The Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan al-Muslimun) was founded by Hassan al-Banna (1906–1949 AD) in Ismailia, Egypt in 1928 as a response to Western colonialism, the abolition of the Ottoman Caliphate (1924), and the perceived failure of secular nationalism to serve Muslim societies. Al-Banna’s vision: Islam is a comprehensive system — religion and state, faith and law, worship and social order — and the goal is the establishment of Islamic governance. The Brotherhood developed a sophisticated organizational structure of cells, branches, and social services (schools, hospitals, mosques) that made it a mass movement. Sayyid Qutb’s influential writings (especially Milestones, 1964) radicalized a significant stream within the Brotherhood, producing the ideological foundation for later jihadist movements. The Brotherhood and its affiliates have been involved in democratic politics across the Arab world — Hamas in Gaza is a Brotherhood affiliate, as is Ennahda in Tunisia.