The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (131 page)

see
S
F
S
.

 
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al-Ikhw
n al-Muslim
n
.

‘The Muslim Brotherhood’, a religio-political movement founded in Egypt by
asan al-Bann
’ (1904–49) in 1928. Its adherents urge a return to the fundamentals of Islam. The Ikhwan's main objectives were to free Egypt from British domination and then to establish an Islamic state in accordance with the
Qur’
n
. A parallel women's movement, ‘The Muslim Sisters’, seeks to restore the Islamic status of women. All attempts by the authorities to liquidate the Ikhwan have met with failure, for as soon as one group is eradicated, another springs up and takes its place. Moreover, persecution has increased their prestige and popularity amongst Egyptians, for they are honoured as martyrs in the defence of Islam and enjoy grassroot support.

 
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al-Ins
n al-K
mil
(The Perfect Man)
.

An expression perhaps first compounded by
Ibn ‘Arab
in
Fu
al-
ikam
(
Bezels of Wisdom
): ‘Everything the world contains is subject to man. This is known to him who knows, that is to say, to the Perfect Man, and is not known by him who does not know, that is to say, to man the animal. He (The Perfect Man) is the mirror by which God is revealed to himself.’ Ibn ‘Arab
identified the Perfect Man with the Prophet
Mu
ammad
the archetype of the universe and humanity; the first symbol of the Lord was N
r Mu
ammad (Light of Mu
ammad), and it is in him and through him that prophets and saints find their perfection.
‘Abd al-Kar
m al-J
l
elaborated this notion further: ‘The Perfect Man is the pole (
qutb
) around which the spheres of existence turn, from the first to the last.’ For al-J