Hasan Al-Banna and the Modern Muslim Self: Subjectivity Formation and the Search for an Islamic Order in Early 20th-Century Egypt

Abstract The Muslim Brotherhood represents an exemplary case for the discussion of Islam and modernity. Founded in 1928 in Egypt by Hasan al-Banna, it developed from a religious movement into a well-organized institution and a cadre party with mass appeal. The Muslim Brotherhood assumed the role of a major social vehicle for the promotion of a specifically Islamic imagination of modernity and related forms of modern Muslim subjectivity. This article explores the ideas of Hasan al-Banna and their historical context from a distinct theoretical perspective. It poses questions with regard to ways in which he constructed an Islamic modern social order and meaningful Muslim selfhoods. Thereby, it understands the Muslim Brotherhood as an inherent part of the emergence of global modernity as “world history.”