Debates on Political Islam: Analyzing the Writings of Egyptian Scholars, Hasan al Banna and Sayed Qutb

Abstract

The wave of Islamic resurgent politics that emerge during the Al Sahwa Al Islamiyyah (Islamic awakening) in nineteenth and beginning of twentieth century in Egypt and Syria spreads across West Asia and North Africa (WANA) as a new form of religious politics. This new religion-based politics in Arab world came to be known as Islamism, also sometimes referred to as political Islam. Egypt has provided the favorable conditions for the rise of modern Islamic political thoughts especially after the invasion of Napoleon in 1798. Napoleon’s campaign of West Asia paved the way for direct contact with the Western culture and thoughts. Hasan Al Banna and Sayed Qutb are two important Islamist figures whose ideologies inspire contemporary Islamists. While Hasan Al Banna is famous for his religious and political activism as the founder and head of Muslim Brotherhood, Sayed Qutb provided the theoretical basis to extremist and radical actions of Islamists. This chapter tries to analyze the Islamist writings of these two thinkers with contemporary understanding of Islam and its principles and values in depth. It tries to critically look in the development of contemporary Islamist ideology in Egypt from the Al Nahda Al Arabiyyah (Arab Renaissance). The paper also tries to cover the debate on critique of Islamism. It also assesses the role of Islamism in radicalization and Islamization of Egyptian society, especially the efforts of Hasan Al Banna and Sayed Qutb.