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# "We are the war"
- URL: https://otherwise.ghost.io/we-are-the-war/
- Published: 2025-07-19T13:56:33.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-17T13:44:02.000Z
- Description: The Secrete Apparatus of the Muslim Brothers
- Author: Khaled Salih
- Tags: Newsletter, #Migrated-1792244264359, #Import 2026-10-17 14:38

By Khaled Salih

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![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/d6/2c/d62cdd13-a476-41c5-8f2c-29270c99d95d/content/images/2026/10/1b49be3f-e0ed-4ef6-a74d-550263ab52a0_450x666-heic.jpg)

**Summary**

Cynthia Farahat’s *The Secret Apparatus* dissects the Muslim Brothers (in this text Muslim Brothers, MB, the Brothers, or *Ikhwan* is used instead of Muslim Brotherhood), presenting it as the “hub of modern Islamic terrorism” founded in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna. The book illuminates the MB’s *Janus face*, detailing a public General Apparatus for infiltration and a clandestine *Secret Apparatus* focused on “eschatological and apocalyptic worship of violence.” Farahat argues that the MB, influenced by figures like Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani and modeled on Joseph Stalin’s ***Secret Apparatus***, employs a “strategy of violence to achieve its political goals,” notably the “abolition of the Israeli state” and the “establishment of a Muslim caliphate,” directly tying into Hamas’s October 7th attack. Ultimately, the Farahat reveals the MB’s “undeniable obsession with jihad, martyrdom, and the devaluation of life,” exemplified by Banna’s concept of the ***Industry of Death***, which transforms its members into the very embodiment of conflict, proclaiming, “we are the war.”

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/d6/2c/d62cdd13-a476-41c5-8f2c-29270c99d95d/content/images/2026/10/1b1c8dc9-bd7d-40ae-8c62-98f22c0b79bc_540x181-heic.jpg)

[Saudi Arabia](https://www.coastaldigest.com/saudi-arabia-bans-books-hassan-al-banna-sayyid-qutb-yousuf-al-qaradawi?ref=otherwise.ghost.io) banns books by Hasan al-Banna, Sayyid Qutb, Yousuf al-Qaradawi

**The Muslim Brothers: Architect of Modern Terrorism**

Cynthia Farahat’s *The Secret Apparatus: The Muslim Brotherhood’s Industry of Death* emerges as a profoundly relevant and essential read, particularly in the wake of the unthinkable events of October 7th, when Hamas achieved the impossible by breaking through Israeli security arrangements for the Gaza Strip, attacking military posts, killing civilians, raping women, and abducting people. As much of the small territory of Gaza now lies in ruins due to Israel’s massive military response, and negotiations for the release of the last hostages a fragile hope for settlement, Farahat’s book provides critical insights into the underlying ideologies driving such devastating conflicts. It highlights Hamas’s strategy of violence to achieve its political goals, namely the abolition of the Israeli state and its aspiration to be part of the establishment of a Muslim caliphate.

Farahat, a Coptic-Egyptian political activist and a specialist on the Muslim Brothers, offers a goldmine that exposes a century-long period of the MB’s clandestine activities, ideological underpinnings, and global influence. Her work, characterized by sustained and systematic research, reveals how the Brothers, officially founded in Isma‘iliyya, Egypt, in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna, serves as the hub of modern Islamic terrorism, organizing a secret apparatus aimed at establishing a global caliphate under shari‘a law. Farahat details how the MB was heavily influenced by figures like Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani, who combined Western secret societies with Islamic clandestine proselytism, and explicitly modeled its internal structure and methodology on Joseph Stalin’s ***Secret Apparatus***.

The book meticulously draws a careful and detailed picture of the **Janus face** of the *Ikhwan*: a public component, known as the **General Apparatus** (*at-tanzim al-‘am*), that infiltrates institutions, governments, and engages in philanthropic organizations, and a secret network, the **Secret Apparatus** (*al-jihaz as-sirri*), focusing on subversive activities and an eschatological and apocalyptic worship of violence. Farahat clarifies that the ***Secret Apparatus***, established around the MB’s founding and co-founded with Hajj Amin al-Husaini, is the “main governing body” and remains operational, with the Secret Guide holding ultimate power while the General Guide acts primarily as a public relations figure. This deceptive duality is crucial for understanding the brutality of Hamas’s October 7th attack, which saw militants emerge from air, ground, and sea, attacking military posts, killing civilians, raping women, and abducting people, leaving Israel with a shocking sense of failure and vulnerability.

Farahat’s analysis reveals an undeniable obsession of the MB with ***jihad***, martyrdom, and the devaluation of life, rooted in Hassan al-Banna’s concept of the **Industry of Death** (*sina‘at al-mawt*), which exalts dying for Islam. Banna believed “loving life was a deadly sin” preventing entry into paradise, aligning with the Hanbali school of Islamic jurisprudence, which he adhered to and which is popular among Wahhabi and Salafi jihadists like the Islamic State and al-Qa‘ida. This frightening glorification of sacrificing one’s life for an Islamic utopia of global rule directly underpins Hamas’s strategy of violence to achieve its political goals—to liberate Palestine (requiring the abolition of the Israeli state) and to be part of the establishment of a Muslim caliphate. This is directly tied to Hamas’s affiliation with the Egyptian *Ikhwan*, whose ultimate goal is global Muslim rule based on five deadly principles: ***allah*** is the goal, the ***prophet*** is the guiding example, the ***qur‘an*** is the law, ***jihad*** is the way, and ***martyrdom*** is the quest \[3\].

A fascinating aspect of *The Secret Apparatus* is its exploration of how the MB successfully fuses ideological, personal, and action-oriented aspects of both main branches of Islam (sunni and shi‘a) in their quest for a unified caliphate. Farahat details the millennium-old “proximity project” (*taqrib*), aimed at unifying militants from both sects for joint ***jihad***. This includes the “surprising news that Ayatollah Khomeini visited Banna in Cairo in 1938,” and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s translation of Sayyid Qutb’s books into Persian, even including them in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, IRGC, curriculum. Farahat documents the organization’s ability to combine Stalinist institutions and a sect-like operational structure demanding total submission to leadership, derived from Joseph Stalin’s ***Secret Apparatus***, with elements of a shi‘ite sect’s revolutionary underground tactics, reminiscent of the medieval Assassins.

The book extends its mapping beyond Egypt, showcasing *Ikhwan’s* direct involvement in Palestine, Afghanistan, Sudan (where Omar al-Bashir became the first public MB member to rule a country in 1989), and Tunisia (where a MB coup deposed President Ben Ali in 2011), effectively highlighting its international influence. Farahat also details her personal struggle to inform U.S. policymakers about the threat posed by the MB, recounting how the organization infiltrates American institutions and organizations as part of its ***Civilizational Jihad Operation***. She highlights how the MB systematically infiltrates intelligence and political positions, citing examples like Muhammad Elibiary, a former Homeland Security Advisory Council member who openly expressed radical views and support for the MB, and umbrella organizations such as the ***US Council of Muslim Organizations*** (USCMO) and ***CAIR***, which lobby Congress despite alleged ties to terrorism and fundraising for groups like al-Qa‘ida and the Taliban.

For many, including the reviewer, the book provides a crucial lens through which to understand a multitude of horrific events, from Saddam Hussein’s genocidal campaign against the Kurds to the Islamic State’s brutal attacks on Christians, Yezidis, and Sufi Muslims, and Hamas’s pogrom on October 7th. These acts, the book demonstrates, are not merely random violence but are rooted in a systematic approach by religious sects that describe themselves as movements or political parties, using violence as a political tool with modern manifestations of terrorism, organizational skills, and a profound disgust for human life.

*The Secret Apparatus* is presented as a cautionary tale about the ramifications of the Brothers, which can manifest in diverse ways, across multiple parts of the world, and over time. The book profoundly illustrates how these groups can deceive technologically superior states, societies, and intelligence organizations, as they most recently did against Israel on October 7th. Their victims pay an unusually high price, and affected societies are shaken from the ground up. In practice, the book shows that these organizations are serious when they warn of “an industry of death” designed to create a utopian Islamic order, both locally and internationally. This ***Industry of Death*** is operationalized through mechanisms like the **Rover Scouts Division** (*nizam al-jawala*), militias created by Banna particularly for young men and teenagers, to provide preliminary paramilitary training for combat and ***jihad***. The core of their impact lies in what the Muslim Brothers themselves call their ***al-jihaz al-khas*** or ***al-jihaz as-sirri*** (the private or secret apparatus), transforming those who join into the war itself, echoing the founder Hassan al-Banna’s assertion: “we are the war.”

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