From Secularism to Jihad : Sayyid Qutb and the Foundations of Radical Islamism
Editorial Reviews
Review
“This significant, welcome study of a key Islamist who was the architect of radical Islam ideology and paid the ultimate price for it under the reign of Egypt's secularist nationalist 'Abd al-Nasir focuses on the sequence of events in Qutb's intellectual career, stressing the transformations in his views of life as he evolved from a literary critic to an Islamic propagator. Musallam's analysis describes and interprets Qutb's published works, which deal with politics, literature, religion, and society from 1919 to 1952, when the Nasserist revolution took place. Qutb's early childhood and his career as poet and critic precede an account of his emergence as a student of the Qur'an, and his alienation when the Muslim Brotherhood, whose philosophical architect he had served, drove him to seek social justice. His experiences and impressions in America 1948-1950 served to harden his views. He emerged as a radical Islamist from 1952 until his 1964 execution. Qutb's martyrdom and posthumous impact contributed to the global jihad led by Islamist disciples such as Egyptians Muhammad Atta, who led the assault on the Twin Towers, and Ayman al-Zawahiri, the deputy of Bin Laden. This well-organized, easy to follow work describes how a secular intellectual was transformed into a fundamentalist Islamist. Recommended. Most levels/libraries.”–
Book Description
The modern political idea of "jihad"--a violent struggle against corrupt or anti-Islamic regimes--is essentially the brainchild of one man who turned traditional Islamic precepts inside out and created the modern radical political Islamist movement. Using the evolution of Sayyid Qutb's life and writings, Musallam traces and analyzes Qutb's alienation and subsequent emergence as an independent Islamist within the context of his society and the problems that it faced. Radicalized following his stay in the United States in the late 1940s and during his imprisonment from 1954 to 1964, Qutb would pen controversial writings that would have a significant impact on young Islamists in Egypt for decades following his death and on global jihadist Islamists for the past quarter century. Since September 11, 2001, the West has dubbed Qutb "the philosopher of Islamic terror and godfather ideologue of al-Qaeda." This is the first book to examine his life and thought in the wake of the events that ignited the War on Terrorism.
From Secularism to Jihad : Sayyid Qutb and the Foundations of Radical Islamism
From Secularism to Jihad: Sayyid Qutb and the Foundations of Radical Islamism,Adnan A. Musallam,Praeger Publishers,0275985911,Biography,Biography / Autobiography,Egypt,History,History - Military / War,Islamic Studies,Islamic fundamentalism,Military,Military - Strategy,Political,Religious,Scholars, Muslim,History / Military / Strategy,Islam,POLITICS & GOVERNMENT,Theology
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