Egypt – Islam’s progressive knight for the modern era | Bikya Masr
CAIRO: The name Al Banna conjures images of the Muslim Brotherhood and conservatism up in one’s mind that it is often difficult for the brother of the Islamist group to move from the edifice that has ensnared the Al Banna name for nearly 8 decades. But Gamal, the 89-year-old younger brother of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood’s founder and iconic figure Hasan Al Banna, has found a niche as a progressive thinker in the ever-growing radicalism of Egyptian society.
“The way I was raised was totally different from my brothers, especially my late brother, Hasan Al Banna,” the leader in the revisionist Islamic movement begins, “but we all had religious roots in common due to my family’s strong faith.”
When the younger Gamal was only four-years-old, his family moved from the small town of Al Mahmoudiya – some 30 minutes from Alexandria – to Cairo, where he would enter public schools and the secular education system of the 1920s. This was in stark contrast to his elder brother, Hasan, who had been educated in a religious school back in their town
via Islam’s progressive knight for the modern era | Bikya Masr.
