5 - Ideological Divisions on Political Participation

Summary

This chapter deals with the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood’s views on political participation. It analyses the four different means of political participation distinguished in Chapters 1–2 (commanding right and forbidding wrong; consultation; oath of fealty; and obedience) that act as links between the core concept of ‘ruler’ and the adjacent concept of ‘umma’ (and ‘sharīʿa’). It first deals with them from the point of view of global Islamist scholars who have influenced the Brotherhood in Jordan and then by analysing the divided ways in which the Jordanian organisation has used these itself. As such, it – again – shows the diversity of Islamist ideas on these issues and deepens our understanding of why the divisions within the Jordanian Brotherhood are so important with regard to the ‘inclusion-moderation’ thesis.