Sayyid Qutb

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Sayyid Qutb (Arabic pronunciation: [ˈsajjɪd ˈqʊtˁb]) (also Syed, Seyyid, Sayid, or Sayed; Koteb, Qutub, Kotb, or Kutb) (Arabic: سيد قطب; October 9, 1906 – August 29, 1966) was an Egyptian author, educator, Islamist, poet, and the leading intellectual of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in the 1950s and '60s. He is best known in the Muslim world for his work on the social and political role of Islam, particularly in his books Social Justice and Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq (Milestones). Many Muslims consider him to be a martyr (shahid) because of his execution by Nasser's government. He left behind a total of 24 books, including several novels and literary arts critiques, books on the education, and several religious books, including his Magnum Opus Fi Zilal al-Qur'an (In the shade of the Qur'an), a 30 volume commentary on the Qur'an that has contributed significantly to modern perspectives on subjects such as jihad, and ummah. Qutb is also known for his disapproval of the culture of the United States, seeing it as obsessed with materialism and violence; in this regard he wrote, "Civilization should favor humanity, not act against it".. According to writer William Cran, Qutb is also "the man whose ideas would shape Al Qaeda." Today, his supporters are often identified as Qutbists.

Life and public career

Qutb was raised in the Egyptian village of Musha and educated from a young age in the Qur'an. He moved to Cairo, where he received a Western education between 1929 and 1933, before starting his career as a teacher in the Ministry of Public Instruction. During his early career, Qutb devoted himself to literature as an author and critic, writing such novels as Ashwak (Thorns) and even elevating Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz from obscurity. In 1939, he became a functionary in Egypt's Ministry of Education (wizarat al-ma'arif ). From 1948 to 1950, he went to the United States on a scholarship to study the educational system, studying for several months at Colorado State College of Education (now the University of Northern Colorado) in Greeley, Colorado. Qutb's first major theoretical work of religious social criticism, Al-'adala al-Ijtima'iyya fi-l-Islam (Social Justice in Islam), was published in 1949, during his time overseas.

This turning point resulted from Qutb's visit to the United States for higher studies in educational administration. Over a two year period he worked in several different institutions including what was then Wilson Teachers' College in Washington, D.C. and Colorado State College for Education in Greeley, as well as Stanford University. He also travelled extensively visiting the major cities of the United States and spent time in Europe on the return journey to Egypt. His reaction to the Western experience was decidedly negative; he found Western society hopelessly materialistic, corrupt, morally loose, and ridden with injustice. He was especially distressed by what he percieved as the disrespect shown to Arabs in the United States and the overwhelming support of its people for the state of Israel, founded in 1948. One of the most popular of his books, Social Justice in Islam (1948), reflects his critical attitude to the West.

Return to Egypt

Qutb concluded that major aspects of American life were primitive and "shocking", a people who were "numb to faith in religion, faith in art, and faith in spiritual values altogether". His experience in the U.S. is believed to have formed in part the impetus for his rejection of Western values and his move towards radicalism upon returning to Egypt. Resigning from the civil service, he joined the Muslim Brotherhood in the early 1950s and became editor-in-chief of the Brothers' weekly Al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin, and later head of the propaganda section, as well as an appointed member of the Working Committee and of the Guidance Council, the highest branch in the Brotherhood.

In June 1952, Egypt's pro-Western government was overthrown by the nationalist Free Officers Movement headed by Gamal Abdel Nasser. Both Qutb and the Muslim Brotherhood welcomed the coup against the monarchist government — which they saw as un-Islamic and subservient to British imperialism — and enjoyed a close relationship with the movement prior to and immediately following the coup. Many members of the Brotherhood expected Nasser to establish an Islamic government. However, the cooperation between the Brotherhood and Free Officers which marked the revolution's success soon soured as it became clear the secular nationalist ideology of Nasserism was incompatible with the Islamism of the Brotherhood. Nasser's regime refused to ban alcohol, or to implement other aspects of Islamic law.

After the attempted assassination of Nasser in 1954, the Egyptian government used the incident to justify a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, imprisoning Qutb and many others for their vocal opposition to various government policies. During his first three years in prison conditions were bad and Qutb was tortured. In later years he was allowed more mobility, including the opportunity to write.

This period saw the composition of his two most important works: a commentary of the Qur'an Fi Zilal al-Qur'an (In the Shade of the Qur'an), and a manifesto of political Islam called Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq (Milestones). These works represent the final form of Qutb's thought, encompassing his radically anti-secular and anti-Western claims based on his interpretations of the Qur'an, Islamic history, and the social and political problems of Egypt. The school of thought he inspired has become known as Qutbism.

Qutb was let out of prison at the end of 1964 at the behest of the then Prime Minister of Iraq, Abdul Salam Arif, for only 8 months before being rearrested in August 1965. He was accused of plotting to overthrow the state and subjected to what some consider a show trial. Many of the charges placed against Qutb in court were taken directly from Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq and he adamantly supported his written statements. The trial culminated in a death sentence for Qutb and six other members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Qutb was sentenced to death as the leader of a group planning to assassinate the President and other Egyptian officials and personalities, though he was not the instigator or leader of the actual plot. On 29 August 1966, Sayyid Qutb was executed by hanging.

Evolution of thought

Different theories have been advanced as to why Qutb, turned from secular reformism in the 1930s to muslim in the 1950s and 1960s. One common explanation is that the conditions he witnessed in prison from 1954-1964, including the torture and murder of Muslim Brothers, convinced him that only a government bound by Islamic law could prevent such abuses. Another is that Qutb's experiences in America as a darker skinned person and the insufficiently anti-Western policies of Nasser demonstrated to him the powerful and dangerous allure of jahiliyyah — a threat unimaginable, in Qutb's estimation, to the secular mind. However there are indications his feelings about the West had developed before he ever set foot in America. On his boat trip to America in 1948 he wrote:

Should I travel to America, and become flimsy, and ordinary, ... Is there other than Islam that I should be steadfast to in its character and hold on to its instructions, in this life amidst deviant chaos, and the endless means of satisfying animalistic desires, pleasures, and awful sins?

Finally, Qutb offered his own explanation in Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq, arguing that anything non-Islamic was evil and corrupt, while following Sharia as a complete system extending into all aspects of life, would bring every kind of benefit to humanity, from personal and social peace, to the "treasures" of the universe.

In general, Qutb's experiences as an Egyptian Muslim — his village childhood, professional career, and activism in the Muslim Brotherhood — left an unmistakable mark on his theoretical and religious works. Even Qutb's early, secular writing shows evidence of his later themes. For example, Qutb's autobiography of his childhood Tifl min al-Qarya (A Child From the Village) makes little mention of Islam or political theory and is typically classified as a secular, literary work. However, it is replete with references to village mysticism, superstition, the Qur'an, and incidences of injustice. Qutb's later work developed along similar themes, dealing with Qur'anic exegesis, social justice, and political Islam.

Qutb's career as a writer also heavily influenced his philosophy. In al-Taswiir al-Fanni fil-Quran (Artistic Representation in the Qur'an), Qutb developed a literary appreciation of the Qur'an and a complementary methodology for interpreting the text. His hermaneutics were applied in his extensive commentary on the Qur'an, Fi zilal al-Qur'an (In the Shade of the Quran), which served as the foundation for the declarations of Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq.

Late in his life, Qutb synthesized his personal experiences and intellectual development in the famous Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq, a religious and political manifesto for what he believed was a true Islamic system. It was also in this text that Qutb condemned Muslim governments, such as Abdul Nasser's regime in Egypt, as secular with their legitimacy based on human (and thus corrupt), rather than divine authority. This work, more than any other, established Qutb as one of, if not the premier Islamists of the 20th century.

Political philosophy

Whether he espoused dictatorship, or later rule by Sharia law with essentially no government at all, defensive jihad or later offensive jihad, Sayyid Qutb's mature political views always centered on Islam — Islam as a complete system of morality, justice and governance, whose Sharia laws and principles should be the sole basis of governance and everything else in life. Sayyid Qutb's mature political views always centered on Islam — Islam as a complete system of morality, justice and governance, whose Sharia laws and principles should be the sole basis of governance and everything else in life. In an earlier work, Qutb described military jihad as defensive, Islam's campaign to protect itself. On the issue of Islamic governance, Qutb differed with many modernist and reformist Muslims who claimed democracy was Islamic because the Quranic institution of Shura supported elections and democracy. Qutb pointed out that the Shura chapter of the Qur'an was revealed during the Mekkan period, and therefore, it does not deal with the problem of government. It makes no reference to elections and calls only for the ruler to consult some of the ruled, as a particular case of the general rule of Shura. Qutb argued (at that time) that a 'just dictatorship' would be more Islamic than a tyrannous one. Qutb also opposed the then popular ideology of Arab nationalism, having become disillusioned with the 1952 Nasser Revolution and having been exposed to the regime's practices of arbitrary arrest, torture, and deadly violence during his imprisonment.

Jahiliyyah vs. freedom

This exposure to abuse of power undoubtedly contributed to the ideas in his famous prison-written Islamic manifesto Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq (Milestones), where he advocated a political system the opposite of dictatorship — i.e. one with no government. There Qutb argued:

• The Muslim world had ceased to be and reverted to pre-Islamic ignorance known as jahiliyyah, because of the lack of sharia law. Consequently all states of the Muslim world are not Islamic and thus illegitimate, including that of his native land Egypt.
• Rather than support rule by a pious Muslim(s), (either a dictator(s) or democratically elected), Muslims should resist any system where men are in "servitude to other men" — i.e. obey other men — as un-Islamic and a violation of God's sovereignty (Hakamiyya) over all of creation. A truly Islamic polity would have no rulers — not even have theocratic ones - since Muslims would need neither judges nor police to obey divine law. It was what one observer has called "a kind of anarcho-Islam."
• The way to bring about this freedom was for a revolutionary vanguard to fight jahiliyyah with a twofold approach: preaching, and abolishing the organizations and authorities of the Jahili system by "physical power and Jihad."
• The vanguard movement would grow with preaching and jihad until it formed a truly Islamic community, then spread throughout the Islamic homeland and finally throughout the entire world, attaining leadership of humanity. While those who had been "defeated by the attacks of the treacherous Orientalists!" might define jihad "narrowly" as defensive, Islamically-correct Jihad (according to Qutb) was in fact offensive.

Qutb emphasized this struggle would be anything but easy. True Islam would transform every aspect of society, eliminating everything non-Muslim. True Muslims could look forward to lives of "poverty, difficulty, frustration, torment and sacrifice." Jahili erzatz-Muslims, Jews and Westerners would all fight and conspire against Islam and the elimination of jahiliyyah.

Main article: Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq

Among these enemies Qutb was particularly enraged by Jews, whom he saw as a great menace to Islam despite their small numbers. Qutb repeatedly talked of "the wicked opposition of the Jews to Islam," their "conspiracies" and "scheming against Islam" over the centuries.[1] [2]

Criticisms

Greatly admired by many though Qutb was and is, he also has a variety of critics. Criticism of Qutb's ideas comes from several, sometimes opposite, directions.

• Following the publication of Milestones and the aborted plot against the Nasser government, mainstream Muslims took issue with Qutb's contention that "physical power" and jihad had to be used to overthrow governments, and attack societies, "institutions and traditions" of the Muslim — but according to Qutb jahili — world. The ulema of Al-Azhar University school took the unusual step following his death of putting Sayyid Qutb on their index of heresy, declaring him a "deviant" (munharif).
• Reformist Muslims, on the other hand, questioned his understanding of sharia, i.e. that it is not only perfect and complete, but completely accessible to mortals and thus the solution to any of their problems. Also criticized is his dismissal of not only all non-Muslim culture, but many centuries of Muslim learning, culture and beauty following the first four caliphs as un-Islamic and thus worthless.
• Conservative/puritan criticism went further, condemning Qutb's Islamist/reformist ideas — such as social justice and redistributive economics, banning of slavery, — as "western" and bid'ah or innovative (innovations to Islam being forbidden ipso facto). They have accused Qutb of amateur scholarship, overuse of ijtihad, innovation in Ijma (which Qutb felt should not be limited to scholars, but should be conducted by all Muslims), declaring unlawful what Allah has made lawful, assorted mistakes in aqeedah (belief) and manhaj (methodology), and of lack of respect for Islamic traditions, for prophets and for early Muslims. Supporters have also defended him from at least some of these and other charges.
• And finally, following the 9/11 attacks, Westerners looking for who and what may have inspired Al-Qaeda discovered Qutb and found many of his ideas not too Western, but too anti-Western. Complaints here include that contrary to what Qutb preaches, neither the Jews nor the West are conspiring against Islam; that the West is neither "evil and corrupt" nor a "rubbish heap;" that an offensive jihad to establish Islamic rule (or "the sovereignty of God and His Lordship") "throughout the world," would be aggression, not liberation; and finally that Qutb's call for the destruction of jahili Muslim governments may have roused terrorist jihadis to attack Western countries, thinking that Western support for these "jahili" governments stands in the way of their elimination.

Legacy

Alongside notable Islamists like Maulana Mawdudi, Hasan al-Banna, and Ruhollah Khomeini, Qutb is considered one of the most influential Muslim thinkers or activists of the modern era, not only for his ideas but for what many consider his heroic martyr's death.

His written works are still widely available and have been translated into many Western languages. Qutb's best known work is Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq (Milestones), but the majority of Qutb's theory can be found in his Qur'anic commentary Fi zilal al-Qur'an (In the Shade of the Quran). This 30-volume work is noteworthy for its innovative method of interpretation, borrowing heavily from the literary analysis of Amin al-Khuli, while retaining some structural features of classical commentaries (for example, the practice of progressing from the first sura to the last).

The influence of his work extends to issues such as Westernization, modernization, and political reform and the theory of inevitable ideological conflict between "Islam and the West" (see Clash of civilizations), the notion of a transnational umma, and the comprehensive application of jihad.

Qutb's theoretical work on Islamic advocacy, social justice and education, has left a significant mark on the Muslim Brotherhood (at least outside of Egypt).

Al Qaeda and Islamic Jihad

Qutb had influence on Islamic insurgent/terror groups in Egypt and elsewhere. His influence on Al Qaeda was felt through his writing, his followers and especially through his brother, Muhammad Qutb, who moved to Saudi Arabia following his release from prison in Egypt and became a professor of Islamic Studies and edited, published and promoted his brother Sayyid's work.

One of Muhammad Qutb's students and later an ardent follower was Ayman Zawahiri, who went on to become a member of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and later a mentor of Osama bin Laden and a leading member of al-Qaeda. Zawahiri was first introduced to Qutb by his uncle and maternal family patriarch, Mafouz Azzam, who was very close to Qutb throughout his life. Azzam was Qutb's student, then protégé, then personal lawyer and executor of his estate — one of the last people to see Qutb before his execution. According to Lawrence Wright, who interviewed Azzam, "young Ayman al-Zawahiri heard again and again from his beloved uncle Mahfouz about the purity of Qutb's character and the torment he had endured in prison." Zawahiri paid homage to Qutb in his work Knights under the Prophet's Banner.

Osama Bin Laden was also acquainted with Sayyid's brother, Muhammad Qutb. A close college friend of bin Laden's, Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, told Wright, that bin Laden regularly attended weekly public lectures by Muhammad Qutb, at King Abdulaziz University, and that he and bin Laden both "read Sayyid Qutb. He was the one who most affected our generation."

Works

Literary:

• Mahammat al-Sha'ir fi'l-Hayah wa Shi'r al-Jil al-Hadir (The Task of the Poet in Life and the Poetry of the Contemporary Generation), 1933
• al-Shati al-Majhul (The Unknown Beach), 1935
• Naqd Kitab: Mustaqbal al-Thaqafa fi Misr (Critique of a Book by Taha Husain: the Future of Culture in Egypt), 1939
• Al-Taswir al-Fanni fi'l-Qu'ran (Artistic Imagery in the Qur'an), 1945
• Al-Atyaf al-Arba'a (The Four Apparitions), 1945
• Tifl min al-Qarya (A Child from the Village), 1946
• Al-Madina al-Mashura (The Enchanted City), 1946
• Kutub wa Shakhsiyyat (Books and Personalities), 1946
• Askwak (Thorns), 1947
• Mashahid al-Qiyama fi'l-Qur'an (Aspects of Resurrection in the Qu'ran), 1946
• Al-Naqd al-Adabi: Usuluhu wa Manahijuhu (Literary Criticism: Its Foundation and Methods'), 1948

Theoretical:

• Al-Adala al-Ijtima'iyya fi'l-Islam (Social Justice in Islam), 1949
• Ma'arakat al-Islam wa'l-Ra's Maliyya (The Battle Between Islam and Capitalism), 1951
• Al-Salam al-'Alami wa'l-Islam (World Peace and Islam), 1951
• Fi Zilal al-Qur'an (In the Shade of the Qur'an), first installment 1954
• Dirasat Islamiyya (Islamic Studies), 1953
• Hadha'l-Din (This Religion if Islam), n.d. (after 1954)
• Al-Mustaqbal li-hadha'l-Din (The Future of This Religion), n.d. (after 1954)
• Khasais al-Tasawwar al-Islami wa Muqawamatuhu (The Characteristics and Values of Islamic Conduct), 1960
• Al-Islam wa Mushkilat al-Hadara (Islam and the Problems of Civilization), n.d. (after 1954)
• Ma'alim fi'l-Tariq (Signposts on the Road, or Milestones), 1964 [3] (Reviewed by Yvonne Ridley)
• Basic Principles of Islamic Worldview
• The Islamic Concept and Its Characteristics
• Islam and universal peace

See also

• Fi zilal al-Qur'an
• Theocracy
• Islam and antisemitism
• Taqiuddin al-Nabhani

References

Bibliography

• From Secularism to Jihad: Sayyid Qutb and the Foundations of Radical Islamism - Adnan A. Musallam
• The Political Thought of Sayyid Qutb: The Theory of Jahiliyyah (2006)- Sayed Khatab
• The Power of Sovereignty: The Political And Ideological Philosophy of Sayyid Qutb (2006)- Sayed Khatab
• Radical Islamic Fundamentalism: The Ideological and Political Discourse of Sayyid Qutb - Ahmad S. Moussalli
• Abou El Fadl, Khalid (2005). The Great Theft. Harper San Francisco.
• Berman, Paul (2003). Terror and Liberalism. W. W. Norton.
• Burke, Jason (2004). Al Qaeda: The True Story of Radical Islam. Penguin.
• Calvert, John (2000), "`The World is an Undutiful Boy!`: Sayyid Qutb's American Experience," Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, Vol. II, No.1, pp.87–103:98.
• Curtis, Adam (2005). The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear. BBC.
• Damir-Geilsdorf, Sabine (2003). Der islamische Wegbereiter Sayyid Qutb und seine Rezeption. Würzburg.
• Haddad, Yvonne Y. (1983). "Sayyid Qutb: ideologue of Islamic revival". In Esposito, J. (ed.). Voices of the Islamic Revolution.
• Kepel, Gilles (1985). The Prophet and Pharaoh: Muslim Extremism in Egypt. Translated by Jon Rothschild. Al Saqi. ISBN 0-86356-118-7.
• Kepel, Gilles (2004). The War for Muslim Minds: Islam and the West. Translated by Pascale Ghazaleh. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-01575-4.
• Kepel, Gilles (2002). Jihad: the trail of political Islam. Translated by Anthony F. Roberts. Al Saqi. ISBN 0-674-00877-4.
• Meddeb, Abelwahab (2003). The Malady of Islam. Basic Books. ISBN 0465044352. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |translators= ignored (help)
• Moussalli, Ahmad S. (1992). Radical Islamic Fundamentalism: the Ideological and Political Discourse of Sayyid Qutb. American University of Beirut.
• Qutb, Sayyid (2003). Milestones. Kazi Publications. ISBN 1-56744-494-6.
• Qutb, Sayyid (2003). J. Calvert & W. Shepard (ed.). A Child From the Village. Translated by Calvert, John; Shepard, William. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 0-8156-0805-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: translators list (link)
• Qutb, Sayyid (2000). Social justice in Islam. Translated by John B. Hardie; revised by Hamid Algar. Islamic Publications International. ISBN 1889999113. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |introduction= ignored (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: translators list (link)
• Shepard, William E. (1996). Sayyid Qutb and Islamic Activism. A Translation and Critical Analysis of "Social Justice in Islam". Leiden.
• Sivan, Emmanuel (1985). Radical Islam : Medieval Theology and Modern Politics. Yale University Press.
• Wright, Lawrence (2006). The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. Knopf. ISBN 9780375414862.

External links

• Martin Amis, The Age of Horrorism The Observer (September 10 2006)
• Paul Berman, The Philosopher of Islamic Terror New York Times Magazine (March 23, 2003).
• Robert Irwin, Is this the man who inspired Bin Laden? The Guardian (November 1, 2001).
• Daniel Brogan, Al Qaeda’s Greeley Roots 5280 Magazine (June 2003).
• Sayyid Qutb, Milestones.
  • Milestones (alternate translation)
• Sayyid Qutb, In the Shade of the Qur'an.
• Sayyid Qutb, This Religion of Islam.
• Hisham Sabrin, Qutb Between Terror and TragedyDisinformation.com (January 10, 2005)
• Elmer Swenson, Sayyid Qutb's Milestones.
• David Von Drehle, A Lesson In Hate Smithsonian Magazine
• Alexis Carrel and Sayyid Qutb
• Religion scholar Karen Armstrong discusses Sayyid Qutb from NPR´s Fresh Air from WHYY (October 17, 2001).
• Sayyid Qutb's America from NPR's All Things Considered (May 6, 2003).
• Religion Reformers In Islam
• Sayyid Qutb's French connection
• Remembering Sayyid Qutb, an Islamic intellectual and leader of rare insight and integrity
• Major scholars on Sayyid Qutb
• Biography and Activities of Sayyid Qutb