AS3 / Words: 2599

Question: To what extent can the early Muslim Brotherhood be considered a decolonial intervention,

and to what extent does its later development recreate colonial structures?
Introduction

The Muslim Brotherhood has endured a controversial stance as a regime that contrasts the prior

Western system in the Muslim world. This essay will present a discussion on the extent to which the

early Muslim Brotherhood is depicted as a decolonial intervention alongside its later development

recreating colonial structures. It is reasonably debatable that the Muslim Brotherhood imitates some

aspects of colonial structures. The ban on particular films, usury and music could easily be interpreted

as leaders asserting control over the members of the country beyond the realm of just reviving Islam

in the country or even dictatorship, almost paralleling the structure of the colonisers. However, this

paper will evaluate both sides to this argument, taking on the argument that the decolonial

intervention is to a small extent and has recreated colonial structures to a great extent, referring to

other decolonial interventions across the Muslim world.

Principles of the early Muslim Brotherhood

Established in Egypt by Hasan al-Banna, the Muslim Brotherhood was an “explicitly apolitical

religious reform and mutual aid society during these early years [in 1928 that had]… devoted its

energy to membership recruitment, private discussions of religion and moral reform”. 1 It was known

for being the “highly critical of the existing political regime in Egypt, especially the quasi-colonial

British control of the country.”2 Al-Banna maintained the concept of tawhid, unity of God, to

exemplify “political unity under Shari’a as a comprehensive way of life, central government, and an

Islamic caliphate.”3 This was motivated by his view of the criticality and sovereignty of the state

being necessary for maintaining “balance and the well-being of the umma and creating an all-

encompassing Muslim way of life.”4 This had eventually lead to “calling for social reform and an

immediate withdrawal of British troops from Egypt.”5 Rooted in the Hanbali school of fiqh, the

Muslim Brotherhood insisted the most conservative literal reading of the Qur’an and other texts when

1
Ziad Munson, ‘Social Movement Theory and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood’ (2001) 42 4 TSQ
<http://www.jstor.org/stable/4121130> accessed 20 April 2022.
2
Ibid.
3
John L. Esposito, ‘Key Islamic Political Thinkers’ in Ahmad Moussalli (eds), Hassan al-Banna (OUP 2018).
4
Ibid.
5
Munson (n 1).
dominating “Egypt from foreign powers, the poverty of the Egyptian people, and the declining

morality they identified.”6 They comprised the ideology that “a single cohesive community and must

work together to resist the encroachment of corrupt Western influences” following the teachings of

Jamal al-Din al-Afghani.7

Al-Banna’s ambitions behind this were to “need to rid Egypt of immoral and imperial Western

domination through the adoption of an Islamic path formed the basic mantra of the Muslim

Brotherhood.”8 Yet, “the organization was often as vague as possible in applying this view to specific

issues.”9 They believed that it would revive the country from people who “had fallen away from Islam

and that their increasingly secular lifestyles lead to immorality, poverty, and domination.”10 They

discouraged Western practices particularly in the rules they had established, as such the law was

prescribed to be reformed for it to be in alignment with Islamic principles and ‘strengthen the ties

among Islamic countries.’11 Bennabi would describe this as a form of guidance the “Muslim world

cannot seek… in the present chaos from a Western world itself… but must discover its own sources of

inspiration.”12

The Muslim Brotherhood instilled reformation activities to redirect the country from the remains of

the previous colonial encounters to partake in Islamic practices, such as addressing the corruption;

finding a solution to the problems the women endure; banning games that involved chance and the use

of alcohol.13 The leader, Al-Banna, tried reviving the concept of Khilafah, it embodied national

consciousness and expressed resistance.14 This illustrates how it is less of a decolonial intervention,
6
Munson (n 1).
7
Munson (n 1).
8
Munson (n 1).
9
Munson (n 1).
10
Munson (n 1).
11
Robert G. Landen, ‘The rise of mass doctrinal parties: the program of Hasan al-Banna and the Muslim
Brotherhood’ in Camron Michael Amin, Benjamin C. Fortna and Elizabeth Frierson (eds), The Modern Middle
East (OUP 2006).
12
Malik Bennabi, ‘The Chaos of the Western World’ (1980) 19 3 IS <https://www.jstor.org/stable/20847142>
accessed 20 April 2022.
13
Landen (n 11).
14
Jasmine K. Gani, ‘Escaping the Nation in the Middle East: A Doomed Project? Fanonian Decolonisation and
the Muslim Brotherhood’ (2019) 21 5 <http://doi.org/10.1080/1369801X.2019.1585916> accessed 20 April
2022.
and recreates colonial structures on a greater extent as it displays an assertion of control over the

Egyptian population through religion and possibly rewrites the damage of colonisation. Yet, it is a

decolonial intervention to a small extent as its imposed colonial structures as a way to decolonise and

take control over the country.

Further, the motivation behind decolonising has been to assert a new power, not entirely to revive the

country and its art, rather, this new restriction on the art of the country almost mirrors the behaviour

of the colonisers. Landen lists the behaviours that have been banned to include censoring “theatre

production… supervise and approve music… to bring to trial those who break the laws of Islam… to

combat foreign customs” and giving supremacy to the Arabic language.15 While the positive impacts

have resulted from this such as enforcing Islamic morals, it nonetheless remains a reason why it can

only be seen as a decolonial to a small extent and that it moves greatly towards being considered a

colonial structure. The restrictions on behaviour that is deemed un-Islamic put into speculation the

intensity of the vision the early Muslim Brotherhood wished to impose.

The early Muslim Brotherhood’s behaviour enforced imitates the nature of other attempts for a

decolonial intervention that appear as recreating colonial structures to a great extent. Following the

Second World War, the Muslim world faced saturation from Western colonialism and secularism that

was compared to the ‘role of Protestantism in promoting a transition to modernism and democracy.’16

The incompatibility between the religious and secularism has not been as straightforward as many

have criticised the policies placed as being ‘associated with corruption, repression or imperialism.’17

As a result of the recreated colonial structures, the implementation of religion in developing a Muslim

democracy when decolonising has caused further divisions in culture, social status and the prevalent

Sunni-Shi’ah split.18 This underpins the decolonial intervention as having a miniscule extent in

comparison to the greater extent of the recreated colonial structures.

15
Landen (n 11).
16
Sebastian Walsh, ‘Killing Post-Almohad Man: Malek Bennabi, Algerian Islamism and the Search for a Liberal
Governance’ (2007) 12 2 <http://dio.org/10.1080/13629380701235251> accessed 20 April 2022.
17
Martin Pugh, Britain and Islam (YUP 2019).
18
Ibid.
The Society hosted meetings which did not last due to the fixation with World War II and thus by

1949, the “organisation had over two thousand branches throughout Egypt.”19 During the shift from

secularism and Western influences of Egypt under the ruling of the Muslim Brotherhood, the

traditional Islamic view was dependent on.20 This was believed to be stripping the Egyptians of their

freedom.21 Fanon’s vision for independence plays a significant role in the reimagining of impendence

beyond the confines of the nation.22 Regarding Fanon’s blueprint on the anti-colonial movements,

territorial independence and dismantling the coloniality into society, culture and politics for the

freshly decolonised states, the avenues were transnational solidarities and national consciousness. 23

This demonstrates the difficulty in obtaining completely successful decolonisation by the early

Muslim Brotherhood. In opposition to Pugh’s antagonism to Islam in restricting Egypt’s recovery

from colonialism, Gani displays its obligatory nature from the secular Western relics. Al-Banna’s

poise in developing shūrā has consequently absorbed democracy with Islamic political thought and

provided the legitimate religious reason for the control of the government that coincides with popular

approval.24 This enables Islam to thrive in every aspect of life, from economics to philosophy, without

disregarding its valid position.25 From this, it is proven that the decolonial intervention of the early

Muslim Brotherhood has less of an extent and that there is a great extent in the recreation of colonial

structures.

Similar experiences across the Muslim World

i. Algeria

Alike other colonial structures that tend to have an impact on latter structures of colonialism in other

countries, the early Muslim Brotherhood had influenced much on the Algerian liberation movement

and “also spawned many of the militant Islamic groups that exist today, including organizations such

19
Landen (n 11).
20
Gani (n 13).
21
Gani (n 13).
22
Gani (n 13).
23
Gani (n 13).
24
Esposito (n 3).
25
Esposito (n 3).
as Hamas.”26 In the instance of Algeria, Krais described the decolonisation to be pursued from the

“body and mind”, which each individual can succumb to overthrowing the constraints by reforming

themselves. In the early twentieth century, Malek Bennabi denoted the revival of Islam as a means to

obtaining decolonisation in Algeria which would be “to recover its former magnificence… in which

individuals were empowered.”27 He coined the term, colonisabilité, for Algerian Muslims to achieve

when participating in society through a cultural revolution and the greater jihad, to overcome the

self.28 He argued that an Islamic democracy was necessary to reach freedom, considering the factors

such as zakat and living by the act of debating on decisions by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) with his

companions. In contrast, Krais contributes discussion on the psychological aspect of colonialism.

Presenting arguments in alignment with the Qur’anic verse of a community developing when the

individual has, he anticipated that one must use tactics of reformed education and athletic training to

obtain religious modernity.29 Despite the contrasting nature of pressure both critics place on the

position of Islam in decolonising Algeria in small intervals, it nonetheless carries a greater position as

recreating colonial structures. This decolonising attempt appears more similar to the likeliness nature

of colonial structures as it puts Islam on a pedestal in the development of an individual, mentally;

physically and spiritually and has also been scrutinised by Zaoui as being “unclear and ambiguous” in

its attempts to recognise the political groupings when challenging the Islamist political group, the

Islamic Salvation Front.30 This illustrates the great extent to which the early Muslim Brotherhood had

recreated colonial structures, and less of an extent in its decolonial intervention which parallels with

Algeria’s approach.

ii. India

The early Muslim Brotherhood can be seen as being in alignment with the motivations behind the

decolonisation of India, and the subsequent birth of the subcontinent. The scholars, Illahi and Shedai

raised the concept of azadi (freedom) as the goal to achieve when combating the British rule over

26
Landen (n 11).
27
Walsh (n 14).
28
Walsh (n 14).
29
Dietrich Jung, Muslim Subjectivities in Global Modernity (Brill 2020).
30
Walsh (n 14).
India.31 Alike Bennabi’s notion of colonizability, efforts were made to reduce the colonial divide

between the Muslims and Hindus who had both employed religion alongside revolutionary strategies

to escape the colonial rule.32 While Illahi drew up the idea in which he wanted Muslims to return to

the power guided by the Shari’ah and had spread this message by travelling across communities as

our God-given right, Shedai, on the other hand, preached Pan-Islamism to contest the colonisers that

had raided public and private spaces.33 Today, India experiences “artificial freedom” that has resulted

in divisions within the country as opposed to unity, a viewpoint on the decolonising process that

Saikia does not address.34 This therefore entails how colonial structures have been recreated to a great

extent and only challenges the decolonisation process by confiding in the colonial structures, similar

to that of the early Muslim Brotherhood.

iii. African American Muslims

The Muslim Brotherhood has had an influence on Muslim groups beyond the realm of the Muslim

world, stretching to the African American Muslim experience. Unlike prior familiarities, the African

American Muslims resorted to these methods to revive their culture in the colonised land after being

stripped from it due to slavery and Islam had brought them closer to their African heritage. Daulatzai

delivers an substitute cultural and political backdrop of African Americans, Islam and the Muslim

Third World with reference to the influence of Malcolm X on the social movements in history,

documentary culture, prisons, literature and the hip-hop culture from the Civil Rights era to the post-

9/11 “War on Terror” environment and decolonisation process.35 He displays the rise of hip-hop

culture as being an encapsulation of the struggles and poignant chronicles of rebellion which appears

as a return to a preslavery past.36 During his discussion on the interlink of American blackness and the

Muslim International, he recognises each radical, social, political and cultural aspect. 37 The early

31
Yasmin Saikia, ‘Uncolonizable: Freedom in the Muslim mind in colonial British India’ (2016)
<http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19472498.2016.1143670> accessed 20 April 2022.
32
Saikia (n 27).
33
Saikia (n 27).
34
Saikia (n 27).
35
Sohail Daulatzai, Black Star, Crescent Moon (UMP 2012).
36
Ibid.
37
Ibid.
Muslim Brotherhood alongside the Algerian liberation movement has undeniably influenced this,

particularly Daulatzai’s reference to the Muslim International of the ‘Third World’ which he navigates

to imitate an identity compass.38 Pursuits in decolonising African Americans was manifested in what

the rapper, Nas refers to as the “afro-centric Asian, half-man, half amazing” when responding to the

experience, visualisation and acuity of decolonisation by the Muslim Brotherhood. 39 By referring to

the Muslim International, Daulatzai recognises the decolonisation of the collective Muslim

experience.40 Following the ‘Arab Cold War’, decolonisation was placed on a pedestal as an activity

to indulge in for African American Muslims.41 Curtis determines his stance on this by stating that the

return to the canonical Islamic scripture grants an interconnection of the African American Muslims

and foreign Muslims in the East, granting them with a “communal identity.”42 After the Second World

War, Islam grew in the direction of decolonisation of there to be a “firm of political protest against

the racial status quo”, which had subsequent influence on Muslims in Western movements such as

the Ahmadiyya and the Nation of Islam.43He later, nonetheless, contested that the Nation of Islam had

little contribution to the decolonisation of African American Muslims due to its teachings failing to

address the reasons for oppression and siding with being arguably “politically dangerous in some

way.”44 This therefore demonstrates that he lacks the observation of the impact the global Islamist

movements had on the marginalisation of African Americans Muslims and the challenging method in

which colonial structures are recreated, alike that of the early Muslim Brotherhood.

Conclusion

Overall, I have provided a discussion on the extent to which the early Muslim Brotherhood could be

considered a decolonial intervention and the extent of its development in recreating colonial

structures. It is thus conclusive that the extent to which the early Muslim Brotherhood could be

38
Ibid.
39
Ibid.
40
Ibid.
41
Edward Curtis IV, ‘Islamism and Its African American Muslim Critics: Black Muslims in the Era of the Arab
Cold War’ (2007) <https://www.jstor.org/stable/40068446> accessed 20 April 2022.
42
Ibid.
43
Ibid.
44
Ibid.
considered a decolonial intervention is significantly less in comparison to its performance of

recreating colonial structures. This is due to various reasons provided, such as the reform of society

and the individual based on elevating Islam in the country. This demonstrates the difficulty in

obtaining successful decolonisation by the early Muslim Brotherhood, it appears less pragmatic which

in turn displays it as appearing more as an intangible vision. Further, the Muslim Brotherhood appears

to be recreating colonial structures in many aspects. A clear example of this is the creation of the sub-

continent as a division of India based on religious dissimilarities. The influence of the Muslim

Brotherhood has stretched beyond Egypt to India, and Algeria and even reached the African Muslims

in America. Collectively this depicts the heightened necessity of decolonisation, to steer away from

the Western domination and indulge in reviving their own country with its principles. This has,

nonetheless, been pursued through means of intensifying Islam in every aspect of life.

Bibliography:

1. Walsh S., ‘Killing Post-Almohad Man: Malek Bennabi, Algerian Islamism and the Search for

a Liberal Governance’ (TJNAS 2007) 2

2. Pugh M., Britain and Islam (YUP 2019)

3. Daulatzai S., Black Star, Crescent Moon (UMP 2012)

4. Curtis E., ‘Islamism and Its African American Muslim Critics: Black Muslims in the Era of

the Arab Cold War’ (AQ 2019) 59

5. Jung D., Muslim Subjectivities in Global Modernity: Islamic Traditions and the Construction

of Modern Muslim Identities (Brill 2020) 300

6. Krais J., ‘Decolonizing Body and Mind: Physical Activity and Subject Formation in Colonial

Algeria’ (Brill 2020)

7. Gani J., ‘Escaping the Nation in the Middle East: A Doomed Project? Fanonian

Decolonisation and the Muslim Brotherhood’ (2019) 21

8. Saikia Y., ‘Uncolonizable: Freedom in the Muslim mind in colonial British India’ (RTFG

2016)
9. Bennabi M., ‘The Chaos of the Western World’ (IS 1980) 19

10. Esposito J., Key Islamic Political Thinkers (OUP 2018)

11. Munson Z., Social Movement Theory and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (TSQ 2001)

12. Landen R., The rise of mass doctrinal parties: the program of Hasan al-Banna and the Muslim

Brotherhood (OUP 2006)