Al-Mutawa and Brotherhood

Other Voices

TBy Ahmad alsarraf

he late Abdulaziz Al-Mutawa, the founder of the Islamic Guidance Association, which subsequently transformed into the Muslim Brotherhood movement in Kuwait, was affected by three religious figures in his life; the first was the reformer Yusuf bin Issa al-Qenaei, and the second was the Egyptian teacher, the ‘Brotherhood’ Muhammad Ahmad Abdel Hamid, who met him in Iraq, who then introduced him to the third prominent person, Hassan al-Banna, whom he met in Egypt in 1945.

The “Brother- hood” decided to establish a presence for them in Kuwait, as Al-Mutawa secretary of the movement. The sensitivity of Kuwaitis to the designation of the ‘Brotherhood’, which reminds them of the legions that came from Saudi Arabia in the 1920s, prompted AlMutawa to call his association ‘Islamic Guidance’, which was the crystallization of the idea of establishing it in his thought since 1951.

Among the most prominent youth who joined by him (at that time) were Muhammad Yusef Al-Adsani, Abdullah Al-Kulaib, Youssef Al-Rifai, his brother Abdullah Al-Mutawa, Muhammad Yusef Boodai and his brother Abdullah, Khaled Al-Jassar, and Abdul Rahman Salem Al-Ateeqi, in addition to more conservative personalities, such as Abdul-Razzaq AlMutawa, Abdulaziz Al-Muzaini, and Ali Al-Jassar.

The goals of the association were to liberate the mind from inertia, to educate young people on Islam, to achieve a better standard of living for the Muslim individual, to preserve the rules and morals of Islam, to support Arab unity and to establish an Islamic university.

With the rise of the Nasserite nationalist tide and the pressure this posed on traditional hereditary regimes, political restlessness began at the local level, and an anti-government movement was emerging. Because of the serious relationship that Al-Mutawa had with the ruling and his positive and confusing relationship with Abdel Nasser, the association lost its weight behind the authority,

alsarraf

supporting it, and the government did not forget about it.

The increasing pressure of nationalist and Nasserite movements and liberation advocates ultimately negatively affected the association, as disputes arose between its members on the method of administration and monopolizing the decision-making process, so it was divided into a youth opposition front led by Muhammad Yusef Al-Adsani, Abdullah Al-Kulaib and Abdul Rahman Al-Ateeqi, opposing the Secretary-General Al-Mutawa.

Some Egyptians in Kuwait, and supporters of Nasser, had their role in fueling the dispute. All this prompted Al-Mutawa in 1954 to resign from the association, and that straw broke its back, its conditions were weakened, its activities faltered and the 1959 events resulted in the dissolution of all associations and clubs, except for the Guidance, to increase the deterioration of its conditions, it was forced to close its doors, after losing its effectiveness.

After three years of silence when the state became independent and the democratic system was followed, before a group of men, most of whom were former members of the Guidance, decided to revive its idea, and thirty of them met in the Fahd AlKhaled Diwaniya, in June 1963 and agreed to establish the Social Reform Society.

Its objectives were to combat vice and resist social ills, combat harmful habits such as consumption of alcohol, prostitution, wasta and usury; Guiding the youth on the right path, righteousness and using the free time in a manner that benefits the society; Providing curricula suitable for education and information.

This is in addition to finding effective solutions to the dilemmas facing the society and seeking to achieve them; Caring for and advocating religion, and spreading good morals among individuals to preserve this society for its existence and its constituents and gathering the nation on the principles of Islam and inviting them to adopt a doctrine, a method, and a behavior.

As we can see, the goals differed significantly from the previous goals of the Guidance, and became stricter, even if it remained the local representative of the International Organization of the Brotherhood in Kuwait.

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