From the Masterpieces of Our Civilization: Mustafa al-Siba'i

About the author of Masterpieces of Our Civilization

Mustafa ibn Husni al-Siba'i was the principal founder of the Muslim Brotherhood movement in Syria. He was born in the city of Homs in 1915 to a scholarly family renowned for learning and scholars for hundreds of years. His father and grandfathers delivered the sermons at the Great Mosque of Homs from one generation to the next, and he was influenced by his father, Sheikh Husni al-Siba'i, who took a stand against French colonialism. In 1933 he traveled to Egypt for university studies at Al-Azhar, took part in demonstrations against the British occupation in 1941, and supported Rashid Ali al-Gaylani's revolt in Iraq against the British. The Egyptian authorities arrested him on British orders along with a group of fellow students, and he was then transferred to the Sarafand detention camp in Palestine, where he remained for four months before being released on bail

While studying in Egypt, al-Siba'i met Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, and the two remained in contact after his return to Syria. In 1942, scholars, preachers and members of Islamic associations from across the Syrian provinces met and decided to unite their ranks and work as a single group, forming the Muslim Brotherhood for the whole of Syria. In 1945 al-Siba'i was chosen as the first General Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria. He had taken part in the resistance against the French occupation of Syria at the age of sixteen, and the French arrested him because of the speeches he delivered against French policy. He also took part in the 1948 Palestine War, where he led the Syrian battalion

In 1947 al-Siba'i founded the newspaper al-Manar, which ran until it was shut down by the military coup of 1949. In 1955 he founded the weekly magazine al-Shihab together with others. That same year he obtained a license to publish the monthly magazine al-Muslimun, which he continued to publish until 1958, when it passed to its owner, Said Ramadan, in Geneva, Switzerland. After that, al-Siba'i launched the monthly magazine Hadarat al-Islam (The Civilization of Islam), which he ran until his death in 1964

Al-Siba'i was one of the prominent figures of the Islamic movement in Syria and the Arab world. He called for religious, political, social and economic reform in Muslim societies and promoted the idea of the Islamic caliphate and Islamic unity. During his life he tried to build an alliance between the Islamic and nationalist movements in Syria to confront the ruling regime, but he was unable to achieve this

Al-Siba'i died on 23 July 1964 in a road accident while returning from Lebanon to Syria, although there are doubts about the nature of the accident and the possibility that outside parties were behind it. After his death, the Muslim Brotherhood movement in Syria was subjected to a wave of persecution and arrests

About the book Masterpieces of Our Civilization 

“Masterpieces of Our Civilization contains a number of remarkable talks that the author broadcast on Damascus Radio between 8 September 1955 and 15 December 1955. In these talks, the author presented examples of the distinctive aspects of Islamic civilization, aspects that still capture the interest of every fair-minded researcher. Although the author did not cover every aspect of that civilization in his talks, nor did he fall short in analyzing them scientifically, he spoke in plain language that could be understood by an audience of listeners of varying intellectual and cultural levels. His highest aim was to bring these talks to that audience, made up of the elite, the youth and thinkers who believe in the dignity of Muslims before God and before history, and to inspire them to follow the finest morals and values”

Key topics of Masterpieces of Our Civilization

Characteristics of our civilization / The humanistic tendency / Religious tolerance / Kindness to animals / Hospitals and medical institutes / Private and public libraries / Capitals and major cities