World Religions › Modern › Islamic revival and political Islam
Muslim Brotherhood
Founded 1928, Egypt· Religion or tradition· Judaism, Christianity & Islam
Historical recordConfirmed by archaeology, outside sources or contemporary records.
An Islamist movement founded in Egypt in 1928 to rebuild society and government on Islamic principles.
See it on the World Religions map →What it is
Schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna founded the Society of the Muslim Brothers in Ismailia, beside the foreign-owned, British-guarded Suez Canal. It paired preaching with schools, clinics and charities, and by the late 1940s claimed some 500,000 members. Al-Banna was assassinated in 1949. Nasser's government banned it; its thinker Sayyid Qutb, executed in 1966, wrote radical works that later inspired militants. Branches spread across the Arab world. Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi won Egypt's 2012 presidential election but was ousted by the army in 2013.
Why it matters
It created the template for modern political Islam (grassroots welfare plus politics), copied from Morocco to Indonesia, and is central to arguments over Islam and democracy.
Sources and history
Al-Banna's and Qutb's writings; Egyptian court and police records; election results; and historian Richard Mitchell's classic study 'The Society of the Muslim Brothers' (1969).
Questions and debates
Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE list it as a terrorist group; others see a mostly nonviolent political movement. Its true aims are fiercely argued.
Connections (2)
▸Muslim Brotherhood pioneered Islamic revival and political IslamHistorical record
The connection
The Brotherhood was the first mass Islamist movement. It combined preaching, welfare and politics, aiming at a society and state guided by sharia. Its branches across the Arab world became the backbone of the later revival; Qutb's radical writings shaped militant offshoots, while other members contested elections.
When and where
Ismailia, Egypt, 1928; Hassan al-Banna; Sayyid Qutb's 'Milestones' (1964); branches in Syria, Jordan, Sudan and Palestine.
Historical evidence
Al-Banna's and Qutb's writings, Brotherhood records, and historians such as Richard Mitchell.
Questions and debates
Whether the Brotherhood is a democratic movement or a gateway to extremism is sharply debated; several states ban it, others allow its parties.
▸Muslim Brotherhood arose after the end of Caliphates: Rashidun, Umayyad, AbbasidMostly agreed by scholars
The connection
Turkey abolished the caliphate in 1924, shocking many Muslims who saw it as the last symbol of Muslim political unity. Four years later Hasan al-Banna founded the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt to revive Islam in society and politics, and restoring an Islamic order, even a caliphate, became a long-term goal of such movements.
When and where
Ismailia, Egypt, March 1928, founded by schoolteacher Hasan al-Banna, four years after the Turkish parliament in Ankara abolished the caliphate in March 1924.
How do we know?
Al-Banna's own writings lament the caliphate's fall and call for its eventual restoration; historians link the timing, though local causes mattered too.
Questions and debates
How central the caliphate's end was, versus British domination and Egyptian social change, is debated; Brotherhood branches today differ on whether a caliphate is a real goal.