Sayyid Qutb (pronounced [ˈsaɪjɪd ˈqʊtˁb]) (also Saïd, Syed, Seyyid, Sayid, or Sayed; last name also Koteb (rather common), Qutub, Kotb, or Kutb) (Arabic: سيد قطب; October 9, 1906[1] – August 29, 1966) was an Egyptian author, Islamist, 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 what he believed to be the social and political role of Islam, particularly in his books Social Justice and Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq (Milestones). His extensive Quranic commentary Fi Zilal al-Qur'an (In the shade of the Qur'an) has contributed significantly to modern perceptions of Islamic concepts such as jihad, jahiliyyah, and ummah. Islamists consider him to be a martyr (shahid) because of his execution by Nasser's government.
Qutb is also known for his intense disapproval of the United States,[2] and has been described as "the man whose ideas would shape Al Qaeda." [3][4][5][6] Today, his supporters are often identified as Qutbists.[7]
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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.
Though Islam gave him much peace and contentment,[8] he suffered from respiratory and other health problems throughout his life and was known for "his introvertedness, isolation, depression and concern." In appearance, he was "pale with sleepy eyes."[9] Qutb never married, in part because of his steadfast religious convictions. While the urban Egyptian society he lived in was becoming more Westernized, Qutb believed the Quran taught women that `Men are the managers of women's affairs ...' [10] Qutb lamented to his readers that he was never able to find a woman of sufficient "moral purity and discretion" and had to reconcile himself to bachelorhood.[11]
Qutb was extremely critical of many things in the United States: its materialism, individual freedom, economic system, racism, brutal boxing matches, poor haircuts,[12] triviality, restrictions on divorce, enthusiasm for sports, "animal-like" mixing of the sexes (which went on even in churches),[13] and lack of support for the Palestinian struggle.[14] In an article published in Egypt after his travels, he noted with disapproval the sexuality of Americans:
the American girl is well acquainted with her body's seductive capacity. She knows it lies in the face, and in expressive eyes, and thirsty lips. She knows seductiveness lies in the round breasts, the full buttocks, and in the shapely thighs, sleek legs — and she shows all this and does not hide it. [15]
And their taste in music:
Jazz is his preferred music, and it is created by Negroes to satisfy their love of noise and to whet their sexual desires...[16]
Qutb's impression of America and Americans was drawn from his short stay in Washington DC, and a much longer one while doing graduate work at the Colorado State College of Education (now the University of Northern Colorado) in the small city of Greeley, CO. In 1950, Greeley's "wide steets were dotted with churches, and there wasn't a bar in the whole temperate town." Despite this Qutb percieved its inhabitants (and by extension all Americans) as "brutish" people who committed such sins as salting watermelon and drinking unsweetened tea.[17]
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[18] 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.[19]
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.[20]
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.[21] 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.[22] On 29 August 1966, Sayyid Qutb was executed by hanging.
Different theories have been advanced as to why Qutb, turned from secular reformism in the 1930s to radical Islamism in the 1950s and 1960s (the latter clearly evidenced in Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq[23]). 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 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. There are indications of feelings of antagonism towards the West by Qutb, however, 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? [24]
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.[25]
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 radical 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 radical Islamists of the 20th century.
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. In an earlier work,[26] Qutb described military jihad as defensive, Islam's campaign to protect itself.[27] 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.[28] 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,[29] and argued a 'just dictatorship' would be more Islamic.[30] 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.
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. There Qutb argued:
The vanguard movement would grow until it formed a truly Islamic community, then spread throughout the Islamic homeland and finally throughout the entire world. Islamically-correct Jihaad now being interpreted by Qutb as offensive, no longer "narrowly" defensive as those "defeated by the attacks of the treacherous Orientalists!" believe. [36]
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.
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]
Although earlier Muslims (Ibn Taymiyya, Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi and Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab) had used jahiliyyah to refer to contemporary Muslim societies, no one before Qutb had applied it so widely, nor had such popular response. While Islam had seen many religious revivals urging a return to religious fundamentals throughout its history, Qutb was the first thinker who paired them to a radical, sociopolitical ideology.[37]
Criticism of Qutb's ideas comes from several, sometimes opposite, directions.
Orthodox Salafi/Wahhabi scholars criticized the special (and unconventional) treatment of Tawheed ul-Hakimiyyah as Hakimiyyah is a part of Uloohiyah. Also, the terminology was never used by the Ijma of the Ahl us-Sunnah[49]. The claim that there exists a fourth category of tawheed under the title 'Tawheed al-Haakimiyyah' is considered an innovation (bid'ah) and the claimer an innovator (mubtadi')[50]. It is prescribed that the establishment of Tawheed al-Uloohiyah should begin by forbidding Shirk since all of the Prophets began with the command to worship Allah alone, that is, treating Uloohiyah in general and not starting off specifically with Hakimiyyah. Those who focus their attention upon this innovated terminology in the present age use it as a political weapon and not to teach the Muslims Tawheed[51].The criticism is not in the innovated nature of the fourth categorisation but it is in the perceived harm arising from singling Tawheed al-Haakimiyyah out and using it as a political tool.
Sayyid Qutb has also been criticised for his exaggerations. One frequently used example of his exaggeration is the declaration that a Muslim woman becomes a non-muslim if she wears western designer clothes. His reasoning follows as such: the designer, in prescribing a certain fashion, creates a way of life opposed to the one prescribed by Allah. The woman in choosing the designer's fashion rejects Allah's way and starts worshipping the designer and is, therefore, a Mushrik. The traditional, Salafi scolars on the other hand, consider these words (reasoning) baatil (false) because when a woman wears forbidden clothes which have come from the direction of those designers, this does not at the same time mean she has believed that they are lawful (halaal) for her to wear. For, the issue of takfir is in relation to the belief (Itiqaad) that the thing that Allah has made unlawful is actually lawful[52][53].
Shaikh Abdullaah ad-Dawaish criticised 'az-Zilaal' (Qutb's interpretation of the Qur'an) and recorded over 180, of what he considered, mistakes in the matters of 'aqeedah and manhaj[54].
His declaration of all societies to be disbelievers without exception is frequently criticised. His takfeer of the whole Ummah he was criticised even by some of the prominent figureheads of Ikhwaan, indicating that at his time, his ideas were not really widely accepted.
Shaikh Mahmood Muhammad Shaakir and others criticised him in his lifetime and refuted him regarding his reviling and "slander" of Uthman and the other Companions such as az-Zubair, Sa'd, Abdur-Rahmaan bin 'Awf and also some of the tabi'een. Regarding Uthman, these statements are often cited as an example of his "slander":
"Indeed, it was a truly a trial that Alee was not the third of the Rightly Guided Caliphs" [55]
"And we tend to the opinion that the khilaafah of Alee was the natural extension of the khilaafah of the two shaikhs [i.e. Abu Bakr and Umar] and that the era of Uthmaan was merely a gap in between"[56]
"And it is unfortunate that the khilaafah came to Uthmaan when he was an old man; his determination had weakened and did not reach the goals intended by Islaam; and his resolve was too weak to steadfastly face the plots of Marwaan and plots of Umayyah beyond that." (p.186 5th edn.)[57]
"The Companions saw this deviation from the spirit of Islaam, and would call one another to al-Madeenah to save Islaam and to save Islaam from the trial; and the khalifah - in his old age, and his state brought about by advanced age - did not possess control of his affair to the expense of Marwaan. It is difficult to accuse the spirit of Islaam in the person of Islaam, but it is likewise difficult to pardon him for the error of the unfortunate occurrence of his taking the khilaafah whilst he was a weakened old man, who was surrounded by evil courtiers from Banu Umayyah..." [58]
He was also criticized for his position on the Sifat (Attributes) of Allah[59], his denial of the magic that was practiced upon Muhammad, his denial that Jesus was raised to the heaven, his claim that the point of dispute between the Messenger and the Pagans was with respect to Tawheed ur-Ruboobiyyah only and that Tawheed ul-Uloohiyyah is but Tawheed ur-Ruboobiyyah[60], his claim that the Sifaat (Attributes of Allaah) are but mere imaginations (takhyeel), his belief that the Qur'an was created (rather than uncreated), his belief in the divine indwelling (hulool), his belief in Jabr (mankind having no free will - being compelled to act), his refusal to pray Salaatul-Jumu'ah with the justification that there is no khilaafah at the present time
Alee Ashmaawee says in his book: "The Secret History of Ikhwaan ul-Muslimeen" (at-Taareekh as-Sirree li-Jamaa'atil-Ikhwaan il-Muslimeen): "And the time for the Jumu'ah prayer arrived so I said to him: 'Let us leave and pray' and it was a surprise that I came to know - and for the first time - that he did not used to pray Jumu'ah" [61]
belief in "Hurriyatul-I'tiqaad" (freedom of belief)
"For Islam does not desire the freedom of worship for its followers only, rather it affirms this right for all the different religions and it tasks the Muslims to fight and defend this right for all people and it [even] allows them to fight under this flag, the flag which guarantees the freedom of worship for the adherents of all other religions...so that it is realised that it is a free world order...[62]
"And Islaam does not feel uneasy about the differences of mankind in aqeedah and manhaj, rather it considers this as something necessitated by natural disposition and a goal from a higher will in life amongst the people..."[63]
and in the Wahdatul Wujood (because of which Alalbani called him an 'ignorant writer'). His belief in Wahdatul Wujood is exemplified in his statement:
"Verily it is a single existence, and there is no other reality save that of His, and there is no true and real existence save His - and every other existing thing then its existence is an extension of His existence ... and when this perception becomes firmly established, the one which sees nothing in existence except the reality of Allaah..."[64]
He has also been criticized for speaking low of Moses as such:
Let us take Moosaa - he is the example of the fiery, excitable leader [quotes Qasas 28:15] and here his zealous , excitable spirit appeared, just as his emotions in favour of his nation were shown; but this emotional impulse quickly passed away - and he regained his composure - and this is what happens with the excitable folk. [Quotes Qasas 28:15-17, 18] - and this change shows a well-known manifestation, that of one who is afraid, distressed and expecting evil in every moment - and this is also the sign of the excitable (folk). Then along with this and along with the fact that he promissed that he would not aid the wrongdoers - then let us see what he did [quotes Qasas 28:18]. He desired to attack the other man just as he did the day before, and his zeal and emotion led him to forget his having sought forgiveness, his regret, his fear and his anxious watchfulness... So let us leave him here, to meet him again, at a second period in his life, ten years later. So perhaps he had calmed down and became a man who was of calm nature and gentle-natured. No indeed! So here he was, being called from the right hand side of the mountain: that he should throw down his staff, so he threw it down and it became a snake - moving quickly, he hardly saw it before he jumped and ran, not looking back and not turning aside... he was the same highly strung youth... ...[65]
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.[66][67]
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).
Qutb had influence on Islamic insurgent/terror groups in Egypt [68] 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.[69][70]
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 [71] and later a mentor of Osama bin Laden and a leading member of al-Qaeda.[72] 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."[73] Zawahiri paid homage to Qutb in his work Knights under the Prophet's Banner.[74]
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."[75]
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Qutb, Sayyid |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | سيد قطب (Arabic) |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Egyptian theorist and Islamist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 9 1906 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Musha, Egypt |
| DATE OF DEATH | 29 August 1966 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |