Who was Sayyid Qutb? How did his teachings influence al Qaeda?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

• Sayyid Qutb was an Egyptian teacher and journalist who was initially employed by the Ministry of Education.
• He traveled to the United States and lived as an exchange professor in Greeley, Colorado, from 1948 to 1950
• Qutb's experience in America soured his opinion of Western civilization; he returned to Egypt and became an active member of the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization that seeks to create a single Muslim nation through education and religious reform.
• Qutb was arrested in 1954 after the Brotherhood tried to overthrow the Egyptian government, but he was released in 1964 because of health problems.
• He published his most famous work, Milestones, in 1965
• The book outlines the theology and ideology of jihadist revolution, and its militant tone led to Qutb's second arrest and subsequent hanging in 1966
• Qutb's books and articles popularized many militant ideas, and they continue to influence jihadists today.
• He believed that the Islamic world descended into darkness (jahaliyya) shortly after the death of Mohammed.
• The so-called Islamic governments of the Arab empires were really corrupt nonreligious regimes.
• Qutb rejected the West and called on Muslims to overthrow their corrupt governments arguing that rulers should impose Islamic law on their subjects, and when pure Islamic states were created, they should confront the world.
• In Milestones Qutb argued that Muslims were in a cosmic battle with the forces of darkness and called for the destruction of all enemies.
• The forces of darkness could not be tolerated, he wrote and Muslims were called to fight it.
• Qutb's writings were banned in many Islamic countries, and they infuriated the Egyptian government under Gamal Nasser.
• The Al Qaeda Manual cites Qutb as a source of inspiration.