It has been 90 years since the foundation of the Society of the Muslim Brothers (Ikhwan). A 25-year-old young teacher called Hassan al-Banna, who gathered with six of his friends in the Ismailia province of Egypt on March 1928, set off in reference that they needed to start somewhere regarding the duty bestowed upon them by the ummah (Muslim community).
What he saw when looking at the situation of the ummah was the abolition of the caliphate in the Ottoman Empire, the lack of political representation and will for Muslims all over the world, the complete occupation of former caliphate territory, and the British colonial system with its all intensity in Egypt.
There were no organizations or initiatives that could fulfill the new world’s conditions of Muslims and represent Islam in the conditions of that period. In fact, that situation was bestowing a duty on all Muslims. Somebody had to take the lead and fulfill this duty.
Hassan al-Banna, a young teacher in good faith, laid the foundations of the movement, which was very modest at the beginning and then became a global organization in the course of time, in an attempt to unify all Muslims looking at the need to combine their forces and wills in order to fulfill the duties bestowed upon them by God in the Holy Quran.
As far as they understood the movement, they thought that it was based on the Quran alone, and not on any extra thoughts, symbols, leanings, or narrow sectarian understandings. They have named themselves as “Muslim Brothers” in the plainest way, just like it is ordered by God for all Muslims to be, in an attempt to rely on the Quran and Sunnah, the most common points for all Muslims, and not take into consideration any other qualifications. As a consequence, they have established a ground making Muslims all over the world their brothers and sisters and making them siblings to one another regardless of whether they are a member of this particular movement or not.
Being brothers is not something that requires an intellectual engagement for Muslims. Additionally, being brothers with former Muslim generations and today’s Muslims all over the world is not a matter of dispute.
From the very beginning of its foundation, the movement has either refrained from getting mixed up in controversial issues in the intellectual and political history of Muslims or displayed a middle way approach, and by focusing on the protection of the Quran and Sunnah as the most associative discourse, they satisfied an already existing demand in the entire Muslim world very effectively. And this paved the way for them to rapidly spread to the entire Muslim world. Today, Ikhwan exists almost all over the Muslim world as a well-established and deep-rooted organization in the political, cultural and social depth of societies.
In many countries, Ikhwan is either in power or takes place in the assembly as a partner or as a legitimate opposition along with its well-organized structure. In the countries where they are not allowed to engage in political activities, they are continuing their activities as a non-governmental organization or as a community. And in the places where they are deprived of even these, they try to continue existing in some way.
Nonetheless, their non-violent feature doesn’t change. Although, as Hamas, they are being described as a terrorist organization with their stance against invasion in Palestine, nobody has a right to speak about the legitimate resistance right in an environment where Israeli cruelty is heightened and there is no other chance left except for resistance. Ikhwan has not adopted violence anywhere except for places like Yemen and Syria, where nobody can avoid being a part of the war. It doesn’t resort to violence to defend itself even in Egypt where its members are being massacred, tortured and are unjustly imprisoned.
However, it is very clear that Sisi’s greatest desire is for Ikhwan to resort to violence. If Ikhwan had ever resorted to violence, things would have been much easier for both Sisi and other enemies of Ikhwan. Don’t be deceived by their moderate Islam against militant Islam chant. What local and foreign Islamophobic people would like to see is not the reasonable moderate real Islam, rather it is an Islamic typology identified with terror in all its ferocity. We see that they never refrain from fabricating such an Islam in their own studios with the guidance of their own agents since it is not emerging among the Muslims in any way. It is quite clear that their primary fear is an Islam that is expressed by people like Hassan al-Banna and Sayyid Qutb with their all superior discourse, in a challenging manner avoiding any defensive, hung-up and apologetic discourse.
Ikhwan is a movement which has fought a tireless, insistent and successful battle with the colonialists who thought that they have buried Ikhwan alive for 90 years. At this stage, they are maintaining a stance equivalent to being a guilty conscience for both imperialists and their collaborators. They cannot be ended through killing. They underwent a coup, their ringleader was killed, survivors were arrested, imprisoned, kept in jail for years, exposed to torture, expelled, yet they have an interesting capacity for endurance with an unbelievable patience regarding all of this. This is really an extremely interesting point in the 90-year-history and total experience of the Ikhwan movement. All their leaders are either killed or each has remained in jail not shorter than twenty years, yet still, there are no murders or violence attributed to them.
Yesterday, there was a reunion in the Ali Amiri Hall in Istanbul’s Fatih to commemorate the foundation of Ikhwan. Khaled Mashal, gave a speech and interesting advice regarding the Muslim Brotherhood, which has countless experiences in 90 years across 60 countries. Advice which contained words such as “updating”, “self-criticism” and “rejuvenation” … Perhaps we will continue to talk about our ideas on this line on another occasion.
