This chapter sketches the Brotherhood’s early intellectual and political history, starting with its ideological precursors in the late 19th century to its founding in 1928 and up until 1966, when Sayyid Qutb was executed. It outlines the general historical context and some of the major concerns having led to the Brotherhood’s foundation before laying out an overview over the group’s central ideological features and key organizational characteristics. The chapter is based on a wide range of Oral History interviews that were conducted with Brotherhood rank-and-file members in 2012 and 2013 in Egypt, as well as a wide reading of the secondary literature about the Muslim reformers.