Syed Qutb’s contribution towards Political Islam in the Muslim world

Abstract

Syed Qutb (1906, 1966) was renowned for his revolutionary ideas in the Muslim world. He wanted the applicability of the true Islamic precepts in the Muslim countries. In addition, he strongly objected to the expanding political and economic dominion of the Western States in the internal affairs of the Islamic States. Moreover, he hailed from an Egyptian village and completed his primary education from that specific area. In 1920, he migrated to Cairo in order to acquire secondary education. After completing it, he got enrolled in Dar al-alum for accomplishing his higher studies. From 1933 to 1952, he rendered his services to his Government as a teacher and an administrator in the department of education. Alongside this, he also became an eminent literary secular writer of his time and wrote numerous poems and articles on various social and cultural issues. But, in 1948, he had undergone a process of instant transformation and started to write on numerous Islamic topics. To add further, it is argued that the factors such as the instability of the Egyptian politics, the political and economic expansion of the colonial powers in the Islamic world and the formation of the Zionist state played a monumental role in making him an ardent exponent of political Islam. Moreover, he hated the Western way of life and advised his followers not to adhere to its norms, tradition and values. It has been seen that he considered Islamic political system as the panacea for all the political, social and economic ills plaguing the followers of the divine faith. Furthermore, he was also a trenchant member of the Muslim Brotherhood and tried his level best to overthrow Nasser’s regime in his country. Never the less, he could not be successful in his objective and was executed by his own Government for plotting against it (Bouzarinejad, 2017)