Muslim Brotherhood

The Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Ikhwan al-Muslimum, was founded by Hasan al-Banna in 1928 in Egypt and quickly spread to surrounding Arab countries such as Syria, Sudan, Jordan, Kuwait, and countries in North Africa. It arose as one particular response to continued European imperialism and hegemony in Arab cultures. Al-Banna and his successors saw that influential Muslims adopted, then affirmed and promoted "Western" (i.e., secular) ideas over Islamic values as resources for confronting societal issues. The primary purpose was to return these Arab cultures to Islamic guidance. One could describe the Islamic Brotherhood as an Islamic cultural affirmation, a philosophical position, a social concept, and a political stance all rolled into one organization. Western societal foci on materialism, consumerism, and "individual autonomy without responsibility" were expeditiously labeled the core of Western values and what Muslim communities should avoid.

One early member and architect of the Muslim Brotherhood's philosophical stance was Sayyid Qutb (1906–1928). A portion of his text Ma'alim fi al-tariq (Signposts Along the Way) was circulated in the United States in the late 1960s as Milestones. This text alerted and engaged U.S. Muslims in a dialogue about the seductiveness of capitalism and consumerism/materialism. Muslims are to be discerning and moderate in their lifestyles, protecting themselves against jahiliyyah (the state of ignorance from the guidance of God).

Many Muslims interpreted the prescriptions of Milestones in their living to mean moderation in all things. Some Muslims interpreted the text literally and isolated themselves (as much as any American community could) from the larger society. The larger society is viewed as one with great potential, though lost in an ocean of arrogant ignorance. The general focus in many Muslim communities was and continues to be on perfecting their Islamic lives while in a jahili society. Communitywide adherence to the Islamic ideals, especially in a jahili society, has led Muslims to create their own financial institutions, for example. Muslim credit unions, investment corporations, leasing companies, and lending agencies follow Islamic injunctions against usury and are the preferred financial institutions among U.S. Muslims.

Negative American media on Islam and Muslims have served to further affirm, in the minds of individual Muslims and communities who follow the Muslim Brotherhood's precepts, that the West in general and America in particular are indeed in jahiliyyah. The Muslim Brotherhood's philosophical core has remained the same, though its manifestations in U.S. society have ebbed and flowed as America either focuses on or neglects its Muslims' existence. There is no distinct branch organization as such of the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States. The Muslim Brotherhood is alive in the minds and hearts of the majority of U.S. Muslims, though there is little interest among them in returning to the Muslim world, as it is seen to be steeped in a postcolonial maze.

See alsoBelonging, Religious; Islam; Religious Communities; Secularization; Spirituality.

Bibliography

Mitchell, Richard P. The Society of the Muslim Brothers. 1969.

Aminah Beverly McCloud