Qutbism[a] is anexonym that refers to theSunniIslamist beliefs and ideology ofSayyid Qutb,[1] a leading Islamist revolutionary of theMuslim Brotherhood who was executed by theEgyptian government of Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1966.[2] Influenced by the doctrines of earlier Islamists likeHasan al-Banna andMaududi, Qutbism advocatesIslamic extremistviolence in order to establish anIslamic government, in addition to promotingoffensive Jihad.[3] Qutbism has been characterized as anIslamofascist andIslamic terrorist ideology.[3]
Sayyid Qutb's treatises deeply influenced numerousjihadist ideologues and organizations across theMuslim world.[1][4][5] Qutbism has gained prominence due to its influence on notable Jihadist figures of contemporary era such asAbdullah Azzam,Osama bin Laden,Ayman al-Zawahiri, andSaif al-Adel.[4][5][6][7] Its ideas have also been adopted by theSalafi-jihadist terrorist organizationIslamic State (ISIL).[8] It was one inspiration that influencedRuhollah Khomeini in the development of his own ideology,Khomeinism.[9]
Qutbist literature has been a major source of influence on numerousjihadist movements and organizations that have emerged since the 1970s.[1][4][5] These include theEgyptian Islamic Jihad,al-Jama'ah al-Islamiyya,al-Takfir wal-Hijra, theArmed Islamic Group of Algeria (GIA), theLibyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG),al-Qaeda,al-Nusra Front, and theIslamic State (ISIL), and others that have sought to implement their strategy of wagingoffensive Jihad.[1][4][5][10][11][12]
While adherents of Qutbism are referred to as Qutbists orQutbiyyun (singular:Qutbi), they rarely refer to themselves with these names (i.e. the word is not an endonym); the name was first and still is used by the sect's opponents (i.e. it is an exonym).[13]
The main tenet of the Qutbist ideology is thatmodern Muslims abandoned true Islam centuries ago, having instead reverted tojahiliyyah.[4][5][8][14] Adherents believe that Islam must be re-established by Qutb's followers.[15]
Qutb outlined his religious and political ideas in his bookMa'alim fi-l-Tariq ("Milestones").[4][5][8] Important principles of Qutbism include:[citation needed]
Qutb declared Islam "extinct," which implied that any Muslims who do not follow his teachings are not actually Muslim. This was intended to shock Muslims into religious rearmament. When taken literally,takfir refers to ex-communication, thereby declaring all non-Qutbist Muslims to beapostates in violation of Sharia law. Violating this law could potentially be punished by death, according to Islamic law.[19]
Because of these serious consequences, Muslims have traditionally been reluctant to practicetakfir, that is, to pronounce professed Muslims as unbelievers, even when in violation of Islamic law.[20] This prospect offitna, or internal strife, between Qutbists and "takfir-ed" mainstream Muslims, led Qutb to conclude that the Egyptian government was irredeemably evil. As a result, he helped to plan a thwarted series of assassinations of Egyptian officials, the discovery of which let to Qutb's trial and eventual execution.[21] Due in part to this teaching, Qutb's ideology remains controversial among Muslims.[22][23]
It is unclear whether Qutb's proclamation ofjahiliyyah was meant to apply the global Muslim community or to only Muslim governments.[24]
In the 1980s and 1990s, aseries of terrorist attacks in Egypt were committed by Islamic extremists believed to be influenced by Qutb.[25] Victims included Egyptian PresidentAnwar Sadat, head of the counter-terrorism police Major General Raouf Khayrat, parliamentary speakerRifaat el-Mahgoub, dozens of European tourists and Egyptian bystanders, and over one hundred Egyptian police officers.[26] Qutb'stakfir against the Egyptian government, which he believed to be irredeemably evil, was a primary motivation for the attacks.[27] Other factors included frustration with Egypt'seconomic stagnation and rage over President Sadat's policy ofreconciliation with Israel.[28]
Qutb's message was spread through his writings, his followers and especially through his brother,Muhammad Qutb. Muhammad was implicated in the assassination plots that led to Qutb's execution, but he was spared the death penalty. After his release from prison, Muhammad moved toSaudi Arabia along with fellow members of the Muslim Brotherhood. There, he became a professor ofIslamic Studies and edited, published and promoted his brother Sayyid's works.[29][30]
One of Qutb's key proponents was one of his students,Ayman Al-Zawahiri, who went on to become a member of theEgyptian Islamic Jihad[31] and later a mentor of Osama bin Laden and a leading member of al-Qaeda.[32] He had been first introduced to Sayyad Qutb by his uncle, Mafouz Azzam, who was a close friend to Qutb and taught his nephew that he was an honorable man.[33] Zawahiri paid homage to Qutb in his workKnights under the Prophet's Banner.[34]
Qutbism was propagated byAbdullah Azzam during theAfghan-Soviet War. As the Muslim jihad volunteers from around the world exchanged religious ideas, Qutbism merged with Salafism and Wahhabism, culminating in the formation ofSalafi jihadism.[35] Abdullah Azzam was a mentor of bin Laden as well.
Osama bin Laden reportedly regularly attended weekly public lectures by Muhammad Qutb atKing Abdulaziz University, and to have read and been deeply influenced by Sayyid Qutb.[36]
The Yemeni Al-Qaeda leaderAnwar al-Awlaki also cited Qutb's writings as formative to his ideology.[37]
Many Islamic extremists consider him a father of the movement.[38][39] Ayman al-Zawahiri, former leader of Al-Qaeda, asserted that Qutb's execution lit "the jihadist fire",[38] and reshaped the direction of the Islamist movement by convincing them that thetakfir against Muslim governments made them important targets.[39]
Following Qutb's death, his ideas spread throughout Egypt and other parts of the Arab and Muslim world, prompting a backlash by more traditionalist and conservative Muslims, such as the bookDu'ah, la Qudah ("Preachers, not Judges") (1969). The book, written by Muslim Brotherhood Supreme GuideHassan al-Hudaybi, attacked the idea of Takfir of other Muslims, though it was ostensibly intended as a criticism of Mawdudi.[40]
On the importance of science and learning, Qutb was ambivalent.
He wrote that Muslims should learn science and develop their capabilities to fulfill their role as representatives of God.[41] He encouraged Muslims to seek knowledge in abstract sciences and arts, whether from Muslim or non-Muslim teachers, so that Muslim communities will have their own experts.[42]
However, Qutb believed that Muslims were not allowed to study some subjects, including:
the principles of economics and political affairs and the interpretation of historical processes... the origin of theuniverse, theorigin of the life of man... philosophy,comparative religion... sociology (excluding statistics and observations)...Darwinist biology ([which] goes beyond the scope of its observations, without any rhyme or reason and only exists for the sake of expressing an opinion...).[43]
He also believed that the era of scientific discovery in the West was over, and that further scientific discovery must be reached in accordance with Sharia law.[44][45]
Qutb also strongly opposedFalsafa andIlm al-Kalam, which he denounced as deviations which undermined the original Islamic creed because they were based onAristotelian logic. He denounced these disciplines as alien to Islamic traditions and called for their abandonment in favor of a literalist interpretation of Islamic scriptures.[46]
Qutbism advocates the belief that in a sharia-based society, wonders of justice, prosperity, peace and harmony—both individually and societally—are "not postponed for the next life [i.e. heaven] but are operative even in this world".[47]
Qutb believed harmony and perfection brought by Sharia law is such that the use of offensive jihad to spread sharia-Islam throughout the non-Muslim world is not aggression but rather means of introducing "true freedom" to the masses. Because Sharia law is judged by God rather than man, in this view, enforcing Sharia frees people from servitude to each other.[45]
In other works Qutb describes the ruler of the Islamic state, as a man (never a woman) who "derives his legitimacy from his being elected by the community and from his submission to God. He has no privileges over other Muslims, and is only obeyed as long as he himself adheres to the shari‘a".[48]
Qutbism emphasizes what it sees as the evil designs of Westerners and Jews against Islam, and it also emphasizes the importance of Muslims not trusting or imitating them.
Qutbisms's teachings on non-Muslims gained attention after theSeptember 11 attacks. Qutb's writings on non-Muslims, particularly Western non-Muslims, are extremely negative. They teach that Christians and Jews are hostile to his movement "simply for being Muslims" and believing in God.[49][50] He refers to "people of the book," who are typically viewed more favorably than other non-Muslims in Islam, as "depraved" for having "falsified" their religious texts.[51]
Qutb believedIbn Qayyim al-Jawziyya's teachings that the realm outside of Muslim lands wasDar al-Harb ("the Abode of War"), and had to be subjugated by Muslims. Subjugation would actually be "liberation" however,[52] because it "would free men from all authority except that of God."[53] However, this view also necessitates that non-Muslims not be allowed to make law or choose representatives, lest they disobey Islamic law.[54][55]
In Qutb's view, Westernimperialism is not only an economic or racial exploitation means of oppression, but rather an attempt to undermine the faith of Muslims.[56] He believed that historians lied to confuse Muslims and weaken their faith by teaching, for example, that theCrusades were an attempt by Christians to reconquer the formerly Christian-ruled holy land.[57] He believed that the ultimate goal of these efforts was to destroy Muslim society.[58]
Qutb spent two years in the U.S. in the late 1940s and he disliked it immensely.[59] Qutb wrote that he experienced "Western malevolence" during his time there, including an attempt by an American agent to seduce him, and the alleged celebration of American hospital employees upon hearing of the assassination of EgyptianIkhwan Supreme GuideHassan al-Banna.[60]
Qutb's critics, particularly in the West, have cast doubts upon these stories. Having not been a member of any government or political organization at the time of his visit, it is unlikely that American intelligence agents would have sought him out. Additionally, many Americans did not know who Hassan al-Banna or the Muslim Brotherhood were in 1948, making the celebration of hospital employees unlikely.[61]
Qutbism emphasizes a claimed Islamic moral superiority over the West, according to Islamist values. One example of the West's perceived moral decay was the "animal-like" mixing of the sexes, as well as jazz, which he found lurid and distasteful for its association with Black Americans.[62] Qutb states that while he was in America a young woman told him that ethics and sex are separate issues, pointing out that animals do not have any problems mixing freely.
Critics such asMaajid Nawaz protest by arguing that Qutb's complaint about bothAmerican racism and the "primitive inclinations" of the "Negro" are contradictory and hypocritical.[62] The place Qutb spent most of his time in was the small city ofGreeley, Colorado, dominated by cattle feedlots andan "unpretentious university", originally founded as "a sober, godly, cooperative community".[63]
The other anti-Islamic conspiratorial group, according to Qutb, is "World Jewry," because that it is engaging in tricks to eliminate "faith and religion", and trying to divert "the wealth of mankind" into "Jewish financial institutions" bycharging interest on loans.[64] Jewish designs are so pernicious, according to Qutb's logic, that "anyone who leads this [Islamic] community away from its religion and its Quran can only be [a] Jewish agent."[65]
WhileMa'alim fi-l-Tariq [Arabic: معالم في الطريق] (Milestones) was Qutb's manifesto, other elements of Qutbism are found in his worksAl-'adala al-Ijtima'iyya fi-l-Islam [Arabic: العدالة الاجتماعية في الاسلام] (Social Justice in Islam), and his Quranic commentaryFi Zilal al-Qur'an [Arabic: في ظلال القرآن] (In the shade of the Qur'an). Ideas in (or alleged to be in) those works also have been criticized by some traditionalist/conservative Muslims. They include:
Qutb may now be facing criticism representing his idea's success or Qutbism's logical conclusion as much as his idea's failure to persuade some critics. Writing before theIslamic revival was in full bloom, Qutb sought Islamically correct alternatives to European ideas like Marxism and socialism and proposed Islamic means to achieve the ends of social justice and equality, redistribution of private property and political revolution. But according to Olivier Roy, contemporary "neofundamentalists refuse to express their views in modern terms borrowed from the West. They consider indulging in politics, even for a good cause, will by definition lead tobid'a andshirk (the giving of priority to worldly considerations over religious values.)"[79]
There are, however, some commentators who display anambivalence towards him, and Roy notes that "his books are found everywhere and mentioned on most neo-fundamentalist websites, and arguing his "mystical approach", "radical contempt andhatred for the West", and "pessimistic views on the modern world" have resonated with these Muslims.[80]
James Hess, an analyst at theAmerican Military University (AMU), labelled Qutbism as "Islamic-based terrorism".[81] In his essay criticizing the doctrines of Qutbist ideology, US Army colonel Dale C. Eikmeier described Qutbism as "a fusion of puritanical and intolerant Islamic orientations that include elements from both the Sunni and Shia sects".[82]
The controversy over Qutbism is partially caused by two opposing factions which exist within the Islamic revival: thepolitically quiet Salafi Muslims, and the politically active Muslim groups which are associated with the Muslim Brotherhood.[83]
Although Sayyid Qutb was never the head of the Muslim Brotherhood,[84] he was the Brotherhood's "leading intellectual,"[85] the editor of its weekly periodical, and a member of the highest branch in the Brotherhood, the Working Committee and the Guidance Council.[86]
Hassan al-Hudaybi, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, argued againsttakfir and adopted a tolerant attitude. In response, some Qutbists concluded that the Muslim Brotherhood had abandoned their ideology.[87] Ayman al-Zawahiri, a prominent Qutbist, also attacked the Muslim Brotherhood.[87]
After the publication ofMa'alim fi-l-Tariq (Milestones), opinion in the Brotherhood split over his ideas, though many in Egypt (including extremists outside the Brotherhood) and most of the Muslim Brotherhood's members in other countries are said to have shared his analysis "to one degree or another."[88] However, the leadership of the Brotherhood, headed by Hassan al-Hudaybi, remained moderate and interested in political negotiation and activism. By the 1970s, the Brotherhood had renounced violence as a means of achieving its goals.[89] In recent years, his ideas have been embraced by Islamic extremist groups,[90] while the Muslim Brotherhood has tended to serve as the official voice of Moderate Islamism.
In 2005, the British author and religion academicKaren Armstrong declared, regarding theideological framework of al-Qaeda, that al-Qaeda and nearly every other Islamic fundamentalist movement was influenced by Qutb. She proposed the term "Qutbian terrorism" to describe violence by his followers.[91]
According toThe Guardian journalist Robert Manne, "there exists a more or less general consensus that theideology of the Islamic State was founded upon the principles which were set forth by Qutb", particularly based on some sections of his treatisesMilestones andIn the Shade of the Qur'an.[92]
However, the self-declaredIslamic State inIraq andSyria, headed byAbu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has been described by various analysts as being more violent than al-Qaeda and closely aligned withWahhabism,[93][94][95] alongsideSalafism andSalafi jihadism.[96][97] In 2014, regarding theideology of IS, Karen Armstrong remarked that "IS is certainly an Islamic movement [...] because its roots are in Wahhabism, a form of Islam practised in Saudi Arabia that developed only in the 18th century".[93]
Nabil Na'eem, a former associate ofAyman al-Zawahiri and an ex-Islamic Jihad leader, argued that Qutb's writings were the main factor that led to the rise of Al-Qaeda,Islamic State and various Jihadist groups.[98][99]
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)In addition to offensive jihad Sayyid Qutb used the Islamic concept of "takfir" or excommunication of apostates. Declaring someone takfir provided a legal loophole around the prohibition of killing another Muslim and in fact made it a religious obligation to execute the apostate. The obvious use of this concept was to declare secular rulers, officials or organizations, or any Muslims that opposed the Islamist agenda a takfir thereby justifying assassinations and attacks against them. Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, who was later convicted in the 1993 World Trade Center attack, invoked Qutb's takfirist writings during his trial for the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. The takfir concept along with "offensive jihad" became a blank check for any Islamic extremist to justify attacks against anyone.
There exists a more or less general consensus that the ideology of the Islamic State is founded upon the prison writings of the revolutionary Egyptian Muslim Brother Sayyid Qutb, in particular some sections of his commentaryIn the Shade of the Qur'an, but most importantly his late visionary workMilestones, published in 1964.
{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help)