"Five tracts of Hasan Al-Banna (1906-1949): A selection from the Majmuat rasail al-Imam al-shahid Hasan al-Banna" Translated by Charles Wendell (University of California, 1978)
Hasan Al-Banna preceded with his work and thus left an imprint on many attempts in the years between the two wars, and especially after the Second World War, to constitute an Islamic order as the supreme political and social ideal. The publication under review contains his five studies translated into English by well-known Arabist and historian Charles Wendell. These are his most often cited essays - Between Yesterday and Today, Our Mission, To What Do We Summon Mankind?, Toward The Light and On Jihad. The main idea is always oriented toward the creation of an Islamic order (an-nizam al-islami).
Hasan Al-Banna sees in Islam the only teaching that can ensure social progress and well-being and that is the key to the resolving of all basic problems of mankind. In the above-mentioned essays he tries to explain why, in his opinion, the establishment of an Islamic order is inevitable. According to his concept, there is only one valid law, namely the law of God that has to be implemented. This law is Koran which contains all the principles and precepts that mankind needs for its happiness and future development. As long as an Islamic order does not come into existence, the Muslims as a whole are committing a sin. The main instrument for the achievement of this ideal is the politico-religious organization as the Muslim Brotherhood which Hasan Al-Banna refuses to call a political party, but which he characterizes as a new spirit that works its way into the hearts of all Muslims (p. 36). The Islamic ideology seems to him as the most significant system of ideas, a religious and political message needed by the world at large.
The publication is supplemented with a selected basic bibliography concerning the historical background of the origin and activity of the Muslim Brotherhood, and index of the names of persons mentioned in the text or in the footnotes. The translation has no major deformation of the contents and the author has tried to preserve as much as possible the stylistic characteristics of the original. Obvious as well is the translator´s effort to maintain the style typical of Hasan Al-Banna as a theologian. Somewhat unnecessary perhaps is the author´s modesty as revealed in his statement that the translation is intended rather for interested students. Still a rather large number of publications concerning the development of the ideas and ideology of the Islamic world come from the pens of authors who base themselves on incomplete quotations which are sometimes incorrectly translated and selected on purely subjective grounds. Charles Wendell´s translation will undoubtedly be welcomed by all those interested in modern Islamic thinking and the history of the Islamic countries.
Reviewed by Josef Muzikář
Source: Archív Orientální, 50, 1982
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Translated from the Arabic and annotated by Charles Wendell
University of California publications
Near Eastern studies; v. 20
Publication Date: 1978
Pages: 177
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Contents
1. Between Yesterday and Today
2. Our Mission
3. To What Do We Summon Mankind?
4. Toward The Light
5. On Jihad
