Zaynab al-Ghazālī al-Ǧabīlī, a Female Activist and Writer in Favour of the Islamic Cause

Abstract

Zaynab al-Ghazālī (1917-2005) was an activist of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, the founder of the Muslim Women’s Association, a religious preacher and a prolific writer. The article seeks to trace the evolution of al-Ghazālī’s activism and her political ideas, starting from the formative years (1917-48) until her imprisonment under the regime of ʿAbd al-Nāṣir (1964). The article is expected to make an original contribution to the existing literature by presenting al-Ghazālī’s thinking beyond her conception of women and by relying on the analysis of a group of articles written on the Magazine of the Muslim Women (Maǧallat al-Sayyidāt al-Muslimāt) between 1951 and 1957, which has remained so far unexplored.

Keywords

• British colonial rule. Egypt. Islamic movements. Muslim Brotherhood. Nasserism. Political Islam. Women. Zaynab al-Ghazālī al-Ǧabīlī