Muḥammad Ḥabīb was born in 1943 and holds the position of  First Deputy for the Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Ḥabīb is part of the older generation of the Muslim Brotherhood. This older generation is usually considered to be very cautious about cooperating with the state. They developed their political stances in the 1950s and ‘60s during President Jamāl ʿAbd al-Nāsir’s fierce persecution and torture of Brotherhood members. Ḥabīb maintains that he and the Brotherhood are working for the implementation of Sharīʿah in Egypt and that this constitutes an inherent part of Islam.