What is Muslim Brotherhood?

Muslim Brotherhood, also often called The Society of the Muslim Brothers, is a movement that spans across many countries, and is in politics the biggest opposition group in many Arab nations. It is also considered by many the most influential group of its kind. The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt by schoolteacher Hassan Al-Banna together with six other workers in the Suez Canal Company in March 1928, and has since spread out and grown many fold. The founders believe that Islam should go back to its original ways to restore its social influence and dominance. They believe that Islam has lost its former glory and influence over society because of the western influenced ways it had at the time.
The group believes that the Qu’ran (Islam’s holy book) and Sunna (Islamic practices) is the ideal way to live, and should influence everything that a Muslim sets out to do in life. The aim of the Islamic Brotherhood is to reclaim the Islamic empire (or ‘dar el Islam’), which they believe to stretch across continents, as far as Spain all the way to Indonesia.
While the group’s official stance is to condemn violence and terrorism, this is the subject of much debate. In Egypt, where it is banned, many hold the belief that the Muslim Brotherhood was responsible for killing sprees after World War II. Many also believe that the Muslim Brotherhood has ties to terrorist groups.