Hasan al-Banna

Hasan ibn Ahmad ibn Abdurrahman al-Banna (1906-1949 CE / 1324-1368 AH) was an Egyptian teacher and activist who founded the Muslim Brotherhood (al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun) in 1928 in Ismailia, Egypt. Born in Mahmudiyya in the Nile Delta, he was raised in a scholarly family and studied at Dar al-Ulum in Cairo, qualifying as a teacher.

Hasan al-Banna founded the Muslim Brotherhood as a movement calling for comprehensive Islamic reform encompassing religious education, social welfare, and political engagement. Under his leadership, the organization grew rapidly across Egypt, establishing schools, hospitals, charitable organizations, and businesses. His writings, collected as Majmu'at Rasa'il al-Imam ash-Shahid Hasan al-Banna (The Collected Letters), outlined his vision of Islam as a comprehensive system addressing all aspects of life and called for the gradual Islamization of society through education and grassroots activism.

The Muslim Brotherhood became one of the most influential Islamic movements of the 20th century, spreading to numerous Arab and Muslim countries. Al-Banna's organizational genius and his ability to combine religious discourse with social action and political engagement created a model that many later Islamic movements adopted. He was assassinated in Cairo in 1949, likely by Egyptian government agents. His legacy remains deeply contested, with supporters viewing him as a visionary Islamic reformer and critics raising concerns about the political dimensions of his movement.