PART ONE

INTRODUCTION

Th e organization known as the (mb, Al-Ikhwan al-muslimūn) fi rst appeared in Egypt at the beginning of the 1930’s in a very particular sociopolitical context. Th e period was marked by the suff ering associated with colonialism, and the abolition of the in 1924, something which had symbolized the unity and importance of to Muslims. In the beginning, the overall goal of these Muslims, deeply involved as lay people, was to revitalize Islam and the Muslims, and to promote the goals of the group in religious, social, cultural, economic and polit- ical terms. Th e organization and the ideas of the mb went through a period of expansion, all while the Arab world was wracked by crises. New nation-States were in fact rapidly monopolized by more or less dic- tatorial groups, working in the name of ‘the nation’. Th is was the context in which the reform project of the mb arose, and it was aff ected by that context; the project was internationalized through a number of adaptations to national contexts. Th e mb became partly militarized and the movement acquired a radical fringe when members were confronted to the power of the State and some were obliged to exile themselves from their home countries, for some period of time or forever.

Retracing the history of the Muslim Brotherhood involves more than an evocation of the past, because the historical memory of the move- ment is always perceived through trials undergone, especially various persecutions by governments, but this memory also has a cultural and an intellectual dimension. Th is history in at least three of its aspects remains quite alive today. In fact, it is a memory that must be honored, an exemplary moment worthy of inspiration, and a founding process for Muslim identity, because it involves the consolidation and continuation of the movement, a task undertaken in terms of its actualization in the light of contemporary contexts. Many testimonies, from partisans (those who are part of the orga- nization of the Brotherhood strictly speaking) and from sympathizers, agree that the Muslim Brotherhood was made up of men of exemplary 16 part one character in the historical period. Th ese were heroic models, ideal good Muslims who made sense with the choices they made in life, and who showed themselves able to bear up under severe tests and extreme suff ering. For certain young sympathizers, these heroes still stand for an experi- ence that might one day allow them to grasp this historical memory in a worthwhile way, making their way toward an experience of their own equally worthy: the heritage of the Muslim Brotherhood is perceived as something that can help individuals advance toward self-realization, involving an Islamic code of principles of conduct meant for today, that allows individuals to react better to contexts, and that reinforces their determination to persist in the face of relative discrimination. In this connection we may cite the testimony of a young Algerian woman, with good contacts in the Brotherhood and with the Muslim Presence net- work, which is an organization created by Tariq Ramadan to facilitate contacts among young managerial level workers who belong to Muslim associations in Francophone countries. For this woman, the past and the present are reunited, and the previous experiences shed light upon the present situation. In her opinion, the Muslim Brotherhood, represented above all by Hassan Al-Bannā, developed an approach that involved all aspects of social life. By their exemplary behavior, they encouraged young people to make sense of their lives and to act responsibly. Th us their experience permits one to illuminate and to rectify certain prac- tices currently engaged in, in order to envisage, perhaps! a better and worthier future: When you see the Muslim Brothers somewhere, you understand them, that they come from Hassan Al-Bannā, because he founded the Muslim Brotherhood. Th rough this . . . we understand them . . . also through the prism of colonialism during that period, British, etc. Here1 as a general rule, people are close to Hassan Al-Bannā. But not for the reasons you would think! I mean that . . . for the people that are very close, there are not a lot of things of Islam around. It’s a paradox. It’s the mind . . . it’s the idea of saying ‘you have to make sense to yourself, from the beginning’. ‘You have to be… a social person’, ‘you have to be a political person’, ‘you have to live in an economic world’. ‘You have to make sense’ in terms of… Th at is what is understood, what I mean is, when we talk about the Muslim Brothers as a ‘reference point’. [. . .] Me, personally, I know that Hassan Al-Bannā did some amazing things, at a time when one had to

1 Th e words in italic in all interviews indicate particular stress placed on them by the interviewee.