reading questions

Mitchell, Society of the Muslim Brothers, pp. 209-259 Reading Questions

1. What are the MB’s primary criticisms of the traditional scholarly establishment as exemplified by al-Azhar and the Sufi Orders? 2. Why is Egypt special in the MB’s thought and what are its primary economic maladies accord- ing to them? 3. What are the pluses and minuses of Western Civilization (here defined as the U.S., Britain, and Russia) according to the MB? 4. How does the MB’s definition of true or pure Islam differ from the Islam of other Muslims around them? 5. What do the MB intend by their idea of an “Islamic Order”? 6. How do the MB define Shari’a. How do they want to reform existing understandings of it? 7. How does the concept of “shūra” (consultation) figure into the MB’s ideal political order? How does it function? 8. What are the role, rights of, and restrictions upon women in the MB’s ideal society?