Throughout history, religious groups, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, have risen in popularity during times of crises in countries all over the world – much like conservative political parties. In this context, pure Islam, based on worship, respect, principles of religion and countering idolatry, must be differentiated from the religion promoted by groups like the Muslim Brotherhood. The group attempts to exploit religion to serve its own interests and to seize power. The Brotherhood’s goals may be fixed, but their interests are subject to change. The issue for religious groups like the Muslim Brotherhood is their belief that any criticism of them is also a criticism of religion, despite the fact their ideas are merely human interpretations, which can be true or false. As a result, the exploitation of religion has become one of the defining characteristics of our modern era. There are many narratives surrounding the inception of the Muslim Brotherhood in the UAE, however the correct account dates back to 1962, when Abdul Badie Saqr, a Qatari citizen of Egyptian origin, came to the UAE. The Qatari Brotherhood had also established a presence in Dubai in 1961, playing a major role in the establishment of the UAE’s Muslim Brotherhood group. When Abdul Badie Saqr arrived in the UAE, he was accompanied by Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, Abdul Mueizz Al-Sattar, Ahmad Al-Assal and Kamal Naji. The Muslim Brotherhood in the UAE followed in the footsteps of its parent group in Egypt, and its branch in Kuwait. While the Kuwaiti model was followed in the Arab Gulf region, the Egyptian model was the superior example, in both political and religious contexts.

During times of crises there has been a historical tendency for peripheral ideologies and groups, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, to gain a foothold. The so-called Arab Spring was one such moment, where the Brotherhood was able to manipulate concerns and deeply held beliefs in order to assume power. Yet the ideology purported by the group is a fundamental misrepresentation of Islam, in an attempt to exploit religion to serve its narrow goals and interests. In this context, pure Islam, based on worship, respect and the higher principles of religion, must be differentiated from the ideology promoted by groups like the Muslim Brotherhood. Over the decades, in countries across the region, the Brotherhood and its branches have managed to infiltrate major elements of state and society, to varying degrees. In doing so, it has relied on manipulation, intimidation and violence, while its political positions regularly shift in order to facilitate attempts to assume power. The UAE was also impacted by the Muslim Brotherhood’s project, which in this country, is thought to date back to 1962 when its members first arrived in the Emirates and began to build a base in Dubai. Before long, the UAE branch of the organization, known as Al-Islah, established deep roots across UAE society, wielding control of the education system in particular, and posing a threat to the very stability of the nation. However, the UAE is a powerful example of decisive state action to eradicate the threat of political Islam, ultimately ensuring a safe, stable and prosperous environment where its people could thrive. This important book charts the development of the Brotherhood, from its beginnings in Egypt in the 1920s, to its attempts to consolidate power across the region following the so-called Arab Spring. It highlights the group’s tactics, ambiguous ideology and attempts to distort religion to gain power and influence. The insights offered, based on robust research into the group, its ideology and activities, aim to expose the duplicitous agenda of groups like the Brotherhood, and ensure they are unable to once again exploit vulnerabilities and re-emerge.

Extensive literature has already been published about the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) by distinguished authors, experts, and many research centers including the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR) Almezmaah Studies & Research Centre, and Almesbar Studies & Research Centre in the UAE. The purpose of this research is to summarize thousands of pages worth of interviews and opinions and to clarify important Islamic terms and ideas that are implemented and misinterpreted by the MB and other terrorist groups. I will also focus on answering the following questions: Who is the MB? What is the concept of Hakimiyya, Jahiliyya, the caliphate, jihad, and Islamic law (Sharia)? What are the relations between the MB and other terrorist groups? How did the MB spread in the UAE? What is the role of the UAE in addressing them? The answers to these questions form the basis of this research. I will attempt to delve with the reader into the depths of MB members' minds, their ideas, and beliefs. I will illustrate the controversial terms used by the MB on the other hand, while correcting their misinterpretations with evidence from the Quran and Sunnah on the other hand. The research will further delve into the spread of the MB in the UAE. This research will conclude with the final chapter, which focuses on the UAE model in confronting the MB. The MB emerged in Egypt in 1928 under the leadership of Hassan al-Banna. It then spread in the Gulf countries and others. The group's self-proclaimed ultimate goal was to establish the rightly guided caliphate by overthrowing and changing governments. The MB preaches the opposite of what it practices, adopting deceptive and evasive methods. They conduct clandestine activities that have been ideological foundation for all the emerging extremist and terrorist groups. The group has adopted several slogans, the most important of which is to "focus on what it agrees with and leave the differences" and "Islam is the Solution." For more than two decades, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been at the forefront of the fight against all forms of what is usually referred to as political Islam in the Gulf and beyond. The MB, which is the most obvious manifestation of wrong Islamic activism, has been its primary target.

In a supplemental analysis to The Mirage, the comprehensive scholarly review of political religious groups in the Arab world, this paper sheds light upon the illusory tactics of political religious groups following the so-called “Arab Spring” in 2011. With particular emphasis on the Muslim Brotherhood, the methodologies of these political groups are laid bare and their true intentions exposed.

The shifting contemporary security environment is characterized by unconventional actors and methods, the influence of non-state actors, and the use of proxies and hybrid warfare techniques. This has not only precipitated changing alliances and positions, but has significantly altered the global security agenda and our understanding of security concepts. In the Middle East, where the security implications of the Arab Uprisings continue to reverberate a decade later, complex factors in the emergence of novel security challenges call for a more nuanced approach that moves beyond conventional narratives. It is here that securitization theory has an important role, offering a comprehensive analysis that takes into account the multiplicity of actors, audiences and interests at play in both the construction of threats, and the legitimization of state responses to them. As a rising regional security actor, and an important player on the global stage, the United Arab Emirates offers a strong case study, in term of its efforts with partners to tackle some of the region’s most pressing threats. In examining the ways in which the UAE’s decision-makers have identified and securitized threats, such as political Islam and the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, the book aims to achieve a deeper understanding of regional complexities, while developing securitization theory in a fresh geopolitical context. Traditionally applied to Western contexts, this book aims to situate securitization’s theoretical framework within the transformative security developments to have taken place in the Middle East in recent decades. It offers a detailed examination of the events surrounding the Arab Uprisings, and their far-reaching impact to set the scene for analysis of how securitization theory can help deepen our understanding of the region’s current political, economic and security considerations. Many states in the region are still severely weakened, or are mired in conflict that has brought humanitarian crisis and the collapse of regimes. Continued instability in Yemen, Libya, Syria and Iraq threatens the security of the entire region, as external actors vie for dominance. Meanwhile, the security vacuums created by departing major powers have had perilous effects, allowing space for Islamist extremist elements to regroup and grow. The security threats facing the region have long-term implications, likely to be further complicated by shifting political dynamics and emergent global issues, such as the pandemic and climate change. A robust response requires a move away from traditional security paradigms, as demonstrated by the UAE’s approach, in favor of more comprehensive and proactive strategies to address the array of novel challenges that now define the contemporary security landscape.

The Mirage is an expression of His Excellency Dr. Jamal Sanad Al-Suwaidi’s perspective that the struggle in which many Arab and Muslim countries are currently engaged against extremist groups and organizations is not limited to the realm of military and security operations; it is also an extended war of an essentially intellectual nature that requires long-term planning, which is no less important – indeed, perhaps even more so – than planning in military and security terms. Academic scholarship plays a vital role in protecting the security of nations and societies via rigorous analysis of challenges and threats and the subsequent presentation of appropriate solutions. The role of scholars in times of historic conflict is to be at the forefront of the defenders of human and civilizational values against extremists and radical militants. It is to this end that the author has written this book. The book examines this phenomenon from multiple research angles: intellectual, political, ideological, cultural and social, exploring political religious thought in its various manifestations, and explaining the intellectual and organizational disparities between relevant groups. The book tracks the history of this phenomenon, tracing it to its peak in the early 2010s, revealing the intellectual and ideological characteristics of these groups for interested researchers, decision makers and the public in an effort to deconstruct the various obstacles they pose to civilizational progress and development in Arab and Muslim countries. Every chapter reflects the author’s conviction that political religious groups represent neither the true face of Islam nor its moderate values, and that yielding to the claims of these groups is a serious affront to religion and its essential values of moderation and tolerance. The Mirage also employs an insightful research vision in its approach to political religious groups and their various practices and manifestations. It tracks their historical evolution and studies particular examples from their inception up until the recent failure of the Muslim Brotherhood-inspired governments that took power in certain Arab and Muslim countries, identifying the causes of their failure, exposing the fallacy of an 80-year legacy of pretentious slogans that attracted such veneration among these groups and their sympathizers — not least among the Muslim Brotherhood itself. Readers will recognize that various elements of current realities in Arab and Muslim countries show similarities with the backwardness of certain aspects of the European Middle Ages — particularly in terms of the ideologies and practices of political religious groups in the Arab and Muslim worlds in the modern era, and specifically their intellectual and political structures, the relationship between religion and politics, the role of clergy, as well as the prevailing philosophies in Europe and the Arab and Muslim worlds. This gives rise to several questions: are the Arab and Muslim worlds today fighting a similar battle to that experienced by the Europeans around five centuries ago? Does this mean that five centuries separate European and Islamic civilizations? And if so is there any way to overcome such a schism? Are backwardness and modernity inevitably sequential, whereby one becomes a prerequisite to the other? Why is modernity viewed as the antithesis of religiosity—an implicit rejection of religion and its teachings? Why do some groups in the Arab and Muslim societies think that talk about religion ends where talk about progress and development begins? Why have referential concepts disappeared and given way to destructive ideas like those espoused by political religious groups?