Democratic Jihad Party [1] حزب الجهاد الديمقراطي | |
---|---|
Leader | Yasser Saad [1] |
Founder | Nabil Na'eem [2] |
Founded | 2012 [3] |
Ideology | Centrism [1] Islamism [2] |
The Democratic Jihad Party was an Egyptian political party made up of former members of the group Egyptian Islamic Jihad; [1] it was also made up of members of other "former jihadist groups". [3] The party is also known as the Islamic Democratic Jihad Party, [3] as well as the Islamist Jihadi Party. [2] A member of the party has stated that the party has "failed". [4] The party has stated that it supported Ahmed Shafiq in the 2012 presidential election; Sabra Ibrahim, a deputy founder in the party, stated that the party gave its support to Shafiq in order to prevent the establishment of a theocratic state ruled by the Muslim Brotherhood. [5] The party condemned the attack in August 2012 that killed 16 soldiers, saying that it was committed by “sinful terrorist[s].” [3] Yasser Saad [5] is now a member of an umbrella coalition of former jihadis, ex-members of the Muslim Brotherhood and ex-al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya members called the Moderate Front. [6]
Sheikh Yasser Saad, the leader of the party, has stated that the party will be inclusive regarding minorities. [1] A young female party member named Hanan Nouredin appeared unveiled at the press conference announcing the plan to found the party. [1]
The party was criticized by Muhammad al-Zawahiri for embracing democracy. [7]
Islamism is a political ideology which posits that modern states and regions should be reconstituted in constitutional, economic and judicial terms, in accordance with what is conceived as a revival or a return to authentic Islamic practice in its totality.
The Society of the Muslim Brothers, better known as the Muslim Brotherhood, is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna in 1928. Al-Banna's teachings spread far beyond Egypt, influencing today various Islamist movements from charitable organizations to political parties—not all using the same name.
Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri is an Egyptian terrorist known for being the leader of terrorist group al-Qaeda since June 2011, succeeding Osama bin Laden following his death, and is a current or former member and senior official of Islamist organizations which have orchestrated attacks in Asia, Africa, and also some in North America and Europe. In 2012, he called on Muslims to kidnap Western tourists in Muslim countries.
Qutbism is an Islamist ideology which was developed by Sayyid Qutb, a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood who was executed by the Egyptian government in 1966. It has been described as advancing the extremist, jihadist ideology of propagating "offensive jihad" – waging jihad in conquest – "armed jihad in the advance of Islam", and simply "Islamic-based terrorism".
Al-jamāʻah al-islāmīyah is an Egyptian Sunni Islamist movement, and is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union. The group was dedicated to the overthrow of the Egyptian government and replacing it with an Islamic state; the group has committed to peaceful means following the coup that toppled Mohamed Morsi.
Abu Musab al-Suri, born Mustafa bin Abd al-Qadir Setmariam Nasar, is a suspected Al-Qaeda member and writer best known for his 1,600-page book The Global Islamic Resistance Call. He has held Spanish citizenship since the late 1980s following marriage to a Spanish woman. He is wanted in Spain for the 1985 El Descanso bombing, which killed eighteen people in a restaurant in Madrid, and in connection with the 2004 Madrid train bombings. He is considered by many as 'the most articulate exponent of the modern jihad and its most sophisticated strategist'.
The Muslim Brotherhood is an Islamic organization that was founded in Ismailia, Egypt by Hassan al-Banna in March 1928 as an Islamist religious, political, and social movement. The group spread to other Muslim countries but has its largest, or one of its largest, organizations in Egypt, where for many years it has been the largest, best-organized, and most disciplined political opposition force, despite a succession of government crackdowns in 1948, 1954, 1965 after plots, or alleged plots, of assassination and overthrow were uncovered. Following the 2011 Revolution the group was legalized, and in April 2011 it launched a civic political party called the Freedom and Justice Party (Egypt) to contest elections, including the 2012 presidential election when its candidate Mohamed Morsi became Egypt's first democratically elected president. One year later, however, following massive demonstrations, Morsi was overthrown by the military and arrested. As of 2014, the organization has been declared a terrorist group by Russia, Egypt, UAE, Saudi Arabia and is once again suffering a severe crackdown.
Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, or more fully Abu Muhammad Essam al-Maqdisi, is the assumed name of Essam Muhammad Tahir al-Barqawi, an Islamist Jordanian-Palestinian writer. A Qutubi jihadi ideologue, he has popularized many of the most common themes of radical Islam today, like the theological impetus given to the notion of Al Wala' Wal Bara', being the first to declare the Saudi royal family to be apostates or considering democracy a religion, and thus whoever believes in it to be an apostate, but he is best known as the spiritual mentor of Jordanian jihadist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the initial leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq. However, an ideological and methodical split emerged between Maqdisi and Zarqawi in 2004 due to Zarqawi's takfeer proclamations towards the Shia populations in Iraq. Maqdisi opted for a more cautious approach towards targeted Shia killings, attempting to stop Zarqawi's radical ideological movement before Zarqawi's methods become counter-productive.
Sayyed Imam Al-Sharif,, aka "Dr. Fadl" and Abd Al-Qader Bin 'Abd Al-'Aziz, has been described as a "major" figure "in the global jihad movement." He is said to be "one of Ayman Al-Zawahiri's oldest associates", and his book al-'Umda fi I'dad al-'Udda, was used as a jihad manual in Al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan. Fadl is reported to be one of the first members of Al Qaeda’s top council.
Salafi jihadism or jihadist-Salafism is a transnational, hybrid religious-political ideology based on the Sunni sect of Islamism, seeking a global caliphate, advocacy for "physical" (military) jihadism and Salafi concepts of returning to what adherents believe to be "true Islam". The ideological foundation of the movement was laid out by a series of prison-writings of the Egyptian Islamist theoretician Sayyid Qutb during the 1960s.
Muhammad Rabee al-Zawahiri is an Egyptian Islamist who was a member of Egyptian Islamic Jihad and one of 14 people subjected to extraordinary rendition by the CIA prior to the 2001 War on Terror. He is the younger brother of Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Presidential elections were held in Egypt in 2012, with the first round on 23 and 24 May 2012 and the second on 16 and 17 June. The 2012 Egyptian Presidential election was the first and so far the only democratic presidential election of Egypt’s history. The Muslim Brotherhood declared early 18 June 2012, that its candidate, Mohamed Morsi, won Egypt's presidential election, which would be the first victory of an Islamist as head of state in the Arab world. It was the second presidential election in Egypt's history with more than one candidate, following the 2005 election, and the first presidential election after the 2011 Egyptian revolution which ousted president Hosni Mubarak, during the Arab Spring. However, Morsi's presidency was brief and short-lived, and he later faced massive protests for and against his rule, only to be ousted in a military coup in July that year.
Called together in the Sudan by Hassan al-Turabi, the 1991 Popular Arab and Islamic Congress Conference sought to unify Mujahideen and other Islamic elements in the wake of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Iraqi defeat in the Gulf War. It sought to provide an alternative to the Saudi-dominated Organization of the Islamic Conference, although it did not have its financial means.
The Freedom and Justice Party is an Egyptian Islamist political party. The ex-president of the party, Mohamed Morsi, won the 2012 presidential election, and in the 2011 parliamentary election it won more seats than any other party. It is nominally independent, but has strong links to the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt, the largest political group in Egypt. The party was banned and dissolved in 2014; however, it continues to function underground.
Nabeel Naeem Abdul Fattah is the founder of the Democratic Jihad Party as well as a contributor to Asharq Al-Awsat. He was also the leader of Egyptian Islamic Jihad from 1988 until 1992.
The Egyptian Islamic Jihad, formerly called simply Islamic Jihad, originally referred to as al-Jihad, and then the Jihad Group, or the Jihad Organization, is an Egyptian Islamist group active since the late 1970s. It is under worldwide embargo by the United Nations as an affiliate of Al-Qaeda. It is also banned by several individual governments worldwide. The group is a Proscribed Organisation in the United Kingdom under the Terrorism Act 2000.
The Moderate Front is an alliance composed of former jihadis, ex-members of the Muslim Brotherhood and ex-al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya members. The leader of the alliance is Sabra al-Qasemy al-Wasateyya, who was a former member of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. The alliance was founded after the 30 June ouster of Mohamed Morsi and subsequent attacks on civilians. The coalition has supported Abdel Fattah el-Sisi for president in the Egyptian 2014 presidential election. The Muslim Brotherhood has been criticized by the group for its calling for protests on the anniversary of the Mohamed Mahmoud clashes; the members of the alliance want the Brotherhood to turn away from violence. One of the members of the organization, Amr Emara, is also the coordinator of the Dissident Brotherhood Youth Alliance. The leader of the Democratic Jihad Party is currently a member of the front.
Al-Qaeda in the Sinai Peninsula, or AQSP, is an Egyptian militant jihadist organization possibly formed by a merger between al-Qaeda operatives in Sinai and Ansar al Jihad. It is Al-Qaeda's branch in the Sinai peninsula, and is composed of many Al-Qaeda factions in the area. Despite sharing similar ideology and possibly some resources, AQSP and the Islamic State have never formally affiliated with one another.
Abu Khalid al-Suri, or Mohamed al-Bahaiya or Abu Umayr al-Shami, was a Syrian jihadist militant often affiliated with Osama Bin Laden’s al-Qaeda and the Syrian Islamist group Ahrar al-Sham. Al-Suri was believed to be assassinated by an ISIL suicide attack in 2014, however ISIL denied involvement in the attack.