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{{short description|Second General Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Hassan al-Hudaybi<br/>{{lang|ar|حسن الهضيبي}}
| honorific_suffix =
| image = Hassan El-Hodabi.jpg
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| office = 2nd General Guide of the Egyptian [[Muslim Brotherhood]]
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| term_start = 1951
| term_end = 1973
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| predecessor = [[Hassan al-Banna]]
| successor = [[Umar al-Tilmisani]]
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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1891|12|}}
| birth_place = Arab al-Suwaliha, [[Qalyubiyya Governorate|Qalyubiyya]], [[Khedivate of Egypt|Egypt]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1973|11|11|1891|12}}
| death_place = [[Cairo]], [[Egypt]]
| nationality = Egyptian
| children = [[Ma'mun al-Hudaybi]]
}}

'''Hassan al-Hudaybi''' (also '''Hassan al Hodeiby''') ({{lang-ar|حسن الهضيبي}}) (Dec 1891 – Nov 11, 1973) was the second "General Guide", or leader, of the [[Muslim Brotherhood]] organization, appointed in 1951 after founder [[Hassan al-Banna]]'s assassination two years earlier. Al-Hudaybi held the position until his death in 1973.

== Early life ==
Hassan Isma‘il al-Hudaybi was born in the village of Arab al-Suwaliha, located in north-east Cairo, in December 1891. The eldest of four sisters and three brothers, he was raised in a poor, working-class family. His father wanted his eldest son to become a scholar and thus began Hassan's education with Qur'an lessons at the local village school. However, after a year of religious schooling, Hassan chose to transfer to a secular government primary school. He continued his secular education through secondary school and later received a degree in law in 1915.

In 1924, al-Hudaybi was promoted to judgeship and received his first posting at Qena, but gradually worked his way up the judicial system. By the 1940s, he was one of the highest ranking representatives of the Egyptian judiciary, with his final post being Chancellor of the Court of Appeals before leading the Muslim Brotherhood.<ref name="Johnston40">{{cite journal |last=Johnston |first=David L. |title=Hassan al-Hudaybi and the Muslim Brotherhood: Can Islamic Fundamentalism Eschew the Islamic State? |journal=Comparative Islamic Studies |volume=3 |year=2007 |issue=1 |pages=40}}</ref>

== Appointment as General Guide ==
Al-Hudaybi was aware of the society of the Muslim Brotherhood beginning in the 1930s, and was introduced to Hasan al-Banna approximately ten years later. His friendship with al-Banna grew and he began to serve as an unofficial personal advisor to him. Through this secretive relationship, al-Hudaybi gradually learned about the internal affairs of the Brotherhood.<ref>{{cite book |last=Zollner |first=Barbara H. E. |title=The Muslim Brotherhood: Hasan al-Hudaybi and Ideology |location=London and New York |publisher=Routledge |year=2009 |pages=22 |isbn=978-0-203-88843-8}}</ref>

Following the dissolution of the society in 1948 and the assassination of al-Banna in 1949, the survival of the Muslim Brotherhood was at stake. If the Muslim Brotherhood wanted to continue as a political-religious movement instead of maintaining its reputation as a violent elite, they needed to improve their public image.<ref>Zollner, ''The Muslim Brotherhood'', 17</ref> Given that the leading members of the society were all shrouded by the stigma of violence and crisis, the leaders appointed al-Hudaybi as the new ''[[Murshid]]'', or guide. Al-Hudaybi was a strategic choice by the Brotherhood. With his strong ties to political power, aversion to violence, and clean public image, al-Hudaybi was seen as an outsider whose image could help the Muslim Brotherhood regain legitimacy.<ref name="Johnston40" />

However, although al-Hudaybi was appointed as the leader of the society, his role was initially intended to only be a symbolic one.<ref>{{cite book |last=Mitchell |first=Richard P. |title=The Society of the Muslim Brothers |location=London |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1969 |pages=85 |isbn=0-19-508437-3}}</ref> Many of his demands were initially disregarded, including requests to appoint his supporters to key administrative positions as well as calls to dissolve of the Secret Apparatus of the Brotherhood.

== Conflict with the Secret Apparatus ==
Once al-Hudaybi entered office, he condemned the violence that engrossed the movement from 1946 to 1949 and ordered that the Brotherhood dissolve their secret military branch immediately. This created deep tensions between him and other high-ranking members supportive of the Secret Apparatus, including Salih al-’Ashmawi and Abd al-Rahman al-Sanadi. Throughout his leadership, all-Hudaybi continued to oppose violent action and repudiated any preparations for armed conflicts by the Brotherhood. Members of the Secret Apparatus who considered themselves fighters in a noble cause felt alienated by him and soon joined ranks to try to force al-Hudaybi to resign.<ref>Mitchell, ''The Society of the Muslim Brothers'', 85.</ref><ref>Zollner, ''The Muslim Brotherhood'', 32.</ref>

== Imprisonment ==
After a former member of the Secret Unit, Mahmud ‘Abd al-Latif, allegedly attempted to assassinate President [[Gamal Abdel Nasser|‘Abd al-Nasir]] in October of 1954, the government began a new wave of arrests against members of the Muslim Brotherhood. On December 4th, seven defendants of the Brotherhood, including Hassan al-Hudaybi, were condemned to death by the court. Three days later, the death sentences were carried out except that of al-Hudaybi's, whose verdict was commuted to life in prison.

== Preachers, Not Judges (''Du'at la Qudat'') ==
While in prison, al-Hudaybi is said to have completed the manuscript for ''Du’at la Qudat'', which was published after his death in 1977. [[Emmanuel Sivan]] and [[Gilles Kepel]] have argued that the text is a refutation of [[Sayyid Qutb]]'s Islamist manifesto ''[[Ma'alim fi al-Tariq]]'' (Milestones Along the Way). Although ''Du'at la Qudat'' does not mention Qutb by name and only criticizes Pakistani Islamist [[Abul A'la Maududi]], it argues against ''[[takfir]]'' – the practice of declaring another Muslim a non-believer – that Qutb employed.<ref>{{cite book |last=Sivan |first=Emmanuel |title=Radical Islam : Medieval Theology and Modern Politics |location=New Haven |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1985 |pages=108–110 |isbn=0-300-03263-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Kepel |first=Gilles |title=Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam |location=London |publisher=I.B. Tauris |year=2004 |edition=New |pages=61–63 |isbn=1-85043-722-X}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Kramer |first=Gudrun |title=Die Korrektur der Irrtümer: Innerislamische Debatte um Theorie und Praxis der Islamischen Bewegungen |journal=Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft |year=1994 |volume=Suppl. XXV}}</ref> Scholar Barbara Zollner suggests that Qutb is not a direct target of the text, but rather that al-Hudaybi wanted to respond to a radical marginal group of the Brotherhood.<ref>Zollner, ''The Muslim Brotherhood'', 149.</ref>

One of the main objectives of the text is to define Muslims and ''kafirs'', or unbelievers. Qutb had previously argued that so-called Muslim governments were actually non-Islamic ''jahiliyyah'' that must be abolished by "physical power and [[Jihad]]."<ref>Qutb, Sayyid. ''Milestones''. p.9, 55</ref> According to al-Hudaybi, however, the committing of a sin that requires punishment does not make the sinner an apostate. Judgement over Muslims should be left to God alone.<ref>Sivan, ''Radical Islam'', 108–109.</ref>

Al-Hudaybi disagrees with Qutb, believing that [[Shahada]], or profession of the belief in Islam alone is sufficient to be a Muslim.<ref>Zollner, ''The Muslim Brotherhood'', 150.</ref>

== Death ==
Hassan al-Hudaybi died while under house arrest on November 11, 1973. Al-Hudaybi was succeeded by [[Umar al-Tilmisani]]. Years later, Hudaybi's son, [[Ma'mun al-Hudaybi]], briefly headed the Brotherhood from 2002 until his death in 2004.

== References ==
{{reflist}}

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{{succession box|title=General Guide of the [[Muslim Brotherhood]]|before=[[Hassan al-Banna]]|after=[[Umar al-Tilmisani]]|years=1951–1973}}
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{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hodeiby, Hassan Al}}
[[Category:1891 births]]
[[Category:1973 deaths]]
[[Category:Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood leaders]]
[[Category:People from Qalyubiyya Governorate]]

Hassan al-Hudaybi - Revision history

CleanupBot at 14:57, 5 December 2022