PFI - The Muslim Brotherhood of India
Surendra Malaniya
The Muslim Brotherhood (MB) is a radical/extremist movement with an economic structure which is international in character. MB operates in a very covert manner, which contributes to its transnational nature. Considering that it is critical to the brotherhood’s continued survival, its financial and economic structure is one of the organisation’s most tightly guarded secrets. The movement’s ability to survive and fully execute its ideas and ambitions will be severely hampered if it does not have access to its extensive financial infrastructure.
The Muslim Brotherhood did not participate in economic operations at random but rather structured and theorised a framework based on the grounds of being “legal” in nature. As a result, they were able to add an economic component to their ideology.
From the movement’s inception in Egypt, its founders and leaders worked to establish a global financial infrastructure. From the beginning, the economic structure was founded on the collection of membership taxes and the collection of Zakat (alms), as mandated by Islamic law.
As the movement evolved and spread, the same Da’wa infrastructure was created and became a significant source of money for the organisation. In addition, every mosque that was built acted as a collecting centre for Zakat money, every Islamic centre served as a collection centre, and every merchant contributed to the charitable fund.
Following its repression by police and security forces in the 1950s, the Muslim Brotherhood made entry into numerous Arab nations, notably those in the Gulf region. MB also homemade its way into Europe and established regulatory agencies that initially coordinated worship for Muslim communities, such as the Munich Mosque, before spreading over the continent.
However, it was only later that the group began to emerge into the public arena, particularly in European nations, during the early 1990s, when a number of Islamic groups were created with political goals that went beyond their stated cultural and social responsibilities. Some of them began pursuing purely business interests, notably in what is known as Halal trading, with the consequence that the revenues of the local group affiliates skyrocketed as a result.
The Muslim Brotherhood is believed to play a continuous and significant role in terror funding in Europe, owing to its influence in the Islamic community through its humanitarian efforts. First and foremost, they engage in a great deal of humanitarian work, gain sympathy, collect money by showcasing their social work and then they then use the same money to sponsor terrorism throughout Europe. Austria has already expelled the Muslim Brotherhood from the country, and Germany is following suit. France is also charging against brotherhood affiliates, accusing them of spreading radicalism and extremism.
Nathalie Goule, a French politician, targeted the Islamic Relief organisation in particular, alleging that it had been involved in terrorist financing, backed the Hamas organisation in Palestine, and that its officials had been responsible for disseminating anti-Semitic comments on social media. The development of the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe helped undermine the integration of Muslims with the local cultures keeping the community continuously under watch as the suspicions have increased in recent years. The problem has extended further to using their financial resources to promote extremism and make use of European countries as a launchpad for their extremist activities in the world.
Home grown outfits like Popular Front of India (PFI) are following the same methodology and walking the same path as that of Muslim Brotherhood. PFI masks themselves behind the curtain of social service although their true intentions lies elsewhere. PFI’s true face gets exposed intermittently owing to their involvement in violent activities.
The Muslim brotherhood have faced financial accusations from Saudi Arabia and other associated countries as well from Europen countries, who have intensified efforts and mechanisms to curb the outflow of finances from their citizens, mainly through online transactions. Saudi Arabia, in particular, has barred the payment of Zakat through cash which is believed to be the largest source of financing to organisations like the Muslim Brotherhood. PFI can rightly be called as Indian version of MB. Similar steps are therefore needed to be followed in India if India wants to avoid a similar fate like that of Egypt and France.