What Role Did Qutb Play In Shaping This Movement?
Sayyid Qutb is often cited, by both his admirers and his detractors, as the father of contemporary Islamist thought. In order to assess this claim, there are two questions which must be addressed: firstly, what is meant by the term “Islamist” in this context; secondly, what role did Qutb play in shaping this movement?
“Islamism” may be better referred to as Islamic puritanism, a term coined by Khaled Abou el Fadl in his book The Great Theft. Abou el Fadl defines puritans as those who have an “absolutist and uncompromising” approach to Islam: most puritan groups take a very narrow interpretation of the Qur’an, and view anything outside that interpretation as a corruption of Islam. Although puritans claim to reject innovation, this is a relatively …show more content…
When the organisation was created, he was studying at a teacher training college in Cairo. In 1948, he accepted a scholarship to study in the United States. He did not enjoy his time in America: he saw Americans as primitives, at one point comparing them unfavourably to birds in Egypt. It would be narratively satisfying to say that Qutb’s time in America served to radicalise him, but he had been religiously devout from a young age: he had memorised the Qur’an as a ten-year-old boy, and before his departure for America he had been involved in the Wafd opposition party. Hisham Sabrin describes Qutb’s time in America as “a moment of choice and fine-tuning of his already Islamic identity.” He was particularly struck by the “ecstatic” American response to al-Banna’s assassination, and perhaps it was this that led him to join the Brotherhood soon after his return to Egypt in 1951. By 1953 had become the editor-in-chief of its official journal. This was the same year that the Free Officers Movement, led by Nasser, overthrew the Egyptian monarchy. Nasser upheld the ban on the Brotherhood, and Qutb was jailed in …show more content…
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“Islamism” may be better referred to as Islamic puritanism, a term coined by Khaled Abou el Fadl in his book The Great Theft. Abou el Fadl defines puritans as those who have an “absolutist and uncompromising” approach to Islam: most puritan groups take a very narrow interpretation of the Qur’an, and view anything outside that interpretation as a corruption of Islam. Although puritans claim to reject innovation, this is a relatively …show more content…
When the organisation was created, he was studying at a teacher training college in Cairo. In 1948, he accepted a scholarship to study in the United States. He did not enjoy his time in America: he saw Americans as primitives, at one point comparing them unfavourably to birds in Egypt. It would be narratively satisfying to say that Qutb’s time in America served to radicalise him, but he had been religiously devout from a young age: he had memorised the Qur’an as a ten-year-old boy, and before his departure for America he had been involved in the Wafd opposition party. Hisham Sabrin describes Qutb’s time in America as “a moment of choice and fine-tuning of his already Islamic identity.” He was particularly struck by the “ecstatic” American response to al-Banna’s assassination, and perhaps it was this that led him to join the Brotherhood soon after his return to Egypt in 1951. By 1953 had become the editor-in-chief of its official journal. This was the same year that the Free Officers Movement, led by Nasser, overthrew the Egyptian monarchy. Nasser upheld the ban on the Brotherhood, and Qutb was jailed in …show more content…
"The Muslim Brotherhood." AhramOnline. http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContentPrint/24/0/387/Elections/0/The-Muslim-Brotherhood.aspx (accessed August 22, 2013).
Göle, Nilüfer. "Ingénieurs islamistes et étudiantes voilées en Turquie." In Intellectuels et militants de L'Islam contemporain, edited by Gilles and Yann Richard Kepel. Paris: Le Seuil, 1988.
Irwin, Robert. Is this the man who inspired Bin Laden? http://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/nov/01/afghanistan.terrorism3 (accessed August 19, 2013).
Lia, Brynjar. The Society of the Muslim Brothers in Egypt: The Rise of an Islamic Mass Movement 1928-1942. Reading: Garnet, 1998.
Livesey, Bruce. "The Salafist Movement." PBS: Frontline. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/front/special/sala.html (accessed August 20, 2013).
Qutb, Sayyid. ""The America I Have Seen": In the Scale of Human Values." In America in an Arab Mirror: Images of America in Arabic Travel Literature, by Kamal Abdel-Malek, 9-29. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
—.Milestones (Ma'alim fi'l-tareeq): Special Edition. Edited by A.B. al-Mehri. Birmingham: Maktabah, 2006.
Roy, Olivier. The Failure of Political Islam. Translated by Carol Volk. London: I.B. Tauris Publishers,