Sayyid qutb biography of rory

Analysis of Qutb's partial autobiography, published , exploring his views on the question of Egyptian national identity during the final years of the monarchy. Calvert, John. Study of this little-examined episode in Qutb's career. Choueiri, Youssef M. London, Nuanced discussion of Qutb's contribution to modern Islamic thought, and his association with other radical Islamists.

Islamic Fundamentalism. Revised ed. Washington, D. Kepel, Gilles. Berkeley, Calif. Amman, Jordan, Generally reliable biographical source in Arabic. Moussali, Ahmad S. Beirut, Lebanon, Theoretical interpretation of Qutb's political project as an ideology that seeks to link knowledge and action. Nettler, Ronald L. Qutb, John. Qutb, Sayyid. Beirut, Clear summary of Qutb's principal ideas in the radical phase of his career as an Islamist writer in translation.

Shepard, William E. Analysis of this pivotal concept in Qutb's later thought. Tripp, Charles. Overview of Qutb's career and thinking, discussing the evolution of his political vision and his influence. Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. January 8, Retrieved January 08, from Encyclopedia. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list.

Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia. Sayyid Qutb was an Egyptian writer, educator, and religious leader. His writings about Islam, and especially his call for a revolution to establish an Islamic state and society, greatly influenced the Islamic resurgence movements of the 20th century.

Sayyid Qutb recommended that a revlutionary vanguard should first establish an Islamic state and then, from above impose Islamization on Egyptian society that had deviated to Arab nationalistic ideologies. Sayyid Qutb was born on 8 October , in a village called "Musha" in the township of Qaha in the province of Assyout in Egypt. He entered the elementary and primary school of Musha in and finished his primary education in He dropped out of school for two years because of the revolution of His father was Haj Qutb, son of Ibrahi, and a well-known religious person in his village, and his mother was also a religious lady from a well-known family who cared about him and his two younger sisters, Hamida and Amina, and a younger brother, Muhammad.

After completing his primary education in Musha, Sayyid Qutb moved to Cairo for further education where he lived with his uncle, Ahmad Hussain Osman. This was in , when he was 14 years old. He lost his father while he was in Cairo, so he convinced his mother to move with him to Cairo, where she died in After the death of his mother, he expressed his loneliness in several articles Ummah, My Mother published in the book, "Atatiaf Alarbaa" The Four Lights , which his sisters, brother and he wrote.

His father, whose sixth great-grandfather was an Indian Muslim , [ 23 ] [ 24 ] was an Upper Egyptian landowner and the administrator of the family estate, but he was also well known for his political activism , holding weekly meetings to discuss the political events and Qur'anic recitation. He eventually memorized the whole Qur'an at A precocious child , during these years, he began collecting different types of books, including Sherlock Holmes stories, A Thousand and One Nights , and texts on astrology and magic that he would use to help local people with exorcisms ruqya.

He had a special disdain, however, for schools that specialized in religious studies only, and sought to demonstrate that local schools that held regular academic classes as well as classes in religion were more beneficial to their pupils than religious schools with lopsided curricula. At this time, Qutb developed his bent against the imams and their traditional approach to education.

This confrontation would persist throughout his life. Qutb moved to Cairo , where between and he received an education based on the British style of schooling before starting his career as a teacher in the Ministry of Public Instruction. During his early career, Qutb devoted himself to literature as an author and critic, writing such novels as Ashwak Thorns and even helped to elevate Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz from obscurity.

In the early s, he encountered the work of Nobel Prize -winner French eugenicist Alexis Carrel , who would have a seminal and lasting influence on his criticism of Western civilization , as "instead of liberating man, as the post- Enlightenment narrative claimed, he believed that Western modernity enmeshed people in spiritually numbing networks of control and discipline, and that rather than building caring communities, it cultivated attitudes of selfish individualism.

Qutb regarded Carrel as a rare sort of Western thinker, one who understood that his civilization "depreciated humanity" by honouring the "machine" over the "spirit and soul" al-nafs wa al-ruh. He saw Carrel's critique, coming as it did from within the enemy camp, as providing his discourse with an added measure of legitimacy. From to , he went to the United States on a scholarship to study its educational system, spending several months at Colorado State College of Education now the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colorado.

Qutb's first major theoretical work of religious social criticism, Al-'adala al-Ijtima'iyya fi-l-Islam Social Justice in Islam , was published in , during his time in the West. Though Islam gave him much peace and contentment, [ 32 ] he suffered from respiratory and other health problems throughout his life and was known for "his introvertedness, isolation, depression and concern.

While the urban Egyptian society he lived in was becoming more Westernized, Qutb believed the Quran taught women that 'Men are the managers of women's affairs It was clear from his childhood that Qutb valued education, playing the part of a teacher to the women in his village:. He would have a big collection of books, and another small collection specifically for Syed Qutb.

If Syed never had the money, he would tell him that I don't have the money now, so let me borrow it and I'll give it you next time you come around. And Amsaalih would let him do that. At the age of 12, he had his own library collection of 25 books, even though books were really expensive during that time. He would imitate the scholars by reading the books, and then give lectures to the rest of the village.

If any women needed any information, they would wait till Syed Qutb came back from school, and ask him to share the knowledge he had to them. In many occasions he would be shy because he was a young man, but in some occasions he would go and teach the knowledge he had to the people who asked him. Time in the United States , pursuing further studies in educational administration, cemented some of Qutb's views.

Before his departure from the United States, even though more and more conservative, he still was " Western in so many ways — his dress, his love of classical music and Hollywood movies. On his return to Egypt, Qutb in published "The America that I Have Seen", where he became explicitly critical of things he had observed in the United States, eventually encapsulating the West more generally: its materialism , individual freedoms , economic system, "poor" haircuts , [ 11 ] superficiality in conversations and friendships, [ 39 ] restrictions on divorce , enthusiasm for sports , lack of artistic feeling, [ 39 ] "animal-like" mixing of the genders which "went on even in churches" , [ 40 ] and strong support for the new Israeli state.

The American girl is well acquainted with her body's seductive capacity. She knows it lies in the face, and in expressive eyes, and thirsty lips. She knows seductiveness lies in the round breasts, the full buttocks, and in the shapely thighs, sleek legs—and she shows all this and does not hide it.

Sayyid qutb biography of rory

The American is primitive in his artistic taste, both in what he enjoys as art and in his own artistic works. This is that music that the Negroes invented to satisfy their primitive inclinations, as well as their desire to be noisy on the one hand and to excite bestial tendencies on the other. The American's intoxication in "jazz" music does not reach its full completion until the music is accompanied by singing that is just as coarse and obnoxious as the music itself.

Meanwhile, the noise of the instruments and the voices mounts, and it rings in the ears to an unbearable degree The agitation of the multitude increases, and the voices of approval mount, and their palms ring out in vehement, continuous applause that all but deafens the ears. Qutb concluded that major aspects of American life were primitive and "shocking"; he saw Americans as "numb to faith in religion, faith in art, and faith in spiritual values altogether".

His experience in the United States formed in part the impetus for his rejection of Western values and his move towards Islamism upon returning to Egypt. Resigning from the civil service, he joined the Muslim Brotherhood in the early s [ 42 ] and became editor-in-chief of the Brothers' weekly Al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin, and later head of its propaganda [ 43 ] [ 44 ] section, as well as an appointed member of the working committee and of its guidance council, the highest branch in the organization.

Nasser would go to the house of Syed Qutb and ask him for ideas about the Revolution. Many members of the Brotherhood expected Nasser to establish an Islamic government. However, the co-operation between the Brotherhood and Free Officers which marked the revolution's success soon soured as it became clear the secular nationalist ideology of Nasserism was incompatible with the Islamism of the Brotherhood.

Nasser had secretly set up an organisation that would sufficiently oppose the Muslim Brotherhood once he came to power. This organisation was called "Tahreer" "Liberation" in Arabic. It was well known that the Brotherhood were made popular by their extensive social programs in Egypt, and Nasser wanted to be ready once he had taken over.

At this time, Qutb did not realize Nasser's alternate plans, and would continue to meet with him, sometimes for 12 hours a day, [ 46 ] to discuss a post monarchical Egypt. Once Qutb realized that Nasser had taken advantage of the secrecy between the Free Officers and the Brotherhood, he promptly quit. Nasser then tried to persuade Qutb by offering him any position he wanted in Egypt except its Kingship, saying: "We will give you whatever position you want in the government, whether it's the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Arts, etc.

Qutb refused every offer, having understood the reality of Nasser's plans. Upset that Nasser would not enforce a government based on Islamic ideology, Qutb and other Brotherhood members allegedly plotted to assassinate him in During his first three years in prison, conditions were bad and Qutb was tortured. In later years he was allowed more mobility, including the opportunity to write.

These works represent the final form of Qutb's thought, encompassing his radically anti-secular and anti-Western claims based on his interpretations of the Qur'an, Islamic history, and the social and political problems of Egypt. The school of thought he inspired has become known as Qutbism. Qutb was let out of prison in May at the behest of the President of Iraq , Abdul Salam Arif , for only 8 months before being rearrested on August 9, He was accused of plotting to overthrow the state and subjected to what some consider a show trial.

He was sentenced to death for his part in the conspiracy to assassinate the President [ 48 ] and other Egyptian officials and personalities, though he was not the instigator or leader of the actual plot. Qutb held that belief in matters that cannot be seen or are imperceptible was an important sign of man's ability to accept knowledge from fields outside of science:.

The concept of the imperceptible is a decisive factor in distinguishing man from animal. Materialist thinking, ancient as well as modern, has tended to drag man back to an irrational existence, with no room for the spiritual, where everything is determined by sensory means alone. What is peddled as " progressive thought " is no more than dismal regression.

Simultaneously, he rejected magical beliefs asserted by traditional interpretations of Islamic narratives, such as rejecting the tradition that Surah al-Falaq was meant to be sent down to break a curse. Qutb would later denounce the literary works he published during the s as "un-Islamic". Different theories have been advanced as to why Qutb turned away from his secularist tendencies towards Islamic sharia.

One common explanation is that the conditions he witnessed in prison from to , including the torture and murder of the Muslim Brotherhood members, convinced him that only a government bound by Islamic law could prevent such abuses. Another is that Qutb's experiences in America as a darker-skinned person and the insufficiently anti-Western policies of Nasser demonstrated to him the powerful and dangerous allure of jahiliyyah pre-Islamic ignorance —a threat unimaginable, in Qutb's estimation, to the secular mind.

It is the same with the Eastern bloc. Its social theories, foremost among which is Marxism, in the beginning attracted not only a large number of people from the East but also from the West, as it was a way of life based on a creed. But now Marxism is defeated on the plane of thought, and if it is stated that not a single nation in the world is truly Marxist, it will not be an exaggeration.

On the whole this theory conflicts with man's nature and its needs. This ideology prospers only in a degenerate society or in a society which has become cowed as a result of some form of prolonged dictatorship. But now, even under these circumstances, its materialistic economic system is failing, although this was the only foundation on which its structure was based.

Russia, which is the leader of the communist countries, is itself suffering from shortages of food. Although during the times of the Tsars Russia used to produce surplus food, it now has to import food from abroad and has to sell its reserves of gold for this purpose. The main reason for this is the failure of the system of collective farming , or, one can say, the failure of a system which is against human nature.

These experiences would prompt Qutb to adopt a radical stance, of excommunicating the Muslim governments as well as their supporters out of the pale of Islam. Qutb's experiences as an Egyptian Muslim—his village childhood, professional career, and activism in the Muslim Brotherhood—left an indelible mark on his theoretical and religious works.

For example, Qutb's autobiography of his childhood Tifl min al-Qarya A Child From the Village makes little mention of Islam or political theory and is typically classified as a secular, literary work. However, it is replete with references to village mysticism, superstition, the Qur'an, and incidences of injustice. Qutb's later work developed along similar themes, dealing with Qur'anic exegesis, social justice, and political Islam.

Qutb's career as a writer also heavily influenced his philosophy. In al-Taswiir al-Fanni fil-Quran Artistic Representation in the Qur'an , Qutb developed a literary appreciation of the Qur'an and a complementary methodology for interpreting the text. His hermeneutics were applied in his extensive commentary on the Qur'an, Fi zilal al-Qur'an , which served as the foundation for the declarations of Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq.

Late in his life, Qutb synthesized his personal experiences and intellectual development in Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq , a religious and political manifesto for what he believed was a true Islamic system. It was also in this text that Qutb condemned Muslim governments, such as Abdul Nasser's regime in Egypt, as secular, with their legitimacy based on human and thus corrupt , rather than divine authority.

This work, more than any other, established Qutb as one of the premier Islamists of the 20th century, and perhaps the foremost proponent of Islamist thought in that era. Qutb denounced secularism as an inherently "oppressive system" since it sabotaged freedom of religion by constraining all religious practice to the private realm; whereas an Islamic state would grant full religious freedom to Muslims by implementing Islamic laws publicly while delegating non-Muslim faiths to the private realm.

Qutb, dissatisfied with the condition of contemporary Islam, identified its benighted state as having two principal causes. His extensive writing on the Qur'an pioneered a new trend for Muslims to read and interpret the text for themselves, since he was not a traditionally trained scholar nor did he follow a conventional format in his commentaries.

His approach engaged with the cadence of the Arab text, capturing even in English translation the beauty of the original Arabic often obscured in English renderings. His legacy is both revered and reviled, depending on the sympathies of those who read his books. Qutb was raised in the Egyptian village of Musha and educated from a young age in the Qur'an.

He moved to Cairo , where he received a Western education between and , before starting his career as a teacher in the Ministry of Public Instruction. During his early career, Qutb devoted himself to literature as an author and critic, writing such novels as Ashwak Thorns and even elevating Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz from obscurity.

In he became a functionary in Egypt's Ministry of Education wizarat al-ma'arif. From to he went to the United States on a scholarship to study the educational system, receiving a master's degree from the Colorado State College of Education now the University of Northern Colorado. Qutb's first major theoretical work of religious social criticism, Al-'adala al-Ijtima'iyya fi-l-Islam Social Justice in Islam , was published in , during his time overseas.

Aside from his untimely end Qutb's personal life was not always happy. Though Islam gave him much peace and contentment [1] he suffered from respiratory and other health problems throughout his life, and was known for "his introvertedness, isolation, depression and concern. While the urban Egyptian society he lived in was becoming more Westernized, Qutb believed the Qur'an Surat al-Nisa, taught women that "Men are the managers of women's affairs …" [3] Qutb lamented to his readers that he was never able to find a woman of sufficient "moral purity and discretion" and had to reconcile himself to bachelorhood.

Qutb was extremely critical of many things in the United States, its racism , materialism, individual freedom, its economic system, poor haircuts, [5] triviality, restrictions on divorce, enthusiasm for sports, "animal-like" mixing of the sexes which went on even in churches , [6] and lack of support for the Palestinian struggle. In an article published in Egypt after his travels, he noted with disapproval the sexuality of Americans:.

The American girl is well acquainted with her body's seductive capacity. She knows it lies in the face, and in expressive eyes, and thirsty lips. She knows seductiveness lies in the round breasts, the full buttocks, and in the shapely thighs, sleek legs—and she shows all this and does not hide it. Jazz is his preferred music, and it is created by Negroes to satisfy their love of noise and to whet their sexual desires … [8].

His experiences in the U. Resigning from the civil service, he joined the Brotherhood in the early s [10] and became editor-in-chief of the Brothers' weekly Al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin, and later head of the propaganda section, as well as an appointed member of the Working Committee and of the Guidance Council, the highest branch in the Brotherhood.

Both Qutb and the Muslim Brotherhood welcomed the coup against the monarchist government—which they saw as unIslamic and subservient to British imperialism - and enjoyed a close relationship with the Movement prior to and immediately following the coup. Many members of the Brotherhood expected Nasser to establish an Islamic government. However, the cooperation between the Brotherhood and Free Officers which marked the revolution's success soon soured as it became clear the secular nationalist ideology of Nasserism was incompatible with the Islamism of the Brotherhood.

Nasser's regime refused to ban alcohol or implement other parts of sharia law. After the attempted assassination of Nasser in , the Egyptian government used the incident to justify a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, imprisoning Qutb and many others for their vocal opposition to various government policies. While in prison, Qutb wrote his two most important works: a commentary of the Qur'an Fi zilal al-Qur'an In the Shade of the Qur'an , and a manifesto of political Islam called Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq Milestones.

These works represent the final form of Qutb's thought, encompassing his radical, antiestablishment claims based on his interpretations of the Qur'an, Islamic history, and the social and political problems of Egypt. The school of thought he inspired has become known as Qutbism.