The Secret Apparatus: The Muslim Brotherhood's Industry of Death
This text will be an invaluable resource for intelligence analysts, security practitioners, and the staffs of the Congressional Intelligence Committees. It is informative, dense, and contains a detailed index for readily navigating a wide array of names, terms, and topics.
Sources: Farahat's Sources include personal interviews with Tharwat Al-Kherbawy, General Counsel for the Muslim Brotherhood for over ten years, representing them in multiple terrorism cases (Farahat, pp. 112, 141, 182, 350); Gamal al-Banna, younger brother of Hassan al-Banna (Farahat, p. 160); and, Ahmad Saiful Islam al-Banna, the son of Hassan al Banna (Farahat, p. 160).
The Muslim Brotherhood:
Founder and Theoretical Underpinnings: Frarahat relates that Hassan al-Bana founded the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928 as a fraternity cult modeled after the 11th Century order of Assassins (Hasashin) (Farahat, pp. 26, 65). Al-Banna was raised in the Hanbali school of Islamic jurisprudence, which gives the theological impetus to the Wahhabi and Salafist jihadists (Farahat, p. 26). Al-Banna believed that "loving life was a deadly sin which prevented Muslims from entering paradise," and the gateway to paradise was to "shed their blood as a tax" (Farahat, p. 15) and his mission was world domination (Farahat, 2022, pp. 68-86). "He merged the essence of crime, totalitarianism, and jihad into a comprehensive project which he called sina'at al-mawt (the Industry of Death)" and published his views as a paper in 1938 and again in 1946 (Farahat, p. 127). "Hassan al-Banna's eschatological doctrine demanded that the whole Muslim ummah be annihilated and presented as a blood sacrifice, which he called daribat ad-dam (the blood tax)" (Farahat, p. 212). Al-Banna's views, career, and activities are discussed in detail starting on page 94. Farahat provides persuasive substantiation that al-Banna was assassinated by his own group for betraying them in order to save himself (Farahat, pp. 155 - 161).
The Muslim Brotherhood was intended to revive, and has become a modern version of, The Assassins (Farahat, p. 33) It uses "ad-da'wa as-sirriyya (clandestine proselytism) to infiltrate and subvert the social, political, and intelligence community (Farahat, p. 33). Its objective is to establish the Islamic caliphate through jihad (Farahat, p. 40).
Muslim Brotherhood doctrinal sources include the writings al-Banna, Qutb, Maududi, and Khomeini (Farahat, p. 13). Other background influences are Hitler's values (Farahat, pp. 13, 113-116), Stalin's organizational and institutional models (Farahat, pp. 13, 112), Iran, and the Shia Branch of Islam (Farahat, p. 12).
The Muslim Brotherhood's five principles, organizational philosophy, and ten pillars for bai'a are identified and discussed on pages 128-129.
Farahat identifies multiple devotes of al-Banna, including Ruhollah Khomeini, who traveled to the Muslim Brotherhood's Cairo headquarters in 1938 to meet with al-Banna (Farahat, p. 291); Nassar and Sadat, who pledged allegiance to al-Banna (Farahat, p. 19); and, Bin Laden, who was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood (Farahat, p. 265). Farahat documents that Khamenei incorporated Qutb's writings into the curriculum of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards (Farahat, pp. 13, 275, 305).
Muslim Brotherhood as a parent organization. Farahat identifies and substantiates the Muslim Brotherhood as the parent organization for, or has linkages with, Hamas, Al-Qaeda (Farahat, pp. 266, 342), al-Gama'a al Islamiyya (Islamic group) (Farahat, pp. 26, 257, 259), Haiyat Wadi al-Nile li-Inqaz a—Quds (Nile Valley Authority to Save Jerusalem) (Farahat, p. 213), The Islamic Resistance Movement (Farahat, p. 249), ad-Dawla al-Islamiyya fil Iraq wa'l-Sham (The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), or Islamic State (I.S.), and Daesh (Farahat, p. 271). Offshoots from the M.B. include the Taliban, which has become intertwined with al-Qaeda (Farahat, pp. 274, 277, 278).
Muslim Brotherhood Front Groups. The Muslim Brotherhood Front Groups controlled by the Secret Apparatus Branch in each country (Farahat, p. 235), identified by Farahat, include the Makassed Foundation (Farahat, p. 79); The Islamic Ethics Association (Farahat, p. 80); Egyptian Americans for Freedom and Justice (EAFAJ) (Farahat, p. 219); Al-Markaz al-Ilmi l'al-Behuth w'admDirasat (Scholarly Center for Research and Studies [Infiltrating Egyptian academia]) (Farahat, p. 224); Muslim Students Association and Brotherhood Scouts (Farahat, p. 100); Washington DC-based Freedom Initiative (Farahat, p. 347); and, the Muslim American-Public Affairs and Civic Engagement (MAS-PACE) (Farahat, p. 350).
Muslim Brotherhood Structure. Al-Banna was obsessed with secret societies and used Stalin's models for the structure of the Muslim Brotherhood (Farahat, pp. 90, 109-113). The tactic is to create an organization employing a public face to cover the covert side employing subversive activities (Farahat, p. 91). This approach, combined with deceptive practices (takkiya), has protected the Muslim Brotherhood from accurate U.S. Government assessments (Farahat, p. 140) and provided access to, and unwitting support from, U.S. Government officials (Farahat, p. 90).
The Muslim Brotherhood consists of the General Apparatus, Secret Apparatus, Intelligence Apparatus, and International Apparatus.
General Apparatus. Farahat describes the General Apparatus as the public face of the Muslim Brotherhood, its organizational structure, and its deceptive roles. (Farahat, pp. 16, 94, 97-102).
The General Apparatus committees, their nine sections, and the initiation process (tarbiyya) are described in detail (Farahat, 2022, pp. 98 - 102). Elements borrowed from the Cosa Nostra are described from pages 102-105, and membership criteria and categories are discussed between pages 105-109.
Secret Apparatus. Farhat's focus is The Muslim Brotherhood's Secret Apparatus, which has transformed the Brotherhood "into the world's incubator for modern Islamic Terrorism." It borrows from the Soviet Union model (Farahat, p. 25). Farahat describes how, in the mid-1930s, al-Banna created the Secret Apparatus ("the first covert Islamic terrorist organization in modern history") with the assistance of Nazi collaborator and Mufti of Jerusalem Amin Al Husseini (Farahat, p. 32). Farahat describes its ideological, operational, and cover operations between pages 118-130.
Intelligence Apparatus. Farahat describes the Intelligence Apparatus as a subset of the Secret Apparatus (Farahat, p. 131). This section infiltrates and "subverts political parties, militaries, intelligence agencies, media, educational systems, government and non-government organizations, and other influential groups "(Farahat, pp. 131-133). Think in terms of the staff vulnerabilities of the Executive and Legislative Branches of Government and their related intelligence committees.
International Apparatus. Farahat describes the International Apparatus as a subset of the Secret Apparatus (Farahat, pp. 34, 225). The International Apparatus gives cover to subversive activities, and together, the Secret Apparatus and International Apparatus facilitate "clandestine civilization Jihad …and the Brotherhood's employment of both Sunni and Shi'ite clandestine proselytism (Farahat, p. 39).
Proximity Project. Farahat describes the one thousand-year-old theological movement named taqrib which was "intended to unify militants from both Sects (Sunni and Shi'ite). The tagrib, now known as the Proximity Project, creates a binding and enduring relationship between the Muslim Brotherhood and Shi'ite jihadists" (Farahat, p. 43) This relationship revives clandestine proselytism incorporating clandestine jihad (al-jihad as-sirri) (Farahat, pp. 44, 49-53).
Al Azhar University and the Council of Senior Scholars in Saudi Arabia facilitate "the founding of terrorist groups through a seemingly legitimate path. Future terrorists and jihadists conceal their terrorism manifestos as Master and Ph.D. thesis in both Institutions."
Al Azhar University. Farahat identifies and describes the extensive influence and control the Muslim Brotherhood exerts over Al Azhar university and, in turn, the University's role in the radicalization of Islam and individual countries where their alumni reside. This is facilitated by its repository of thesis and dissertations which can be doctrinal tracts for radicalization and militant interpretations of Islam (Farahat, pp. 17, 18, 19, 52, 80, 83 - 86, 127, 163, 169, 229, 238 - 246, 273).
Council of Senior Scholars, in Saudi Arabia (Farahat, p. 238). Farahat identifies the Saudi Council of Senior Scholars as another intellectual driver of radical Islam that merits closer review.
Other Institutions. Farahat adds that "it's possible that other Islamic Universities around the world are involved in the practice of legitimizing and providing material support to terrorist groups through this mechanism (Farahat, p. 238). For a possible example, see Al-Qahtani, S. M. (1413 A.H.) Al-Wala wa'l-bara: According to the Aqeedah of the Salaf, parts 1, 2 and 3. Mecca, Saudi Arabia: Kashi ul Shubuhat Publications, Book 2, Chapter 7.
In addition to the detailed analysis of the Muslim Brotherhood, Farahat identifies the following:
• the Muslim Brotherhood Officers (Farahat, pp. 134-140);
• the membership processes for the General and Secret apparatuses (Farahat, pp. 106-109)
• American apologists (Farahat, p. 158), some U.S. Government supporters (Secretary of State Clinton) (Farahat, pp. 202-204), and close Muslim Brotherhood relationships with Representatives Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) (Farahat, p. 351);
• the Muslim Brotherhood's use of political marriages as a tool of infiltration and strategy of collateral attacks (Farahat, pp. 166-169);
• the means to identify Muslim Brotherhood leaders and operatives (Farahat, pp. 348-353);
• the Muslim Brotherhood's techniques for normalizing graphic violence (Farahat, pp. 354-360);
• twelve policy missteps that may be the result of insider threat actors inside the U.S. Government from the current Biden Administration and prior (Farahat, pp. 374-378);
• ten important coded terms that are used by the M.B. to protect their activities (truth, freedom, tyrannical deity, Islamic theocracy, justice, peace, empowerment or dominance, Islamic revival, global supremacy, and Democracy) (Farahat, pp. 323 - 332);
• the Muslim Brotherhood's official website as www.ikhwanonline.com (Farahat, p. 125); and,
• the activities of the US Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO) and the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) hosting Muslim Advocacy Days attended by 400 delegates from thirty states to meet with over 230 elected U.S. officials and Congressional Staff (Farahat, p. 337).
Overall, Farahat has provided a substantial contribution to our understanding of the Muslim Brotherhood. Her text is a warning from history and a projection of what is occurring in the United States.
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