The
Society of the Muslim Brothers , shortened to the
Muslim Brotherhood (
), is a transnational
Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by
Islamic scholar and schoolteacher
Hassan al-Banna in 1928. The organisation gained supporters throughout
the Arab world and influenced other Islamist groups such as
Hamas with its "model of political activism combined with Islamic charity work", and in 2012 sponsored the elected political party in Egypt after the January Revolution in 2011. However, it suffered from periodic government crackdowns for alleged terrorist activities, and as of 2015 is considered a terrorist organization by the governments of
Bahrain,
Egypt,
Russia,
Syria,
Saudi Arabia and
United Arab Emirates.