The Power of the Jama‘A: The Role of Hasan Al-Banna in Constructing the Muslim Brotherhood’s Collective Identity

2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 41-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khalil al-Anani
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Social Activism ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Muslim Brotherhood ◽  
Frame Of Reference ◽  
Identity Based ◽  
The Muslim Brotherhood

This 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.

Becoming an Ex: Dynamics of Disengagement from Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood after 2011

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-231
Author(s):  
Mustafa Menshawy ◽  
Khalil Al-Anani
Keyword(s):  
Collective Identity ◽  
Muslim Brotherhood ◽  
Original Material ◽  
Affective Processes ◽  
New Meanings ◽  
Identity Based ◽  
Political Project ◽  
The Uk

Abstract This article explores the disengagement of members from Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood. Following both the 2011 uprising and the 2013 coup, increasing disenchantment with the group’s ideology and political project have led many members to reconsider their commitment to, and membership in, the Brotherhood. While scholarship examining the Brotherhood’s processes of recruitment and forming of collective identity is burgeoning, few works have assessed members’ disengagement from the movement and abandonment of its ideology, or how former members make sense of their “ex” identity. Based on rich, original material and extensive interviews with former Brotherhood members in Egypt, Turkey, the UK, and Qatar, this article investigates how former members seek new meanings and identities. Adopting a processual and discursive perspective on disengagement from the Brotherhood, we identify disengagement as consisting of distinct ideological, political, and affective processes. These processes shape individuals’ strategies for exiting the Brotherhood and forming their new identities as ex-members.

Repression of Islamists and Authoritarian Survival in the Arab World: A Case Study of Egypt

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Lachapelle
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Muslim Brotherhood ◽  
Supporting Evidence ◽  
State Repression ◽  
New Approach ◽  
The Muslim Brotherhood ◽  
Authoritarian Survival

This chapter explores the causes of state repression against Islamist organizations in the Arab world. Advancing a rich literature on state repression, authoritarianism, and Islamist politics, it proposes a new approach that centers on the role of non-Islamist audiences for explaining the repression of Islamists. Specifically, the chapter argues that when society is divided between non-Islamists and Islamists, an autocrat can repress Islamists to signal a commitment to non-Islamists to protect them from perceived threats by Islamists. It provides supporting evidence from Egypt, which shows how large-scale repression directed at the Muslim Brotherhood after the coup of 2013 served to cultivate the support of non-Islamists.

scholarly journals Securitizing the Muslim Brotherhood: State violence and authoritarianism in Egypt after the Arab Spring

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 239-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Pratt ◽  
Dina Rezk
Keyword(s):  
Muslim Brotherhood ◽  
State Violence ◽  
Military Coup ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Critical Security Studies ◽  
Securitization Theory ◽  
Middle East Politics ◽  
The Muslim Brotherhood ◽  
The Arab Spring

Unprecedented levels of state violence against the Muslim Brotherhood, and the widespread acceptance of this violence by Egyptians following the July 2013 military coup, have been under-examined by scholars of both critical security studies and Middle East politics, reflecting implicit assumptions that state violence is unexceptional beyond Europe. This article explores how the deployment of such levels of violence was enabled by a securitization process in which the Egyptian military successfully appropriated popular opposition to Muslim Brotherhood rule, constructing the group as an existential threat to Egypt and justifying special measures against it. The article builds on existing critiques of the Eurocentrism of securitization theory, alongside the writings of Antonio Gramsci, to further refine its application to non-democratic contexts. In addition to revealing the exceptionalism of state violence against the Muslim Brotherhood and highlighting the important role of nominally non-state actors in constructing the Muslim Brotherhood as a threat to Egypt, the article also signals the role of securitization in re-establishing authoritarian rule in the wake of the 2011 uprising. Thus, we argue that securitization not only constitutes a break from ‘normal politics’ but may also be integral to the reconstitution of ‘normal politics’ following a period of transition.

The Image of Europe and the Role of its Muslims, as Portrayed in the Contemporary Islamic Debate on Muslim Minorities

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-207
Author(s):  
Carlo De Angelo
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Muslim Brotherhood ◽  
Arab Muslim ◽  
The Muslim Brotherhood ◽  
Muslims In Europe ◽  
Muslim Minorities ◽  
Muslim Scholars

Abstract This article examines one of several ways in which the Muslim presence in Europe is discussed or justified in Islamic terms. It mainly analyses the position of those scholars, some of them close to the Muslim Brotherhood (like Al-Qaradawi and Mawlawi), who have claimed that not only can Muslims live in Western Europe, but that they should live there. In fact, according to them Europe is a context in need of Muslims and that Muslims need it too: Europe needs the moral example Muslims can set there and Muslims need Europe in order to spread Islam. In this light, the presence of Muslims in Europe is both legitimate and necessary, and their absence unthinkable. This article is the result of an examination of particular essays and edicts which Sunni Arab Muslim scholars have contributed to the debate surrounding Muslim minorities in Europe, published between the years 1960-2000.

scholarly journals A commitment to politics: the trajectory of the Muslim Brotherhood during Egypt's 2011–13 political opening

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 379-397 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Wilmot
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Transition ◽  
Muslim Brotherhood ◽  
Democratic Governance ◽  
Political Commitment ◽  
Arab Uprisings ◽  
The Muslim Brotherhood ◽  
The Military ◽  
Islamist Movement ◽  
Rare Opportunity

Prior to the 2011 Arab uprisings, Islamist parties in most Arab states had been systematically prevented from exercising any meaningful authority in government. Following President Hosni Mubarak's ousting from power in 2011, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB) established a political party – the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) – and formally entered mainstream politics, providing a rare opportunity to examine the role of an Islamist party in the context of democratic transition. Contrary to concerns that the MB might use Egypt's political opening to install an undemocratic regime, the movement instead committed itself to electoral politics and consistently adhered to the framework for political transition. An analysis of the MB's political trajectory during the 2011–13 timeframe reveals that the movement endeavoured to protect Egypt's democratic transition against the encroachment of the military and the judiciary. Despite the FJP's efforts, sustained interference by non-elected institutions brought Egypt's democratic experiment to a premature end. This course of events confirms that an Islamist movement is capable of fully committing to politics, but also indicates that political commitment alone is insufficient to ensure a successful transition to democratic governance.

scholarly journals Features of collective action in modern Russia: dynamics, digitalization and results

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 30
Author(s):  
Alexander V. Sokolov
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Mass Action ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Collective Actions ◽  
Network Characteristics ◽  
Information And Communication

The article deal with the analysis of the phenomenon of collective action. A review of modern ideas about the features of collective action, mass action in politics is made. The great importance of collective identity in the process of organizing and implementing of collective actions is indicated. The network nature of modern collective actions and the significant influence of information and communication technologies in the process of their organization are noted. To illustrate the features of collective action in Russia, the article presents the results of a longitudinal study of collective action conducted since 2014 by interviewing experts from various regions of the Russian Federation (annual sample of at least 14 Russian regions and at least 155 experts). The study allows us to identify the dynamics of the activity of collective actions, the features of their organization, the trends of cooperation, the intensity of protest actions. The conclusion is made about the slowdown in the growth of civic activism and collective action. Relative growth is observed only in their manifestation on the Internet. There is a gradual decrease in the politicization of collective action and youth involvement in mass action. At the same time, the role of Internet tools in organizing politicized collective actions is increasing. The article analyzes the actors of collective action. It is concluded that the development of the Internet is a factor contributing to the formation of wider coalitions in the process of organizing and carrying out of collective actions and the increasing activity of unregistered public associations. It is indicated that there is a tendency for the development of network characteristics of collective actions in modern Russia.

scholarly journals Al-Azhar University in the Events of the Arab Spring (Case of Egypt)

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 583-596
Author(s):  
Yurii Vitalevich Lashkhia
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Religious Education ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Muslim Brotherhood ◽  
Official Document ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
The Muslim Brotherhood ◽  
The Arab Spring

Due to the comprehensiveness of Islam, the role of the “Islamic factor” in political processes in the Middle East and North Africa is great, while the nature of the manifestations of the “Islamic factor” largely depends among other things on the current state of modern religious educational institutions, including those serving as a forge of Islamic personnel today. One of the most prestigious universities in Islamic oikumene, giving religious education for Muslims from all over the world, is AlAzhar al-Sharif (the shorter Al-Azhar is more common). It was here that some famous thinkers studied, who further significantly contributed to the development of the so-called “political Islam”. This study is an attempt to clarify the role of Al-Azhar University and related Islamic scholars in the socio-political processes of the Middle East and North Africa. Conducting the research, the author largely turned to the sources of the Islamic religion (the Qur’an, Hadith), theological texts of a number of thinkers (for example, the interpretation of the Qur’an Rashid Rida), religious polemical works (the work of Sheikh Osama al-Azhari against the “Muslim Brotherhood” and other “Islamist” trends), documents compiled by the leadership of Al-Azhar; academic literature on related issues. The author came to the conclusion that the “Islamic factor” did not play a crucial role at the beginning of events, but vividly manifested itself subsequently. The actual suppression of Islam by secular dictators created a fertile ground for the acute discontent of believing citizens and activists of various movements who uphold a particular version of the Islamic political alternative. The most influential university in the Islamic world, Al-Azhar, in an official document, “Arab Spring”, indicated the possibility of a shift in despotic power, while emphasizing at the same time the inadmissibility of violent suppression of peaceful protest. Certain Azharite theologians were directly involved in the events of the “Arab Spring”, in particular, the passionate scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi, associated with the Muslim Brotherhood movement and graduated from Al-Azhar, as well as Sheikh Emad Effat, who died during the suppression of an unarmed speech 15 December 2011. Such activity of various Islamic forces in the political sphere is primarily due to the very nature of the Islamic tradition, which does not separate the “sacred” and “profane”.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document