Continuing an in-depth look at Sayyid Qutb’s seminal work, Milestones, which gives us tremendous insight into the mind of radical Islam.
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Jahiliyyah is one of the central themes of Qutb’s work. Originally Jahiliyyah was the name given to the world in the time before the Qur’an was revealed to Muhammad, a time of polytheism and ignorance of divine guidance, the world Islam initially struggled with and soon replaced. Qutb is quite innovative in that he applies the concept to every system in the world that does not live according to Islam, and really stirs things up in his own context by applying it to the present state of Muslim countries. In fact, he asserts that true Islam has not existed in the world for centuries, being replaced by man made systems and traditions. Later in the book Qutb offers a simple, straightforward definition of a jahili society as any society “which does not dedicate itself to submission to God alone, in its beliefs and ideas, in its observances of worship, and in its legal regulations. According to this definition, all the societies existing in the world today are jahili.” (80)

The first milestone on the journey to restoring Islam is the first pillar of Islam, the confession that there is just one God, who has revealed his law in the Qur’an. The Qur’an, then, is to be the primary source of authority, with the example of the Prophet serving as secondary authority. True believers must look only to God and to the Qur’an for their instruction and guidance in all things. Such focus on God flies in the face of Jahiliyyah, and so Qutb says the first step in the movement he proposes is “that in the early stages of our training and education we should remove ourselves from all in the influences of the Jahiliyyah in which we live and from which we derive benefits. We must return to the pure source.” (20) It seems safe to say that Qutb is calling for a complete and total change in worldview. The goal is “first to change ourselves so that we may later change the society. Our foremost objective is to change the practices of this society… which is fundamentally at variance with Islam and which, with the help of force and oppression, is keeping us from living the sort of life which is demanded by our Creator.” (21)

Sayyid Qutb 
Part 1

As I mentioned before, I’m beginning a series of posts on Milestones, by Sayyid Qutb, a foundational thinker in fundamentalist Islam. See the earlier posts for more background.
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The premise of Milestones is that true Islam is not being implemented anywhere in the world. The Islamic worldview alone provides a total system that frees man to live as he was meant to live – under the rule of God alone, not in service to other men or to man-made systems. Qutb states in his preface that “all man-made individual or collective theories have proved to be failures.” (8) The capitalism of the West and the communism of the East (he was writing in the 1960’s) are alike in their failure, and only Islam offers the hope of new leadership and a new way. He introduces a key concept next: “Islam cannot fulfill its role except by taking concrete form in a society, rather, in a nation; for man does not listen… to an abstract theory which is not seen materialized in a living society.” (9) Islam, so enacted, offers the world a firm sense of purpose and faith under the rule of God, a society in which all people are equal and share in God’s blessings and in the resultant human progress. It is not merely enough to preach Islam; it must be materialized in the very core of a particular society. Qutb is prone to repeat key points and phrases, as he does two pages later in writing, “the beauty of this new system cannot be appreciated unless it takes a concrete form. Hence it is essential that a community arrange its affairs according to it and show it to the world. In order to bring this about, we need to initiate the movement of Islamic revival in some Muslim country.” (11)

As an aside, let us pause to note an interesting parallel. On the one hand one sees Qutb’s call to bring about Islamic revival and a pure Islamic society in some country in order to display the beauty of Islam to the world. On the other hand, one notes the apparent goal of American foreign policy under George W Bush, which seeks to set Iraq up as a model of freedom and democracy so that others in the region will see the beauty of that system. Many in the West will no doubt find it ironic that Qutb claims that the Islamist ideal actually brings about freedom for mankind: “Only in the Islamic way of life do all men become free from the servitude of some men to others and devote themselves to the worship of God alone.” (11)

In Milestones, Qutb seeks to chart the path through which this kind of Islamic revival can take place, leading to the establishment of a true Muslim society which will change the world. He attempts to base his approach on the model of the early band of Muslims, followers of the Prophet, who, in a short period of time, changed their own society and established a Muslim state. In this sense, Qutb is something of a restorationist, wanting to turn from an Islam that has been polluted over time and centuries back to its original, pristine form. Of course, this kind of thinking is quite prevalent in Christianity as well in appeals to get back to the kind of life and witness exhibited by the early church. Qutb’s appeal to the first generation of Muslims is similar to many a Christian’s appeal to Luke’s description of the early church at the end of Acts 2. For Qutb, the way to reestablish pure Islam is to follow Muhammad’s pattern, which is to begin with a small band of true believers that represent a vanguard. Milestones is written for this vanguard, to help them chart their course.

Part 1

The quote below is from Sayyid Qutb, who many consider to be something like the intellectual godfather of radical Islam.  Over the next week or so I hope to do several blog entries about Qutb’s most prominent book, Milestones, which has been described as the manifesto of radical Islamism – one that is quite influential today. A report on Wikipedia actually traces a connection from Qutb to Osama bin Laden, though I’ve not researched it to verify it. But you get the idea.

I found Milestones to be a fascinating book. I began with the quote below about family values to show that, in several ways, there are interesting similarities between Christian fundamentalists, maybe even Evangelicals, and the rhetoric of radical Islam. Now, many in the Western media have been tripping over themselves to draw these kinds of direct parallels, but don’t worry, there are plenty of other fundamental differences – obviously in terms of belief but also in terms of goals and programs for what to do with these beliefs.

Sayyid Qutb was one of the intellectual leaders and shapers of what is today thought of as radical Islam. Born in Egypt, he was a literary critic who eventually became an official in the Ministry of Education. He spent 1948-1950 in the United States in order to study the educational system here. Those years were seminal for Qutb, for it was largely the result of his time in the United States and his disgust with its society that led him to embrace a more radical, fundamentalist Islam.

Upon his return to Egypt, Qutb became involved with the Muslim Brotherhood, an activist Islamic organization that began in Egypt. He was critical not only of the West, but also of the governments of most Muslim countries, including that of Egypt under Gamal Nasser. His activism eventually led to his arrest in 1954 on charges of political conspiracy, leading to ten years of imprisonment – years which served to refine his thinking and during which he did much writing. It was during these years that he wrote Ma’alim fi-l-Tariq, which may be translated “Milestones Along the Way,” but is more commonly known in English as “Milestones.”

Qutb was arrested again in 1964, shortly after the publication of Milestones, and largely because of the content of the book itself. He was hanged by the Egyptian government in August of 1966.

Part 1: Qutb’s Milestones: Inside the Mind of Fundamentalist Islam
Part 2: Qutb, Fundamentalists, and Jahiliyyah 
Part 3:  Qutb and Shari’ah
Part 4: Qutb and Jihaad

The headline on “My Yahoo” just looks silly: “Cartoon Protests Turn Deadly.”

I think it is silly for some Christians to get worked up about the “Book of Daniel,” NBC’s ill-fated television show that belittled Christianity. But at least the Family Research Council wasn’t burning and pillaging and the like. What’s going on here? As you probably know, a Danish newspaper ran some political cartoons that featured Muhammed, the prophet if Islam. It is considered blasphemous for a Muslim to make a pictorial representation of the prophet (sort of like the OT commandment against making a graven image of God) – mainly to avoid worship of Muhammed, but also out of respect for his greatness. (Remember – Muslims to not deify or worship Muhammed, though they do revere him greatly as what we might consider the ideal man.)

In response to the cartoon, riots have broken out all over the Muslim world. People have taken to the streets – sometimes violently – to protest the publication of a cartoon. Adding intrigue to the plot is the fact that the cartoons first ran in September, and at that time did not generate the frenzied response we see now. What’s going on?

I spoke with a man whose opinion I respect who knows a lot more about this region than anyone else I know, having studied it for years and spent time there. He suggested that the ruling elites in the Arab world have a bit of a stake in fomenting this kind of violent outrage at the West. Conditions in most of these countries are not great and many live in poverty. There is a simmering anger and frustration that the rulers fear could be directed at them. So it is helpful to blame the West and fan the flames of hatred and angst in that direction. After all, look at the way they disparage and deman the prophet!

Sure there’s more to it than that. Sure Muslim newspapers somtimes disparage Jews and Christians. Sure there are a lot of Muslims that hate the West and all that it stands for and all it has done in the last five hundred years. They have a longer cultural memory than we do. But really, violent protests over a cartoon? This is certainly more going on here than a cartoon – and I think that demagoguery makes sense. Of course, sometimes it all just looks pretty ridiculous to me.