Islam. 155had been deeply influenced by Western thought and had re-
ceived a Ph.D. in London. Yet he believed that the West had
elevated progress at the expense of continuity; its secular in-
dividualism separated the notion of personality from God
and made it idolatrous and potentially demonic. As a result,
the West would eventually destroy itself, a position that was
easy to understand after the First World War, which could be
seen as the collective suicide of Europe. Muslims therefore
had a vital mission to witness to the divine dimension of life,
not by retiring from the world to engage in contemplation,
but by an activism that implemented the social ideals of the
Shariah.
The reformers we have considered so far were intellectu-
als, who spoke chiefly to the educated elite. In Egypt, the
young schoolteacher Hasan al-Banna (190649) founded an
organization that brought their ideas to the masses. The Soci-
ety of Muslim Brothers became a mass movement through-
out the Middle East, and was the only ideology at this time
that was able to appeal to all sectors of society. Al-Banna
knew that Muslims needed Western science and technology,
and that they must reform their political and social institu-
tions. But he was also convinced, like the reformers, that this
must go hand in hand with a spiritual reformation. When al-
Banna saw the British living in luxury in the Suez Canal
Zone, he was moved to tears by the contrast with the miser-
able hovels of the Egyptian workers. He saw this as a religious
problem that needed an Islamic solution. Where Christians
would often respond to the challenge of modernity by a re-
assertion of doctrine, Muslims have responded by making a
social or political effort (jihad). Al-Banna insisted that Islam
was a total way of life; religion could not be confined to the
private sphere, as the West contended. His society tried to in-
terpret the Quran to meet the spirit of the new age, but also
to unify the Islamic nations, raise the standard of living,