Ikhwan, << ihk WAHN, >> is an Arabic term meaning brothers or brotherhood. During the Middle Ages, some religious movements formed brotherhoods to establish and preserve their particular interpretations of the Islamic way of life. The name is often applied to the Wahhabis, a Muslim group that follows the teachings of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. This man founded the Wahhabi sect in the mid-1740’s and publicly declared himself the reformer of Islam. He opposed all practices not supported by the Qur’ān (Muslim sacred book) or by the tradition of Muhammad. In 1912, Ibn Saud, who later became king of Saudi Arabia, settled thousands of Wahhabis in agricultural colonies. These settlements are also referred to as Ikhwan.
In Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries, the Ikhwan al-Muslimun, or Muslim Brotherhood, is a religious movement that urges society to return to fundamental Islamic ways of life. See Muslim Brotherhood .
