The Muslim Brotherhood and the Islamic State (ISIS) share things in common – one being the major driving force for their respective groups, which is Sharia law. Although they are rivals, it would make sense for the Brotherhood to be at least sympathetic to ISIS’s cause and even partner with them when necessary. We may be witnessing this taking place or at least at a rudimentary level in Jordan with the Muslim Brotherhood allegedly operating a militant camp for “underage children[,]” showing them “semi-ISIS” type activities. TheJewishPress.com reports on the details of the camp stating:

The camp is allegedly located on the outskirts of Amman, and photographs on Ammon News show a group of young boys in the camp jumping over fire, doing pushups and crawling on the ground. Apparently the term “Semi-ISIS training” refers to combat training inspired by ISIS’ YouTube videos.

A Muslim Brotherhood leader named Zaki Bani Rushaid has denied the report affiliating his organization with the camp. He told Saraya News, “We stand to gain nothing from establishing such camps and it’s impossible that our group would carry out such actions.”

Even though the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood is allegedly illegal in Jordan, whose government shut down Brotherhood’s Amman headquarters in April, it still has a considerable influence within the country.  It also has an interest in fomenting anger with Jordanians – especially with young Palestinians that feel slighted by their government. In fact, one can argue that the more discontent the Brotherhood stirs up the better positioned they become to demand political concessions from the government – especially when many people have been calling for changes to King Abdullah II’s government such as more democratic reforms.

Some people may write off this sort of militant camp as managed by just an extreme group of individuals within the Muslim Brotherhood, but national security analyst Kyle Shideler finds these kinds of training camps may not actually deviate that much from Brotherhood doctrine. Tweeting a passage from Yusuf Al-Qaradawi’s (a leading spiritual figure of the Muslim Brotherhood) book Islamic Education and Hassan Al Banna, (page 67) Shideler reveals how the Brotherhood supports “Crusader-like training” which encompasses the spiritual aspect in addition to the physical:

Furthermore, TheJewishPress.com adds:

Blogger Eman Nabih points out that the link between the Muslim Brotherhood and ISIS is no longer a speculation, as different Arab and Egyptian sources have revealed that the link between MB and ISIS is a reality. The two groups may focus on different Arab countries for the time being, but the ideological connection between them is clear, and, apparently, the operational ties are starting to be revealed.

Not to dismiss the nuances between various Muslim Brotherhood branches throughout the world, but people need to start asking why are there so many terror links with Brotherhood groups if they are the ‘moderate’ organization portrayed by much of the media? Why don’t all Brotherhood groups flat-out reject Hamas and cut off any ties to them? The Muslim Brotherhood/ISIS connection doesn’t seem so far-fetched after all.