lowers raised money and built a mosque, and
then two schools (one for boys and one for
girls) as well as a social club.
workers. Eventually they even owned factories.
quarters to Cairo; and to 300 by 1938, with a
membership estimated at between 50,000 and
for shirking in their work and exclude non-
members from access to services.
paid dues, held a membership card and had ac-
cess to the social service network and mosques.
Koranic studies and physical training. This
structure allowed the organization to select
suitable candidates among the large pool of
lower-tier members who sought services, then
train and indoctrinate them. Once selected and
prepared, higher-tier members could be en-
trusted with more sensitive jobs.
political currents merged into a perfect wave
of opportunity. The first was the 1936 general
both the British who governed Palestine
under a mandate from the League of Nations
with an anti-imperialist movement without
actually endangering themselves by challeng-
ing British control in Egypt.
ish. The Wafd Party had previously gained
Egyptian nationalism, so its implicit accep-
tance of British rule was considered a betrayal.
In 1941, the Brotherhood seized the opportu-
nity, running candidates in elections and call-
ing for both social reform and British with-
drawal. The British responded by banning the
party and arresting its leaders.
made it resilient to the loss of leaders. The or-
ganization easily weathered the storm. The
British soon went back to concentrating on
the war effort and released the Brotherhood
leaders.
of repression. Sometime around 1939 the
Brotherhood leadership had reluctantly es-
tablished a militia, the "Secret Apparatus," in
response to internal pressure from more mili-
tant leaders. After the end of World War II,
the Apparatus began attacking British and
government targets. Egypt responded by le-
gally dissolving the Brotherhood in December