Loading ...Sayyid Qutb: A Complicated Revolutionary
By: Luke McMahan / Arab America Contributing Writer
Perhaps no writer of the twentieth century has had a more significant impact on Islamic politics than Sayyid Qutb. From his young adult life as one of the leading literary critics in Cairo to his eventual radicalization, imprisonment, and execution by Nasser, Qutb’s writings left an indelible mark on the Middle East at the time and later political movements and groups. However, his status as the ‘Father of Modern Jihadism’ is complicated, leaving a legacy not quite accurate to his writings.
Life
Qutb was born in the Egyptian village of Mosha to a Sufi family in 1906. Living in a devout community, he showed an early interest in Islamic scholarship, memorizing the Quran at ten years old. After moving to Cairo to further his studies, he began working in the Education Ministry and wrote poetry and literary criticism. Eventually, he became part of the Effendi (high social standing of well-educated young men) as a well-renowned critic, and his influence helped initially propel Naguib Mahfouz, of whom he was a fan, to literary stardom in Egypt. As time passed, his religious ideas grew further radicalized, especially after a famous visit to America in 1948.
Returning to Egypt after the revolution, he worked to establish Nasser’s nascent government, but the partnership ended as the two men’s ideologies grew further apart (Nasser’s pan-Arabism and Qutb’s Islamism). Nasser also harbored a tenuous relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Qutb was a member, and when Nasser began openly opposing the group, Qutb broke ties with the Egyptian government. Qutb was imprisoned in 1954, released at the behest of King Faisal of Iraq, imprisoned once again, and finally executed in jail. In these final years, he wrote his two most significant books: In the Shade of the Quran (في ظلال القرآن) and Milestones (معالم على الطريق). The following will simply be an examination of his foremost contributions to 20th century Islamic political thought.
Writings
In the Shade of the Quran is an expansive 18-volume commentary on the religious text. Most other such commentaries are written by theologians, but Qutb’s early career in the Egyptian literary scene lends his praise and analysis a lyrical beauty. This remarkable artistic prowess, combined with his lifelong appreciation for the holy words, is contagious in generating a similar astonishment at the Quran within the reader. He builds upon this extremely dedicated commentary with the latter text, Milestones, which presents his diagnosis of modern society and plan to regain the Quranic-accurate purity of the first generations after the Prophet. This sequence is not only rationally sound but rhetorically so, for he creates within the reader a love and wonder for the Quran before telling the reader to observe these words to the highest degree in constructing a new Islamic community.
The most significant of the new concepts presented in these texts is the theory of Jahiliyya (الجاهلية), translated as “ignorance.” Traditionally, the term refers to the period in the Arabian Peninsula before the introduction of Islam. But Qutb extends it to any society or person not totally in line with the holy texts. Furthermore, Jahiliyya is an all-encompassing concept: there is no communism, capitalism, etc, only Islam and Jahiliyya. He famously controversially stated that there is no single true Islamic society on Earth; ignorance encompasses all, even self-proclaimed Muslims.
He envisions a Quran that necessitates the full integration of the Prophet’s teachings into life: individually, legally, politically, etc., which no modern-day group can claim to do. According to Qutb, the Quran is God’s answer to humanity’s limited understanding and senses. God gave man authority over the world and its creations and a book on how to do so. But without its help, humanity, with its innate constraints, cannot create a truly beneficial and free society.
Thus, the purest Muslim societies only had the Quran as a reference point, namely the first few generations after the Prophet. These early Muslims did not need to consult other sources, as the Quran was revealed to Muhammad piecemeal, enabling the gradual construction of an ideal society. The earlier Meccan verses tend to focus on questions of belief, while the later Medinan parts instruct the believers on more concrete legal and economic issues. In this way, Muhammad formed a solid pious group around him before proceeding to more technical matters. But, according to Qutb, ignorance infected and damaged these communities as time passed. And because Islam can only indeed exist as a societal ideology, individual Muslims living in Jahiliyya cease to be Muslims.
Milestones present the aforementioned concepts in their most defined form, as Qutb instructs contemporary Muslims on how to purify themselves and their surroundings, leaving markers on the road (the literal meaning of the title) to help them progress. First and foremost, Muslims must return to the teachings of the Quran and remove themselves from society to do so; then, they can begin struggling against ignorance. This pattern follows the aforementioned sequence of Quran verses: establish belief, then proceed to politics and society building. These both fall under the concept of Jihad, whose modern misinterpretations could fill another article unto itself. But very briefly, Jihad mostly refers to an inner struggle to connect with the pure tenets of Islam and, to a lesser degree, as striving to work against ignorance in the world.
But in comparison with many who limited Jihad to an internal and politically defensive matter, Qutb advocates for a more offensive political approach following purification. Qutb believes that, due to Islam’s divine foundations, it offers the freest society, as any other ideology would fall victim to humanity’s own limitations. He also states that any ignorant society, even if it is not directly opposed to Islam currently, will eventually attempt to destroy it.
Thus, whether Muslims act now or not, the confrontation with societal Jahiliyya, including Jahili Islamic societies, is inevitable. In Milestones, Qutb does not openly encourage violence in this regard, but he advocates for a more offensive struggle and is not naive enough to believe an opposition of this scale will not be violent. This approach, as well as his more radical definition of Jahiliyya, served as the greatest influence on so-called modern Jihadist groups.
While Qutb intended Milestones to serve as a guide for other Muslims, it offers little clarity past the first defined step (re-purification outside of ignorant society). He does not know what a globalized Islamic society would look like; he believed this struggle would take decades, maybe centuries, and seems to think it futile to guess what ultimate success might be. But on the other hand, this runs counter to the supposed goal of the text and leaves his ideology vulnerable to misinterpretation. Briefly, many of the Jihadist groups and Islamic political movements who cite Qutb as a significant influence do not adhere completely to his theories. For example, they do not share Qutb’s acceptance that the struggle may take centuries; they are content with displacing a few opposition leaders in a short period.
Qutb significantly did not associate Islam with a place or ethnic group, nor did he want Muslims of future generations to conquer other groups to establish a tyranny or theocracy, for that would replace one ignorant system with another. To him, fully realizing Islam creates a free society built upon divine teachings to fill in the blanks of humanity’s blindness and ignorance. One deposed ruler will not root out Jahiliyya, and neither will labeling an otherwise unfree society Islamic do so.
Calling Qutb the father of modern Jihadist groups is complicated. He certainly inspired many of these groups with his call for a more direct and offensive struggle against external ignorance. Still, his philosophy resulted in a more gradual, more comprehensive creation of an Islamic society, which no major group has fully adhered to.
Sources:
Click to access volume_1_surah_1-2.pdf
Click to access Milestones%20Special%20Edition.pdf
Shepard, William E. “Sayyid Qutb’s Doctrine of ‘Jāhiliyya.’” International Journal of Middle East Studies, vol. 35, no. 4, 2003, pp. 521–45. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3879862. Accessed 30 Apr. 2024.
Qutb, Sayyid
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