Lebanese American University, Beirut, Lebanon

Sayyid Qutb
Islamic Fundamentalist

by

André Kahlmeyer 

1st of June 2003

Introduction

This paper deals with one of the most important Islamic thinkers of the 20th century, Sayyid Qutb of Egypt. Taking into consideration his importance and impact on the Islamic world, the amount of research done on him seems to be very modest and is difficult to get hold during these times/ at the moment of writing.

In this paper first, the life of Sayyid Qutb is presented and related to the historical events in Egypt and the Middle East in general. After a short summary of some of Qutb’s most important writings, an overview of his political ideas, his views of the world and Islam is given. Afterwards his most important single concept of jahiliyyah and hakimiyyah is presented, followed by a summary of Qutb’s call for activism and his theological discourse. Finally, I tried to assess the importance and the impact of Sayyid Qutb’s live and writings. 

Vita of Sayyid Qutb

Sayyid Qutb Ibrahim Husayn Shadhili was born in 1906 in the village Musha in the district of Asyut, Egypt. He was the eldest of five children. His father was an educated man, and his mother is said to have been deeply religious. The family had been well-off at one time but the wealth had diminished at the time when Qutb was born.¹ Qutb’s relationship to his father is described as formal, but that to his mother and siblings was closer and more affectionate.² Qutb was brought up in a religious way and memorized the whole Qur’an at the age of 10. In 1921 Qutb left for Cairo³ and lived in Zaytun, a middle-class suburb of Cairo, with his uncle for four years.⁴ In 1929 Qutb joined the Dar al-‘Ulum’s Teachers’ College, where he received his B.A. in Arts of Education in 1933.⁵ Because he distinguished himself from other students, he was appointed as an instructor at the same institution immediately after his graduation. From 1933 till 1939 he was also employed by the Egyptian Minister of Education as a teacher. 1939 he wanted to resign from his government post as an inspector in the Education Ministry, because of differences between Qutb and the government, but Dr. Taha Husayn wanted him to stay.⁶

At that time Qutb was also active in “the modernist trend in Egyptian letters”⁷. This “literary modernism displayed an appetite for innovation and individual expression that contrasted sharply with the traditional thematic types (aghrad) and impersonal subject matter favored by the neo-classicist writers”⁸ Qutb himself preferred “the ‘new’ (al-jadid) over the ‘old’ (al-qadim) in Arabic literature”.⁹ He was active in the inter-war phase of Egyptian secular nationalism as a social commentator and literary figure.¹⁰ For Egyptian liberal thinkers at that time, including Qutb, “the West was the model to be followed and imitated, and its political and social values were accepted.”¹¹

In 1947, Qutb unsuccessfully tried to quit his government post again. In 1948 Qutb was sent to the United States of America, officially to study the educational system there. Qutb studied at different universities in the United States and also traveled in the country. He received an M.A. degree in Education from Wilson’s Teachers’ College, Washington. He was also enrolled at the University of Northern Colorado and maybe at Stanford University. Qutb’s stay in the US is often mentioned as his intellectual and religious “turning point” in his career. Instead of becoming familiar with the American culture, he became even more opposed to it. Qutb, who began his career as a modernist literary critic, “was radicalized by a roughly yearlong stay in the United States”.¹² Shehadeh mentions that Qutb’s “disenchantment with the West started to creep in after the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, and reached its zenith when he traveled to the United States still believing it to be the land of liberty and social justice.”¹³ America’s growing support for the Zionist cause in Palestine was regarded by Qutb as “a manifestation of European imperialism.”¹⁴

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1 See Calvert, John, The individual and the nation: Sayyid Qutb’s Tifl min al-Qarya (Child from the Village), in: The Muslim World, Spring 2000, pp. 108-132.

2 See ibid.

3 It is worth mentioning that contradictive explanations are given for his departure for Cairo. Some say he left on his own, others say he moved together with his family. Some say he settled in Helwan immediately, others state that he settled there later.

4 See Calvert, The individual and the nation.

5 Another source says: Diploma in Arabic language and literature, see: Calvert, The individual and the nation.

6 See Moussalli, Radical Islamic Fundamentalism, 23-24.

7 Calvert, The individual and the nation.

8 Ibid.

9 Calvert, The individual and the nation.

10 See Calvert, John, ‘The world is an undutiful boy!’: Sayyid Qutb’s American experience”, in: Islam & Christian Muslim Relations, Mar 2000, p. 87- .

11 Moussalli, Radical Islamic Fundamentalism, 23.

12 Worth, Robert, The Deep Intellectual Roots of Islamic Terror, in: The New York Times, Oct 13, 2001.

13 Shehadeh, Lamia Rustum, Women in the discourse of Sayyid Qutb, Arab Studies Quarterly, Summer 2000, pp. 45-55.

14 Calvert, ‘The world is an undutiful boy!’.