eradicating Islam and foisting upon Egypt a foreign ideology whose demise in recent years in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union has been witnessed by the world at large. I am grateful to Miss Susanne Thackray and Mr. Eric R. Fox for the careful editing and reading of the manuscript. We are especially grateful to the author Zainab al-Ghazali for giving us permission to translate and publish this book from the Foundation. May Allah reward all those associated with the production of this book and accept it as a humble contribution to the field of Islamic literature in English.
| 9 Safar 1415 | M. Manazir Ahsan |
| 19 July 1994 | Director General |
Note
1. Among Western writers on this author, see Valerie J. Hoffman, ‘An Islamic Activist: Zaynab al-Ghazali’ in Elizabeth W. Fernea (ed.), Women and the Family in the Middle East: New Voices of Change, Austin, Texas U.P., 1985; and Miriam Cooke, ‘Zaynab al-Ghazali: Saint or Subversive?’, Die Welt des Islams, Vol. 34, No. 1, April 1994, pp.1-20.
Return of the Pharaoh is the story of a Muslim woman and the torture she was subjected to in the dungeons of Jamal ‘Abd al-Nasir, the ‘champion of Arab Nationalism’, and ‘the founder of post-monarchal Egypt’. It is but one story, but it is representative of countless similar stories which have never become known to the general public.
This story relates the efforts of a dedicated Muslim woman and her brothers and sisters in the cause, to make Islam, once again, a living reality, and how they were severely punished for that. In truth, it is the story of a wounded Islam in its own backyard. The story of how Islam had become, and still is, strange and estranged in Egypt and how the callers to Islam were persecuted, imprisoned and killed.
Return of the Pharaoh also tells about the ideological conflict which was, and still is, reigning in Egypt and many other parts of the Muslim world. It tells about the conflicting loyalties that the Muslims, in this case the Egyptian Muslims, face in their lives and in society. On the one hand, the loyalty of the silent majority of Muslims to Islam, traditional values and a way of life they can identify with. This is supported, enhanced and championed by the Islamic movement. And on the other hand, a minority of people uprooted from their origin, alien to the values of their ancestors, and who are, knowingly or unknowingly, serving as tools to safeguard the interests of the wealthy nations.
The severity of such a conflict can only be visualized by the appalling cruelty that Zainab al-Ghazali suffered at the hands of Nasir and his secret police. What happened to her could only happen in a country whose regime is above the law and unaccountable to any authority. Yet, the Muslim world, with rare exceptions, has been ruled, for a long time, by undemocratic regimes having no regard for law and human rights.
The growing tide of Islamic resurgence, usually called Islamic Fundamentalism by Westerners, is an open and growing protest against these undemocratic and selfish regimes.
In order to understand fully the context of the tragedy of Zainab al-Ghazali, one must have an overview of, first, the Muslim Brotherhood (al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun) Organization; and second, the political and social conditions during which this important organization was founded.
The Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan) was founded by Hasan al-Banna (1906-1949) in the Egyptian town of al-Isma’iliyyah in 1928. The son of an Azharite scholar, who earned his livelihood by repairing watches, Hasan al-Banna showed from his early school-days an inclination and great zeal for calling people to Islamic values and traditions. His strong sense of religiosity and spiritual awareness drove him to join the Hasafiyyah tariqah, one of many Sufi tariqahs that were widespread in Egypt at that time. Even though he was not formally associated with this tariqah after he founded the Ikhwan, he, nevertheless, maintained a good relation with it, as indeed with other Islamic organizations and religious personalities, and persisted in reciting the litanies (awrad, pl. of wird) of this tariqah until his last days.
Though Hasan al-Banna joined a modern-type school of education, he promised his father that he would continue to memorize the Qur’an, which he did, in fact later, at the age of twelve. While at school, he took part in the activities of some religious associations and clubs which were promoting, and calling for, the observance of Islamic teachings. He also formed, while still at school, an association for the enjoining of good and forbidding of evil.
After finishing school, Hasan al-Banna joined Dar al-Mu’allimin in Damanhur, in 1920, and then went to Dar al-’Ulum in 1923 where he graduated in 1927 as a primary school teacher. He was then assigned to a teaching post in al-Isma’iliyyah.
Hasan al-Banna developed the habit of delivering speeches and organizing study circles in the Mosque near his residence. He used to convey to the people his deep sense of disenchantment with the state of the Muslim ummah, and the failure of the religious authorities, in particular al-Azhar University, to redress the status quo. He also expressed doubts about the prevailing political system, and the betrayal by most politicians of the values and principles of the Muslim nation. A group of young workers, who used to attend these speeches and study circles, were so impressed by his comprehensive approach to Islam, his diagnosis of the ills of Muslim society and the cures which he suggested, that they convinced him to form an organization which would take as its mission the revival of Islam. It was a humble beginning, but the speed with which the group grew in the span of just a few years reflected the centuries of Muslims’ discontent vis-à-vis what was taking place in their society.
The formation of the Ikhwan took place four years after the abolition of the Ottoman Caliphate, the last symbol of Muslim strength and dignity. However, the signs of decay and degeneration of Egyptian society appeared centuries before, with Muhammad ‘Ali Pasha’s reforms, even though the reign of the latter and the subsequent deviations which came with it, were only logical ends to the deviations which preceded his reign.
The formation of the Ikhwan was no ordinary event. Had it been so, it would not have stirred Egyptian society, and indeed those of many other Muslim countries, the way it did. There were, at the beginning of this century, and subsequently, scores of Islamic associations, organizations and groups. There existed also different political parties. But the emergence of the Ikhwan was an extraordinary event. For out of the ruins of weakness, ideological doubts, still worse perversion to everything Islamic, emerged a group that advocated Islam in its entirety, without apology or complacency. This group was, as Hasan al-Banna pointed out in his Risalat al-Mu’tamar al-Khamis (Epistle of the Fifth Congress)1: (1) ‘a salafi message: for it calls for returning Islam to its pure sources, i.e. The Book of God and the Sunnah of His Messenger; (2) a Sunni path: for the Ikhwan oblige themselves to following the purified sunnah in all their deeds, especially in the domain of beliefs and acts of worship …; (3) a Sufi reality: for the Ikhwan know that the basis of righteousness is the purification of the soul, transparency of the heart, perseverance in work … and love for the sake of God …; (4) a political organization: for the Ikhwan demand the reform of political order from within and the revision of the relationship of the Muslim ummah with other nations … as well as teaching people and train them to raise their heads in pride and dignity …; (5) a sporting group: for the Ikhwan look after their bodies and know that a strong Muslim is better than a weak Muslim …; (6) a scientific and cultural league: for Islam makes the seeking of knowledge a religious duty …; (7) an economic enterprise: for Islam is interested in the acquiring of money and its use …; (8) a social endeavour: for the Ikhwan are interested in the ills of society and try to find ways for their cure …’ This comprehensiveness which
