Jamāl al-Bannā was born in 1920 in al-Mahmūdiyyah in al-Bihīrah governorate, Egypt. His family had a special interest in Islamic culture and Islamic thought, and made many contributions in serving Islam and public work in Egypt. His father was Shaykh Ahmad ^cAbd al-Rahmān al-Bannā who spent 30 years of his life writing the encyclopedia “al-Fath al-Rabbānī fī Tasnīf wa Sharh Musnad al-Imām Ahmad al-Shaybānī” (Explaining and Classifying Musnad al-Imām Ahmad al-Shaybānī). His elder brother was al-Imām Hasan al-Bannā, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood. Another brother, ^cAbd al-Rahmān al-Bannā, founded an Islamic Muslim Brotherhood theater. Lastly, his brother ^cAbd al-Bāsit al-Bannā is an Islamic playwright.( ¹)

Like his father, Jamāl al-Bannā followed informal education. He also refused to take on a traditional job because he hated the “bourgeoisie”. However, he accepted a position of manager in the Muslim Brotherhood publishing house as a way of being close to his passion: books.( ²) He said that during this phase in his life, he was unaffected by a specific person or trend, but that he was open to human thought in general. He took a special interest in workers' issues, and became an advocate for democracy and constitutional freedoms.(³)

Al-Bannā’s first book “Thalāth ^cAqabāt fī al-Tarīq ilá al-Majd” [Three Hurdles on the Road to Glory] was published in 1945. In 1946, he started his first institutional initiative as he established the National Social Labor Party, a party that came to have disagreements with the political authorities at that time. In the same year, he was arrested after the party had issued a document against the British occupation, and the party turned into the National Social Labor Group. In 1948, he was arrested again during an arrest campaign targeting Muslim Brotherhood members, even though he did not belong to them organizationally. He spent two years in prison, until his release in 1950.(⁴)

In the early 1950’s, al-Bannā joined the Egyptian labor movement, and he won the elections of the General Syndicate of the Workers of the Automated Textile Industry for two consecutive rounds. After that he did not run for elections, instead deciding to support syndicates’ work intellectually. He wrote about syndicate-related issues for almost half a century.

In 1953, al-Bannā established the Egyptian Association for the Care of Prisoners and their Families, which greatly contributed to enhancing conditions in Egyptian prisons. However, the political authority disbanded its original board and replaced it with prison officers, in order to take advantage of the association in its efforts to eradicate the Muslim Brotherhood. In the same year, al-Bannā was able to get authorization for an intellectual magazine called “Al-Fikr” [Thought].(⁵)

From 1962 to 1971, al-Bannā translated a series of publications, documents and treaties for the World Labor Organization (WLO) from English into Arabic. From 1963 to 1993, he worked as a lecturer in labor colleges and specialized institutions, while also being an expert in the Arab Labor Organization (ALO). He wrote around 105 publications, and translated sixteen books on topics related to Islam, politics and labor unions. In 1981, he established the International Islamic Labor Union in Geneva, bringing together a number of labor syndicates in the Muslim world.(⁶)

The Breakaway from the Muslim Brotherhood Despite being the brother of Hasan al-Bannā, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Jamāl al-Bannā pursued quite different interests. However close he got to the Muslim Brotherhood, he did not integrate into the group, whereas his brother exerted his utmost effort in order to make it a movement for Islamic Renaissance. Jamāl al-Bannā criticized the organization for having more practical than intellectual aspects, and for leaving no room for discussion and argument, instead only focusing on work and execution. According to Jamāl al-Bannā, the supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood leads everyone inside the organization, and everyone is subordinated to his will. That is why he withdrew from the organization, rejecting “the arbors of the Muslim Brotherhood which produce results that I do not.”(⁷).

His study of political systems and public unions - especially labor unions - alienated al-Bannā from the group. He believes that the Islamic character of the Muslim Brotherhood was marked by aspects of fundamentalism, and that the movement has largely bypassed modern advances. Hence, he sees the necessity for new Islamic movements that are capable of coping with the transformations of the modern era. (Please refer to Jamāl al-Bannā’s Intellectual Project)

Involvement in syndicate issues Jamāl al-Bannā is the single greatest contributor to the Arabic library of publications on labor unions and syndicates. He has published more than thirty books that covered a wide range of labor union and syndicates’ issues. He has written and translated publications concerning Egyptian, Arab and international syndicate history, syndicate structures, syndicates’ rights, workers’ culture, labor problems, and syndicates’ freedom. On labor, he wrote a famous book entitled “Deepening the Sense of Labor in the Islamic Society”, as well as a philosophy of the syndicate movement and its relation to Islam, in an attempt to give the topic an Islamic perspective.(⁸)

During his stay in prison, Jamāl al-Bannā got to meet many leftists and leaders of the Brotherhood. When he was released in 1950, he had become interested in the workers' class, as he saw in it the only segment of society able to effect transformations. (Please refer to Education, Career and Personal Background)

Al-Bannā called for sound modifications for improving syndicates. He stressed that syndicate elections should not be random and haphazard, but that they should have a scientific and methodological basis. Because of this perspective, he refused to run in elections and instead focused on pursuing his new goal, which was to develop a new theory for syndicates and labor workers based on practical experience. He also aimed to transmit his theory to workers through organizations concerned with workers' education. For this purpose, he translated a number of books about the topic from English, as relevant books in Arabic were thus far non-existent.(⁹)

Thus, Jamāl al-Bannā - unlike his brother - made the working class, labor unions and syndicates the focus of his intellectual project of over half a century. Owing to his creativity, he was a pioneer in the theory and practice of this field of modern Islamic thought.

Al-Bannā was able to introduce a new Islamic perception of labor: he promoted work inside the system of Islamic thought as a reflection of faith in life and judgment for reward or punishment in the afterlife. He was able to do this through a modern reading of certain Qur’ānic verses and the Prophet’s Hadīths. He also re-defined the concept of labor from an Islamic perspective, offering an alternative to legal, syndicate and capitalist definitions.(¹⁰)

Furthermore, Al-Bannā introduced an Islamic solution for the administration of work relationship: by highlighting common faith values between the employees and the employer, the rights of the workers become duties for the employer (e.g. honorable treatment, fair pay, consultation in decisions, etc.) and the rights of the employer become duties for the workers (e.g. honesty, devotion, preserving raw material and means of production, etc.). This, according to Al-Bannā, solves the contradiction between the two parties in labor, and in this way class struggle and the struggle of interests disappears. (¹¹)

Jamāl al-Bannā established an Arab and Islamic school of thought in the field of syndicate and labor unions through teaching at many labor institutions and organizations in the Arab world, and through helping to establish a number of them. He participated in the foundation of many syndicates and labor unions in Egypt, Algeria and Iraq, as well as the labor faculty in Egypt. He also took part in writing articles of the constitutions of many labor organizations and syndicates in the Arab world. Most importantly, he established the International Islamic Labor Union, the only Islamic labor organization in the world, in Geneva in 1981. (¹²)

The goal of al-Bannā's activities was to integrate workers into the Islamic renaissance, and to in fact assign them a leading role. This was an important transition. The attention for the labor masses had thus far been exclusive to the Communist and Marxist thought and the leftist trend in general, but through al-Bannā it now became an integral part of the Islamic movement too. This development affected many Islamic movements, for example in Sudan, Algeria, Pakistan and Iran.(¹³)

Since 1972, Jamāl al-Bannā has dedicated his time and effort to what he calls his “intellectual project”: establishing a new Islamic strategy that he deems “fit for the 21st century”. He has written 30 books in which he has elucidated his method for reviving Islam. He believes that his call for “Islamic revival” does not constitute a political movement, but that it is a new theory about Islam; as he put it, “The main idea of this call is to return Islam to what it was like when it was first revealed [to the Prophet] 14 centuries ago, in order to emancipate human beings and salvage them from the darkness to the light, and transform the society.” (¹⁴)

Describing his call, he said: “It is not a party, institution or an agency, and it does not have an administrative or organizational structure. It is a theory about Islam. It could have been like the rest of theories, however, the call for Islamic revival had many exceptional elements and circumstances which made it the departing point from the transitional period, with all its confusion and contradictions, towards a solid future that coincides with the modern age, and which puts Islam in the core of the world and not in its peripheries as it is today.” (¹⁵)

Al-Bannā’s call for Islamic revival had three main aspects. The first is the Qur’ān, the second is the human being and the third is time. According to him, “the Qur’ān was revealed to guide people to the right path across time. It is fit for all times, however changeable human conditions are. That is why all the bases of freedom, justice, goodwill, love, tolerance, and equality were stated in the Qur’ān.” (¹⁶) In order to establish his movement, he called for reconsideration of the interpretations and uses of the Qur’ān so that it may benefit the public interest of society.

In his intellectual project, “Nahwa Fiqh Jadīd” [Towards New Fiqh], Jamāl al-Bannā criticizes the Salafī trend, accusing it of being synonym for backwardness. He believes that his brother, Hasan al-Bannā, and after him al-Ghazzālī and al-Qaradāwī were very flexible and open in their Salafī perspective. In his opinion, what is needed now is someone who dares to break the rules, and he views himself as capable of doing so.( ¹⁷)

In his intellectual project, which he views as a revolution against current Islamic fiqh, Jamāl al-Bannā redefines the sources of the new fiqh. He excludes Ijmā^c (consensus), which, according to him, is a myth that can never successfully take place. He also excludes other subsidiary sources like Sad al-Dharā’i^c (prohibiting what may lead to sin), thus limiting the sources of fiqh to religious texts only. (¹⁸)

The religious texts themselves too are redefined by Jamāl al-Bannā. He limits them to the Qur’ān and what he believes to be as the authentic Sunnah, according to standards he himself specified, rather than those specified by Hadīth science and its scholars. His vision relies mainly on regulating Sunnah by referring to the Holy Qur’ān as the only and final text. He sets twelve criteria for dealing with Sunnah and regulating it in accordance with the Qur’ān. His criteria go against all that scholars of Hadīth have agreed on throughout different Islamic periods.( ¹⁹)

According to al-Bannā's methodology, many Hadīths are excluded despite the fact that they are deemed authentic by the majority of Muslim scholars(²⁰), and appear in the collections of authentic Hadīths by al-Bukhārī and Muslim. Al-Bannā believes that many of the Hadīths in these books are fabricated or forged, an opinion he expands on in a book. However, after al-Bannā had finished this process of “purifying Hadīths”, he discovered that what was left was not enough to constitute a basis for the new fiqh. Therefore, the Hadīths he believes to be authentic are merely secondary in importance to the Qu’rānic text in what he sees as the basis of the new fiqh. (²¹)

Following this method, al-Bannā reconsiders the fundamentals of fiqh and starts erasing, modifying, and adding aspects. He introduces a third source for the new fiqh which is “wisdom”. This source does not have any fixed regulations, but is the outcome of human reasoning. He rejects all Qur’ān science, by which he means the scientific methods developed by scholars throughout Islamic history that they depended on as rules and mechanisms for understanding the Qur’ānic text. (²²) Al-Bannā believes that Qur’ān explains itself by itself, and that there is no need for understanding the context of or reasons for revelation. The most important measure that al-Bannā depends on when dealing with the Qur’ān is rejecting all previous explanations of the Qur’ān and freeing oneself from opinions, sayings, and Ijtihād of preceding scholars. These scholars' explanations, according to Al-Bannā, were not in agreement with the Qur’ān.

Jamāl al-Bannā’s intellectual project has been described as the project of a social reformist who is interested in cases of social justice and freedom, rather than a project of a religious reformist who depends on sound rules and basis. What al-Bannā termed “new fiqh” has been criticized for lacking proper religious foundation. It has been said that even if he did rely on religious texts, it was because they were consistent with the ideas he previously already subscribed to, and not because of his commitment to the fundamentals of religion.( ²³)

In this sense, Jamāl al-Bannā’s intellectual project does not only reduce the gap between Islam and secularism, but even removes all boundaries between them, to fashion what can be called a “secular Islam”. According to al-Bannā, Islam has nothing to do with worldly affairs; it is but a call for guidance. The only difference between Islam and secularism, in his view, is the judgment in the hereafter, which does not play a role in secularism since it is based on worldly affairs alone.

This theoretical framework that Jamāl al-Bannā based his fiqh on was reflected in a number of fiqhī opinions he expressed regarding women, art, the state, politics, economics, and other aspects of life. Many of his opinions are considered very controversial; for example, he does not think that hijāb is obligatory for Muslim women, he does not consider bank interests harām, and he acknowledges mut^cah marriage for Muslims living abroad.( ²⁴)

“Islamists believed that the application of what they call Shari’a cannot be achieved unless they take over power. I think they are under an illusion, like communists, because power spoils ideology,” Jamāl al-Bannā said.( ²⁵)

Jamāl al-Bannā believes that there are two reasons why the relationship between Islam and secularism is misunderstood. The first reason is that the nature of Islamic authority (experts whose views are taken as definitive) is misunderstood. The second reason is that Islam is judged in light of what happened to Christianity. (²⁶)

Basing himself on his vision, presented previously, al-Bannā says that the Qur’ān is the book of Islam. Therefore, whenever we want to know the opinion of Islam on any topic, we are supposed to refer to the Qur’ān and not to the opinions of jurists and Imāms who are affected by political, social and cultural circumstances. (²⁷)

Al-Bannā believes that European intellectuals applied their perceptions of Christianity to Islam, despite the fact that there are significant differences between Islam and the Christian church. He stated: “If we made the Qur’an and not the opinions of the different jurists and imams our authorized reference point and if we agreed that the rulings of the [Catholic] Church could not be applied to Islam, we would be able to handle the relationship between Islam and secularism.” (²⁸)

In addition, al-Bannā explained that one of the main reasons behind not having a religious institution in Islam is the fact that the idea of divinity in Islam is not founded on theology that is difficult for the average man to understand, and that requires a priest for its explanation. According to him, this fact is one of the main reasons for the “secularism of Islam”. “Acknowledging the freedom of belief and thought, rejecting the idea of the religious institution and the simplicity of divinity in Islam pushed Islam away from a theological system and brought it nearer to secularism,” he said.( ²⁹) He also states that the religious institution came to exist in Islam as a result of circumstantial changes, unlike the church in Christianity, whose existence is stated in the Bible. For this reason, according to him, the religious institution in Islam never ruled, directly or indirectly.( ³⁰)

Jamāl al- Bannā believes that after objective study of both Islam and secularism, there are three matters that should be looked at: (³¹)

1. The purity of secularism in European societies
Al-Bannā believes that a deep study of the European society shows that it has refused heavenly religions and believes in agnosticism. He stated that Western society is not purely secular, but that it appears secular in comparison with the ancient religions (Roman or Greek).

2. The special nature of the Arabic region
Al-Bannā believes that those calling for secularism should recognize the nature of faith in the Arab region, and the effects this has on the acceptance of secularism. Prophets appeared in Arab countries, believers came from Arab countries to preach their message to other nations. Thus, religion was the defining aspect of Arab society, and consequently everything sprung from religion.

According to him, this deep-rootedness contrasts with the situation in European countries, where people are not only careless about religion but violently attack it as well.

3. The traces of the application of secularism in Western societies.
In al-Bannā's view, “The brightness of development and wealth (...) caused many people to be unable to see the other side of the image. All Western societies gained all these features by stealing from and robbing the East. The wars among European countries led to two world wars. At the present time, social problems have started to taken on new forms that were unknown before: organized crime, homosexuality, drug dealing, political and economic corruption and the fatal influence of mass media over the youth. Western authorities are helpless against this corruption because Europeans consider this corruption a sort of freedom.”

According to al-Bannā, Islam is in line with secularism in that it does not acknowledge the theological state and in that it grants life and man’s activities in life their rights. In Europe, where the values of Christianity are opposite to the values of secularism, there has been a kind of controversial interaction between secularism and the church. However, in Islamic societies, where Islamic values are to a great extent close to secularism, there is no struggle or conflict between the values of Islam and secularism, because each side wants to be superior to the other.(³²)

Jamāl al-Bannā’s opinions and writings are often considered controversial, as he deviated to a great extent from the mainstream Islamic thought and fiqh. The Azhar confiscated his book “Mas’ūliyyat fashal al-Dawlah al-Islāmiyyah fī al-^cAsr al-Hadīth” [The responsibility for the failure of the Islamic state in the Modern Era] because it contained uncommon opinions about Hijāb and Mutcah marriage, among other things. This book sparked a heated debate in Muslim intellectual circles.(³³) (³⁴)

Jamāl al-Bannā acknowledges that Egypt is one nation with different religions, Islam and Christianity, yet he does not overlook the fact that Muslims are the majority. He believes that both Muslims and Christians face the same challenges and difficulties on political, economical and social levels.

In his book “The Coptic Brethren”, Jamāl al-Bannā addressed three reasons for the divisions between Muslims and Christians: (³⁵)

1. The emergence of Muslim fundamentalist groups, which, according to him, promote wrong teachings of Islam and frighten the Coptic community.
2. The political line of Pope Shenouda, that mixes religion with politics.
3. The political line of former President Sadāt. On the one hand, he promoted the opening of Egyptian society to the outside world, while on the other hand he tried to use religion for his political aims.

According to a review written by ^cAyyād Mus^cad, Jamāl al-Bannā's intention with this book was to try to cure the relationship between Muslims and Copts in Egypt.

Al-Bannā sees the Copts as an Egyptian minority. He believes that the right choice for the Copts is to follow the fundamentalist approach of the Coptic Orthodox Church only in the spiritual sphere as the message of Jesus, St. Paul and Peter. (³⁶)

Al-Bannā also tackled the issue of Coptic participation in public life, the representation of Copts in public positions. He believes Pope Shenouda's confrontational line led to disturbances in the relationship between the Church and the Egyptian authorities, and created divisions at the expense of both Muslims and Christians. He states that both Muslims and Christians should live within their own community as a community of faith that is not involved in politics or activities that harm other spiritual communities. In “The Coptic Brethren”, al-Bannā discussed the historical background and leadership ambition that influenced Pope Shenouda, as well as the emergence of radical Muslim fundamentalists. (³⁷)

Moreover, al-Bannā spoke about the concerns and the demands of the Copts. He called for reformation in religion and liberation of the heart and mind as the only way to avoid conflicts and disturbances. Reform, according to him, means that the church limits itself to the spiritual life of believers: “The teaching and messages of the church should comply with the modern time, preaching faith and liberty, especially making faith a personal issue and thus accepting the freedom to change one's personal conviction.” (³⁸) Vice versa, he argued that Muslims too should be able to leave their religion without apostates facing penalties. (³⁹)

Jamāl al-Bannā believes that Islam is characterized by civilizational universality, based on the civilizational principles and values of Islam, either on the level of belief or on the level of systems.

According to him, the call for Islam started locally; first among the people of Makkah, then among the people of Madīnah and after that across the region. The constitution of Madīnah is considered the first international treaty in the world that overcomes differences of religion and race, and gives all people equal rights and duties. Over time, the universal nature of Islam became clear and there are verses from the Qur’ān that state this fact, addressing all people, not only Muslims. (⁴⁰)

Islam called for its universality in a civilizational peaceful way. This was clear from the letters the Prophet Muhammad sent to the kings of the empires at that time: Persia, Rome, and Egypt. After the Prophet wrote to the kings and they refused the new religion, there was no other way of informing people about Islam except through the army, seeing that there were no mass media or any other means of communicating with the people. In al-Bannā's view, Muslims having the power was of great importance for two reasons. On the one hand, Muslims could this way inform the masses of the message of Islam, which was an integral aspect of its universality. On the other hand, existing political systems at that time were tyrannical and unjust; they oppressed and enslaved the peoples under their rule, and deprived them from basic human rights. According to al-Bannā', the Muslims' war entailed the removal of these unjust systems and achieving Islamic justice for the masses, while giving the people their right to freedom of belief. At the same time, the Islamic army ensured their protection in return for al-jizyah paid once a year. (⁴¹) Islam itself is not to blame for the fact that certain currents in Islam have been associated with violence in modern times; rather, the roots of violence go back to the era of Jamāl ^cAbd al-Nāsir, when it was some Islamists' natural response to the oppression, detention and torture inflicted on them by the regime. (⁴²)

Al-Bannā said that Islam is a belief as well as a system of worldly justice and civilizational values, and that Islam completely eliminated the option of imposing religious belief by power simply because forcing one to adopt a religion renders it valueless.

Islam in its very nature is universal and its universality is based on informing others about it and about its values. This can be achieved while people still have the right to keep their religion. This rule is laid out in the following Qur’ānic verse: “Say: O People of the Scripture! Come to an agreement between us and you: that we shall worship none but Allah, and that we shall ascribe no partner unto Him, and that none of us shall take others for lords beside Allah. And if they turn away, then say: Bear witness that we are they who have surrendered (unto Him).” [The Chapter of Ali ^cImrān (The Family of ^cImrān) 3: 64, The Meaning of the Glorious Qur’ān by Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall] According to al-Bannā, this verse shows the universality of Islam, while it at the same time rejects the “globalization” that makes American and European leaders Gods who tell the peoples of the Third World to surrender to their wills. (⁴³)