10 Facts About Hassan al-Hudaybi

Hassan al-Hudaybi 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.

Hassan Isma'il al-Hudaybi was born in the village of Arab al-Suwaliha, located in north-east Cairo, in December 1891.

Hassan al-Hudaybi's 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.

Hassan al-Hudaybi continued his secular education through secondary school and later received a degree in law in 1915.

In 1924, Hassan al-Hudaybi was promoted to judgeship and received his first posting at Qena, but gradually worked his way up the judicial system.

However, although Hassan al-Hudaybi was appointed as the leader of the society, his role was initially intended to only be a symbolic one.

Scholar Barbara Zollner suggests that Qutb is not a direct target of the text, but rather that Hassan al-Hudaybi wanted to respond to a radical marginal group of the Brotherhood.

Hassan al-Hudaybi died while under house arrest on November 11,1973.

Years later, Hudaybi's son, Ma'mun Hassan al-Hudaybi, briefly headed the Brotherhood from 2002 until his death in 2004.