Background

Hassan Al-Banna, in full Hassan Ahmed Abdel Rahman Muhammed al-Banna, was born on October 14, 1906 in the village of Mahmoudiyya, located northwest of the city of Cairo, to a traditional lower middle-class family. His father, Sheikh Ahmad Abd al-Rahman al-Banna al-Sa'ati, was a watch repairer and a teacher at the local mosque school.

Education

Al-Banna received his first lessons in Islam at the local mosque school. By the time he was 14 years old he had memorized the Koran, the holy book of Islam, and while still in secondary school he began to organize committees and societies stressing Islamic principles and morals. Later, while attending the Teacher's College in Cairo, Al-Banna attended lectures at the Al-Azhar, the foremost Islamic university, where he was exposed to current religious thought as well as to Sufism (Islamic mysticism) which opened a new inner dimension towards Islam and helped in forming his future beliefs.

Career

In 1927 Al-Banna was assigned to teach Arabic in a primary school in the city of Ismailia, near the Suez Canal, which was a focal point for the foreign economic and military occupation of Egypt. There he began to preach his ideas and won his first followers, who encouraged him to form the Society of the Muslim Brothers in 1928.

During the second half of the 19th century Egypt had witnessed vigorous reformist efforts directed towards making Western thoughts and institutions more acceptable to Islamic society without undermining Islam itself. Such efforts had been led by important religious leaders such as Jamal Al-Din Al-Afghani, Muhammad Abdu, and Rashid Ridda. However, by the 1920s, with increasing political, social, and economic problems, Egypt witnessed a period of resurgence of conservative Islamic ideals. Al-Banna was the disciple of these earlier reformers; unlike them, however, he did not look for a way of compromise with Western ideas. What he called for was the institution of an Islamic state with a caliph as its leader and the Koran as the basis of its law.

The Society of the Muslim Brothers was to be the means of achieving these goals; the program reflected the ideas of Al-Banna, its "Supreme Guide, " regarding social, religious, and economic matters. Among other things, it called for a moral society in Islamic terms and an end to Westernization. Since the ills of society were blamed on the habits of the Europeanized upper classes who preferred to wear Western clothes, speak European languages, and bring up their children according to Western customs, habits of the rich were to be combatted.

Al-Banna was one of the chief sources of the popularity of the Society, whose membership was conservatively estimated at one million in the 1930s. He brought into existence the Nizan Al-KhASS, the secret military arm of the Ikhwan which undertook various acts of terrorism, such as the 1952 burning of foreign and Jewish institutions in Cairo and the murder of Egypt's Prime Minister Al-Nuqrashi in 1948. The latter killing provoked the assassination of Al-Banna himself in 1949 at the hands of King Farouk's secret police. The king, who once was allied with Al-Banna, had now found him too dangerous and eliminated him, even though Al-Banna declared himself innocent of Nuqrashi's death.

After the death of the Supreme Guide, the Society went underground. There was a brief interval of friendship with the Nasser regime after the 1952 revolution, but in 1956, after a failed assassination attempt on the life of Nasser, the Society were driven underground once more.

Achievements

• Al-Banna is best remembered for founding the Muslim Brotherhood. Under his leadership it became the most significant social movement in Egypt, amassing a following of over one million people and establishing itself as a major force in national politics. Al-Banna's influence extended beyond Egypt, as the Muslim Brotherhood expanded to other countries in the Middle East and served as a model for the rise of religious movements across the Muslim world.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Al-Ma'thurat

    (This is a collection of important Qur'anic verses and Aha...)

  • Hassan Al-Banna: Biography of Hassan Al-Banna (Arabic edition): Mozakarat El Imam Hassan al banna, Autobiogrphy, Hasan al-Bannas Memoiren

    (Hassan al banna biography (Arabic edition) By Hassan al b...)

  • Seerah of the Final Prophet (Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him)

    (Sirah Of The Final Prophet (S) By S.M. Hasan Al-Banna (Aw...)

Membership

Society of the Muslim Brothers

Personality

Al-Banna was a charismatic leader, a man of conviction who inspired great faith in his followers.

Connections

Father:

Sheikh Ahmad Abd al-Rahman al-Banna al-Sa'ati

References

• Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1798-1939
• Hasan al-Banna (Makers of the Muslim World)
• Bedeutende Lehrerfiguren: Von Platon bis Hasan al-Banna (German Edition)