe. The list included his co-manager of Al Taqwa Bank, ‘Youssef Nada’). El-Zayat lost elections of Council of Muslims in Germany chairmanship with a slight difference against ‘Ayyub Axel Köhler’ (‘Ayyub Axel Köhler’ was born in Szczecin (German: Stettin) in 3 April 1938. He is the President of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany. From 1999 until 2004, Köhler was the member of the Free Liberal Party in Germany. He converted to Islam in 1963, at the age of 25, during his study in university. In 2006, he assumed the position of President of Central Council of Muslims in Germany. Since April 2007, he was elected as the President of Islamic Centers Gathering in Germany, which is a branch of the international organization of Muslim Brotherhood.

El-Zayat occupied a number of positions, the most important of which were the commission of the society of building and redeveloping mosques in Europe, as well as endowments official in the Turkish movement ‘Millî Görüş’. According to these, he ran more than 300 mosques in Germany, in addition to being the secretary of mosques’ redevelopment company in Netherlands. Concerning his key administrative activity, he is the Chairman of Board of SLM Liegenschaftsmanagement GmbH, a company for real estate investment that finances the construction of mosques around Europe.

El-Zayat is known as the “mosques’ contractor” in Germany. His establishment took part in constructing more than 100 mosques in Europe. In 2007, he participated in more than 30 projects to build mosques, not only in Germany, but also in Netherlands. The prominent mosques he was involved in their building include those of ‘Rutesheim’, near ‘Mainz’ German city, ‘Wiesbaden’ and ‘Freising’, the birthplace of the former Pope ‘Benedict XVI’.

Ibrahim El-Zayat is one of the most controversial Islamic characters in the German society.