Sayyid Qutb
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==Qutbism== | ==Qutbism== | ||
| − | With the recent election of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the strengthening of Hamas despite the Israeli blockade of Gaza, it is actually worthwhile to understand what Qutb was in the pantheon of Islamic thought. [[Sam Harrison]] insists that Islam is inherently violent, but the reality is that Qutb informs more modern Muslim radical ethos than the Prophet. In a Western sense, he's like Che Guevara; his idea is that Arabs will unite and collapse the Arab despot regimes that embraced secular ethos of the Baath Party or Nasser-ism. Nobody remembers that Qutb was killed for opposing the Nasser regime, not because he was a Muslim, and understanding this power-relationship is important in understanding the new relationship the West will have with Egypt. (For those of you who weren't keeping track, Egyptian relations with Israel are pretty important.) | + | With the recent election of the [[Muslim Brotherhood]] in [[Egypt]] and the strengthening of Hamas despite the Israeli blockade of Gaza, it is actually worthwhile to understand what Qutb was in the pantheon of Islamic thought. [[Sam Harrison]] insists that Islam is inherently violent, but the reality is that Qutb informs more modern Muslim radical ethos than the Prophet. In a Western sense, he's like Che Guevara; his idea is that Arabs will unite and collapse the Arab despot regimes that embraced secular ethos of the Baath Party or Nasser-ism. Nobody remembers that Qutb was killed for opposing the Nasser regime, not because he was a Muslim, and understanding this power-relationship is important in understanding the new relationship the West will have with Egypt. (For those of you who weren't keeping track, Egyptian relations with Israel are pretty important.) |
==External links== | ==External links== | ||
Revision as of 04:05, 24 April 2013
Sayyid Qutb was an Egyptian poet, educator and writer. He was from a remote village in central Egypt. He is of note because he converted to radical Islamism after a two-year stint in the United States. Upon his return to Egypt after publishing several radical texts, he was arrested and convicted of crimes against the state. Ayman al-Zawahiri, the founder of the Al-Qaeda movement of Osama bin Laden fame, was one of Qutb's first students.
Egypt killed Sayyid in 1966, which only strengthened the radical Islamists he was leading. His death is seen as Shahada in extremist circles and his writings (mostly from jail) are now the central texts (guides) outside the Qur'an in Islamism. "A Child From the Village" is a great read on the early life and times of Sayyid, while also covering his conversion to extremism.
Qutbism
With the recent election of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the strengthening of Hamas despite the Israeli blockade of Gaza, it is actually worthwhile to understand what Qutb was in the pantheon of Islamic thought. Sam Harrison insists that Islam is inherently violent, but the reality is that Qutb informs more modern Muslim radical ethos than the Prophet. In a Western sense, he's like Che Guevara; his idea is that Arabs will unite and collapse the Arab despot regimes that embraced secular ethos of the Baath Party or Nasser-ism. Nobody remembers that Qutb was killed for opposing the Nasser regime, not because he was a Muslim, and understanding this power-relationship is important in understanding the new relationship the West will have with Egypt. (For those of you who weren't keeping track, Egyptian relations with Israel are pretty important.)
External links
- A Lesson In Hate, David Von Drehle, Smithsonian Magazine