The group's founder accepted the utility of political violence and members of Brotherhood conducted assassinations and attempted assassinations on Egyptian state figures during his lifetime, including Egyptian Prime Minister Mahmud El Nokrashi in 1948. Sayyid Qutb, one of the group's most prominent thinkers, promoted takfirism in Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq (Milestones), a doctrine that permits "the stigmatisation of other Muslims as infidel or apostate, and of existing states as unIslamic, and the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society"; this doctrine continues to inspire many Jihadist movements. The group abandoned the use of violence in the 1970s. However, Hamas, a Palestinian militant group that currently controls the Gaza Strip, is an off-shoot of the Brotherhood that continues to use violence. The Brotherhood itself claims to be a peaceful, democratic organization, and that its leader "condemns violence and violent acts".
The group's founder accepted the utility of political violence and members of Brotherhood conducted assassinations and attempted assassinations on Egyptian state figures during his lifetime, including Egyptian Prime Minister Mahmud El Nokrashi in 1948. Sayyid Qutb, one of the group's most prominent thinkers, promoted takfirism in Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq (Milestones), a doctrine that permits "the stigmatisation of other Muslims as infi,del or apostate and of existing states as unIslamic, and the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society"; this doctrine continues to inspire many Jihadist movements The group abandoned the use of violence in the 1970s. However, Hamas, a Palestinian militant group that currently controls the Gaza Strip, is an off-shoot of the Brotherhood that continues to use violence. The Brotherhood itself claims to be a peaceful, democratic organization, and that its leader "condemns violence and violent acts".