The Hamas movement’s links to the Muslim Brotherhood — in more than one country — is still under debate, be it within both movements or among the movements and regimes such as the Palestinian Authority, Egypt or Syria, which have demanded that Hamas give up its links to the Muslim Brotherhood's main branch and to content itself with its Palestinian identity without communicating with the main branch on the political and organizational levels.

Yet, in a recent development, an unprecedented accusation was leveled by Sharaf al-Qudat, head of the Muslim Brotherhood Scholars Council in Jordan, which is the highest religious and legitimate authority within the group that includes legal scholars (different from the Shura Council). Qudat said on Feb. 23 that a secret organization linked to Hamas is leading the group in Jordan.

Hamas has categorically denied this accusation through a leading Hamas source. Speaking to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, the source expressed his “disapproval of Qudat’s allegations, as there are no secret or public organizations affiliated with Hamas in Jordan.” He said the various parties from within the Jordanian Brotherhood should not involve Hamas in the Brotherhood’s internal differences, and he emphasized Hamas’ established policy of noninterference with the internal affairs of parties and Arab countries.

Last Dec. 29, Murad Adayleh — a member of the Islamic Action Front’s (IAF) executive bureau, which is the Brotherhood’s political arm in Jordan — said that the chairman of the Hamas political bureau, Khaled Meshaal, advised the Brotherhood to run in the parliamentary elections held in January 2013, after Jordan’s royal authorities had asked him to do so.