Gamal al-Banna (also: Jamal al-Banna, Arabic: جمال البنا; born on 15 December 1920 in Mahmudiya, Egypt) is an Egyptian author, and trade unionist. He is regarded as an Islamic scholar by some non-Muslims against the opinion of most Muslim scholars and thinkers who consider his ideas to be contradicting with Quran and Sunnah[1] . He is the youngest brother of Hassan al-Banna (1906–49), the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood.[2] Unlike his brother, however, Gamal al-Banna is a liberal scholar and well-known for his criticism of Islamic traditional narratives rejecting 635 Hadiths of Bukhari and Muslim which he finds contradictory to Qur'an and its message of justice, freedom, and tolerance.[3]
Gamal al-Banna is also the great-uncle of the well-known Swiss Muslim Tariq Ramadan.
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Born in 1920 into a pious family, Gamal is the youngest brother of Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood. His father mended watches for a living but spent much time collecting and classifying hadiths. As a child he was weak and sickly, so he spent his time reading with his father. After completing secondary school he refused to go to university but decided instead to start a writing career.[4]
Gamal al-Banna represents an interpretation of Islam which is rationalist, humanist, egalitarian, feminist, anti-authoritarian, liberal and secular. As a political thinker and social reformer he adopts an anti-capitalist position and can be regarded as a democratic socialist.[5][6] In his book al-barnamadj al-islami ("The Islamic Program") Gamal al-Banna writes the following in the preface, when the end of the Cold War became visible in 1991 ("A Disrupted World", page 6-8):
With a rationalist interpretation of Islam, Gamal al-Banna tries to explain the “true” unadulterated Islam of the Quran and Messenger Muhammad. He contrasts this progressive interpretation of Islam with reactionary versions of Islam which were determined or falsified over the centuries by sharia jurists (fuqaha). By his appeal to an Islamic revival (al-ihya` al-islami) Gamal al-Banna intends to encourage the Muslims not to rely on traditional opinions but to form their own opinions with the help of the Quran and reason. While Gamal al-Banna considers the Quran to be the authentic word of God, he criticizes that a lot of alleged hadiths (reports on Messenger Muhammad’s statements and acts) were obviously falsified and that Muslims should trust only that part of the Sunna (prophetic tradition) which doesn’t contradict the Quran or reason.[8]
An important aspect in Gamal al-Banna’s humanist thinking is social justice. He has been committed to the labor and trade-unionist movement for decades. Al-Banna used to be a labor union official in the textile industry, and in 1953 he founded The Egyptian Society for the Care of Prisoners and their Families.[9][10] Gamal al-Banna taught at the Cairo Institute of Trade-Union Studies for 30 years (1963–93). In 1981 he founded the International Islamic Confederation of Labor in Geneva and became its first president.[11] Typically the scholar wears a grey suit ("Mao look") showing his anti-materialistic and egalitarian attitude.[12] According to Gamal al-Banna Islam is anti-capitalist: It is not only opposed to historical slavery, i.e. the social enslavement of human beings, but also to their economic enslavement and exploitation.[13] Gamal al-Banna’s humanistic character can be seen in his averseness to severe punishment, e.g. the death penalty for apostasy[14] as well as in his opposition to the discrimination against women[15] or religious minorities such as the Coptic Christians in Egypt.[16]
Gamal al-Banna is a strict egalitarian: Islam gives women and men the same rights and duties, and a good Muslim regards all human beings as equal, no matter what their religion is. As for the role of women in Islam, al-Banna doesn’t see any reason why a Muslima (Muslim woman) shouldn’t take over the role of imam (female: imama, i.e. leader) in the prayer salat.[17] While the traditional "Islam of the jurists" is very restrictive toward women’s rights, the original Islam intended to liberate the women.[18] In Egypt Gamal al-Banna campaigns for the interreligious understanding between the Muslim majority and the Coptic Christian minority.[19] Being an anti-authoritarian thinker, Gamal al-Banna is an opponent of the religious establishments; in his homeland this inevitably leads to a continuous confrontation with the state-controlled and basically conservative al-Azhar University. Gamal al-Banna believes that every Muslim has to think for herself/himself and that nobody, neither politicians, nor religious leaders, nor any other individual has the right to enjoin anything on anybody in the religion.[20] Gamal al-Banna breaks a taboo every time he doesn’t adhere to what those theologians say who are undisputable authorities in the eyes of conservative und fundamentalist Muslims (e.g. Ash-Shafi'i).[21] The Muslim forefathers may be role models, yet the Muslims are not obliged to follow their example.[22] Gamal al-Banna is not anti-authoritarian in the religion only: in the field of politics er regards the state as a necessary evil whose power should be reduced as much as possible in order to keep the abuse of power down as much as possible. It is fair to say that Gamal al-Banna is a democratic socialist.[23]
For Gamal al-Banna religious thinking may not be restricted in any way. Freedom must reign, and there should be no taboos when it comes to the freedom of expression. Al-Banna’s absolute freedom of belief comprises a Muslim’s conversion which doesn’t permit anyone to harm her/him. There can be no coercion in religion which is a personal issue between oneself and God.[24] Gamal al-Banna also demands the liberation of women from the chains of the sharia jurists.[25] Although Gamal al-Banna is convinced that wearing a headscarf (hejab) is not a religious duty for a woman, which he repeatedly states, he doesn’t want to restrict the hejab-wearing women in what they think is the right religious practice.[26]
Gamal al-Banna is a religious Muslim whose secular attitude shows in his opposition to the notion of an "Islamic state", for it is abused by politicians for political ends whereby both the Muslims and Islam are harmed. Consequently, he champions the separation of state and religion, i.e. laicism (or secularism, but not the secularization of society), in order to protect both the Muslims and Islam from the political establishment’s misuse of Islam. The Arabic term ´almaniyya (secularism) tends to have an anti-religious connotation for native speakers, thus Gamal al-Banna avoids it and considers himself an islami (Islamist), which can be misleading. Gamal al-Banna probably wants to make clear by this that for him Islam is not only a private issue but that Islam must be socially relevant and that it can be political. This does certainly not mean that he favors a religious state. The title of a pertinent book conveys this thought best: "Islam Is Religion and Community, not Religion and State."[27]
Gamal al-Banna frequently appears on Egyptian and other Arab TV programs where he answers questions and takes part in discussions (see "Videos" below). In the Egyptian media he has been portrayed as someone awkward for many years, as a lateral thinker whose opinions trouble a lot of people. In Ramadan 2006, e.g., he said that smoking wasn’t forbidden in Islam and that Muslims may even smoke in the daytime in Ramadan, i.e. during the fasting period. He justified that by the fact that there were no cigarettes in the prophetic era (7th century AD) and that neither the Quran nor Messenger Muhammad prohibited smoking explicitly.[28][29] In another controversial discussion Gamal al-Banna said that kissing and hugging did not constitute fornication (zina) which some religious leaders regard as a criminal act.[30]
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