20because they’re violent. The Islamic State controls
huge chunks of territory, and it can raise millions
of dollars a day through oil revenues, extortion,
and smuggling.
Beyond the jihadists are the remaining Islamists,
a much larger group. First come revolutionary
Islamists, who are closer to jihadists in their theory,
and then come po liti cal Islamists, who form the
majority of all Islamists yet are still a minority
among Muslims. As we witnessed in the fi rst round
of elections in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood
gained only 25 percent of the vote. Second place
was claimed by Mubarak’s former prime minister,
Ahmed Shafi k, with 24 percent. That 1 percent
margin was insuffi cient for the Brotherhood to
claim victory. In the presidential runoff between
Shafi k and Mohamed Morsi, despite the certain
protest vote against Shafi k (who was tainted by af-
fi liation with the previous regime), the Brotherhood
still managed to gain only 51 percent of the vote.
That suggests that many Egyptians voted for the
Muslim Brotherhood in the second round only to
prevent the return of Mubarak’s former prime min-
ister. It is reasonable to estimate, therefore, that at
the height of its power, the world’s oldest and largest
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