Elmansoury, Tammy (2012) Spirituality, Islam, and the State: the Origins and Disavowal of Sufism in the Ikhwan Al‐Muslimīn
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Elmansoury, Tammy (2012) Spirituality, Islam, and the state: the origins and disavowal of Sufism in the Ikhwan al‐Muslimīn. MPhil Thesis. SOAS, University of London http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/14695 Copyright © and Moral Rights for this thesis are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non‐commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder/s. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. When referring to this thesis, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given e.g. AUTHOR (year of submission) "Full thesis title", name of the School or Department, PhD Thesis, pagination. Spirituality, Islam, and the State: The Origins and Disavowal of Sufism in the Ikhwan al-Muslimīn Tammy Elmansoury Thesis Submitted for the Degree of MPhil in History 2012 Department of History School of Oriental and African Studies University of London 1 DECLARATION Programme Title: MPhil in History This dissertation is submitted in partial fulfillment of the degree of MPhil in History of the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London), on January 30th, 2012. It contains 96,287 words. The work and research that appears in this dissertation is my own. This study was completed under the direction of Dr. Nelida Fuccaro. Tammy Elmansoury 2 ABSTRACT Hasan al-Banna (d. 1949), founder of the Ikhwān al-Muslimīn in 1933, is credited by historians as the creator of the modern Islamic organization. Since his boyhood, al-Banna studied with teachers from radically different Islamic persuasions, including the Sufī tradition. But from among his teachers al- Banna would continue to revere Shaykh Muhammad Hasanayn al-Hisāfī (d. 1910), his spiritual guide and founder of the Hasafiyya tarīqa, long after the founding of the Ikhwān. Al-Banna was drawn to Shaykh al-Hisāfī’s spiritual depth but also to his tradition of political activism; a spiritual master who utilized the Islamic tradition of ‘commanding the right and forbidding the wrong’ to oppose the British occupation of Egypt. This dissertation examines in what ways al-Banna was influenced by Shaykh al-Hisāfī’s teachings and how this influence shaped his fledgling organization. Further, this thesis investigates to what extent the nationalist debates of 1930s Egypt shifted al-Banna’s teachings away from Sufism and towards a clearly defined Islamic nationalist rhetoric. This study also examines how the Ikhwān leadership dealt with Sufism after al-Banna’s death. As the priorities of the Brotherhood shifted and the popularity of organized Sufism dwindled in the mid-twentieth century, the Muslim Brothers focused less on their leader’s spiritual background and more on his legacy as a social and political activist. This transition, they believed, was necessary if the Muslim Brotherhood was to play a role in national politics post 1952. This rhetorical shift is apparent in Brotherhood literature and propaganda which is analysed in this dissertation in order to show how it was instrumental to drastically alter the character of the organization until today. 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am indebted to my supervisor, Dr. Nelida Fuccaro, for her guidance and support throughout the completion of this dissertation. I would also like to thank Dr. Oliver Scharbrodt for encouraging me to explore Hasan al-Banna's ideas on Sufism. I am also grateful for the advice of the late Dr. Ibrahim Abu-Rabi’, whose critical questions on the Brotherhood helped shape this study. This dissertation was almost abandoned after most books were lost in a fire in our home in 2007. Special thanks to my father-in-law for helping to photocopy and bind those books that were saved. I would also like to thank the individuals who helped me during my fieldwork in Egypt in 2006-2007. Special thanks are owed to Dr. Mohamed El-Gendy and Dr. Muhammad al-Shirbīnī for their tireless support and advice throughout the fieldwork process. I am also indebted to Mr. Ahmad Saif al-Islām al-Banna for his help with primary source materials, and the staff at the Dar al-Kitāb and the Dar al-Wath`aiq. I am also grateful to my friends at Harvard, Faisal Matadar and Nada Unus, who helped me to navigate the library collections and find essential sources. I am especially thankful to my husband, Dr. Shadee Elmasry, who read many drafts and gave valuable feedback along the way. A great deal of gratitude is due to my parents, Dr. Hassan Elmansoury and Ms. Sonia Youssef, who always encouraged me to aim as high as possible. I would also like to thank my three children, Ayyub, Jenna, and Rayhanna who endured many hours away from their mother, and several babysitters, so that this project could be completed. This dissertation is dedicated to them, so that they may one day know about a subject that fascinated me. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration p. 2 Abstract p. 3 Acknowledgements p. 4 Introduction p. 8 Research Themes p. 9 Historiography on Hasan al-Banna, Sufism, Nationalism and the Muslim Brotherhood p. 10 Contribution to the Field p. 16 Primary Sources p. 17 Chapters’ Contents p. 21 Chapter One: The Sufī Orders in the Late Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Egypt: The End of an Era p. 23 1.1 The Decline of the Turuq in Egypt (1809-1882) p. 27 1.2 Colonialism and the Consequences of the British Occupation p. 34 1.3 A Crisis of Legitimacy: Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Criticism of the Turuq p. 36 1.4 Conclusion p. 44 Chapter Two: Reforming Shaykhs of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Egypt p. 46 1.5 Reforming Shaykhs p. 46 1.6 Muhammad Tawfīq al-Bakrī (d. 1911) p. 47 1.7 Modernist Shaykhs of the early Twentieth Century: al-Afghānī, `Abduh, and Rida p. 48 1.8 Shaykh Muhammad Mādī Abul-`Azaim (d. 1937) p. 52 1.9 Shaykh Muhammad Hasanayn al-Hisāfī (d. 1910) & Origins of al-Hasafiyya p. 55 1.10 Shaykh al-Hisāfī’s Reformist Sufism p. 58 1.11 Attempted Institutionalization of Sufī Thought p. 59 1.12 Sufism and the Sunna p. 64 2.10 Establishing Criteria for Spiritual Authority p. 67 2.11 Conclusion p. 71 Chapter Three: Colonialism and Egyptian Sufīs: Revisiting the Meanings of Activism p. 72 3.1 The Sufīs and the British in Egypt p. 74 3.2 Sufis and Colonialism Elsewhere: A Comparison p. 78 3.3 Commanding the Right and Forbidding the Wrong: Another Kind of Activism? p. 81 3.4 Commanding and Forbidding in Religious Matters p. 83 3.5 Commanding and Forbidding in the Political Realm p. 86 3.6 Conclusion p. 89 Chapter Four: Attitudes Towards Sufism in the Egyptian Press: A Comparison Between The Jaridat al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin and Other Journals 1900-1935 p. 91 4.1 Al-Banna’s Early Life and political context p. 92 4.2 Discovering the Hasafiyya p. 95 4.3 The Move to Cairo p. 97 4.4 Al-Banna and Jaridat al-Ikhwān al-Muslimīn p. 101 4.5 Journalistic Beginnings: Al-Banna and the Salafī Press p. 102 4.6 Sufism for Beginners: Early Articles Introducing Sufism p. 103 5 4.7 Fiqh and Fatwas: Sufī Controversies Debated p. 108 4.8 The Sufī and the Nationalist: Representations of Islamic Identity in the Jarīda p. 108 4.9 Brotherhood of Faith p. 112 4.10 From the Berbers to Palestine: Forging Nationalism Through a Common Enemy p. 115 4.11 Rashīd Rida and al-Manār p. 117 4.12 Rida and Wahabism p. 122 4.13 Rida and Muslim Identity p. 126 4.14 Comparison with Majallat al-Azhar p. 128 4.15 Jurji Zaydān and al-Hilāl p. 129 4.16 Ya`qūb Sarrūf and al-Muqtataf p. 135 4.17 Conclusion p. 141 Chapter Five: A Sufi ‘Counter-Reformer’? Hasan al-Banna and the Religious Setting in 1930s Cairo p. 142 5.1 Al-Banna, Salafism and the Sufī ‘Counter-Reformation’ p. 143 5.2 Al-Banna and Sufi Esoterism p. 153 5.3 Al-Banna and the Salafī Critique of Sufism p. 163 5.4 The Muslim Brotherhood: Sufi Order or New Organization? p. 167 5.5 The Orders and New Organizations p. 173 5.6 Conclusion p. 185 Chapter Six: Spirituality, Islam, and the State: Attitudes Towards Sufism Among Muslim Brothers After Imām al-Banna’s Death p. 187 6.1 The Muslim Brotherhood After al-Banna’s Death p. 189 6.2 Al-Hudaybī and the Rise of Qutbism p. 194 6.3 From ‘Traditional’ to Rational Islam: The Brothers and Islamic Tradition p. 197 6.4 Challenging the Sacred: The Brothers and Veneration of the Prophet p. 202 6.5 The Validity of Religious Authority: Traditional Scholars and Sources Questioned p. 207 6.6 Sunnī Islam and Political Revolt: The Brothers’ React p. 213 6.7 ‘Social Spirituality’ and the Defining of a Broader Social Vision p. 216 6.8 Social Spirituality p. 216 6.9 Sufis and the New Islamic State p. 218 6.10 Towards Islamic Nationalism p. 221 6.11 Nationalism as an Islamic Belief p. 223 6.12 The Call For Islamic Statehood p. 225 6.13 Conclusion p. 227 Chapter Seven: Sufism, Nationalism, and the State: Depictions of Imām al-Banna by Ikhwān Leaders in Two Periods: The 1950s and 1990s-2000s p. 229 7.1 Imām al-Banna as Intellectual p.