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The Free Officers were led by Gamal Nasser, who became president of Egypt in 1956 after overthrowing Muhammad Naguib. <ref>Guirguis, p. 195</ref> Nasser appealed to the Egyptian people as a populist reformer, employing secular, pan-Arab rhetoric to appeal to a wider audience. In his speeches, Nasser did not rail against the native Coptic community but instead emphasized his opposition to Western interlopers, Zionists in general, and the state of Israel in particular. But as Nasser climbed the rungs of power, many individuals and organizations that supported him along the way called in favors, one of which was the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.

Perhaps no organization has influenced the course of modern Egypt’s history than the Muslim Brotherhood. Founded in 1929 in the city of Ismailiya by Hassan al-Banna, the Muslim Brotherhood sought to make Egypt an Islamic state whereby all aspects of life would be subject to Islamic law. The Muslim Brotherhood and al-Banna recognized the large minority Coptic community in Egypt and even believed the Copts had a right to exist but also thought that they should live in a subordinate position to Muslims, similar to the practices of earlier Islamic dynasties. <ref> Waikin, pgs. 73-74</ref>