MATERIAL PROGRESS AND SPIRITUAL SUPERIORID: MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD CONCEPTUALIZATIONS OF CIVILIZATION

Abstract

The Muslim brotherhood's conception of civilization was framed by the Muslim encounter with the modern West. lnheriting the SalaA-Modernist ambivalence. it has acknowledged the technological-scientifıc achievements of Western civilization. but denounced its spiritual-moral decadence and called for the return of world leadership to lslam. Within this general framework. the Brothers' understanding of dvilization has evolved throughout its existence in different directions according to international and domestic political drcumstances. in the lnterwar period. Hasan al-Banna, the Sodety's founder, dedared that greed and tyranny brought Western civilization - in its limited materialist sense - to bankruptcy and decline. After independence the Syrian leaders announced their project of reconstructing the lslamic civilization in its comprehensive sense. Under military oppression Sayyid Qutb asserted that pure lslam is the only civilization. Conceptualizations of civilization have continued to diversify among the Muslim Brothers and among their moderate and radical splinter groups in the age of globalization. covering the whole range between inter-civilizational dialogue and clash of civilizations.

The Muslim brotherhood's conception of civilization was framed by the Muslim encounter with the modern West. lnheriting the SalaA-Modernist ambivalence. it has acknowledged the technological-scientifıc achievements of Western civilization. but denounced its spiritual-moral decadence and called for the return of world leadership to lslam. Within this general framework. the Brothers' understanding of dvilization has evolved throughout its existence in different directions according to international and domestic political drcumstances. in the lnterwar period. Hasan al-Banna, the Sodety's founder, dedared that greed and tyranny brought Western civilization - in its limited materialist sense - to bankruptcy and decline. After independence the Syrian leaders announced their project of reconstructing the lslamic civilization in its comprehensive sense. Under military oppression Sayyid Qutb asserted that pure lslam is the only civilization. Conceptualizations of civilization have continued to diversify among the Muslim Brothers and among their moderate and radical splinter groups in the age of globalization. covering the whole range between inter-civilizational dialogue and clash of civilizations.