Re-examining Hasan al-Banna’s Model of Da’wah in the Post-Arab Spring Era

Abstract

Hasan al-Banna’s project of da’wah began as a novel set of principles and structures in the early twentieth century which solidified over the past 89 years into a highly defined structure of Islamic activism. This project involves Islamic pedagogical programs implemented at the grassroots level aimed at constructing ideal modern Muslim subjects, and posits that correct subject formation requires that individuals teach and serve others and participate in commanding the good and forbidding the wrong in society, while working toward the long-term vision of the creation of an Islamic order in Egypt. This is a fundamentally political project that aims at the reconstruction of social relations from below in order to create the conditions under which an Islamic political order could be established. While strategies of tarbiyah (education and training) and activism have changed over time, essential elements of al-Banna’s model remain at the center of the Muslim Brotherhood’s project. However, the current level of crisis in the post-Arab Spring era has led to a critical re-examination of the primacy of the founder’s model. Based on interviews with current and former members of the Muslim Brotherhood and close readings of foundational texts, this chapter discusses this re-examination currently taking place among members who are questioning the fixity of the Hasan al-Banna’s principles of activism, exclusivity of membership, training, political strategies, and the structure of the organization itself. I argue that the short period of political rule and the following political suppression exposed the disconnect between the strategies of activism from below, and the ideal of establishing Islamic governance in Egypt.