Friday, August 16, 2013

FROM THE PAGES OF THE IKHWAN AL MUSLIMIN: HASAN AL BANNA


The Muslim Brotherhood has been largest Islamic movement in Egypt and the Arab world. Arab regimes grudgingly and reluctantly view this persistently with trepidation. Its history is the longest since 1928 and is still continuing to this day. Its founder Hasan al Banna’s thoughts and ideas, books and writings are highly sought after and most popular among Muslim youth.

Hasan al Banna’s genius was not only on his vision, his dedication to God and love for his fellow Egyptians. There were others in the history of Egypt who had similar qualities. What made Hasan al Banna unique was the way he translated his vision and convictions into action and into an organizational structure.

Al Banna was never a person who stood still hoping that things would get better. He was not someone who simply observes the corruption and deterioration of Egypt passively. Instead, he was a charismatic leader who knew people and engaged them. He went down to people, visited them, talked to them, lived with them, agonized with them and analyzing the causes of their suffering.

In his travels, he stayed as a guest to various inviting hosts or simply slept in mosques using his little suitcase as a pillow. He built up a personal relationship with thousands of individuals and families. This wide net of personal relationships is said to be a major cause of his success as a popular leader. He learned to speak their languages, their dialects, their accents and he knew how to communicate with the poor, the rich, the educated, the fellaheen – the peasants and the workers. He eventually became their spokesman, their friend, their relative and their leader.

Al Banna had sleepless nights pondering and reflecting the abject state of his people and country. The Islamic caliphate had fallen and had been abolished, Egypt was colonized under British imperial rule and Egyptians were clearly humiliated and regarded as second class, Egyptian political parties were strifing relentlessly, Westernization was bringing moral deterioration and secularism as well spreading neo atheist ideologies; wiping out Egyptian Muslim culture and its national character, aggressive Protestant evangelism was taking advantage of the poor and destitute Muslims as well as overt British colonial patronage and protection.

Al Banna’s analysis was comprehensive and not puritan. He included the social, economic, political, historical and religious dimensions. His solutions were wide ranging and all inclusive finding the complete scope in Islam. He expounded Islam as a state, a sense of belonging, a nation and a government. Islam is a record of creation, of God’s power, His mercy and His justice. Islam is culture and a code of justice. It guides on money, finance, materialism – how to possess and how to not be possessed by it. Islam is a jihad, a doctrine and a system of worship.

To him, Muslims should not only be satisfied with a life of worship and prayers. They should not let the matters of politics, administration and government be left to corrupt people. Islam is din wa dunya – religion and life.

He started his attractive style of preaching and teaching, presenting the fundamentals of Islam as the need of the hour. He formed study groups for those who were more committed. He reached out to mosques, coffee houses and meeting places. He also approached key and influential people. He developed projects in attempting to create a model where Muslims could experience a semblance of the totality of Islam in a genuine setting.

Although he started wholeheartedly in provincial Ismailiyya but his bigger aim was Cairo. From Cairo, he expanded his mission to all parts of Egypt. His vision was clear, implemented by action and practical steps.

Prior involvement in tasauf helped him keep the value of worship, consistency and discipline. He came up with effective training programs, forming core groups , giving strength and coherence to the organization.

The chief instrument and cornerstone for training, recruitment and mobilizing members was the usrah, literally, the families – where members study, reflect, pray, share, contribute and work together in accordance to the mission.

Among the strengths of al Banna was his vision of Islam as a comprehensive way of life, inclusive of all aspects of life and the need for strong leadership to bring about Islamic resurgence in Egypt and the rest of the world. The Muslim Brotherhood movement itself was described by al Banna as a Salafiyya message, a Sunni way, a Sufi truth, a political organization, an athletic group, a cultural-educational union, an economic company and a social idea. This itself made the movement become poised to be dynamic, vibrant and adaptable to changes and in negotiating future transformation.

Al Banna had deep dedication to God and to the task he was entrusted to, able to sustain unity of mind and spirit as the challenges became greater and greater.

The events that followed brought al Banna and the Ikhwan to face its hardest times, in the toughest political game of Egyptian politics.

Hasan al Banna who had such magnitude of power and facing such a momentous task, was still young of age. He was only 43 years old when he was assassinated in 1949.


An American writer Robert Jackson who interviewed Hasan Al Banna in the 1930’s remarked: This week I visited a man who might become one of the greatest men in current history, or he could go into the shadows, if circumstances prove to be to big for him. Although he spoke no English, he was empowering. He was kind, quiet, secure and very confident in the truth of his convictions and the legitimacy of his aspirations. If he takes over leadership one day, it will not only be in Egypt but the whole East as well. This man believes that Islam is a force which dwelt in the conscience and inner being of the East, and therefore Islam could give to that part of the world, life and dynamism.




(some parts adapted and edited from The Rumbling Volcano: Islamic Fundamentalism in Egypt, Nabbil Jabbur)

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