Ted Thornton
History of the Middle East Database
Hasan al-Banna on Women

Origins of Key Geographical Terms

 

History by Region or State

 

History by Time Period

 

Special Topics

Islam

 

History

 

Other

 

Resources

 




In his tract, 'Toward the Light' in Five Tracts of Hasan al-Banna, trans. by Charles Wendell (Berkeley, 1978), pp.126f., al-Banna writes:

"Following are the principal goals of reform grounded on the spirit of genuine Islam...Treatment of the problem of women in a way which combines the progressive and the protective, in accordance with Islamic teaching, so that this problem - one of the most important social problems - will not be abandoned to the biased pens and deviant notions of those who err in the directions of deficiency and excess...a campaign against ostentation in dress and loose behavior; the instruction of women in what is proper, with particular strictness as regards female instructors, pupils, physicians, and students, and all those in similar categories...a review of the curricula offered to girls and the necessity of making them distinct from the boys' curricula in many stages of education...segregation of male and female students; private meetings between men and women, unless within the permitted degrees of relationship, to be counted as a crime for which both will be censured...the encouragement of marriage and procreation, by all possible means; promulgation of legislation to protect and give moral support to the family, and to solve the problems of marriage...the closure of morally undesirable ballrooms and dance-halls, and the prohibition of dancing and other such pastimes..."

 

Top of Page

email: tthornton@nmhschool.org

Last Revised: July 21, 2007