Arabic Al-Ikhwān al-Muslimūn
Religio-political organization founded in Egypt in 1928 by Ḥasan al-Bannā (1906–49) that promoted the Qurān and Hadīth as the proper basis for society.
It quickly gained many followers throughout North Africa and the Middle East and influenced the development of Muslim groups in other regions. It became politicized after 1938, rejecting Westernization, modernization, and secularization. Suppressed in Egypt after a 1954 assassination attempt on Gamal Abdel Nasser , it operated clandestinely in the 1960s and '70s. Beginning in the late 1980s, it experienced an upsurge; though its candidates were often listed under other parties, Brotherhood candidates competed in legislative elections in Egypt and Jordan.