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The Society of the Muslim Brothers in Egypt: The Rise of an Islamic Mass Movement 1928-1942

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This is a solid work of scholarship, and serves a nice supplement to Mitchell's more expanded work. However, given that the new information handled by B. Lia offers merely a refinement of our understanding of the Brotherhood rather than a radical revision, one is recommended to rather begin with Mitchell-whose book is available in paperback, is more established, and is a fraction of the cost. Contrary to D. Pipes' and others' reviews, Mitchell's work does not portray the Muslim Brotherhood as reactionary. This rhetorical device of point, counter-point does considerable injustice to Mitchell's work.

Standing on its own, this work is well written and easy to follow. Lia is able to delve into the mechanics of the organization on a social and political level in order to reveal just how it reached the amount heights of success that it did. The result is a picture that explains well why it was a model so extensively copied and exported throughout the Muslim world. If there is any comparison to be made to Mitchell's work, this would certainly be the proper feature to focus on. Overall, Lia gives a much more lucid, detailed account of the Muslim Brother as a social organization and makes a convincing case for the organization being the first grass-roots political movement in Egypt with its origins and leadership from the poorer classes [unlike the Wafd]. What is lost, however, is comprehensive picture of the whole-and this due partly to the limited time frame of the study-wherein the Brotherhood's other distinguishing features [e.g., its religiosity, transformation during political persecution, etc.] are obfuscated.

Book review in Jerusalem Post

"Lia's book provides a fresh reassessment of the growth of the Muslim Brothers. He does so by drawing on a wealth of recently discovered documents, including the Society's own internal publications from the 1930s and '40s, British intelligence reports and al-Banna's personal letters.

While touching on issues of ideology and anti imperialism, Lia places great emphasis on the Society's structure and its activities within Egypt to explain its early phenomenal growth. Rather than a reaction to modernity, he argues that the Society itself was a modern organization, open to new technologies and ideas. (..)

The violence and radicalism within the organization prove to be among the thorniest issues in the book. While the Muslim Brothers provided the organizational model for today's radical Islamic groups, to some extent they also provided the template of violence. Lia argues that the Society, while calling for an all-Islamic "struggle" on various occasions, was not inherently violent. The Muslim Brothers did have a military wing, the so-called Special Section, but this, he says, was a way to channel the radical energies of the more energetic younger members. This element of violence can be traced back to a split within the Muslim Brothers in 1939. As a reaction to al-Banna's accommodationist political activity, a group calling itself the Society of Our Master Muhammad's Youth split off from the main organization. Throughout the next decades, this group would continue to splinter, creating the network of violent Islamic groups which plagued Egypt today (..) Lia argues that the growing radicalism resulted from government efforts to shut these Islamic groups out of the Egyptian political system. Lacking a legitimate outlet for their energies, he argues, these groups can easily turn to the option of terrorism.

"The Society of the Muslim Brothers in Egypt 1928-1942" is an important contribution to our understanding. If any complaint can be leveled it is at the circumscription of the book's time frame. Lia limits his study from the beginning of the Society until 1942 (..)Numerous issues of interst arose in the Society's history after this period from the involvement of the Muslim Brothers in the 1948 war against Israel to the 1949 assassination of al-Banna and Nasser's eventual outlawing of the Society. A wider study would further consider the development of violence within the Muslim Brothers and its splinter groups and offshots. One can only hope that Lia has plans for a companion volume"

Book review by Shai Tsur in Jerusalem Post December 1998

The best known study of Egypt's foremost fundamentalist Islamic movement, Richard Mitchell's Society of the Muslim Brothers (1969), portrayed the organization as a reactionary response to Westernization mounted by those left in its wake. And, indeed, this was the general interpretation of fundamentalist Islam by most writers on the subject before 1990 or so. Now, however, a thoroughly different (and much improved) interpretation rules, one that sees the Muslim Brothers and like movements as a facet of modernization. Their personnel are urbanites dealing with the cutting edge of modern problems; their ideas, methods, and goals all incorporate modern ways; and they show far more willingness to learn from the West than was hitherto realized.

In a very impressive research effort into the early years of the Muslim Brothers, Lia (a Norwegian scholar) relies on new sources and deep knowledge of his subject to show convincingly just how well that movement does fit the new interpretation. He establishes that it organized in ways novel for Egypt and mobilized elements of the population hitherto neglected. But its greatest importance lay in developing an answer to the rampant European ideologies of the 1930s: in this, the Muslim Brothers began "a lasting process of renewal . . . in which religion was related to the modern age and all aspects of modern life." With justification, Lia concludes that the Muslim Brothers' "reinterpretation of Islam will remain the most far-reaching Islamic renewal this century."

Middle East Quarterly, June 1999

"The best known study of Egypt's foremost fundamentalist Islamic movement, Richard Mitchell's Society of the Muslim Brothers (1969) portrayed the organisation as a reactionary response to Westernization mounted by those left in its wake ... Now, however, a thoroughly different (and much improved) interpretation rules, one that sees the Muslim Brothers and like movements as a facet of modernization. Their personell are urbanites dealing with the cutting edge of modern problems; their ideas, methods, and goals all incorporate modern ways; and they show far more willingness to learn from the West than was hitherto realized.

In a very impressive research effort into the early years of the Muslim Brothers, Lia (a Norwegian scholar) relies on new sources and deep knowledge of his subject to show convincingly just how well that movement does fit the new interpretation. He establishes that it organized in ways novel for Egypt and mobilized elements of the population hitherto neglected. But its greatest importance lay in developing an answer to the rampant European ideologies of the 1930s: in this, the Muslim Brothers began "a lasting process of renewal .. in which religion was related to the modern age and all aspects of modern life." With justification, Lia concludes that the Muslim Brothers' reinterpretation of Islam will remain 'the most far-reaching Islamic renewal this century' ".

Middle East Quarterly June 1998, p.88

Hassam al Banna never approved the assassination of Noukrashi Pasha (Egypt's Prime Minister during the life and rein of King Farouk I), it was the military arm of the Movement that decided and carried it out, without Banna's explicit approval.
Banna was as shocked as the King.
Latest interviews with contemporary ex-members of the Brotherhood in Egypt who were close to Banna testified that the `Morshed' - Guider - had never `ruled' as an autocrat; at times he was ruled by his strong-willed military `wing' who had been morbidly suspicious of the Palace/PM intentions towards the Muslim Brotherhood.
Under the urging of Banna who was anxious to have `his men' come to terms with the PM, the attempt was postponed two times. But old antagonisms were so strong (because of the war in Palestine, and the decision made by the PM to purge the Army of all members of the Muslim Brotherhood).
The Palace ordered the assassination of Al Banna in retaliation to the killing of Noukrashi Pasha.

Al-Banna's successor, Hodehbie sought to improve relations with the Palace. A personal touch of friendliness with the King was considered to widen Brotherhood's sphere of influence as a `balancing factor' against the ever-present popular el- Wafd Party. After al Banna, King Farouk I regarded the Brotherhood movement as his own sphere of influence and tried by clever approaches (like to subsidize the financing of their newspaper) to woo them out of any alliances with the Wafd.
While al Banna maxim was `keep friends with the masses', his successor's was `keep friends with the King'

Book review in Palestine Times No.86 August 1998

"This important book deepens our understanding of the influence of contemporary Islamism by providing the first definitive history of the meteoric rise of the mother organization of all modern Islamist movements, the Society of the Muslim Brothers.

Founded in 1928 by a young primary school teacher, Hasan al-Banna, the society rose to become the largest mass movement in modern Egyptian history in less than two decades, clashing with the ruling elite on a wide range of issues.

Brynjar Lia examines the socio-economic and cultural factors which facilitated the movement's expansion and analyses the keys to its success- its organization, internal structure, modes of action and recruitment techniques as well as its ideological and class appeal.

Drawing on a wealth of new sources which include British War Office and Foreign Office files, security files from the Egyptian National Archives and the Society's newspapers and internal publications from the 1930s and early 1940s, this book also makes extensive use of the memories and personal letters of Muslim Brother veterans. The author has spent many years in Egypt interviewing old and younger members of this influential society."

Palestine Times No.86 August 1998

"This book purports to supersede Mitchell's rather brief coverage of the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood (hereafter MB) in the 1930s. There are three reasons why it succeeds in doing this: firstly, it draws on a host of sources not available to Mitchell, namely the memoirs and documents that have flooded the Egyptian bookmarket since the release of the Brothers in the 1970s. Secondly, it distances itself from earlier treatments of the MB - including Mitchell's - which saw the MB as traditionalist, reactionary and exclusivist. Thirdly, it asks the right question and pursues it clearly and thoughtfully.

The right question is the question of growth. Of all the various Islamic societies flourishing in the 1930s, why was it precisely the MB which grew so dramatically that, by 1941, it had more than 500 branches in Egypt alone and several hundred thousand supporters? How did a small provincial charity become a force to be reckoned with on a national political level? Lia answers this question by pointing to the MB's organizational skills, its daring campaigns on popular issues such as Christian missionary activity, and its conscious drive to represent an important but neglected constituency, namely the urban middle class. In presenting this explanation, he argues against a number of earlier answers which he finds one-dimensional and in need of qualifications. These include political patronage, the MB's adroit exploitation of Egyptian sympathy for the Palestinian uprising, Hasan al-Banna's charisma and the MB's anti-Western ideology. (..)

Lia makes the case for explaining the growth of the MB in the 1930s in terms of its own internal organizational history. Much of this is convincingly argued and well documented. Old themes in the literature on the MB are addressed and deepened. Thus, Hasan al-Banna's attitude to Sufism and use of it in his early work is very well presented, in addition to new information about his access to Salafi patronage through his father and his politics towards dissenting voices in the organization from the early crisis over the mosque in Ismailiya and up to the defection of Muhammad's Youth in 1940. Another very good chapter is on the various classes of cadres: why they were set up, how they were trained and controlled and what they were used for. (..)

Lia has answered the question of how the MB was able to attract and absorb so many newcomers and hold on to them, but maybe not why it was attractive to them in the first place. This may have more to do with the prevailing attitudes and perceptions of the 1930s. (..) What may be relevant is attention to how the MB could tap into what may be called the semi-ideoloigical notions of Islam, nation and justice that were taking shape at the time, and how these notions could emerge (..) [A]lthough Lia is right in looking for internal factors explaining why it was precisely the MB which grew so fast, external factors at the level of mass culture were also at work to make Islam the solution."

Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations Vol.9 No.3 (1998)

"The best known study of Egypt's foremost fundamentalist Islamic movement, Richard Mitchell's Society of the Muslim Brothers (1969) portrayed the organisation as a reactionary response to Westernization mounted by those left in its wake ... Now, however, a thoroughly different (and much improved) interpretation rules, one that sees the Muslim Brothers and like movements as a facet of modernization. Their personell are urbanites dealing with the cutting edge of modern problems; their ideas, methods, and goals all incorporate modern ways; and they show far more willingness to learn from the West than was hitherto realized.

In a very impressive research effort into the early years of the Muslim Brothers, Lia (a Norwegian scholar) relies on new sources and deep knowledge of his subject to show convincingly just how well that movement does fit the new interpretation. He establishes that it organized in ways novel for Egypt and mobilized elements of the population hitherto neglected. But its greatest importance lay in developing an answer to the rampant European ideologies of the 1930s: in this, the Muslim Brothers began "a lasting process of renewal .. in which religion was related to the modern age and all aspects of modern life." With justification, Lia concludes that the Muslim Brothers' reinterpretation of Islam will remain 'the most far-reaching Islamic renewal this century' ".

Middle East Quarterly June 1998, p.88