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Overview
Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966) was an Egyptian writer and Muslim Brotherhood thinker who moved from literary criticism to a radical reading of Islam as a total system of belief, law and society. His commentary on the Quran, In the Shade of the Quran, and his book Milestones argue that societies not governed by God's sovereignty live in a state of ignorance. He was executed by the Egyptian government in 1966. His work is hugely influential and strongly contested.
Context
Qutb lived through British influence in Egypt, the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, the 1952 revolution and the authoritarian rule of Gamal Abdel Nasser. A period in the United States in 1948-50 left him critical of Western materialism. Imprisonment and torture under Nasser hardened his views. He should be read as a political-religious thinker responding to colonialism, repression and moral crisis.
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Curator's notes
- Why it matters
- Islam as a complete political system
- What to read
- Read to understand, critically; hugely influential
- Thinker
- Sayyid Qutb; Abul A'la Maududi
- Tradition (date)
- Political Islam (1940s – 60s)
- Key idea
- Islam as a complete political system
- Read
- Read to understand, critically; hugely influential
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