Hasan al-Banna and Unity With the Raafidah Shiah
In the book (الملهم الموهوب - حسن البنا) "The Inspired Gift - Hasan al-Banna", Umar at-Tilmisani, former Murshid of the Ikhwan, said (p. 78):
وبلغ من حرصه (حسن البنَّا) على توحيد كلمة المسلمين أنَّه كان يرمي إلى مؤتمر يجمع الفرق الإسلامية لعلَّ الله يهديهم إلى الإجماع على أمر يحول بينهم وبين تكفير بعضهم ,خاصة وأنَّ قرآننا واحد وديننا واحد ورسولنا صلى الله عليه وسلم واحد وإلهنا واحد ولقد استضاف لهذا الغرض فضيلة الشيخ محمد القمي أحد كبار علماء الشيعة وزعمائهم في المركز العام فترة ليست بالقصيرة .كما أنه من المعروف أنَّ الإمام البنَّا قد قابل المرجع الشيعي آية الله الكاشاني أثناء الحج عام 1948 وحدث بينهما تفاهم يشير إليه أحد شخصيات الإخوان المسلمين اليوم وأحد تلامذة الإمام الشهيد الأستاذ عبد المتعال الجبري في كتابه ( لماذا اغتيل حسن البنا )(ط1-الاعتصام-ص32) ينقل عن روبير جاكسون قوله : ولو طال عمر هذا الرجل (يقصد حسن البنا) لكان يمكن أن يتحقق الكثير لهذه البلاد خاصة لو اتفق حسن البنا وآية الله الكاشاني الزعيم الإيراني على أن يزيلا الخلاف بين الشيعة والسنة ,وقد التقى الرجلان في الحجاز عام 48 ويبدو أنهما تفاهما ووصلا إلى نقطة رئيسية لولا أن عوجل حسن البنا بالاغتيال
And he reached [due] to his eargerness (i.e.of Hasan al-Banna's) for unifying the word of the Muslims [the level] where he would aim for a conference that would bring together all of the Islamic sects [hoping] that Allaah may guide them [all] to consensus upon a matter that would prevent them from making Takfir of each other specifically, and [agreement] that our Qur'an is one, our religion is one, and our Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) is one, and our deity is one.
And for this objective he received as a guest, the esteemed Shaykh Muhammad al-Qummee, one of the senior scholars of the Shiah and their leaders, at the general headquarters for a period of time that was not short. Just as it is well-known that the Imaam al-Banna had met with the Shi'ite Ayatollah Kaashaani during Hajj in the year 1948 and some mutual understanding took place between them that one of the personalities of al-Ikhwan al-Muslimeen today, one of the students of the Imaam, Shaheed [al-Banna], the teacher, Abdul-Muta'aal al-Jabaree pointed to in his book "Why was Hasan al-Banna Assassinated" (1st print, [Dar] al-I'tisaam, p.32), quoting from Rober[t] (or perhaps Ruper[t]) Jackson his saying:
And if the life of this man was lengthened (meaning Hasan al-Banna) it would have been possible to actualize much for this land, especially if Hasan al-Banna and Ayatollah Kashani, the leader of Iran, had agreed to put an end to the differing between the Shiah and the Sunnah. And the two men met in the Hijaz in the year [19]48 and it appears that they acquired mutual understanding and came to [agreement] on a fundamental point, had it not been that the assassination of Hasan al-Banna was hastened.
The Da'wah of Hasan al-Banna
The da'wah of Hasan al-Banna is characterized as follows:
Taking the current social, economical, and political circumstances of the Muslims as the base and foundation for devising the nature, role, direction and orientation of one's da'wah - and pushing the issues of creed to the back seat. Thus, the call is not to a particular creed with walaa and baraa upon it and acting upon what it necessitates. And thus, as part of this da'wah, it is permitted, rather obligatory (to al-Banna at least) to work with all the groups and parties, by putting aside differences, even if they are in fundamental issues.
This dawah was the one revived by Salman al-Awdah (now sitting with Sufis and Shi'ites), through his distinguishing between al-firqat an-naajiyah and at-taa'ifat ul-mansoorah (the former are all the groups of da'wah, such as Ikhwan and Tabligh and the latter is simply the cream of those groups) and it is also the one that Abdur-Rahman Abdul-Khaliq, revived through his doctrines of "ta'addud al-jamaa'aat" (multiplicity of groups), and it is also the one that Abu al-Hasan al-Ma'ribi revived through his doctrine of "al-manhaj al-waasi'" - and this "fikr", this way of thinking is also what the Qutbiyyah Ikhwaniyyah are upon in the West, in the US, Canada, UK and other places and from their sayings and opinions are those that permit working with the likes of Hizb ut-Tahrir and other straying devious innovators - for the reason that it is for the social, economic and political betterment of the Muslims. It's hardcore Bannawiyyah.
So don't think this da'wah of al-Banna is dead, its alive and kicking, strangely, amongst a people claiming Sunnah and Salafiyyah.