Do you look at the call of the Muslim Brotherhood with a spirit of hostility?

The questioner : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. And may the best of prayers and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions.
Your Eminence, this is a fine opportunity for us to gather with you and to provide answers to some of the matters that people circulate about you, which we believe are not accurate, for the da'is and the active youth in the Islamic field.
The first question, if you would be so kind: Is it true that you look at the call of the Muslim Brotherhood with a spirit of hostility? And that you frequently disparage and criticize the founder of this group, "al-Banna" (may Allah have mercy on him), and the professor "Sayyid Qutb" (may Allah have mercy on him)? If you would be so kind?

The Shaykh : Indeed, praise is to Allah; we praise Him, seek His help, and seek His forgiveness. And we seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our own souls and from our bad deeds. Whoever Allah guides, no one can mislead, and whoever He misleads, no one can guide. And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger. After that:
I praise Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) that we are da'is who bring people together, not da'is who cause division. Our position regarding the "Muslim Brotherhood" has been clear since the old days; since the Muslim Brotherhood had their freedom in Syria, and they had their headquarters in many locations. I was with them in their meetings and in their travels and trips as if I were one of them. And among the results of that—and the praise belongs to Allah (Mighty and Majestic) alone—many of our Muslim brothers from the Muslim Brotherhood received the Salafi call with all joy and happiness. We do not need to cite many examples of this fruit that we harvested from that companionship—from our companionship with the Muslim Brotherhood, as we said in their trips and travels. Two well-known men in the entire Islamic world, and not only among the ranks of the Muslim Brotherhood, are sufficient for us as an example. One is our brother, Professor "Ismail al-Attar," and the other is our brother "Zuhayr al-Shawish." This is from one side.
And from another side, after Allah (Mighty and Majestic) decreed that all these groups be dissolved because of the sinful, wicked ruling there, we continued in our call to the Book and the Sunnah and upon the methodology of the pious predecessors. Even though we were prevented many times, we then tried and schemed until the waters returned to their channels so that we could continue our lessons. The point of this is that we are not exaggerating when we say that most of those who attend our circles and lessons there—I do not say in Damascus alone, but also in Aleppo, Latakia, Idlib, and other countries—I would not be exaggerating if I said that most of those who used to attend our lessons were from the Muslim Brotherhood. Therefore, from a realistic standpoint, it is impossible for a person who lives among the ranks of these people, who used to visit them when they had the freedom to hold their gatherings, for the situation to reverse and for them to visit us when we were exercising our freedom in writing about the call to the Book and the Sunnah, considering that our call is not a political call. This exchange and this companionship are among the obvious, clear proofs that it is impossible for such a person to be an enemy of the Muslim Brotherhood.