Abstract
The Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood has been accepted by the Hashemite monarchy throughout most of its seventy-five-year history. Today, however, it is illegal and a new, more pro-regime version exists, as well as several other groups that have their roots in the organization. Based on a close reading of the Arabic writings by Salim al-Falahat, a former leader and current critic of the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as Jordanian media reports, this article seeks to explain how this falling apart of the organization happened. Many studies focus on fissures within the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood. I argue that while these are important to explain the underlying divisions underpinning this breakdown, it was actually the reformist ZamZam initiative launched in 2012 and the organization’s handling of its aftermath that caused the Muslim Brotherhood to fall apart in the ensuing years.
Highlights
The Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan used to be an exception in the Middle East, where local affiliates of the originally Egyptian organization were often repressed by the ruling regimes
Many authors working on the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood have pointed to the ways in which the organization is internally divided
The Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood went through a tumultuous time under the reign of King ‘Abdallah II, during which the organization suffered unprecedented repression
Summary
The Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan used to be an exception in the Middle East, where local affiliates of the originally Egyptian organization were often repressed by the ruling regimes. To be sure—and beside the regional crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood since the so-called Arab Spring went awry in various countries in the 2010s—the relationship between the organization and the Jordanian regime had long deteriorated This was especially the case since 1989, when the Muslim Brotherhood used the first Jordanian parliamentary elections since 1967 to translate its popularity into political influence, and even more so under King ’Abdallah II This article shows that the ideological divisions distinguished in the literature so far, while real and important, did not directly cause the disintegration of the Muslim Brotherhood Instead, it was ZamZam and the handling of this initiative by the organization’s leadership that brought about the disastrous situation in which the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood finds itself today
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