Gendering the Muslim Brotherhood: the social network of the Muslim Sisters in twentieth-century Egypt

Abstract

This article sheds light on the activity and thinking of women belonging to the Muslim Sisters Section within the Muslim Brothers movement (MB) in twentieth-century Egypt. While the MB has received extensive research attention, the Sisters have remained understudied and marginalized. By examining texts authored by the Sisters themselves, including memoirs and biographies, alongside texts written by MB leaders, this article seeks to fill this research lacuna and present a novel perspective on the MB. This unique corpus offers direct insights into the social network, thoughts, actions, and changing roles of women within the MB. Gender is a central analytical category, exploring power dynamics between men and women within the movement. Considering agency and resistance as diagnostic of power, the article traces the fluctuations in Sisters’ agency in response to social and political changes both within and outside the movement.