In an uneventful afternoon during the fall of 1962, a collective of progressive intellectuals congregated in a modest, low-rise edifice near Cairo’s al-Ahly Sporting Club. At the heart of this gathering was Gamal al-Banna, who proclaimed the founding of the Workers’ Educational Association (Al-mu’assasa al-thaqafiyya al-‘ummaliyya). This association aimed to provide education to all workers.Footnote 1 Amid the political and social maelstrom following the 1952 Egyptian Revolution, al-Banna’s experiment gained recognition from the Nasserist state, though it framed egalitarian objectives in Islamic rather than secular socialist terms. The new association received enthusiastic support from workers, and soon developed into a workers’ university.Footnote 2 There, al-Banna and his leftist colleagues imparted theoretical and practical knowledge to working-class students regardless of background. They examined the history of global labor movements, explained labor ethics, and sounded the clarion call for social justice. What began as a modest group of eighty-six students burgeoned into a thriving institution. During its prime in the 1980s, the institution graduated more than seven thousand students annually, including rank-and-file workers, union leaders, and even a future minister of labor.Footnote 3
Gamal al-Banna is often remembered not merely as a dedicated labor activist, but also as a prolific writer who interpreted Egypt’s postcolonial conditions through Islamic teachings. These interpretations have sometimes obscured his position within Egypt’s intellectual landscape. Alternative narratives portray al-Banna as an influential voice in contemporary Islamic revival, articulating egalitarian principles through Islamic sources.Footnote 4 In Western scholarship, he is often characterized as a spokesman of liberal Islam, a label that underscores his commitment to cultural pluralism and moderation.Footnote 5 Among the questions this article explores are: why did this single intellectual figure generate diverse evaluations among different observers? What factors shaped his evolving interpretations of egalitarian ideals throughout his career? Which core elements persisted unchanged? How do these changing interpretations reflect broader transformations in Egypt’s sociopolitical landscape?
This article traces the evolving articulations of egalitarian thought across Gamal al-Banna’s intellectual journey from the mid-twentieth century to the turn of the twenty-first. I argue that while al-Banna’s core egalitarian tenets remain constant, Egypt’s postcolonial intellectual currents have critically structured their framings from Arab socialism to liberal Islam. Therefore, the egalitarian ideals in al-Banna’s works embody intellectual continuity that connects Egypt’s socialist era with ongoing neoliberal reforms. He exemplifies both the intervention of Islamic discourses in Arab socialism and the leftist origins of contemporary Islamic revival.
For egalitarianism, I adopt a broader definition as the claim that “all human persons are equal in fundamental worth or moral status.”Footnote 6 More often, egalitarianism is defined by its antitheses: wealth disparity, authoritarian governance, patriarchy, discriminatory legislation, restricted access, and other entrenched social hierarchies. The versatility of egalitarian ideals—expressed through diverse lexicon and conceptual frameworks—facilitated boundary-crossing interpretations, as al-Banna’s works exemplify.
Scholars have paid attention to egalitarian principles embedded in both Arab socialism and Islamic traditions. On the one hand, Arab socialism, crystallized in response to dynastic rule and a colonial presence in the region, linked socialist ideals with a shared Arab identity. In the revolutionary visions of Gamal ‘Abdel Nasser and Michel ‘Aflaq, the political overthrow of feudal regimes merely marked the beginning of a more comprehensive and fundamental social transformation. Envisioning a unified Arab collective, their theoretical framework championed genuine equality among all Arab citizens in the post-independence era.Footnote 7 The ideological allure of Arab socialism—Nasserism or Ba‘athism in their respective national settings—galvanized a generation of Egyptian and Syrian intellectuals who dedicated their writings to representing the voice of the underprivileged, particularly the working class, thereby addressing historical inequities and restoring their foundational roles in national modernization.Footnote 8
On the other hand, scholars of Islam have uncovered abundant evidence of religious egalitarianism within Arab monotheism. Asma Afsaruddin identifies egalitarianism as a “high ideal within Islamic thought.”Footnote 9 This body of literature frequently returns to classical Islam and examines Qur’anic verses and early Islamic history as validation of a pristine, unstratified Muslim society that preceded the rise of rivaling political hierarchies.Footnote 10 Their arguments, echoed by numerous Muslim scholars, including al-Banna, hold significant potential as analytical materials. While Islamic teachings have always encompassed egalitarian imperatives, the societal contexts and framing patterns that brought these principles to prominence are critical for understanding the historical trajectory of Islam that conditioned them. In other words, the purpose is not to flatten Islam into a simplistic egalitarian faith, but to examine the historical conjunctures and rhetorical formations through which Islam became refashioned as a carrier of egalitarian principles.
In Arabic intellectual history, egalitarian principles converge with socialism and Islam in a synthesis of the “Islamic left” (al-yasār al-islamī), a term coined by Hassan Hanafi, a leading figure of this intellectual current.Footnote 11 This intersection has involved recurring scholarly debates. From a doctrinal perspective, some scholars argue that their incompatibility reifies a fundamental struggle for explanatory supremacy, casting their relationship into an inherent tension or, at best, an existential separation.Footnote 12 In contrast, growing scholarship approaches Arab socialism and Islam as two sets of interpretive paradigms—or “modalities of agency,” in Saba Mahmoud’s conception—through which fundamental social meanings such as order, identity, inclusivity, and equality are articulated.Footnote 13 The latter’s more contextual understanding suggests that doctrines undergo continuous reinterpretation and even re-creation, as exemplified by the diverse offshoots of socialist classics and recurring episodes of revival (ihyā’) or renewal (tajdīd) throughout Islamic history. Such discursive creativity finds validation in the multifaceted expressions of the Islamic left, one among many currents in Islam’s ongoing path of reform.Footnote 14
Furthermore, al-Banna’s egalitarian thought reveals a progressive, leftist origin within the broader spectrum of contemporary Islamic revival. Existing scholarship on this movement has primarily concentrated on the rise of religious conservatism in public spaces following the decline of state-led socialism.Footnote 15 These studies successfully illustrate how Islamic messages, leveraging emerging technologies, have bypassed traditional gatekeepers to engage directly with the public and have contributed to a more religious public sphere in the post-Cold War Arab world. However, this focus on conservative symbols, slogans, and outward expressions of faith does not fully capture the nuances of the Islamic revival. A significant leftist, egalitarian component and a commitment to social justice, while not prioritized by all its proponents, remain crucial to understanding the movement in Egypt. Intellectually, this leftist commitment connected back to Sayyid Qutb and the Muslim Brotherhood’s left-wing affiliates, and was later adapted in al-Banna’s works.Footnote 16 As the socialist rhetoric dwindled in the public sphere, al-Banna reframed his egalitarian principles within a more liberal Islamic discourse to maintain their relevance. This adaptation indicates his alignment with and departure from Islamic authorities, traditionalists, Islamists, Muslim feminists, and liberal scholars.
This article unfolds chronologically across three sections that trace al-Banna’s intellectual metamorphosis. The first section explores al-Banna’s scholarly maturation before and during the Nasserist regime from the 1940s to 1970. The Muslim Brotherhood, leftist publications, and the Nasserist regime fundamentally shaped his early intervention in labor issues. In response, he Islamized socialist labor concepts and popularized them through empowerment praxes such as the workers’ university. The second section connects al-Banna with the Islamic left, particularly Sayyid Qutb, examining how their echoing concept of the “third way” framed egalitarian ideals for imagining a unified Muslim community. From the 1970s through the 1990s, al-Banna shifted away from Arab socialism while carrying forward his critique of capitalism and advocacy for a Muslim workers’ union within a rejuvenated Islamic framework. The final section reviews al-Banna’s position in Egypt’s Islamic revival after the 1990s. As his focus contracted from broader postcolonial concerns to the Muslim world in particular, al-Banna increasingly integrated progressive, egalitarian principles into a liberal Islamic discourse. This shift enabled him to counteract the religious establishment and other conservative hierarchies, which he viewed as fundamental obstacles to egalitarian practices.
Labor, Islam, decolonization
The Muslim Brotherhood, leftist publications, and the socialist regime influenced much of Gamal al-Banna’s intellectual maturation. He drew nourishment from the rich legacy of his elder brother, Hasan al-Banna, who founded the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in 1928. Gamal reminisced that his brother assumed multiple roles: a childhood playmate, a towering leader, a knowledgeable mentor, and a spiritual guide.Footnote 17 Under Hasan’s auspices, Gamal received his primary education in a Brotherhood madrasa in Isma‘ilia.Footnote 18 After high school, he ventured into the professional world at a Brotherhood-run publishing house, where his first book was published.Footnote 19
During this formative period, al-Banna was immersed in the Brotherhood organization and witnessed its robust engagement with labor movements in the twilight of British indirect rule in Egypt and their sharp decline thereafter. The Brotherhood had attempted to forge communal bonds among Muslim workers, who had become alienated by deteriorating working conditions. It voiced workers’ concerns in its newspapers, rallied them under its units, and facilitated systems of mutual financial aid.Footnote 20 Al-Banna later integrated his firsthand experiences within the Muslim Brotherhood unions into his theoretical framework on the labor movement.
Despite his kinship with the Brotherhood’s founder, al-Banna’s ideological affinity with the organization was much more intricate and sometimes fraught with tensions. Facing the Brotherhood’s strict internal hierarchy, he frequently expressed a deep sense of displacement, perceiving himself as “unable to find his own value” within the confines of its structural orthodoxy.Footnote 21 Moreover, he harbored reservations about the Brotherhood’s cautious approach to labor activism, particularly its reluctance to endorse strikes. He viewed this limitation as inadequate to effectuate a substantial elevation in workers’ conditions and Egypt’s coloniality. After Hasan al-Banna’s assassination in 1949, his alienation grew more intense. He increasingly viewed the Brotherhood as divergent from his own vision of social transformation.Footnote 22
Exploring alternative prospects, Gamal became captivated by leftist writings in his twenties, particularly Das Kapital by Karl Marx. This newfound intellectual pursuit propelled him to seek knowledge abroad. In Britain, he earned a bachelor’s degree in economics with a thesis on the global labor movement.Footnote 23 Distanced from his previous circles, this enlightening journey loosened his Brotherhood affiliation that had once anchored his formative years.
Upon his return to Egypt after graduation, al-Banna crossed paths with Salama Musa, who popularized ideas of egalitarian socialism in Egypt, and Ahmad Hussein, who rebranded the former Young Egypt Party (Misr al-Fata) as the Socialist Party of Egypt (Hizb al-Ishtirakiyya al-Misriyya).Footnote 24 Inspired by these experimental activisms, the young visionary founded the National Social Labor Party (Hizb al-‘Amal al-Watani al-Ijtima‘i) in 1945, aligning with Hussein’s Socialist Party and championing Egypt’s complete independence from British rule.Footnote 25 This party mobilized syndicates in Cairo’s suburbs to challenge foreign capital domination, British military presence during World War II, and subsequent diplomatic interventions. The monarchy, alarmed by al-Banna’s role in labor strikes, came to view al-Banna as a major menace. In response to escalating labor militancy and mounting left-wing activism, state police imprisoned him twice, in 1948 and 1950. The incarceration experiences marked a pivotal turning point for al-Banna. During his confinement, he immersed himself in leftist literature, notably Karl Marx’s writings. Through extensive reading and philosophical debates with fellow inmates, he fundamentally refined his ideological framework in later publications.Footnote 26
As decolonization movements swept through the twentieth century, the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, led by progressive Free Officers from various backgrounds, thrust the nation into the global spotlight. In the years preceding the revolution, these military officers wove a tenuous ideological coalition that united reformist socialists, renegade Wafdists, Muslim Brothers, and communist sympathizers.Footnote 27 Despite underlying visionary frictions, these low- to middle-level officers coalesced around the pragmatic aim of overthrowing King Farouk, whom they collectively viewed as corrupted, inept, and subservient to imperial Britain. However, this pragmatic anti-imperialist and antimonarchy alliance proved ephemeral. Once their immediate objective was achieved, factional rifts widened into assassinations and political retaliations.Footnote 28 The Revolutionary Command Council (RCC), under the rising leadership of Gamal Abdel Nasser, severed ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and revolutionary communists.Footnote 29 The vibrant ideological diversity that had briefly bloomed during the revolution soon withered, scarcely to be seen again.
The hallowed July 23rd movement bequeathed an enduring legacy, with both victors and vanquished proclaiming their orthodoxy. Official narratives acknowledged the officers’ alliance with the Brotherhood’s clandestine cells and the communists’ full endorsement of the revolution. Yet they cast aspersions upon alleged foreign infiltration—linking the Brotherhood to Britain and the communists to the Soviet Union—as well as their radical and often violent pursuit of revolutionary objectives.Footnote 30 Consequently, those beneficiaries of the Revolution recast their erstwhile allies as internal adversaries, accusing them of undermining the new socialist regime’s anti-imperialist and nationalist agenda.
Among the disillusioned, the Brotherhood felt particularly betrayed by the RCC’s monopolization of power and its failure to fulfill earlier promises of social Islamization.Footnote 31 Persecuted communists, in turn, publicly expressed their skepticism about the regime’s conviction in revolutionary, egalitarian, and anti-imperialist ideals. They contended that Nasser’s land reforms and nationalizations were, at best, incomplete measures that failed to address the underlying causes of poverty and inequality.Footnote 32 Both disenchanted factions shared a profound sense of betrayal, openly lamenting the Revolution’s deviation from its promise of equality and inclusivity to a path marred by partisan bias.Footnote 33
For al-Banna, the tumultuous yet intellectually vibrant environment of the late colonial and early revolutionary periods had ultimately dissolved. Nasser’s commitment to Arab socialism propelled the new military regime to enact legislation designed to elevate workers’ social status and material well-being. Officially declaring “socialist transformation” in 1961, the regime sought to solidify its alliance with the working class and union leaders. Concurrently, the ruling Arab Socialist Union, driven by the imperative of rapid industrialization, imposed a categorical ban on all labor strikes.Footnote 34 Under these new circumstances, union leaders, al-Banna included, faced an imminent choice: to align with the regime or be marginalized.
Thus this politically charged environment—shaped by the formation of the socialist state, the Brotherhood’s simmering unrest, and the surveillance of communists—nurtured al-Banna’s intellectual maturation. Unlike Brotherhood members and communist activists who rejected the rise of Nasser, al-Banna chose to engage with the new postcolonial power structure. He was twice elected union representative of the General Syndicate of the Workers of the Automated Textile Industry, a grassroots union operating under the state-run Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF), the sole state-sanctioned organization managing workers’ affairs. While the ETUF provided organizational structure and material benefits to workers, it aligned with the regime’s position against collective action. In response, al-Banna redirected from active union involvement to workers’ education, an approach he believed could alternatively advance workers’ rights and empowerment. In early-morning lectures, al-Banna cultivated deep camaraderie with his working-class students, transforming education into a subtle form of social revolution.Footnote 35
In the postcolonial era, al-Banna distinguished himself from secular progressive unionists by interpreting labor issues within an explicitly Islamic framework. This religious perspective informed his extensive scholarly output, which included approximately twenty books on labor published between the 1970s and the 1990s.Footnote 36 On the one hand, he aligned with the overarching elements of the socialist agenda: opposition to foreign occupation and capitalism, state mobilization of labor, and recognition of workers’ central role in postcolonial politics. On the other hand, he departed from the state-sponsored secular discourse through his systematic religionization of socialist concepts. This ideological nuance charted al-Banna’s path, one that strategically aligned with the regime’s anti-imperialist agenda while contesting its secular architecture. Such intellectual positioning set him apart from the Muslim Brotherhood and communist approaches to labor under Nasser.
Specifically, al-Banna perceived work as both a means and an end to achieve an egalitarian Islamic social life that included a triad of interconnected dimensions: material, spiritual, and educational. First, he acknowledged the Marxist proposition that workers exchanged their labor to meet basic material needs—battling hunger with food and countering fear with security, which accorded with Islamic interpretations of social justice.Footnote 37 Beyond these material needs, al-Banna conceptualized work as a distinct and universal form of worship, a fulfillment of individual religiosity that embodied the integrity of Islamic teachings. He quoted the Hadith: “Whoever returns home at the end of the day, weary from the toil and effort of his handwork, shall be forgiven; the hand that bears the mark of hard work is worthy of being kissed.”Footnote 38
In addition to meeting basic material needs and performing religiosity, al-Banna elaborated work as an egalitarian vehicle of knowledge acquisition accessible to all capable individuals. For example, workers’ mastery of modern technology exemplified how labor could imbue the spiritual self with rationality, a distinctive mode of self-realization achievable only through purposeful work.Footnote 39 Therefore he rejected the Marxist materialist reduction of work to mere labor–capital exchange, and instead advanced a holistic, religionized interpretation that unified materiality, spirituality, and rationality, highlighting its intrinsic and egalitarian values.
Al-Banna’s distinctive contribution in postcolonial Egypt was his integration of Islamic egalitarian concepts into the state-led revolutionary vision of social justice. In this regard, he challenged the prevailing historical narrative of trade unions during his time. Prominent Egyptian scholars of the Nasser period depicted workers’ organization through its teleological progression: from premodern professional guilds (ṭawā’if ḥarfiyya) grounded in Islamic ethics toward state-sponsored trade unions in large industries driven by an anticolonial nationalist ethos. This narrative suggested a social evolution that was simultaneously chronological, industrial, and ideological.Footnote 40 However, al-Banna rejected equating social modernization with ethical progression. He contended that guilds and unions shared the same fundamental goals of equality and justice, differing only in their organizational methods.
Al-Banna further suggested that when properly guided by Islamic principles, traditional guilds could achieve equality and justice more effectively than a modern institution bound by authoritarian disciplines.Footnote 41 Drawing on medieval Islamic jurist Abu al-Hasan al-Mawardi’s work, al-Banna posited that guilds, guided by shari‘a law, provided stability and justice in traditional Islamic society with sufficient power to “force the greatest dictator to abdicate.”Footnote 42 Moreover, an ideal guild regulated its members’ conduct and ensured the transmission of professional knowledge and provision of mutual aid. In this view, postcolonial unions pursued the same fundamental objectives as traditional guilds: ensuring equality, eliminating injustice, and upholding the rule of law.Footnote 43 Accordingly, al-Banna insisted that the effectiveness of labor organizations, whether traditional guilds or postcolonial unions, depended fundamentally on their cultivation of Islamic ethics based on egalitarian principles.
By situating labor organizations within Islamic frameworks of equality and justice, al-Banna provided ethical validation for unions in a predominantly secular milieu. He conceptualized justice as a foundational virtue intrinsic to Islam that necessitated tangible social mechanisms for its actualization. This ethical grounding proved especially crucial given the inherent power asymmetry in employment relations, which was exacerbated by capitalism’s absence of robust self-regulatory mechanisms.Footnote 44 In this context, trade unions materialized as a pragmatic counterbalance that empowered workers to negotiate with equal standing and secured their rights within the persistent confines of capitalism.
Labor strikes, perceived as a disruptive and polarizing catalyst by former Brotherhood activists, gained legitimacy through al-Banna’s interpretation of Islamic justice. He framed strikes for just causes as a postcolonial form of jihad against oppression and injustice, expounding that “Islam calls for everyone who is denied his lawful rights, or badly treated, or who suffers injustice to defend his rights. If he is killed in defending his property, he would be a martyr, because if he submits, then the rule of might and not the rule of right will prevail.”Footnote 45
While affirming the legitimacy of strikes, al-Banna cautioned that they should not serve as preemptive instruments but rather as a final recourse after exhausting all other means for the peaceful defense of workers’ rights.Footnote 46 This interpretation provided a conceptual reconciliation to the theological tension between Islamic unity and class-based labor action. By reconceptualizing strikes within an Islamic frame of reference, al-Banna conferred religious legitimacy on the ostensibly secular domain of worker mobilization.
At its core, al-Banna advocated a measured approach to labor activism. This approach would avoid the hasty elevation of strikes to the forefront, and instead would position them among many prudent means in workers’ struggle for rights. In his view, unions should foster a social covenant that harmonizes collective needs and promotes unity over division as their ultimate goal. This position reflected the Brotherhood’s influence on him through its focus on social harmony.
Al-Banna warned that violating the established social covenant could lead to a fragmented society plagued by severe economic stratification and political conflict. Thus employer–employee relations, in an ideal form, were characterized not by inherent antagonism but by the “spirit of contract,” an Islamic theological principle that ensured mutual equity. This Islamic contract, he explained, required “the full freedom and quality of the two contracting parties, the non-existence of any element of coercion, the conformity of the subject of the contract with Islamic regulations.”Footnote 47 The legal validity of such an agreement rested on principles of equality and justice, uncompromised by coercion or power imbalance. According to this vision, employers and employees formed an interdependent whole, bound in a dialectic relationship where workers’ rights to dignified treatment, fair wages, and participatory governance were balanced by employers’ expectations of workers’ integrity, dedication, and stewardship of means of production. This vision promoted an equitable dynamic where mutual obligations fostered an interdependent harmony.
Al-Banna’s distinctive Islamization of secular labor concepts contributed to the socialist regime. He connected democratic socialist intellectuals such as Isma‘il Sabri ‘Abdallah and Mahmud Amin al-‘Alim, who influenced macro-level ideology and policy, and labor activists like Sayyid Bayyumi, who interacted directly with shop-floor workers for genuine worker representation and participation in decision-making processes. By recasting labor theory within an Islamic framework, al-Banna reworked the prevailing Nasserist narratives and redirected them toward objectives that were simultaneously democratic, inclusive, and anchored in religious principles.
In practice, al-Banna introduced innovative electoral mechanisms to ensure contractual equity, including secret ballots, absolute and simple majority systems, transferable votes, and preferential voting.Footnote 48 By integrating these democratic mechanisms into postcolonial labor institutions, he sought to metamorphose the state-run ETUF from a mere government apparatus into a representative body genuinely reflective of grassroots workers’ interests. He explicitly acknowledged that a trade union’s primary task was to “foster a democratic culture” and emphasized that such cultivation required patience until this nascent democratic ethos matured sufficiently for effective practices.Footnote 49
This section has illustrated how al-Banna Islamized conspicuous state socialist concepts of labor to articulate ideas of equality and justice that transcended the conventional secular–religious dichotomy. In his formative stage, egalitarian thought evolved alongside Egypt’s postcolonial transformation to position the revolutionary working class as symbolic vanguards of national progress.Footnote 50 Unlike both the Brotherhood and communists who directly confronted the socialist regime, al-Banna embraced state revolutionary aims while subtly modifying them with insights drawn from both dissenting movements.Footnote 51 The state readily accepted this approach, since al-Banna rendered socialism’s lofty ideals more intelligible to the public by interweaving new socialist aspirations with established Islamic ethics. Meanwhile, al-Banna’s accommodation of state priority led to his focus almost exclusively on labor issues until the 1970s.
The “third way” from Qutb to al-Banna
Despite his antagonism toward the Brotherhood’s organizational structure, al-Banna continued to draw inspiration from its rich intellectual roots, especially from its left-leaning intellectuals such as Sayyid Qutb. By the 1940s, Qutb and other Brotherhood affiliates had sharpened their critique of capitalism and Western imperialism. Their resonance with the Marxist–Leninist lexicon aimed to recruit sympathetic leftists in the service of Islam.Footnote 52 While repudiating Marx’s materialist approach to religion, they selectively absorbed leftist ideals of social justice into their Islamic hermeneutics.
Particularly against the backdrop of emergent Third World movements, imported ideologies began to forfeit their credibility as viable solutions for Egypt’s challenges. At the same time, Islam carried a promise of independence, at least spiritually, and grounded Egypt’s postcolonial state building.Footnote 53 In response, Qutb proposed a “third way,” a developmental path independent of capitalism and communism that would actualize social justice via the guidance of Islam.Footnote 54 The “third way” critiqued global hegemonic structures while providing a spiritual self-strengthening program that had remained nearly dormant since the close of the Naḥda era.
Al-Banna embraced Qutb’s vision of Islam as a distinctive “third way” that intrinsically embodied progressive principles of egalitarianism and social justice. Following Qutb, he believed that Islam had the potential to effect a holistic transformation across the social, economic, and political landscapes, acting as an ideological contender in postcolonial conditions.Footnote 55 Notably, Qutb’s and al-Banna’s pursuit of an Islamic “third way” epitomized the broader aspirations of the Islamic left across the Muslim world in the latter half of the twentieth century. Among them, ‘Ali Shari‘ati in Iran and Hasan Hanafi in Egypt most closely resonated with al-Banna’s philosophy.Footnote 56 They maintained a shared conviction that state socialism alone was inadequate to achieve a truly just social order. Thus they endorsed comprehensive Islamic reform to supplant centralized socialist programs in driving bottom-up, genuine social revolutions. At the core of the Islamic left lay a communal consensus on democracy and collective ownership of major industries and public services.Footnote 57 For many of the Islamic left, the Muslim trade union embodied a vision of group solidarity, spiritual brotherhood, and universal bond among Muslim workers worldwide.
Like Qutb and other Islamic leftists, al-Banna’s critique of capitalism remained resolute. He identified the entrenchment of capitalism in modern Egypt and the Middle East as the fundamental cause of wealth disparity between urban elites and the working masses. Specifically, the relentless pursuit of usury (ribā) by Western and native capitalists had disrupted the employer–employee balance and ensnared the impoverished into a cycle of inescapable debt.Footnote 58 This pervasive indebtedness, he argued, often reduced individuals to a state resembling compulsory servitude or modern-day bondage. Furthermore, al-Banna attributed Egypt’s economic stagnation to corruption and cronyism, which he viewed as direct outcomes of neoliberal privatization.Footnote 59
Although the core of his critiques resembled classical Marxism, al-Banna grounded his arguments within an Islamic framework. For instance, he cited the Qur’anic verses “let them adore the Lord of this House, who provides them with food against hunger, and with security against fear” (Qur’an 106: 3–4) to expound on the responsibilities of employers in an unequal employment relationship.Footnote 60 In his view, Islamic jurisprudence’s opposition to usury, injustice, and exploitative gains made it a robust framework for constraining capitalist excesses. He further proposed that when one party in a contract faced disadvantages due to intellectual, physical, or economic status, a guardian should be entrusted with negotiating contract terms on their behalf. Trade unions would represent ideal guardians in this regard, as he asserted that “a collective contract negotiated by a trade union with an employer contains all the Islamic merits, advantages and guarantees sought in such a contract.”Footnote 61
However, al-Banna placed minimum emphasis on critiquing contemporary imperialism, either European or American, which set him apart from Qutb, who attributed the modern ills of the Muslim world to the lingering effects of colonial subjugation. Indeed, al-Banna strongly opposed colonial occupation in history and justified military jihad against occupying forces.Footnote 62 This perspective on the legitimate use of violence against occupiers was rooted in Hasan al-Banna’s and Qutb’s propositions. Yet, in addressing how to transform the postcolonial status quo, al-Banna criticized Muslim rulers rather than foreign powers. He blamed them for sponsoring the creation of “closed and despotic” interpretations of Islam. As a consequence, the Muslim masses found themselves without viable alternatives and subject to “backwardness” (takhalluf) and “subordination” (tab‘iyya) through dogmatic interpretations that departed from Islam’s foundational values.Footnote 63 This ultimately led to the suppression of humanistic and civilizational values in the contemporary Arab world.
While al-Banna presumed the binary opposition between the West–Christian and the East–Islamic spheres, he maintained that universal values of equality and justice transcended this dichotomy, with both societies pursuing these ideals through their distinct historical paths.Footnote 64 In other words, the West did represent the “other”—not one to be demonized or condemned, but rather a source of observation and learning. For example, he praised Western democracy while asserting its incompatibility with Eastern societies. There, Muslims must develop their own political systems based on shūrā (consultation) and other distinctive sociopolitical practices.Footnote 65 The notable absence of critiquing imperialism in al-Banna’s later writings reveals the limitations of his egalitarian vision. This vision gradually contracted to the national level, unable to confront the structural manifestations of imperialism that perpetuated global inequalities.
Beyond intellectual critiques, al-Banna proposed viable social systems that would forge a new postcolonial order resistant to the prevalence of capitalism. This practical aspect marked a significant extension of Qutb’s theoretical contributions. Qutb, who preceded al-Banna by a generation, had already identified the core issues. Building upon this theoretical foundation, al-Banna aimed to redress these issues within Egypt’s changing postcolonial contexts and engaged in the praxis of the “third way.”
Consequently, Qutb’s anti-imperial critique evolved into al-Banna’s postcolonial visions of rehabilitation. This rehabilitation began by equipping Muslim intellectuals with essential socialist concepts, which he elucidated in three dimensions. First, he recognized socialism’s capacity to expand the intellectual horizons of Muslims, providing a modern perspective on addressing the challenges posed by rapid modernization. Second, he posited that Muslim scholars bore primary responsibility for integrating secular knowledge creatively, particularly in reinterpreting socialism through a revitalized Islamic framework. This approach underscored the continued relevance and vitality of Islamic intellectualism in a world dominated by Western secular ideas.Footnote 66 Third, he noted that the esoteric nature of Marxist terminology and concepts required more than simple translation; it necessitated the reinterpretation of foreign concepts into local vocabularies and historical frameworks, thereby enhancing the role of Muslim intellectuals in public discourse within the secular state.
Subsequently, adapting proven methodologies from other postcolonial countries would provide valuable models for praxis in Egypt. For example, al-Banna’s establishment of a workers’ university drew significant inspiration from socialist China’s educational experiments. Despite having never visited the country, al-Banna was particularly attracted by the “half-work and half-study school” (madrasa niṣf al-‘amal wa-niṣf al-dirāsa) model, which integrated practical labor with theoretical education.Footnote 67 This pedagogical method underpinned his vision of transformative education, which held the potential to bridge the divide between private life and productive labor while democratizing access to educational resources. Similarly, he recognized the utility of the “barefoot doctors” (aṭibba’ hufā) initiative as an exemplary model that simultaneously addressed medical exigencies on the shop floor while offering practical clinical training for medical students.Footnote 68 Al-Banna praised these reform programs in socialist China for their effective integration of specialized expertise with quotidian practices. In his assessment, these programs minimized the production of abstract theory while empowering shop floor workers with practically applicable guidance.
While keeping his commitment to workers’ education, al-Banna simultaneously sought to expand his influence across the Arab world and into the broader international arena. Throughout the 1970s, he actively engaged with transnational labor issues as Egypt’s official delegate to both the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the Arab Labor Organization (ALO). In these international forums, he advocated for advancing labor standards, equal opportunities for working women, and improved occupational safety and health, among other initiatives. In these vital intermediary roles, al-Banna amplified the voices of Egyptian workers on the international stage.Footnote 69 Additionally, his translation of key English documents into Arabic and their distribution in the classroom significantly elevated legal awareness among rank-and-file Egyptian workers. Through these sustained efforts, al-Banna situated Egyptian labor’s interests within a broader global context.
Beyond facilitating Egypt’s engagement with established international organizations, al-Banna envisioned a more ambitious objective of founding an entirely new transnational labor institution. This institution, which he christened the International Islamic Confederation of Labor (IICL, Mu’assasa al-Ittihad al-Islami al-Dawli li-l-‘Amal), sought to synthesize labor practices with Islamic ethics, particularly the concept of social justice, to advance collective welfare.Footnote 70 Conceived as a unifying labor organization for global Muslim workers, the IICL was designed to parallel the influence of both the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) within their respective domains.Footnote 71 At its 1981 inaugural congress in Geneva, delegates from Bangladesh, Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan, and Sudan convened to deliberate al-Banna’s book Crisis of Trade Unionism. The assembly collectively endorsed a third way that asserted independence from prevailing capitalist and communist systems. This alternative path aimed to overcome the limitations of trade union movements in both the WFTU and ICFTU while cultivating a solidarity anchored in workers’ Muslim identity.Footnote 72
The military defeat in the 1967 War (naksa) and the 1973 opening policy (intifāḥ) represent critical turning points in Egyptian intellectual history. The two consecutive events signal the downfall of Arab socialism.Footnote 73 Following the political shift, market-driven privatization gave rise to diverse ideologies, with the state’s acquiescence, wherein various expressions of Islam competed for public favor.Footnote 74 Al-Banna substantially benefited from the liberalized political environment during Sadat’s presidency. As the new administration permitted the Muslim Brotherhood to operate its social programs, this policy shift conditioned Islam’s resurging widespread influence.Footnote 75 With tacit state support, al-Banna’s writings on Islam reached an expanded audience that extended beyond his classroom to national and even international readers.Footnote 76 His popularity was further amplified by emerging digital platforms, including blogs, Facebook, and YouTube.Footnote 77 Across these platforms, he was frequently portrayed as a new beacon of liberal Islam who emerged from a distinguished and devout Muslim family.Footnote 78
During Egypt’s transitional period, al-Banna underwent a decisive break from the old-guard leftists, who clung tenaciously to Nasser’s unfulfilled socialist agenda.Footnote 79 These dissenting leftists, sidelined by the Sadat administration, grappled with growing outrage as the country pivoted toward neoliberalism. Despite their political marginalization, they staunchly upheld Nasser’s revolutionary blueprint of class struggle, striving to maintain their influence in union politics while demonstrating resilience in local union elections.Footnote 80 Other leftist intellectuals preserved their public reputation as memoir writers and labor experts, persistently championing class politics in defiance of Sadat’s pro-Western orientation.Footnote 81 Amid this rapidly shifting political landscape, al-Banna adjusted his approach to trade unionism. While recognizing the utility of labor unions, he distanced himself from class-based politics, reaffirming their potential detriment to Islamic social cohesion.Footnote 82
At the core of al-Banna’s departure from the dissenting left lay a fundamental choice: whether to prioritize social unity or class struggle. Guided by religious ethos, he crafted a vision of social progress under the mantle of “Islamic integrity.” He aspired to a revolutionary movement transcending class division, where Islam would cradle the disenchanted and revolutionary spirits in their collective resistance against capitalism’s dehumanizing mechanics.Footnote 83 For al-Banna, the blueprints of the revolutionary left had crumbled, fragmented by divisions that impeded unity both within the movement and across broader society. He posited that postcolonial discourse on social revolution, while potent in its critique of Western capitalism, urgently required reconceptualization within an Islamic paradigm, attuned to the distinct social fabric of Muslim-majority Egypt. Only through this Islamic epistemic lens could revolutionary theories and praxes strengthen social cohesion. Therefore al-Banna’s philosophy consistently prioritized working-class education over labor militancy.
Al-Banna’s earlier conflict with Nasser, coupled with his escalating tension with the old guards, led him to reduce Egypt’s socialist past to its totalitarian aspects after the 1980s.Footnote 84 During this period, his reference to socialist language notably diminished, giving way to a deliberate resurgence of Islamic discourse. The fall of the Berlin Wall further transformed his historical outlook. Like many global leftists, he experienced an overwhelming sense of powerlessness in envisioning a path toward advanced communism. Acknowledging the waning relevance of postcolonial leftist politics, al-Banna conceded its ultimate defeat.Footnote 85
Nevertheless, repudiating the notion of capitalism as history’s final chapter, al-Banna entered the end of the twentieth century with renewed conviction in religious redemption, reshaping his public image from postcolonial leftist intellectual to religious scholar. Beyond advocating for a Muslim trade union, he also openly supported the establishment of an Islamic state or system.Footnote 86 In his later intellectual trajectory, however, he revised this position, focusing instead on the unity of the Muslim community (umma) within the postcolonial world system. He believed that the umma, founded on communal consensus rather than state power, would preserve Islam from social injustice.Footnote 87 Therefore he redirected his focus toward establishing an umma capable of eradicating unjust practices and realizing genuine equality.
The post-Nasser era marked a pivotal transformation in al-Banna’s discourse on labor and Islam. Rather than deploying Islam as a framework to address labor concerns, he increasingly spotlighted labor issues to demonstrate Islam’s comprehensive nature. This reorientation echoed Qutb’s “third-way” critique of capitalism while departing from its wholesale opposition to global imperialism. During this period, his vision for the Muslim community, anchored in religious principles, began a decisive departure from the state-centric ethos of the socialist revolution. The notion of a global proletariat faded from prominence, giving way to a congregation of ethically committed Muslim workers. Like Qutb, al-Banna endured political suppression, and his activism—notably the short-lived IICL—was ultimately stifled by the regime’s monopoly over trade unions.Footnote 88 Over time, al-Banna retreated from activism, refocusing his intellectual fervor on writing and publishing.Footnote 89 Though aspirational in scope, the grand vision of uniting Muslim workers under a transnational trade union remained largely theoretical, implemented only briefly in reality.
Reconceptualizing egalitarianism in liberal Islam
As the twentieth century neared its twilight, the Muslim world witnessed a decisive ideological shift toward Islam. During this transitional period, Gamal al-Banna recalibrated his intellectual compass away from the revolutionary left. The sudden dissolution of the international communist movement precipitated a profound intellectual crisis among Egyptian leftists. The revolutionary agenda, once propelled by state force, gradually subsided, leaving leftists to grapple with collective disillusionment and political impotence.Footnote 90
Against this backdrop, a new generation of Egyptian youth, largely untouched by socialist ideologies, became increasingly cognizant of the ongoing historic transition. Growing up amidst sweeping neoliberal reforms, they witnessed the postcolonial regime’s tilt toward autocratic rule, which exacerbated social disparities.Footnote 91 As the regime’s secular slogans rang increasingly hollow, revitalized interpretations of Islam presented a compelling alternative in the public sphere. Even the most radical call for global jihad found resonance among small, yet alarmingly disaffected, segments of the youth, underscoring the depth of their alienation.Footnote 92
Paralleling trends in the national economy, privatization permeated diverse interpretations of Islam that emerged to challenge the state’s monopoly over religious expression. This shift did not imply that the Egyptian state had abandoned its oversight of Islamic institutions, a policy consistently enforced throughout the twentieth century until the present day.Footnote 93 Instead, the accelerated privatization facilitated the rise of a market-oriented Islamic sector, offering Muslim consumers a wide array of religious goods, services, discourses, and activities (da‘wa). This sector encompassed a vast spectrum from publications and multimedia to educational institutions and charitable foundations, from halal business to fashion, entertainment, arts, and religious ceremonies.Footnote 94
Despite sustained state intervention in religious affairs, the bourgeoning private spaces cultivated a distinctive form of neoliberal piety. They challenged official narratives, competing with state institutions and among themselves for influence in an expanding religious market. Within this diversified landscape of post-Cold War intellectual currents, al-Banna’s growing engagement with contentious religious topics signaled a strategic repositioning that established him as an influential voice in public discourse. This discursive reinvention represented not merely an adaptive response but rather an active participation in the kaleidoscopic reinterpretations of Islam that would characterize the coming neoliberal epoch.
At the turn of the millennium, al-Banna’s works were characterized by a consistent critique of conservative, traditionalist, and Salafist approaches to Islam. His influential three-volume series Nahwa Fiqh Jadid (Toward New Islamic Jurisdiction) directly addressed modern societal challenges through the lens of Islamic jurisprudence, which sparked intense debates among religious scholars and the public. In this work, al-Banna offered a forceful critique of classical religious authorities (‘ulama’) for constructing a rigid system of Islamic social norms. He argued that they achieved the system primarily through establishing hierarchical educational institutions, sacralizing textual evidence and religious figures (rijāl al-dīn), and the patronage of the state.
Al-Banna critiqued those hierarchical customs, traditions, and ossified social relationships that had constrained individual autonomy and undermined the principle of “original inculpability” (al-bar’a al-aṣliyya), which he considered foundational to all Islamic exegeses.Footnote 95 He contended that individual freedom constituted humanity’s innate nature (fitrā), through which human beings acknowledged the oneness of God (tawḥīd). Yet the ‘ulama’, through their extensive textual exegesis, codified shari‘a into a binary, regulatory system of permissible (ḥalāl) and prohibited (ḥarām) conduct. In contrast, al-Banna proposed that shari‘a should be understood as a way of life separate from faith (al-dīn). He argued that shari‘a, bounded by historical contingents, could never supersede the fundamental, eternal, and universal principles of al-dīn.Footnote 96 Consequently, he rejected any interpretations of shari‘a that manifested as discriminatory, oppressive, or inhumane, even when they were directly excerpted from Hadith.
Al-Banna’s egalitarian thought exemplifies the frequently overlooked leftist foundation of the Islamic revival, revealing that the surge of religious discourse extended beyond mere conservative reorientation. He championed Islam’s progressive, emancipatory, and egalitarian potential, arguing that genuine liberation required believers to free themselves from clerical authority and doctrinal orthodoxy. He contended that Islam’s true essence could only be revealed after disposing of these hierarchical interpretations that had calcified into rigid doctrines.Footnote 97
Based on these convictions, al-Banna questioned the authenticity of some Hadith and Sunna accounts, claiming that they had been reframed, if not fabricated outright, to serve the interests of political elites. He further maintained that any Hadith promoting discrimination—whether based on gender, race, or religious affiliation—should be categorically dismissed as falsehood (baṭil).Footnote 98 In al-Banna’s perspective, the Qur’an alone held absolute authority, which excluded all other texts from claiming comparable legitimacy. This singular emphasis on the Qur’an should not be misconstrued as fundamentalism. On the contrary, he insisted that the accessibility of the Qur’an empowered all Muslims, regardless of their background, to exercise rational reasoning (ijtihād), a privilege historically confined to religious authorities.Footnote 99 Thus al-Banna integrated liberal and egalitarian principles into the broader Islamic revival, thereby reshaping its intellectual foundation from within.
Al-Banna’s unorthodox proposition to abolish Qur’anic mediation elicited intense opposition from traditionally credentialed religious scholars. Among his foremost critics was Muhammad ‘Imara, a leading Islamic scholar who voiced deep concern over al-Banna’s egalitarian hermeneutics. According to ‘Imara, al-Banna totally dismissed the rich scholarly heritage of Islam (turāth) that generations of ‘ulama’ had methodically cultivated.Footnote 100 Like al-Banna, ‘Imara’s intellectual trajectory had begun in leftist circles before he embraced a moderate position in political Islam.Footnote 101 Both he and al-Banna agreed that ijtihād constituted an essential foundation for Islamic renewal in the contemporary age.Footnote 102 However, ‘Imara maintained that religious reform should originate with Muslim scholars thoroughly versed in traditional Islamic jurisprudence. For him, freedom of belief did not imply universal access to ijtihād practices; instead, only qualified scholars held the duty to scrutinize the Sunna critically, identifying and excluding elements distorted by historical conflicts in order to preserve the integral tradition of Islamic jurisprudence.Footnote 103 According to ‘Imara, denying established jurisprudence was tantamount to apostasy, a position he claimed al-Banna dangerously promoted.
Al-Banna’s absence of formal religious credentials and institutional training drew intensified criticism from ‘Imara and other traditionally educated scholars. His purported inability to recite the Qur’an in its entirety became a focal point of contention.Footnote 104 Accordingly, traditional scholars contested his legitimacy to engage in Islamic textual interpretation. Despite these challenges, al-Banna’s position outside the established authority of Islam lent a distinctive dimension to the Islamic revival of the late twentieth century. His new fiqh initiative appeared to dilute, encroach upon, or even undermine the traditional Islamic establishment, which had long maintained its symbiotic relationship with political power.
Al-Banna’s egalitarian ideals extended into the new millennium, its focus shifting from labor politics to other domains, particularly gender equality. In his work al-Mar‘a al-Muslima (The Muslim Woman), al-Banna positioned himself in the footsteps of Qasim Amin, who, despite historical controversies, is widely regarded as a pioneering feminist voice in the Arab world.Footnote 105 Unlike Amin and other secular feminists who had embraced Western feminist frameworks, al-Banna opposed the wholesale dismantling of traditional restrictions on women, believing that such an uncritical approach would not deliver genuine emancipation.
True gender equality, al-Banna argued, could only be realized through an emancipation from gender hierarchies codified by medieval jurists, and therefore necessitated a critical reexamination of Islamic texts. Central to the process was identifying the patriarchal and authoritarian remnants embedded within traditional jurisprudential frameworks. Specifically, he vocally opposed regressive gender practices such as male guardianship, polygamy, and mandatory hijab. Drawing upon Qur’anic texts, he advocated for equal inheritance rights and women’s autonomy in divorce proceedings.Footnote 106 These positions, while resonating with his earlier commitment to workers’ emancipation, now inscribed the principle of gender equality firmly within Islam’s moral imperatives.
Comparing al-Banna with Islamist feminists such as Zaynab al-Ghazali reveals their shared opposition to feminism’s exclusive Western genealogy, expressed through their respective reinterpretations of Islamic texts. Yet al-Banna differed distinctly from al-Ghazali. The former advanced an unequivocal, at times absolute, vision of gender equality, while the latter promoted a return to women’s domestic roles and feminine virtues as the foundation of social order in an Islamic state.Footnote 107 In this respect, al-Banna’s position aligned more closely with that of liberal Muslim feminists like Nawal El Saadawi and Fatima Mernissi, who similarly challenged patriarchal religious authority in their quest to reclaim women’s equal rights within Islamic frameworks.
Al-Banna’s rigorous commitment to egalitarianism, however, occasionally provoked controversy for its radical implications. For example, in one of his books, he endorsed temporary marriage (zawāj mut‘a) as a viable solution for Muslims living in Europe, drawing upon its precedent in early Islamic practices and contending that it would improve gender parity in marital rights.Footnote 108 This perspective echoed Mernissi’s defense of women’s sexual autonomy, affirming their right to both initiate and terminate matrimonial relationships.Footnote 109 In response, Sunni religious authorities denounced this position as heretical, which generated widespread controversy. Notably, al-Azhar’s Islamic Research Academy banned the book from circulation in Egypt.Footnote 110
Another facet of al-Banna’s egalitarian thought manifested in his commitment to public engagement, rejecting the exclusive production of religious knowledge within cloistered circles. In a television debate, he rejected the notion of purely disinterested knowledge, arguing that all philosophy, literature, and art, whether overtly or subtly, served political objectives. Thus intellectuals should engage directly with the public to cultivate collective creativity, rather than subordinating themselves to political regimes or religious authorities merely to preserve their reputation.Footnote 111 He enacted this approach in his own practice. From his early labor activism to later advocacy for minority and gender rights, al-Banna consistently strived to engage with a broader public audience. Through these outreach efforts, he destabilized the hegemonic discourse that state authorities and traditional intellectuals had inscribed into everyday social practices.Footnote 112
In advancing egalitarianism across religion, gender, and other social domains, al-Banna embraced a liberal framework that positioned freedom and democracy as political solutions. Gradually, his intellectual framework gravitated toward liberal Islamic scholars such as Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd. Both maintained that liberalism was intrinsic to early Islam, as exemplified by freedom of belief in the social realm and consultation (shūrā) in the political domain.Footnote 113 Al-Banna’s commitment to these values was closely tied to his opposition to monopolistic, centralized authority. Thus his liberal approach to politics represented not Western adoption, but a distinctly Islamic conception of freedom and democracy.
While acknowledging that modern democracy originated in the West, al-Banna critiqued its structural dependence on capitalism. He argued that this Western model, when coupled with capitalist structures, failed systematically to protect the rights of marginalized populations. In this hybrid system, the wealthy and powerful could readily manipulate democratic mechanisms to protect their bourgeois interests, while the poor and vulnerable lacked effective means for collective action.Footnote 114 These limitations of Western democracy, al-Banna argued, necessitated alternative solutions drawn from Islamic principles of social justice when implemented in Muslim societies. He believed that these alternatives could be found by returning to early Islamic history—a time before the emergence of empire and capitalism—where he found models of equitable governance. Particularly, he characterized the period through the end of Umar ibn al-Khattab’s caliphate as an exemplary model marked by rulers’ accountability to all members of the Muslim community.Footnote 115
In post-socialist Egypt, the intelligentsia positioned al-Banna as a liberal Islamist, a figure who often generated both controversy and misunderstanding. Traditional ‘ulama’ frequently misinterpreted his egalitarian thought as mere Western mimicry, condemning it as heretical.Footnote 116 For instance, his endorsement of temporary marriage and defense of the right to apostasy marked radical departures from Sunni orthodoxy. Critics dismissed these views as Western impositions incompatible with Islamic doctrines.Footnote 117 Yet al-Banna’s intellectual trajectory reveals that these radical positions cohered with his long-standing egalitarian commitments, which retained their core principles while metamorphosing from socialist to neoliberal articulations.
Another misinterpretation, especially in Islamist media outlets, centered on al-Banna’s familial ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, which they invoked to explain his religious devotion.Footnote 118 This Islamist narrative lauded his synthesis of secular concerns with Islamic interpretations, celebrating al-Banna’s works as a “new and brave development of Islam” distinct from traditional jurisprudence.Footnote 119 Al-Banna indeed shared the Brotherhood’s holistic vision of Islam. Yet he remained independent from the organization, consistently critiquing its hierarchical structures and dogmatic teachings.Footnote 120 Like Tariq Ramadan, who shares Hasan al-Banna’s lineage, Gamal al-Banna advocated reforms that often diverged from the Brotherhood’s agenda. Thus family connections alone cannot adequately explain al-Banna’s intellectual frameworks or specific doctrinal positions. Among Egypt’s conservative Salafi circles, al-Banna’s public presence and progressive thought were regarded as strikingly heterodox. They feared he would mislead a growing number of followers.Footnote 121 Consequently, while recognized as a major figure in the Islamic resurgence, al-Banna also sparked considerable controversy and debate.
In a nutshell, al-Banna’s intellectual metamorphosis must be understood within the broader sociopolitical transformation and the changing intellectual currents of the late twentieth century. His reconceptualization of Islam—echoing his earlier reinterpretation of postcolonial socialism—aimed to redefine the boundaries of egalitarianism and social justice. This tactful repositioning reinforced him as a reformist thinker who integrated Islamic discourses into the broader postcolonial public sphere in pursuit of social justice. Though confined to domestic social reforms and remaining distant from critiques of imperialism and global inequalities, al-Banna’s egalitarian thought nonetheless played a vital role in enriching the late twentieth-century Islamic revival.
Conclusion: from the Muslim world back to the global South
Gamal al-Banna holds a distinctive position within Egypt’s postcolonial intellectual landscape, persistently championing egalitarian ideals amid changing intellectual currents. Initially, he developed an Islamization of labor theory and praxis to engage with Egyptian and global trends of the labor movement, echoing the Islamic left in Egypt and across the broader Middle East. Despite ideological tensions with state-imposed secularization, he collaborated with the Nasser regime to reshape workers’ sociopolitical participation guided by Islamic ethics, thereby strengthening the popular basis of Arab socialism.
Simultaneously, his personal ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and his religious identity positioned him ambivalently vis-à-vis secular state power. This strategic positioning kept him away from state authority while amplifying his public visibility, especially during the rise of neoliberal reform. The latter phase of al-Banna’s intellectual trajectory marked his growing embrace of progressive Islamic discourses. While his rhetoric evolved from Arab socialist to liberal Islamic, al-Banna maintained his commitment to creating a religiously framed space of universal equality, an egalitarian ideal that lay at his heart.
Nevertheless, in the ebb and flow of global transformations, the “world” appeared to contract, an experience shared by global South intelligentsia amid their intellectual reorientations. While Islam had once legitimized the universal validity of socialist labor experiences, it later articulated a distinct postcolonial cultural identity. Historically, postcolonial nations joined the Third World movement at Bandung, not only to collectively challenge colonialism and the Cold War superpowers, but also to demonstrate how distinct regional identities, sometimes romanticized, could foster an inclusive form of global participation that was culturally grounded.Footnote 122 Thus traditional regional cultures, Islam among them, joined the postcolonial project as integral, defining components of a participatory model of universal egalitarianism. Even the assertive forces of state secularization ultimately faltered in preventing the alignment of Islam with Egypt’s postcolonial realities.
Over time, the aspiration for a heterogeneous and mutually inclusive postcolonial world gradually receded, giving way to a fragmented world where each region pursued its exclusive cultural path based on neoliberal identity.Footnote 123 During this historical transition, global leftist movements, constrained by new authoritarian regimes, bid farewell to the increasingly hollow promises of state socialism. Among intellectuals reimagining egalitarianism, al-Banna transformed an earlier socialist lexicon into a progressive Islamic vision, whose influence has surpassed the former in the post-Cold War Egyptian intellectual landscape. From this perspective, al-Banna’s metamorphosis reveals a leftist, egalitarian origin within the contemporary Islamic revival that deserves further attention.
Acknowledgments
I extend my gratitude to Judith Tucker, who introduced me to this topic over a decade ago. The brilliant insights of Juan Cole, Yasmin Moll, Alexander Knysh, Mrinalini Sinha, and Mohamed Mohamed have illuminated this work. My sincere thanks to Modern Intellectual History’s editor Tracie Matysik and three anonymous reviewers, whose thoughtful feedback helped refine and elevate this manuscript. An earlier version was presented at the Association for Asian Studies 2023 Annual Meeting.
Competing interests
The author declares none.
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