In tracing the evolution of the Muslim Brotherhood since its founding by Hassan al-Banna in 1928, a central question is how contemporary Brotherhood leaders interpret the legacy of the movement’s past. The risa’il (tracts) of Hassan al-Banna; the writings of Sayyid Qutb and Hasan al-Hudeibi; and the practices of the Brotherhood’s first-generation leaders all remain important sources of guidance and foundations of ideological authority for the Brotherhood today. But these authoritative sources are susceptible to multiple and conflicting interpretations. For example, the positions taken by al-Banna and other early Brotherhood leaders on such key issues as the religious legitimacy of democracy and political pluralism; the citizenship rights of women and religious minorities; the proper targets and purposes of jihad; the relationship of Islamist groups with other forces in Egyptian society; and the prospects for constructive engagement with the West, have in recent years become focal points of intra-movement scrutiny and debate. Likewise, al-Banna’s claims that the Brotherhood represented all Muslims, and spoke in the name of Islam itself, have become targets of sustained internal critique. My presentation will trace the emergence of a new reformist cadre of Brotherhood leaders in Egypt in the 1980s and 1990s and demonstrate how their perspectives on the Brotherhood’s founding texts and discourses constitute part of a broader critical re-assessment of the movement’s anti-system past. For example, I will discuss how Hassan alBanna’s rejection of hizbiyya (partyism) has been interpreted by contemporary Islamist “auto-reformers” as a reaction against the corrupt, elitist nature of the Egyptian political system during the intra-war era, rather than as a principled rejection of party competition itself. Likewise, I will highlight recent intra-movement criticism of such broad slogans as “Islam is the Solution”; the trend toward a re-articulation of the movement’s world-views and goals in more relativistic, more specific, and more humble terms; and calls for growing accommodation and tolerance of other groups and viewpoints, as evidence of a qualitative break from Brotherhood rhetoric and practice in the past.