Sayyid Qutb

by

William Shepard

Introduction

Sayyid Qutb (1906–1966) (sometimes spelled Sayed and Qutub or Kotb) was one of the leading Islamist ideologues of the 20th century. For the first half of his adult life he was part of the secular literary movement in Egypt as a poet, literary critic, and social critic. He also worked in the Ministry of Education. In 1948 he adopted an Islamist position, reflected especially in his book Social Justice in Islam (see Sayyid Qutb’s Writings). Two years spent studying in the United States (1948–1950) confirmed and strengthened his view of America as technologically great but morally bankrupt. Some time after his return Qutb joined the Muslim Brothers, the leading Islamist movement in Egypt, and became one of its spokespeople. In 1954 he was imprisoned along with other members of the Muslim Brothers and remained in prison for ten years. Qutb was allowed to write, however, and his writings from prison became increasingly radical and even revolutionary, claiming that all so-called Muslim societies were anti-Islamic (jahili). It is generally held that the harsh treatment he and others suffered in prison was a major factor in this development. Qutb was released in 1964 but rearrested the following year and accused of conspiring against the government. He was convicted and executed in 1966, becoming a martyr in the eyes of many. Probably his most important and long-lasting work is his multivolume Qurʿan commentary, begun in 1952, In the Shade of the Qurʿan (see Sayyid Qutb’s Writings), parts of which reflect his radical views. His most influential radical work, published in 1964, was Milestones—sometimes translated as Signposts (see Sayyid Qutb’s Writings). His later works have been widely read and have helped inspire several violent radical groups in Egypt and elsewhere, including al-Qaeda, though whether al-Qaeda’s sort of violence was his intent is a matter of debate. Many of the details of Qutb’s life and writing, such as when he joined the Muslim Brothers, are uncertain and also subject to debate.

General Overviews

These items deal with the entirety of Qutb’s career or at least the whole of his Islamist period from 1948. Tripp 1994 is a good place to start, with Mousalli 1992 providing a more detailed treatment. Musallam 2005 covers the whole of Qutb’s life in a readable way and would be a suitable starting point. Khatab 2006a and Khatab 2006b are not for the beginner. Both Musallam and Khatab translate some of Qutb’s poetry. Of the works in Arabic, al-Khalidi 1981 and Hamuda 1987 are basic, whereas Yunus 1995 is more detailed and probing. Al-Namnam 1999 is shorter but also probing. Diyab 1987 has a good list of Qutb’s writings.

• Abu-Rabiʿ, Ibrahim M. Intellectual Origins of Islamic Resurgence in the Modern Arab World. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996.

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  Chapter 3 deals with the Muslim Brothers, and chapters 4 through 6 cover Qutb’s pre-Islamist, early Islamist, and later Islamist thinking.

• Diyab, Muhammad Hafiz. Sayyid Quṭb: Al-Khitāb wa al-Aydiyūlūjiyāh. Cairo, Egypt: Dar al-Thaqafa al-Jadida, 1987.

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  Diyab examines Qutb in the light of recent theorizing about discourse and ideology. This work (Sayyid Qutb: Discourse and ideology) has the most complete list of Qutb’s writings.

• al-Khalidi, Salah ʿAbd al-Fattah. Sayyid Quṭb, Al-Shahīd al-Ḥayy. Amman, Jordan: Maktabat al-Aqsa, 1981.

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  This highly sympathetic study of Qutb’s life and work is regularly referred to by later writers. The author has written a number of other books on specific aspects of Qutb’s writings, including America from Within as Seen by Sayyid Qutb (al-Khalidi 1986, see Sayyid Qutb’s Writings), studies of his books on the literary aspects of the Qurʿan and his Qurʿan commentary, and an expanded and corrected study of Qutb’s life and work, Sayyid Quṭb: Min al-Mīlād ila al-istishhād (Sayyid Qutb: From birth to martyrdom), 1991.

• Hamudah, ʿAdil. Sayyid Quṭb: Min al-Qarya ila al-Misnaqa; Tahqīq wathāʿiqī. Cairo, Egypt: Sina li-l-Nashr, 1987.

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  A journalist’s study (Sayyid Qutb: From the village to the gallows; A documentary study) of Qutb’s life and work.

• Khatab, Sayed. The Political Thought of Sayyid Qutb: The Theory of Jahiliyyah. London and New York: Routledge, 2006a.

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  This is a detailed study of Qutb’s concept of jahiliyya, his name for what he considers anti-Islamic society. It covers the whole of Qutb’s career and seeks to minimize, more than most would, the changes in Qutb’s thinking and his differences from other Muslims.

• Khatab, Sayed. The Power of Sovereignty: The Political and Ideological Philosophy of Sayyid Qutb. New York: Routledge, 2006b.

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  This is a detailed study of Qutb’s concept of sovereignty (hakimiyya). It covers the whole of Qutb’s career and seeks to minimize, more than most would, the changes in Qutb’s thinking and his differences from other Muslims.

• Mousalli, Ahmad S. Radical Islamic Fundamentalism: The Ideological and Political Discourse of Sayyid Qutb. Beirut, Lebanon: American University of Beirut, 1992.

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  Mousalli presents and critiques Qutb’s Islamist views from 1948 to 1966 but pays little attention to the changes in them during this period.

• Musallam, Adnan A. From Secularism to Jihad: Sayyid Qutb and the Foundations of Radical Islamism. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2005.

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  This thoughtful account of the whole of Qutb’s life, career, and writings is especially good on the earlier years. It also deals with Qutb’s influence on later radicals.

• al-Namnam, Hilmi. Sayyid Quṭb wa-Thawrat Yūlyū. Cairo, Egypt: Mirit li-l-nashr wa-l-maʿlumat, 1999.

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  This work covers the whole of Qutb’s life, focusing on his relation to the government. It questions many commonly accepted facts about Qutb.

• Tripp, Charles. “Sayyid Qutb: The Political Vision.” In Pioneers of Islamic Revival. Edited by Ali Rahmena, 154–183. London: Zed Books, 1994.

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  This chapter includes a comparison of Qutb’s earlier and later Islamism. It is a good introduction to Qutb. A new updated edition of this book was published in 2005.

• Yunus, Sharif. Sayyid Quṭb wa-al-Uṣūlīyya al-Islāmīyah. Cairo, Egypt: Dar Tibah, 1995.

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  This book (Sayyid Qutb and Islamic fundamentalism) is a detailed and penetrating study of Qutb’s whole career, with some attention to his psychology. Yunus sees romanticism and elitism as characteristic of Qutb in all stages of his career. This book seems to have received less attention than it deserves.