The Power of the Jama‘A: The Role of Hasan Al-Banna in Constructing the Muslim Brotherhood’s Collective Identity
In: Sociology of IslamThis article explores the role of Hasan al-Banna (1906-1949) in creating the collective identity of the Muslim Brotherhood. It examines the enduring impact of al-Banna’s thoughts and legacy on the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). The article argues that al-Banna interweaved a distinctive frame of identity for the MB which is still vibrant and operative. It also contends that the MB’s identity plays a pivotal role in preserving the movement’s coherence and sustaining its political and social activism. Al-Banna, the founder and the chief ideologue of the MB, had crafted what this article calls the ‘Jama‘a’ paradigm. It refers to the cognitive system of aims and objectives, duties and means, phases and norms, symbols and meanings that encompasses and guides the MB’s members in everyday life. The Jama‘a paradigm operates as a frame of reference to the MB’s collective action. While other studies focused on the historical and chronological journey of al-Banna, this study unpacks al-Banna’s legacy and investigates its effects on the MB’s identity. Based on a field research, the article provides a fresh and nuanced account for al-Banna enduring impact on the MB.
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1
Richard Mitchell’s book (1969) is the standard scholarly work on the history of the MB and Brynjar Lia’s work (1998) has replicated much of Mitchell’s analysis with more historical scrutiny. For English sources on the history of the MB see, for example, Richard Mitchell, The Society of the Muslim Brothers (London: Oxford University Press, 1969); Brynjar Lia, The Society of the Muslim Brothers in Egypt: The Rise of an Islamic Mass Movement 1928-1942 (London: Ithaca Press, 1998); J. Heyworth Dunne. Religious Trends in Modern Egypt (privately published, 1950). For Arabic sources on the MB see, for example, Ishaq Musa al-Husayni, The Muslim Brothers: The Greatest of Modern Islamic Movements, (Beirut: Khaya’t’s College Book Cooperative, 1956); Mahmoud Abd al-Halim, al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun: ahdath sana’at al-tarikh [The Muslim Brotherhood: Events Made History] (Alexandria: Dar al-Da’wa, 1979), the autobiography of Hasan al-Banna, Mudkarrat al-daw’a wa’l-da’iyaa (Cairo: Dar al-Shihab, n.d); Hamada Ismail, Hasan Al-Banna and the Society of Muslim Brothers between Religion and Politics 1928-1949 (Cairo: Dar el-Shorouq, 2010).
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5
Mitchell, The Society of the Muslim Brothers (London: Oxford University Press, 1969), p. 1.
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6
Ibrahim El-Bayoumi Ghanim, al-fikr assiyasi lil’imam Hasan Al-Banna (Cairo: Dar al-Shorouk, 1992), p.140.
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7
Ibid., p.141.
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16
Gershoni and Jankowski, p. 58.
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17
Hasan al-Banna, Majmuat al-rasail al-Imam al-Shahid Hasan al-Banna, (Cairo: Shorouk Press, 2002), p. 23.
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22
Brynjar Lia, The Society of the Muslim Brothers in Egypt: The Rise of an Islamic Mass Movement 1928-1942 (London: Ithaca Press, 1998), p. 58.
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23
Ibid, p. 59.
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24
Mohamed Abdullah al-Simman, Hasan al-Banna: al-rajul wa-l-fikra, (Cairo: Dar al-Nasr, 1977), p. 23.
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26
Ibid., p. 113.
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32
David Commins, “Hasan al-Banna,” in Pioneers of Islamic Revival, ed. Ali Rahnema (London: Zed Books, 1994), p. 134.
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36
Ibid., p. 171.
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37
Ibid., p. 173.
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38
Ibid., p. 174.
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41
Lia, Muslim Brothers in Egypt, p. 140.
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47
Ibid., p. 339.
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49
David Snow and Doug McAdam, “Identity Work Processes in the Context of Social Movements”, in Self, identity, and social movements, edited by Sheldon Stryker, Timothy Owens, and Robert White (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2000), p. 614.
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53
Ibid., p. 115.
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54
Ibid., p. 116.
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55
Ibid., p. 45.
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56
Ibid., p. 48.
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57
Ibid., p. 65.
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58
Ibid., p. 187.
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59
Ibid., p. 188.
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60
Ibid., p. 161.
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61
Ibid., p. 336.
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62
Ibid., p. 178.
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67
Ibid., p. 174.
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68
Mohamed Badie, ‘Oh, Brothers: Let’s Work’, the weekly statement, available at http://www.ikhwanonline.com/new/Article.aspx?ArtID=81660&SecID=0.
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69
Ibid., p. 174.
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70
Zakaria Bayumi, al-Ikhwan al-Muslimon wa’l-Jama‘at al-Isalmiyya fil-hayah al-Siyasiyya 1928-1948 (Cairo: Maktabt Wahba, 1991), pp. 75-82.
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The Power of the Jama‘A: The Role of Hasan Al-Banna in Constructing the Muslim Brotherhood’s Collective Identity
In: Sociology of IslamThis article explores the role of Hasan al-Banna (1906-1949) in creating the collective identity of the Muslim Brotherhood. It examines the enduring impact of al-Banna’s thoughts and legacy on the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). The article argues that al-Banna interweaved a distinctive frame of identity for the MB which is still vibrant and operative. It also contends that the MB’s identity plays a pivotal role in preserving the movement’s coherence and sustaining its political and social activism. Al-Banna, the founder and the chief ideologue of the MB, had crafted what this article calls the ‘Jama‘a’ paradigm. It refers to the cognitive system of aims and objectives, duties and means, phases and norms, symbols and meanings that encompasses and guides the MB’s members in everyday life. The Jama‘a paradigm operates as a frame of reference to the MB’s collective action. While other studies focused on the historical and chronological journey of al-Banna, this study unpacks al-Banna’s legacy and investigates its effects on the MB’s identity. Based on a field research, the article provides a fresh and nuanced account for al-Banna enduring impact on the MB.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 2412 | 635 | 50 |
| Full Text Views | 488 | 30 | 3 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 199 | 89 | 15 |