Qutbism

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Template:Short description

Sayyid Qutb, after whom Qutbism is named

Template:Conservatism sidebar Template:Islamism sidebar QutbismTemplate:Efn is an exonym that refers to the Sunni Islamist beliefs and ideology of Sayyid Qutb,<ref name="Polk 2018">Template:Cite book</ref> a leading Islamist revolutionary of the Muslim Brotherhood who was executed by the Egyptian government of Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1966.<ref>Qutbism Template:Webarchive Earthlysojourner.com</ref> Influenced by the doctrines of earlier Islamists like Hasan al-Banna and Maududi, Qutbism advocates Islamic extremist violence in order to establish an Islamic government, in addition to promoting offensive Jihad.<ref name="Eikmeier 2007"/> Qutbism has been characterized as an Islamofascist and Islamic terrorist ideology.<ref name="Eikmeier 2007">Template:Cite journalTemplate:Dead link</ref>

Sayyid Qutb's treatises deeply influenced numerous jihadist ideologues and organizations across the Muslim world.<ref name="Polk 2018"/><ref name="Moussalli 2012">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Cook 2015">Template:Cite book</ref> Qutbism has gained prominence due to its influence on notable Jihadist figures of contemporary era such as Abdullah Azzam, Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and Saif al-Adel.<ref name="Moussalli 2012" /><ref name="Cook 2015" /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Gallagher 2021">Template:Cite book</ref> Its ideas have also been adopted by the Salafi-jihadist terrorist organization Islamic State (ISIL).<ref name="Baele 2019">Template:Cite journal</ref> It was one inspiration that influenced Ruhollah Khomeini in the development of his own ideology, Khomeinism.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Qutbist literature has been a major source of influence on numerous jihadist movements and organizations that have emerged since the 1970s.<ref name="Polk 2018"/><ref name="Moussalli 2012"/><ref name="Cook 2015"/> These include the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, al-Jama'ah al-Islamiyya, al-Takfir wal-Hijra, the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria (GIA), the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), al-Qaeda, al-Nusra Front, and the Islamic State (ISIL), and others that have sought to implement their strategy of waging offensive Jihad.<ref name="Polk 2018"/><ref name="Moussalli 2012"/><ref name="Cook 2015"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Terminology

While adherents of Qutbism are referred to as Qutbists or Qutbiyyun (singular: Qutbi), they rarely refer to themselves with these names (i.e. the word is not an endonym); the name was first and still is used by the sect's opponents (i.e. it is an exonym).<ref>Pioneers of Islamic revival by ʻAlī Rāhnamā, p. 175</ref>

Tenets

The main tenet of the Qutbist ideology is that modern Muslims abandoned true Islam centuries ago, having instead reverted to jahiliyyah.<ref name="Moussalli 2012"/><ref name="Cook 2015"/><ref name="Baele 2019"/><ref>Qutb, Sayyid, Milestones, The Mother Mosque Foundation, 1981, p. 9</ref> Adherents believe that Islam must be re-established by Qutb's followers.<ref>Muslim extremism in Egypt: the prophet and pharaoh by Gilles Kepel, p. 46</ref>

Qutb outlined his religious and political ideas in his book Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq ("Milestones").<ref name="Moussalli 2012"/><ref name="Cook 2015"/><ref name="Baele 2019"/> Important principles of Qutbism include:Template:Citation needed

  • Adherence to Sharia as sacred law accessible to humans, without which Islam cannot exist
  • Adherence to Sharia as a complete way of life that will bring not only justice, but peace, personal serenity, scientific discovery, complete freedom from servitude, and other benefits;
  • Avoidance of Western and non-Islamic "evil and corruption," including socialism, nationalism and consumerist capitalism.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Vigilance against Western and Jewish conspiracies against Islam;
  • A two-pronged attack of
    • preaching to convert and,
    • jihad to forcibly eliminate the "structures" of Jahiliyya;<ref>Muslim extremism in Egypt: the prophet and pharaoh by Gilles Kepel, pp. 55–6</ref>
  • Offensive Jihad to eliminate Jahiliyya not only from the Islamic homeland but from the face of the Earth, seeing it as mutually exclusive with true Islam.<ref name="SOAGE-2009-192">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Takfirism

Qutb declared Islam "extinct," which implied that any Muslims who do not follow his teachings are not actually Muslim. This was intended to shock Muslims into religious rearmament. When taken literally, takfir refers to ex-communication, thereby declaring all non-Qutbist Muslims to be apostates in violation of Sharia law. Violating this law could potentially be punished by death, according to Islamic law.<ref name=eikmeier-89>Template:Cite book</ref>

Because of these serious consequences, Muslims have traditionally been reluctant to practice takfir, that is, to pronounce professed Muslims as unbelievers, even when in violation of Islamic law.<ref>Kepel, Jihad, p. 31</ref> This prospect of fitna, or internal strife, between Qutbists and "takfir-ed" mainstream Muslims, led Qutb to conclude that the Egyptian government was irredeemably evil. As a result, he helped to plan a thwarted series of assassinations of Egyptian officials, the discovery of which let to Qutb's trial and eventual execution.<ref>Sivan, Radical Islam, (1985), p. 93</ref> Due in part to this teaching, Qutb's ideology remains controversial among Muslims.<ref name="hizmetbooks.org">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref>

It is unclear whether Qutb's proclamation of jahiliyyah was meant to apply the global Muslim community or to only Muslim governments.<ref>Kepel, Jihad, 2002, p. 31</ref>

In the 1980s and 1990s, a series of terrorist attacks in Egypt were committed by Islamic extremists believed to be influenced by Qutb.<ref>Sayyid Qutb and the Origins of Radical Islamism by John Calvert, p. 285</ref> Victims included Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, head of the counter-terrorism police Major General Raouf Khayrat, parliamentary speaker Rifaat el-Mahgoub, dozens of European tourists and Egyptian bystanders, and over one hundred Egyptian police officers.<ref>Passion for Islam: Shaping the Modern Middle East: The Egyptian Experience by Caryle Murphy, p. 91</ref> Qutb's takfir against the Egyptian government, which he believed to be irredeemably evil, was a primary motivation for the attacks.<ref>Kepel, The Prophet and Pharaoh, pp. 65, 74–5, Understanding Jihad by David Cook, University of California Press, 2005, p. 139</ref> Other factors included frustration with Egypt's economic stagnation and rage over President Sadat's policy of reconciliation with Israel.<ref>Kepel, Jihad, 2002, p. 31,
Ruthven, Malise, Islam in the World, Penguin Books, 1984, pp. 314–15</ref>

History

Spread of Qutb's ideas

Qutb's message was spread through his writings, his followers and especially through his brother, Muhammad Qutb. Muhammad was implicated in the assassination plots that led to Qutb's execution, but he was spared the death penalty. After his release from prison, Muhammad moved to Saudi Arabia along with fellow members of the Muslim Brotherhood. There, he became a professor of Islamic Studies and edited, published and promoted his brother Sayyid's works.<ref>Kepel, War for Muslim Minds, (2004) pp. 174–75</ref><ref>Kepel, Jihad, (2002), p. 51</ref>

Ayman al-Zawahiri

One of Qutb's key proponents was one of his students, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, who went on to become a member of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad<ref>Sageman, Marc, Understanding Terror Networks, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004, p. 63</ref> and later a mentor of Osama bin Laden and a leading member of al-Qaeda.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He had been first introduced to Sayyad Qutb by his uncle, Mafouz Azzam, who was a close friend to Qutb and taught his nephew that he was an honorable man.<ref>Wright, Looming Tower, 2006, p. 36</ref> Zawahiri paid homage to Qutb in his work Knights under the Prophet's Banner.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Qutbism was propagated by Abdullah Azzam during the Afghan-Soviet War. As the Muslim jihad volunteers from around the world exchanged religious ideas, Qutbism merged with Salafism and Wahhabism, culminating in the formation of Salafi jihadism.<ref name="Ha">Hassan, Hassan. (June 13, 2016). The Sectarianism of the Islamic State: Ideological Roots and Political Context. Carnegie Endowment for Peace. Retrieved 3 December 2017.</ref> Abdullah Azzam was a mentor of bin Laden as well.

Osama bin Laden reportedly regularly attended weekly public lectures by Muhammad Qutb at King Abdulaziz University, and to have read and been deeply influenced by Sayyid Qutb.<ref>Wright, Looming Tower, 2006, p. 79</ref>

The Yemeni Al-Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki also cited Qutb's writings as formative to his ideology.<ref name="NYT: path to terror">Template:Cite news</ref>

Many Islamic extremists consider him a father of the movement.<ref name="(Eikmeier 2007: 89)">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=Gerges-2005>Fawaz A. Gerges, The Far Enemy: Why Jihad Went Global, (Bronxville, N.Y.: Sarah Lawrence College) 2005, prologue, http://www.cambridge.org/us/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521791403</ref> Ayman al-Zawahiri, former leader of Al-Qaeda, asserted that Qutb's execution lit "the jihadist fire",<ref name="(Eikmeier 2007: 89)"/> and reshaped the direction of the Islamist movement by convincing them that the takfir against Muslim governments made them important targets.<ref name=Gerges-2005/>

Backlash

Following Qutb's death, his ideas spread throughout Egypt and other parts of the Arab and Muslim world, prompting a backlash by more traditionalist and conservative Muslims, such as the book Du'ah, la Qudah ("Preachers, not Judges") (1969). The book, written by Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Hassan al-Hudaybi, attacked the idea of Takfir of other Muslims, though it was ostensibly intended as a criticism of Mawdudi.<ref>Sayyid Qutb and the Origins of Radical Islamism by John Calvert, p. 274</ref>

Views

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Science and learning

On the importance of science and learning, Qutb was ambivalent.

He wrote that Muslims should learn science and develop their capabilities to fulfill their role as representatives of God.<ref>Qutb, Milestones p. 112</ref> He encouraged Muslims to seek knowledge in abstract sciences and arts, whether from Muslim or non-Muslim teachers, so that Muslim communities will have their own experts.<ref>(Qutb, Milestones p. 109)</ref>

However, Qutb believed that Muslims were not allowed to study some subjects, including:

the principles of economics and political affairs and the interpretation of historical processes... the origin of the universe, the origin of the life of man... philosophy, comparative religion... sociology (excluding statistics and observations)... Darwinist biology ([which] goes beyond the scope of its observations, without any rhyme or reason and only exists for the sake of expressing an opinion...).<ref>(Qutb, Milestones pp. 108–10)</ref>

He also believed that the era of scientific discovery in the West was over, and that further scientific discovery must be reached in accordance with Sharia law.<ref>[Qutb, Milestones p. 8]</ref><ref name="Qutb, Milestones p. 90">[Qutb, Milestones p. 90]</ref>

On philosophy and kalam

Template:See also Qutb also strongly opposed Falsafa and Ilm al-Kalam, which he denounced as deviations which undermined the original Islamic creed because they were based on Aristotelian logic. He denounced these disciplines as alien to Islamic traditions and called for their abandonment in favor of a literalist interpretation of Islamic scriptures.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Sharia and governance

Qutbism advocates the belief that in a sharia-based society, wonders of justice, prosperity, peace and harmony—both individually and societally—are "not postponed for the next life [i.e. heaven] but are operative even in this world".<ref>[Qutb, Milestones p. 91]</ref>

Qutb believed harmony and perfection brought by Sharia law is such that the use of offensive jihad to spread sharia-Islam throughout the non-Muslim world is not aggression but rather means of introducing "true freedom" to the masses. Because Sharia law is judged by God rather than man, in this view, enforcing Sharia frees people from servitude to each other.<ref name="Qutb, Milestones p. 90"/>

In other works Qutb describes the ruler of the Islamic state, as a man (never a woman) who "derives his legitimacy from his being elected by the community and from his submission to God. He has no privileges over other Muslims, and is only obeyed as long as he himself adheres to the shari‘a".<ref>Qutb, Al-‘adala al-ijtima‘iyya fi’l-Islam, pp.102–6; Ma‘rikat al-Islam wa’l-ra’smaliyya, p.74; quote by A.B. SOAGE and cited in Template:Cite journal</ref>

Conspiracy theories

Qutbism emphasizes what it sees as the evil designs of Westerners and Jews against Islam, and it also emphasizes the importance of Muslims not trusting or imitating them.

Non-Muslims

Qutbisms's teachings on non-Muslims gained attention after the September 11 attacks. Qutb's writings on non-Muslims, particularly Western non-Muslims, are extremely negative. They teach that Christians and Jews are hostile to his movement "simply for being Muslims" and believing in God.<ref name="ABS111">Reference to the Qur’anic verse: ‘And the Jews will not be pleased with thee, nor will the Christians, till thou follow their creed’ (2:120); cited in Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="ABS112">Reference to the Qur’anic verse: ‘And the Jews will not be pleased with thee, nor will the Christians, till thou follow their creed’ (2:120). cited in Template:Cite journal</ref> He refers to "people of the book," who are typically viewed more favorably than other non-Muslims in Islam, as "depraved" for having "falsified" their religious texts.<ref name="ABS113">Qutb, Fi zilal al-Qur’an, p.924. Muslim Islamic scholars "explain the contradictions between the Qur’an and the Bible by saying that the Jews and the Christians deliberately distorted God’s message to hide references to the advent of prophet Muhammad"; cited in Template:Cite journal</ref>

Qutb believed Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya's teachings that the realm outside of Muslim lands was Dar al-Harb ("the Abode of War"), and had to be subjugated by Muslims. Subjugation would actually be "liberation" however,<ref name="[103]">Qutb, Ma‘alim fi’l-tariq, pp.78–9, 88–9, 110–1; Fi zilal al-Qur’an, pp.1435–6; cited in Template:Cite journal</ref> because it "would free men from all authority except that of God."<ref name="ABS102">Qutb, Fi zilal al-Qur’an, pp.294–5; Ma‘alim fi’l-tariq, p.83; Template:Cite journal</ref> However, this view also necessitates that non-Muslims not be allowed to make law or choose representatives, lest they disobey Islamic law.<ref name="[114]">Qutb, Ma‘alim fi’l-tariq, pp.87, 101–2.; cited in Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="[115]">Qutb, Fi zilal al-Qur’an, p.295; cited in Template:Cite journal</ref>

The West

In Qutb's view, Western imperialism is not only an economic or racial exploitation means of oppression, but rather an attempt to undermine the faith of Muslims.<ref name="Qutb, Milestones, Chapter 12">Qutb, Milestones, Chapter 12</ref> He believed that historians lied to confuse Muslims and weaken their faith by teaching, for example, that the Crusades were an attempt by Christians to reconquer the formerly Christian-ruled holy land.<ref name="milestones-159">Qutb, Milestones, pp. 159–60</ref> He believed that the ultimate goal of these efforts was to destroy Muslim society.<ref>Qutb, Milestones, p. 116</ref>

Qutb spent two years in the U.S. in the late 1940s and he disliked it immensely.<ref name="Hagler">Template:Cite journal</ref> Qutb wrote that he experienced "Western malevolence" during his time there, including an attempt by an American agent to seduce him, and the alleged celebration of American hospital employees upon hearing of the assassination of Egyptian Ikhwan Supreme Guide Hassan al-Banna.<ref>Wright, The Looming Tower, 2006</ref>

Qutb's critics, particularly in the West, have cast doubts upon these stories. Having not been a member of any government or political organization at the time of his visit, it is unlikely that American intelligence agents would have sought him out. Additionally, many Americans did not know who Hassan al-Banna or the Muslim Brotherhood were in 1948, making the celebration of hospital employees unlikely.<ref>Soufan Ali, The Black Banners, October 2008</ref>

Western corruption

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Qutbism emphasizes a claimed Islamic moral superiority over the West, according to Islamist values. One example of the West's perceived moral decay was the "animal-like" mixing of the sexes, as well as jazz, which he found lurid and distasteful for its association with Black Americans.<ref name="Nawaz-2016-xxi">Template:Cite book</ref> Qutb states that while he was in America a young woman told him that ethics and sex are separate issues, pointing out that animals do not have any problems mixing freely.

Critics such as Maajid Nawaz protest by arguing that Qutb's complaint about both American racism and the "primitive inclinations" of the "Negro" are contradictory and hypocritical.<ref name="Nawaz-2016-xxi"/> The place Qutb spent most of his time in was the small city of Greeley, Colorado, dominated by cattle feedlots and an "unpretentious university", originally founded as "a sober, godly, cooperative community".<ref name="A Lesson in Hate">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Jews

Template:See The other anti-Islamic conspiratorial group, according to Qutb, is "World Jewry," because that it is engaging in tricks to eliminate "faith and religion", and trying to divert "the wealth of mankind" into "Jewish financial institutions" by charging interest on loans.<ref>The age of sacred terror, Daniel Benjamin, Steven Simon, p. 68</ref> Jewish designs are so pernicious, according to Qutb's logic, that "anyone who leads this [Islamic] community away from its religion and its Quran can only be [a] Jewish agent."<ref>quote from David Zeidan, "The Islamic Fundamentalist View of Life as Perennial Battle," Middle East Review of International Affairs, v. 5, n. 4 (December 2001), criticism from The Age of Sacred Terror by Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon, Random House, 2002, p. 68</ref>

Criticism

By Muslims

While Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq [Arabic: معالم في الطريق] (Milestones) was Qutb's manifesto, other elements of Qutbism are found in his works Al-'adala al-Ijtima'iyya fi-l-Islam [Arabic: العدالة الاجتماعية في الاسلام] (Social Justice in Islam), and his Quranic commentary Fi Zilal al-Qur'an [Arabic: في ظلال القرآن] (In the shade of the Qur'an). Ideas in (or alleged to be in) those works also have been criticized by some traditionalist/conservative Muslims. They include:

  • Qutb's assertion that slavery was now illegal under Islam, as its lawfulness was only temporary, existing only "until the world devised a new code of practice, other than enslavement."<ref group="Note">An example of the conflict between government-approved orthodox Islamic clerics in agreement with Qutb that slavery "is now illegal under Islam", and traditionalists who disagree, was a report of a televised "ceremony" of contemporary "melk al-yameen" [slavery] marriage in July 2012, where "a Muslim cleric, who gave his name as 'Abdul Raouf Aun'", married a woman who "voluntarily gave ownership of herself to" Aun, who also conducted the "marriage." Aun explained that "this form of marriage [does] not requiring witnesses or official confirmation". The marriage was condemned by the al-Azhar Islamic Research Centre as an example of "apostasy and a return to jahiliyyah", and by Egypt's Grand Mufti, Dr. Ali Gomaa as religiously impermissible and akin to "adultery."<ref name="Asharq Al-Awsat Slavery marriage">Template:Cite web</ref></ref> Many contemporary Islamic scholars, however, do share the view that slavery is not allowed in Islam in modern times. On the other hand, according to Salafi critics such as Saleh Al-Fawzan, "Islam has affirmed slavery ... And it will continue so long as Jihaad in the path of Allah exists."<ref>see also: Shaikh Salih al-Fawzaan "affirmation of slavery" p. 24 of "Taming a Neo-Qutubite Fanatic Part 1 Template:Webarchive" when accessed on February 17, 2007</ref>
  • Proposals to redistribute income and property to the needy. Opponents claim they are revisionist and innovations of Islam.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • Describing Moses as having an "excitable nature" – this allegedly being "mockery," and "mockery of the Prophets is apostasy in its own,'" according to Shaikh ‘Abdul-Aziz ibn Baz.Template:Citation needed
  • Dismissing fiqh or the schools of Islamic law known as madhhab as separate from "Islamic principles and Islamic understanding."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • Describing Islamic societies as being sunk in a state of Jahiliyyah (pagan ignorance) implying takfir. Salafi scholars like (Albani, Rabee bin Hadi, Ibn Baz, Ibn Jibreen, Ibn Uthaymeen, Saalih al-Fawzan, Muqbil ibn Hadi, etc.) would condemn Qutb as a heretic for takfiri views as well as for what they considered to be theological deviancies and these ideologies were widely refuted by Al Allāmah Rabee Ibn Hadi Al Madkhali in his books and audio tapes. They also identified his methodology as a distinct "Qutbi' manhaj", thus resulting in the labelling of Salafi-Jihadis as "Qutbists" by many of their quietist Salafist opponents.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Qutb may now be facing criticism representing his idea's success or Qutbism's logical conclusion as much as his idea's failure to persuade some critics. Writing before the Islamic revival was in full bloom, Qutb sought Islamically correct alternatives to European ideas like Marxism and socialism and proposed Islamic means to achieve the ends of social justice and equality, redistribution of private property and political revolution. But according to Olivier Roy, contemporary "neofundamentalists refuse to express their views in modern terms borrowed from the West. They consider indulging in politics, even for a good cause, will by definition lead to bid'a and shirk (the giving of priority to worldly considerations over religious values.)"<ref>Roy, Globalized Islam, (2004), p. 247</ref>

There are, however, some commentators who display an ambivalence towards him, and Roy notes that "his books are found everywhere and mentioned on most neo-fundamentalist websites, and arguing his "mystical approach", "radical contempt and hatred for the West", and "pessimistic views on the modern world" have resonated with these Muslims.<ref>Roy, Globalized Islam, (2004), p. 250</ref>

Criticism by Americans

James Hess, an analyst at the American Military University (AMU), labelled Qutbism as "Islamic-based terrorism".<ref name="Hess-2018-HST3">Template:Cite web</ref> In his essay criticizing the doctrines of Qutbist ideology, US Army colonel Dale C. Eikmeier described Qutbism as "a fusion of puritanical and intolerant Islamic orientations that include elements from both the Sunni and Shia sects".<ref name="carlisle.army.mil3">William McCants of the US Military Academy's Combating Terrorism Center, quoted in Qutbism: An Ideology of Islamic-Fascism by Dale C. Eikmeier. From Parameters, Spring 2007, pp. 85–98.</ref>

Relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood

The controversy over Qutbism is partially caused by two opposing factions which exist within the Islamic revival: the politically quiet Salafi Muslims, and the politically active Muslim groups which are associated with the Muslim Brotherhood.<ref>Kepel, Gilles, The War for Muslim Minds, 2004, pp. 253–266</ref>

Although Sayyid Qutb was never the head of the Muslim Brotherhood,<ref>Hasan al-Hudaybi was its Supreme Guide during this period,</ref> he was the Brotherhood's "leading intellectual,"<ref>Ruthvan, Malise, Islam in the World, Penguin, 1984</ref> the editor of its weekly periodical, and a member of the highest branch in the Brotherhood, the Working Committee and the Guidance Council.<ref>Moussalli, Radical Islamic Fundamentalism, 1992, pp. 31–2</ref>

Hassan al-Hudaybi, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, argued against takfir and adopted a tolerant attitude. In response, some Qutbists concluded that the Muslim Brotherhood had abandoned their ideology.<ref name=Leiken>Leiken, Robert (2011). Europe's Angry Muslims: The Revolt of The Second Generation, p. 89</ref> Ayman al-Zawahiri, a prominent Qutbist, also attacked the Muslim Brotherhood.<ref name=Leiken/>

After the publication of Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq (Milestones), opinion in the Brotherhood split over his ideas, though many in Egypt (including extremists outside the Brotherhood) and most of the Muslim Brotherhood's members in other countries are said to have shared his analysis "to one degree or another."<ref>Hamid Algar from his introduction to Social Justice in Islam by Sayyid Qutb, translated by John Hardie, translation revised and introduction by Hamid Algar, Islamic Publications International, 2000, p.1, 9, 11</ref> However, the leadership of the Brotherhood, headed by Hassan al-Hudaybi, remained moderate and interested in political negotiation and activism. By the 1970s, the Brotherhood had renounced violence as a means of achieving its goals.<ref>Kepel, Gilles, Jihad: the Trail of Political Islam, p. 83</ref> In recent years, his ideas have been embraced by Islamic extremist groups,<ref>William McCants, a Bahai consultant, quoted in Qutbism: An Ideology of Islamic-Fascism Template:Webarchive by Dale C. Eikmeier From Parameters, Spring 2007, pp. 85–98.</ref> while the Muslim Brotherhood has tended to serve as the official voice of Moderate Islamism.

Influence on Jihadist movements

In 2005, the British author and religion academic Karen Armstrong declared, regarding the ideological framework of al-Qaeda, that al-Qaeda and nearly every other Islamic fundamentalist movement was influenced by Qutb. She proposed the term "Qutbian terrorism" to describe violence by his followers.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

According to The Guardian journalist Robert Manne, "there exists a more or less general consensus that the ideology of the Islamic State was founded upon the principles which were set forth by Qutb", particularly based on some sections of his treatises Milestones and In the Shade of the Qur'an.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

However, the self-declared Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, headed by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has been described by various analysts as being more violent than al-Qaeda and closely aligned with Wahhabism,<ref name="Armstrong 2014">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> alongside Salafism and Salafi jihadism.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In 2014, regarding the ideology of IS, Karen Armstrong remarked that "IS is certainly an Islamic movement [...] because its roots are in Wahhabism, a form of Islam practised in Saudi Arabia that developed only in the 18th century".<ref name="Armstrong 2014" />

Nabil Na'eem, a former associate of Ayman al-Zawahiri and an ex-Islamic Jihad leader, argued that Qutb's writings were the main factor that led to the rise of Al-Qaeda, Islamic State and various Jihadist groups.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

See also

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References

Notes

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Citations

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Bibliography

Further reading

  • Berman, Paul. Terror and Liberalism. W. W. Norton & Company, April 2003.
Berman devotes several chapters of this work to discussing Qutb as the foundation of a unique strain of Islamist thought.

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