The Brotherhood Organizations in Europe

The geographic distribution of Muslim Brotherhood (MB) in Europe witnessed a number of qualitative shifts since the Islamic Cultural Center in Geneva was established in 1961, as the first Brotherhood organization in Europe. The Brotherhood focused on vertical expansion in three main European countries during the preliminary stage of the framework of its strategy that aims to employ Europe as a starting point for attacking Arab regimes. The targeted countries are France, Germany, and United Kingdom followed. This targeting was for the history and political geography considerations, in light that these are the most principal EU countries, in terms of area and number of population. Additionally, they are a center for attracting Islamic communities, coming from the Arab and Islamic countries that were subject to the cultural and colonizing hegemony of the three aforementioned countries.

Mention-worthy, the Brotherhood employed its institutional presence in the three countries, which allowed it to build a network of coalitions and mutual cooperation with entities that symbolize the main Islamic blocs in the world, through being opened to the [Turkish] Islam that clearly exists in Germany. However, the massive success was evidently materialized in the exploitation of large Moroccan communities in France as an access gate for the Brotherhood to the Maghreb, being one of the main Islamic blocs in the Arab-Islamic world. This was endorsed by the rise of various Moroccan Islamic movements that were allies or close to it by founding offices for the Brotherhood in France and Belgium, in particular, such as ‘Ennahdha Party’ in Tunisia, and ‘Al Adl Wa Al Ihssane’ in Morocco, along with another number of influential Islamic parties in Maghreb. The Brotherhood’s existence in the three major European countries led to creating the Brotherhood’s institutional extensions in smaller neighboring countries that have similar concerns, as in the case of Italy and Belgium, in respect with France, Ireland, in respect with UK, and Switzerland, in respect with Germany.

Shedding light on a series of reports, starting from this issue, we will handle the Brotherhood’s existence in Europe, particularly the intellectual, social and economic centers in these countries and their political role in pressing the Brotherhood’s origin countries. This will also include the political part they had in these countries and their association with the Brotherhood and terroristic cells in Europe.

Key Brotherhood institutions in France

The seventies’ and eighties’ era witnessed a new institutional launch for Muslim Brotherhood in Europe through the arrival of the so-called the “second wave of the Brotherhood elements” which headed Europe after colliding with the Arab regimes. A steady increase was noticed in the number of European branches of Islamic parties and entities in the Arab world, topped by the Brotherhood. In this vein, a group of political refugees and students, counted within the Brotherhood’s organizational cadres, separated from the Muslim Students Association (MSA) in France in 1979, and established the so-called “Islamic Society in France”. ISF was shortly and in 1983 changed into the ‘Union of Islamic Organizations of France’, which structure and political and ideological strategy were drafted by ‘Rached Ghannouchi’. This caused UIOF to be an institutional pillar for the Brotherhood in France and Europe to date.

The ‘Union of Islamic Organizations of France’, through employing Moroccan the Brotherhood cadres, particularly the Tunisian elements, who were the solid nucleus of UIOF, was able to join more than 250 mosques and Islamic associations, at least, under its umbrella. This helped it span its influence over a considerable bloc of the French Muslims in a large number of French cities and suburbs. Moreover, this contributed to tipping its scales inside the ‘Representative Council of Muslims in France’ in its successive elections.

Under the framework of varying the Brotherhood’s institutional logic, UIOF embarked boldly upon establishing a group of schools to produce Islamic elite, the most known of which are ‘Kindi’, ‘Razi’ and ‘Ibn Rushd’ schools. UIOF owns 5 out of 10 of the Islamic educational institutions in France, according to the statistics of 2012. Over and above, the Brotherhood in France dominates another number of educational institutions that disseminate the Brotherhood’s ideology in France, such as ‘Center for Islamic Studies and Researches’, ‘European Institute of Human Sciences’ which is responsible for preparing and producing Islamic preachers and imams in Europe, ‘Institute for Islamic World Studies’, the French branch of ‘International Institute of Islamic Thought’, headquartered in UK, ‘Shatbi Center’, in addition to ‘Ibn Sina Institute’ to graduate imams in ‘Lille’, northern France, which was founded in 2006 by Qatari financing. In addition to this, the companies owned by UIOF leaderships control the halal meat market in France and manipulates its exportation to a number of GCC countries.

Union of Islamic Organizations of France

This Union, established in 1983, is an extension of the Brotherhood movement and has wide popularity and influence in France, particularly in the French Capital, ‘Paris’. It is the first competitor of the French Council and the management of ‘Paris’ Mosque. It manages many mosques and schools in Paris and its suburbs, patronizes camps of young Muslim in schools and universities and supervises an annual conference that gives lectures and presents Islamic books. UIOF also runs an Islamic institute, under the name of ‘European Institute of Human Sciences’. The Union is keen in its gatherings on parading its popularity at the time when the Muslims leadership in France witnesses a representation crisis. Also, UIOF regards that the French Council failed in devising a project that satisfies Muslims in France and setting up an independent and free council. The annual conference meeting continues and brings together tens of thousands for several days in ‘Bourget’, northern France. The attendees discuss numerous issues, such as the Muslim family in France and hijab-wearing prohibition law, which was issued in 15 March 2005.

This Union comprises more than 200 societies that work in the different social life fields. Its HQs is located in the industrial area in ‘Courneuve’, the French branch of UIOF in Europe. Its most important societies in Paris are: ‘French Muslim Youth Society’, ‘French Muslim Students’, ‘French League of Muslim Woman’, ‘Ibn Sina Medical Association of France’, ‘Mosque Imams Association’, ‘European Institute of Human Sciences’ in Paris, which is managed by Ahmad Gaballah, the Tunisian, who is the vice-President of UIOF, i.e. the Moroccan ‘Tohami Perez’.

Key UIOF figures:

The management of UIOF is composed of 19 members of key figures in the Union, as follows:

• Amar Lasfar – President of the Union of Islamic Organizations of France
• Boubakeur EL Hadj Amor – Vice-President in charge of Reform and Public Relations
• Makhlouf Mamèche – Vice-president in charge of private education
• Okacha Ben Ahmed Daho – Secretary General
• Braham Semar – Treasurer
• Lhaj Thami Breze – Member of BE in charge of education and training
• Azzedine Gaci – Member of BE responsible for interreligious dialog
• Myriam Berkane – Member of BE in charge of Communication
• Moncef Zenati – Member of BE in charge of teaching and presenting Islam
• Kotbi Abdelkebir – Member of BE in charge of regional and local delegations
• Hela Khomsi – Member of BE in charge of the family
• Nacir Kahoul – Deputy Secretary General in charge of Events
• Mahmoud Awad – Regional Delegate – Ile de France
• Mohamed Taib Saghrouni – Regional Delegate – North
• Salah Arbel – Regional Delegate – East
• Bachar El Sayadi – Regional Delegate – West
• Sahnoune Karad -Delegate Regional – South
• Karim Menhoudj – Regional Delegate – South-East
• Hassan Izzaoui – Regional Delegate – South-West

Private UIOF associations

UIOF established a number of private associations to frame its position, as well as the different components of Muslim community in France. These are:

• Young Muslims of France
• Muslim Students from France
• French League of Muslim Women
• European Institute of Human Sciences
• Ibn Sina Medical Association of France
• European Halal Services
• Palestinian Charity and Relief Committee

UIOF was categorized as a terroristic organization by United Arab Emirates in November 2014, in addition to 81 associations and organizations, the most of which do legal work in various European countries.

Criticism from inside

Criticism made to the Brotherhood and its international organization includes slam from inside. On the sidelines of the annual meeting of the ‘North Muslims’, organized by UIOF in February 2016, façade of the Brotherhood in France, the French authorities prevented three invitees to participate in the annual meeting by blocking their access into the country, because of their “involvement in hate and atonement address”. ‘Le Figaro’, the French daily, published a prolonged interview with the former Brotherhood leader in France and the former President of Muslim Students Union in the French city of ‘Lille’, ‘Mohamed Louizi’. Louizi split from the Brotherhood as an objection to the reality of the Brotherhood’s project and its insidious aspects. Recently, he published his book “Why I quitted the Muslim Brotherhood”.

In response to the “oppression” and accusations with terrorism, the charges attached to the Brotherhood, Louizi said: “When a number of Arab countries, including Egypt, KSA and UAE, announced that they categorized the Brotherhood as a terroristic organization, and this also included UIOF, the Brotherhood’s leaderships said that they would refer the matter to court for restitution and to rebut the charges made to it with supportive documents and evidences to emphasize its guiltlessness, as the charge of terrorism was concocted by these countries to get rid of it. Here, I would like to point out that these declarations were in March 2014. After two years (Louizi’s statement was in February 2016), the Brotherhood did not move to defend itself judicially, nor to invalidate any of these accusations with any defenses, whatsoever!”

“Belonging to the Brotherhood or being affected by it must be considered as a sign of extremism.”

Louizi adds: “It was not a coincident that the calls for jihad in Syria came from Egypt in 2013, blessed by the Brotherhood and Salafi Sheikhs and supported by the Brotherhood authorities at that time and the Brotherhood references, the backbone of the international organization of Muslim Brotherhood, i.e. the real center of leadership and reference of extremist thinking, which pillars were laid down by ‘Sayyid Qutb’, the [Egyptian] leading member of the Brotherhood in the 1950s and 1960s.”

In France, particularly, and after the clamor that was brought into being in 2015, for example, after accusing an instructor in the Brotherhood’s ‘Ibn Rushd’ Institute with recruiting and polarizing students, and under the major media focus on the issue, UIOF President, ‘Amar Lasfar’, showed up in newspaper headlines and before TV channels to disclaim any connection of UIOF with the Brotherhood, considering this a malicious charge and an attempt to defame UIOF for political purposes. Yet, the deputy of UIOF President, Imam of ‘Villeneuve’ Mosque and an instructor in the same school forgot the declarations Lasfar made a year ago to say in 2016, after the decision of the Ministry of Interior to prevent some figures from attending the Brotherhood’s annual meeting, that: “The objective behind this prevention is to tighten the grip on UIOF, subject to claims of relations with the Brotherhood. No one denied that we are members of the Brotherhood. We do not conceal our identity. On the contrary, we have pride in belonging to the Brotherhood.”