Hassan al-Banna
Islam is the solution
A mass movement for religious order.
Reactionary Autocratic TheocratOne of 729 ideologies · enter the Autocratic Theocrat hall →- Role
- Founder & organiser
- Era
- 1906–1949
- Region
- Egypt
- Social band
- Reactionary
- Placement
- −6 · +90 · −80
§ Where Hassan al-Banna stands
3 axesAl-Banna rejected both Western capitalism and communism, calling for an economy bounded by Islamic law, with zakat as a social obligation and interest-based lending curbed. From its founding in 1928 the Brotherhood built mosques, schools, clinics and small companies, practising welfare and self-help rather than state ownership, and it attacked foreign economic domination of Egypt, a stance just left of the centre.
Al-Banna aimed at an Islamic order governed by the sharia and condemned Egypt's party system as divisive, urging rulers to replace partisan rivalry with unity under Islam. He was willing to stand for parliament, running in Ismailia in 1945, but the Brotherhood also built a secret armed wing in the 1940s that carried out bombings and assassinations, including the killing of Prime Minister Mahmoud al-Nuqrashi in December 1948.
He preached a comprehensive Islamic revival against the Western culture he saw eroding Egyptian society, and the Brotherhood campaigned against alcohol, gambling and prostitution. His Twenty Principles, set out in the Message of the Teachings, open by defining Islam as a complete system covering every sphere of life, and he urged Muslim rulers to reform education and law on religious lines.
How close are you to Hassan al-Banna?
Three statements, one per axis. Answer them and we’ll drop you on the compass next to them.
§ The story
HistoricalHassan al-Banna (1906–1949) was an Egyptian schoolteacher and preacher who founded the Society of the Muslim Brothers, the most influential Islamist movement of the twentieth century. Born in Mahmudiyya in the Nile Delta, the son of a watch repairer and religious scholar, he trained at Dar al-Ulum in Cairo and in 1927 became an Arabic teacher in Ismailia, the Suez Canal city where British troops and foreign companies were highly visible. There, in 1928, he founded the Brotherhood with a handful of local labourers.
Al-Banna moved the Brotherhood's headquarters to Cairo in 1932 and built it into a mass organisation, with branches, schools, clinics and businesses across Egypt, teaching that Islam is a complete system for state and society. In the 1940s a secret armed wing, the Special Apparatus, carried out bombings and assassinations, and after the government dissolved the society in December 1948 a member assassinated Prime Minister Mahmoud al-Nuqrashi. Al-Banna was shot dead in Cairo in February 1949, a killing widely attributed to the state's security services. Branches and offshoots of his movement, from Syria and Jordan to the Palestinian Hamas, carried his model across the Arab world.
Notable for
- 01Founded the Muslim Brotherhood
- 02Mass religious-political organising
- 03Shaped 20th-c Islamism
Key works & moments
- 1927Graduates from Dar al-Ulum in Cairo and takes a teaching post in Ismailia.
- 1928Founds the Society of the Muslim Brothers in Ismailia.
- 1932Moves the Brotherhood's headquarters to Cairo as the movement spreads across Egypt.
- 1940sThe Brotherhood forms its secret armed wing, the Special Apparatus.
- 1948Brotherhood volunteers fight in Palestine; the government dissolves the society in December.
- 1949Shot dead in Cairo on 12 February, weeks after Nuqrashi's assassination.
§ Minds closest to Hassan al-Banna
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§ Also in the Autocratic Theocrat hall
Enter the hall →§ Common questions
4 answersWhat was Hassan al-Banna's political ideology?
Hassan al-Banna was the founding organiser of modern Sunni Islamism, the view that Islam is a complete system for state and society: on the 99ideologies three-axis compass, a Reactionary Autocratic Theocrat. Economically he sat just left of centre (−6), favouring zakat, charity and limits on interest over both capitalism and communism. On governance he was strongly authoritarian (+90), seeking a sharia-based order without party rivalry, and socially he was firmly traditional (−80), campaigning for religious revival against Western cultural influence.
Was Hassan al-Banna left-wing or right-wing?
Right-wing on the compass, though he fits neither Western camp neatly. His call for a state governed by Islamic law, his hostility to party pluralism and his campaign for religious morality place him on the authoritarian, traditionalist side. Yet his anti-colonial nationalism, his welfare network of schools and clinics and his criticism of capitalist inequality gave the Brotherhood a populist social message that appealed to workers and students, and it competed directly with the communists and secular nationalists of his day.
Did Hassan al-Banna support violence?
In part. Al-Banna presented the Brotherhood as a movement of preaching, education and welfare, and he stood for parliament, but he also endorsed jihad against colonial occupation, sent volunteers to fight in Palestine in 1948 and led a movement whose secret armed wing, the Special Apparatus, was formed in the 1940s. Members of that wing assassinated a senior judge and Prime Minister Nuqrashi in 1948. Al-Banna publicly condemned the prime minister's killing, and historians still debate how far he controlled the apparatus.
Which minds are closest to Hassan al-Banna?
On the 99ideologies three-axis compass, the minds closest to Hassan al-Banna are Girolamo Savonarola (99% alike), The High Sparrow (98% alike) and Abul A'la Maududi (98% alike). The furthest is Emma Goldman (0% alike).