Hassan al-Banna

Hassan al-Banna was born in Egypt on 14 October 1906 and worked as a schoolteacher and imam. After the caliphate was abolished in 1924, he founded the Muslim Brotherhood and began articulating a comprehensive ideology: Islam as the only acceptable constitution, with the Quran and Sunnah governing state, economy, and society. He called for Islamization through institutions and progressive taxation, criticized Western materialism and British imperialism, and warned Muslims not to neglect "jihad of the sword" in favor of spiritual struggle alone. He allowed a secret military wing to form within t…