THE LIFE, THEOLOGY, AND LEGACY OF SAYYID QUTB
by
John Harrigan
ICS 6012 – Islamic Theology
Dr. Warren Larson
October 17, 2015
Though born inconspicuously to a middle class family in the village of Musha, Upper Egypt, the life of Sayyid Qutb life turned out to be anything but discreet. Qutb would go on to shake the political foundations of Egypt, and his writings would ultimately change the world at large. His life has become a modern day example for many Muslims of the transformation that must take place within Islam as a whole. As Islamic scholar Yvonne Haddad summarizes, “Qutb’s work has had extensive dissemination throughout the Muslim world, and his ideas have become the accepted definition of Islam and its role in shaping the social, political, economic, intellectual, cultural, and ethical aspects of society.”
In many ways Sayyid Qutb was the true architect of the modern Islamic revival. With sound reasoning, devout piety, and zealous ambition, he charted the way for millions of Muslims struggling to find their Islamic identity in the modern world. This study will examine the life of Sayyid Qutb, his major influences, the main points of his theology, and his enduring legacy.
The Life of Sayyid Qutb
Sayyid Qutb was born in 1906 into relative obscurity in the village of Musha near Asyut in Upper Egypt. His father, al-Hajj Qutb Bin Ibrahim, was well regarded in the village for his piety and learning. Sayyid was born the eldest of five children, who would all go on to be involved in the struggle for Islam. His brother, Muhammad (d. 2014), would become a prolific writer, furthering his older brother’s cause from the safety of Saudi Arabia, and his sisters would go on to prominence in the Muslim Brotherhood, , a radical Islamic society devoted to reviving pure Islamic faith, countering Western education and colonialism, and reestablishing an Islamic caliphate.
Sayyid was naturally gifted in religious studies, becoming a hafidh (memorizer) of the Qur’an by the age of ten. Three years later his family moved to Helwan, a southern suburb of Cairo, where he entered preparatory school at Dar al-Ulum (a British styled school) at the age of 23. After graduating, he taught for a time at Dar al-Ulum before entering the service of the Egyptian Ministry of Education.
During this time, he became extremely interested in Western literature and read anything thing he could get his hands on that was translated. He also began to write, publishing various books and articles on poetry, literary criticism, biographical sketches, and marriage (most of which he would later repudiate). While working with the Ministry of Education, Sayyid was somewhat critical of schools that focused only on religious studies. He believed education needed to include all subjects relevant to the modern world.
In the late 1940s, however, Qutb’s fascination with the West began to wane as he watched Britain and the United States push for the creation of the state of Israel. Though critical of ultra-conservative Muslims, he shared their disdain for the Jews. As he saw the Western nations unite on the side of Israel, he began to grow a conspiracy concerning their view of the Arabs, which he understood as “a rejection of the rights of the Arabs to self-determination and a rejection of their equality to Western man.”
In 1948, he went to the United States on a scholarship to study its educational system. On the ship leaving Alexandria, however, he experienced a “conversion” that resulted in “a deep faith and commitment to the God of Islam.” After arriving in New York City, he witnessed firsthand the immorality and frivolity rampant in the United States. More impressive still was the enthusiasm he witnessed concerning the establishment of the state of Israel and the assassination of Hasan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood. After studying at Wilson’s Teachers’ College in Washington D. C., Qutb traveled to Greeley, Colorado and attended Colorado State College of Education. There he experienced America’s racism. Blacks and other minorities were the only people around which he felt comfortable.
Though impressed by American science, technology, industry, efficiency, and work ethic, he was highly critical of America’s spiritual and ethical “primitiveness.” They are primitive in athletics, race relations, war, the sanctity of death, religion, sexuality, art, film, music, clothing, food, and haircuts(!). Qutb concluded:
America has a principal role in this world, in the realm of practical matters and scientific research, and in the field of organization, improvement, production, and management. All that requires mind power and muscle are where American genius shines, and all that requires spirit and emotion are where American naiveté and primitiveness become apparent. . . .
All this does not mean that Americans are a nation devoid of virtue, or else, what would have enabled them to live? Rather, it means that America’s virtues are the virtues of production and organization, and not those of human and social morals. America’s are the virtues of the brain and the hand, and not those of taste and sensibility.
Even more striking is Qutb’s criticism of American churches, which he viewed as lifeless, immoral, and lost in entertainment and worldly success:
Churches in America, he said, operate like businesses, competing for clients and for publicity, and using the same methods as stores and theatres to attract customers and audiences. For the minister of a church, as for the manager of a business or a theatre, success is what matters, and success is measured by size – bigness, numbers. To attract clientele, churches advertise shamelessly and offer what Americans most seek – “a good time” or “fun”.
Qutb returned to Egypt in 1950 a dedicated Muslim, convinced that Islam was the superior religion intellectually, spiritually, and emotionally. He had also become so critical of American society and education that he felt forced to resign from the Egyptian Ministry of Education in 1951. Qutb was immediately recruited by the Muslim Brotherhood, and within a year he was elected to its leadership council. He was given numerous responsibilities, including editor-in-chief of the Brothers’ weekly Al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin. In stark contrast to his time in America, he felt at home in the Brotherhood, part of a solidarity of like-minded believers.
In 1952, the Muslim Brotherhood helped Gamal Abdel Nasser lead a coup to overthrow the Egyptian monarchy, which they viewed as a puppet of British imperialism. Nasser would visit Qutb regularly, seeking advice and guidance concerning the revolution, but it soon became clear that Nasser would not establish the Islamic state that the Brotherhood sought. After Qutb and the Brotherhood attempted to assassinate Naser in 1954, Qutb was imprisoned along with thousands of other Brethren. He was sentenced to 25 years of hard labor and endured seasons of torture during the first three years of imprisonment (which only further crystallized his convictions).
Because of his poor health, Qutb was moved to the prison’s infirmary, where he was allowed to write. His major work was an eight volume commentary on the Qur’an entitled Fi Thilal al-Qur’an, translated into English as In the Shade of the Qur’an. In 1962, he began writing his most influential book (more or less a summary of his Qur’anic commentary), entitled Ma’alim fil Tariq, or in English, “Signposts/Milestones on the Road.” Within six months of its publication, it was reprinted five times before being banned by the Egyptian government.
Though released from prison in 1964 at the behest of the visiting President of Iraq, Qutb was again imprisoned in 1965 after an assassination plot was uncovered. He was sentenced to death and hanged on 29 August 1966, inheriting the title ash-Shaheed (the Martyr) among his followers.
The Theology of Sayyid Qutb
Though the theology of Sayyid Qutb was both simple and elegant, his ideas were not new. They were simply recapitulations of a long tradition of reformism within Islam. From its earliest stages, the Islamic movement sought to repristinate the Muslim community, as it was under Muhammad. The earliest example of this is seen in the Kharijite movement during the reign of the fourth caliph, Ali (r. 656–61). When Ali made a treaty with another claimant to the caliphate, Mu‘awiya, some of his followers protested and withdrew from what they perceived to be hypocrisy and apostasy. “The Kharijites considered themselves to be the only true Muslims, while the other Muslims were in reality hypocrites, even worse than Jews and Christians. As the prophet ‘withdrew’ out of Mecca, so they also withdrew from the ‘house of war’ to the ‘house of peace’.”
This idealistic, black and white approach continued to find resurgence throughout Islam’s tumultuous history. Moreover, their judgmental attitude toward fellow Muslims and their militant understanding of jihad (struggle) also became a pattern for reformist movements to follow. After the Mongolian invasion, for example, Hanbali scholar Ibn Taymiyyah (1263–1328) declared that the Mongolian converts were really false believers who were just trying to placate their Muslim subjects (much like Christians often view the conversion of Constantine). Furthermore, the developments of Islamic theology (kalam), philosophy (falsafa), and mysticism (Sufism) were all alien innovations (bid‘ah) and intrusions into Islam, which should return to its original faith found only in the Qur’an and Sunna (the life and teachings of Muhammad). Those who do not actually live by the Qur’an and Sunna, as expressed through the divine law (shariah), are actually apostates (kafir) who should be excommunicated (takfir). Those who are true Muslims are under the Qur’anic imperative to fight (jihad) in God’s way, which is necessarily in opposition to the apostates/infidels. In this way, true Muslims must always return to seventh century Arabia because Muhammad’s revelation and the pattern of his life are eternally normative for the Muslim community.
Another advocate of Islamic reform and the excommunication of apostate Muslims was Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab (1703–92), who also heavily influenced Qutb’s ideology. Al-Wahhab sought to purify the Islamic faith by returning to the original Islamic sources and imitating the original Muslims (salaf, from which his followers derive the name “Salafism”). Al-Wahhab was a Saudi preacher who set the standard of “Islamic revivalism” for generations to follow. Though Qutb would later criticize the Wahhabis for not going far enough in their implementation of shariah and their war against pagan ignorance (jahiliyyah), he stood in the same line of Islamic reformism.
By the turn of the twentieth century, the stage was set for the Islamic world to go through a major transition. Western imperialism (particularly British) was at its height, and the Ottoman Empire was teetering on the verge of collapse. Islamic influence and power seemed to be at an all-time low, and modernism and Western education had begun to infiltrate Islamic institutions. In such a climate a new generation of Islamic reformers came forth, most notably Abul A’la Maududi (1903–79) and Hassan al-Banna (1906–49).
Maududi was an Indian-Pakistani scholar who believed that “the two principle Western ideologies, capitalism and socialism, were moral and social failures and could be successfully supplanted by Islam.” He founded Jamaat-i-Islami, an organization committed to the establishment of an “Islamic state,” which would be the principle means by which the “pagan ignorance” (jahiliyyah) of the West would be overcome. Similarly, al-Banna, an Egyptian social activist, sought to overthrow the corrupt Egyptian monarchy, which he viewed as an agent of the West. Al-Banna believed the West holistically eroded the Islamic way of life: “The purpose of westernization was to make Egypt a subject of European society, militarily, economically, politically and, most important of all, culturally.”
To fight this influence, he created the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928. Islamic scholar John Esposito summarizes the practical relationship between these reformist movements:
Saudi Arabia [under Wahhabi leadership] has also used its oil wealth to fund Islamic conferences, subsidize the publication and massive distribution of Islamic materials, encourage and assist Muslim countries in the Islamization of their governments and societies, and support Muslim organizations such as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Syria and Pakistan’s Jamaat-i-Islami.
These reformist influences greatly shaped the theology and ideology of Sayyid Qutb. After he returned to Egypt from the United States, he became increasingly radicalized, taking up the cause of al-Banna and Maududi, seeking a return to the original and pure form of Islamic life. Integrating their ideas, Qutb provided a clear and succinct vision for the restoration of the Islamic faith. So Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon conclude:
It was Sayyid Qutb who fused together the core elements of modern Islamism: the Kharijites’ takfir, ibn Taymiyya’s fatwas and policy prescriptions, Rashid Rida’s salafism, Maududi’s concept of the contemporary jahiliyya and Hassan al-Banna’s political activism. . . . Qutb concluded that the unity of God and his sovereignty meant that human rule—government that legislates its own behavior—is illegitimate. Muslims must answer to God alone. Human government, even one that paid lip service to Islam, was apostate; the very presumption that there could be human rule over Muslims implied a denial of God’s authority over mankind and was therefore heretical. Such a government was the legitimate target of jihad. Only by destroying jahili—non-Islamic and therefore barbarous—rule could a truly Islamic society appear, one consistent with the beliefs and practices of the earliest, purist stage of the religion’s development.
There are a number of themes that reoccur throughout the Qutb’s writings. Islamic scholar Yvonne Haddad outlines seven aspects of his Islamic worldview:
On each of these points, the West is understood to be the true source of corruption and evil on the earth. Within the West, it is particularly Greek philosophy, Christianity, and Dawinism that are the satanic philosophical trinity, so to speak, which defiles the minds and hearts of the peoples of the whole earth.
Qutb also understands the world to be broken into three basic blocs of people: East (communist), West (capitalist), and Muslim. The greater evil, however, is the secular West. Marxism and communism are simply a week response to capitalism, and both of them are understood as pagan ignorance (jahiliyya): “Ignorance is not limited to any particular age, but is a condition which reappears whenever people deviate from the way of Islam, whether in the past, present or future.”
This ignorance is responsible for all of the ailments we see in the world, and the cure for these ailments is the implementation of God’s law (shariah). Humanity’s laws are fundamentally anthropocentric and cannot fix the problems we face. Only God’s laws can fix our brokenness, both individually and corporately. Eastern and Western philosophies have only compounded the problems of humanity. Only by living in righteousness under God’s laws can we attain the utopia we so deeply desire. “In short, all man-made individual or collective theories have proved to be failures and unsustainable. At this crucial and bewildering juncture, the turn of Islam and the Muslim community has arrived.”
According to Qutb, most of the Islamic world, unfortunately, has been led astray by both the East and the West, resulting in moral degeneration and political servitude. The Islamic world is also lost in jahiliyyah, which means they are apostate (kafir). Thus, the Muslim must first seek a revival of Islamic purity before it can be a light to the rest of the world:
If Islam is again to play the role of the leader of mankind, then it is necessary that the Muslim community be restored to its original form. It is necessary, to revive that Muslim community which is buried under the debris of the manmade traditions of several generations, and which it crushed under the weight of those false laws and customs which are not even remotely related to the Islamic teachings, and which, in spite of all this, calls itself the ‘world of Islam.’”
In this regard there is one grand struggle going on in the world (both inside and outside the house of Islam): the struggle between true Islam and jahiliyyah. This ideological conflict is all-encompassing and has no solution, apart from Islamic victory through jihad. Qutb thus wrote Milestones as a roadmap, guiding the Muslim faithful in their quest to see a true Islamic revival, unto ridding the earth of jahiliyyah, unto global Islamic leadership, unto the realization of a utopian world.
The stages that the Muslim community must pass through to attain this goal are analogous to the stages of Muhammad’s own life (since he is the archetypal believer). Muhammad received and lived out the pure Islamic faith in Mecca, but he was generally persecuted and rejected. Therefore God called him to withdraw, or emigrate (hijra), to Medina so as to consolidate the true Muslim community (jamaah). “Thus the formation of the jamaah in Medina as a community governed by God’s law in all aspects of life was an essential stage that must be realized before the transformation of the rest of the jahili society can proceed. This for Qutb became the Islamic method as revealed by God.”
After Muhammad established the pure Muslim community in Medina based upon divine law (shariah), God then called him to fight (jihad) the unbelievers. This jihad was dramatically confirmed by the conquering of Mecca in 630. In this way, Qutb understood Muhammad’s life to be the divine pattern, which is normative for Muslims throughout the ages. The stages of Muhammad’s life provide the method for the modern day Islamic revival, the overcoming of worldly jahiliyyah, and the installation of global Islamic leadership. These are the “Milestones on the Road.”
The Legacy of Sayyid Qutb
Though Sayyid Qutb only ministered in the Muslim Brotherhood for 15 years (1951–66), his impact and legacy continue on to present day. His works have been translated into many languages, and his commentary on the Qur’an is arguably the most widely read in the Islamic world. And concerning his book Milestones, Jabbour states: “for some people in Egypt today it could be equated with the Red Book of Mao Tse Tong to the Chinese.” His life is also legendary among many radical Islamic groups, earning him the honorific title ash-Shaheed (the Martyr). Indeed, he is “the martyr of the Islamic revival.”
His work with the Brotherhood in Egypt sparked many other radicalized movements, including Takfir wal-Hijra (Society of Muslims), Jama‘at al-Jihad (Society of Struggle)—which was responsible for the assassination of President Sadat in 1981—and presumably Hamas. The spokesman for Jama‘at al-Jihad was Ayman al-Zawahiri (the present leader of al-Qaeda), who had, as Lawrence Wright describes, “an abiding mission in his life: to put Qutb’s vision into action.” Harkening back to Qutb, many student movements of the 1970s and 1980s (including the widely known Jama‘at al-Islamiyya) also chanted the slogans “Allahu akbar” and “neither East nor West but Islam.” Benjamin and Simon thus summarize the impact of the life and writings of Sayyid Qutb:
Today, Qutb’s works are staples of bookshops throughout the Middle East, and his manifesto, Signposts, is one of the most influential works in Arabic of the last half century. Years later it would even become an important text for Shiite revolutionaries in Iran, and passages were translated into Farsi by Ali Khamenei, now the Supreme Leader of the country. Qutb’s martyrdom has been an inspiration to successive generations of disciples—for whom there is even a special word in Arabic, Qutbiyyun, which can be rendered in English as Qutbites. He is the source.
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