54 Facts About Sayyid Qutb

Sayyid 'Ibrahim Husayn Qutb, known popularly as Sayyid Qutb, was an Egyptian author, educator, Islamic scholar, theorist, revolutionary, poet, and a leading member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in the 1950s and 1960s.

Sayyid Qutb is considered as "the Father of Salafi jihadism", the religio-political doctrine that underpins the ideological roots of global jihadist organisations such as al-Qaeda and ISIL.

Sayyid Qutb's magnum opus, Fi Zilal al-Quran, is a 30-volume commentary on the Quran.

Sayyid Qutb has been described by followers as a great thinker and martyr for Islam, while many Western observers see him as a key originator of Islamist ideology, and an inspiration for violent Islamist groups such as al-Qaeda.

Sayyid Qutb is widely regarded as one of the most leading Islamist ideologues of the twentieth century.

Sayyid Ibrahim Husayn Shadhili Qutb was born on 9 October 1906.

Sayyid Qutb was raised in the Egyptian village of Musha, located in Upper Egypt's Asyut Province.

Sayyid Qutb's father was an Upper Egyptian landowner and the administrator of the family estate, but he was well known for his political activism, holding weekly meetings to discuss the political events and Qur'anic recitation.

At this young age, Sayyid Qutb first learned about melodic recitations of the Qur'an, which would fuel the artistic side of his personality.

Sayyid Qutb had a special disdain for schools that specialized in religious studies only, and sought to demonstrate that local schools that held regular academic classes as well as classes in religion were more beneficial to their pupils than religious schools with lopsided curricula.

Sayyid Qutb moved to Cairo, where between 1929 and 1933 he received an education based on the British style of schooling before starting his career as a teacher in the Ministry of Public Instruction.

Sayyid Qutb wrote his very first article in the literary magazine al-Balagh in 1922, and his first book, Muhimmat al-Sha'ir fi al-Haya wa Shi'r al-Jil al-Hadir, in 1932, when he was 25, in his last year at Dar al-Ulum.

Sayyid Qutb saw Carrel's critique, coming as it did from within the enemy camp, as providing his discourse with an added measure of legitimacy.

Sayyid Qutb would have a big collection of books, and another small collection specifically for Syed Qutb.

Sayyid Qutb would imitate the scholars by reading the books, and then give lectures to the rest of the village.

Sayyid Qutb visited the major cities of the United States and spent time in Europe on his journey home.

Sayyid Qutb knows it lies in the face, and in expressive eyes, and thirsty lips.

Sayyid Qutb concluded that major aspects of American life were primitive and "shocking"; he saw Americans as "numb to faith in religion, faith in art, and faith in spiritual values altogether".

Nasser would go to the house of Syed Sayyid Qutb and ask him for ideas about the Revolution.

Once Sayyid Qutb realized that Nasser had taken advantage of the secrecy between the Free Officers and the Brotherhood, he promptly quit.

Sayyid Qutb refused every offer, having understood the reality of Nasser's plans.

The attempt was foiled and Sayyid Qutb was jailed soon afterwards; the Egyptian government used the incident to justify a crackdown on various members of the Muslim Brotherhood for their vocal opposition towards the Nasser administration.

Sayyid Qutb was let out of prison in May 1964 at the behest of the President of Iraq, Abdul Salam Arif, for only 8 months before being rearrested on August 9,1965.

Sayyid Qutb was accused of plotting to overthrow the state and subjected to what some consider a show trial.

Sayyid Qutb held that belief in matters that cannot be seen was an important sign of man's ability to accept knowledge from fields outside of science:.

Different theories have been advanced as to why Sayyid Qutb turned away from his secularist tendencies towards Islamic sharia.

In Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq Sayyid Qutb argues that anything non-Islamic was evil and corrupt, and that following sharia as a complete system extending into all aspects of life, would bring every kind of benefit to humanity, from personal and social peace, to the "treasures" of the universe.

Sayyid Qutb's hermeneutics were applied in his extensive commentary on the Qur'an, Fi zilal al-Qur'an, which served as the foundation for the declarations of Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq.

Late in his life, Sayyid Qutb synthesized his personal experiences and intellectual development in Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq, a religious and political manifesto for what he believed was a true Islamic system.

Sayyid Qutb denounced secularism as an inherently "oppressive system" since it sabotaged freedom of religion by constraining all religious practice to the private realm; whereas an Islamic state would grant full religious freedom to Muslims by implementing Islamic laws publicly while delegating non-Muslim faiths to the private realm.

Sayyid Qutb asserted that the Islamic world had sunk into a state of jahiliyyah.

Sayyid Qutb said Iman entered into his heart due to this.

Sayyid Qutb said that, the sweetness of Iman hit him.

Sayyid Qutb pointed out that the Shura chapter of the Qur'an was revealed during the Mekkan period, and therefore, it does not deal with the problem of government.

Sayyid Qutb opposed the then popular ideology of Arab nationalism, having become disillusioned with the 1952 Nasser Revolution after having been exposed to the regime's practices of arbitrary arrest, torture, and deadly violence during his imprisonment.

Sayyid Qutb felt strongly that the world was meant to serve man if understood properly.

Sayyid Qutb believed that there are only two kinds of societies: Islamic and Jahili.

Sayyid Qutb emphasized that this struggle would be anything but easy.

Sayyid Qutb has come under fire from the moderate factions of the Muslim Brotherhood represented by scholars such as Yusuf al-Qaradwi who staunchly critiqued Sayyid Qutb's ideas on jahiliyya as Takfiri extremism.

Saudi Arabian Islamic scholar Hamud ibn Uqla Ash-Shu'aybi, the leader of the Shu'aybi school, wrote an influential treatise "A Word of Truth on Sayyid Qutb" in defending Sayyid Qutb from his theological opponents.

Sayyid Qutb extolled Qutb as a martyr who upheld Tawhid and defended sharia in the face of tyrants.

Sayyid Qutb was one of the unique preachers who called on people to worship their Lord and who preached the unification of all laws to none other than Allah.

Sayyid Qutb did not bow down under the enemies of Allah and His Prophet, like Jamal Abdel-Nasser and his likes.

Alongside notable Islamists like Abul A'la Mawdudi, Hasan al-Banna, and Ruhollah Khomeini; Sayyid Qutb is considered one of the most influential Muslim thinkers or activists of the modern era, not only for his ideas but for what many see as his martyr's death.

Sayyid Qutb's written works are still widely available and have been translated into many Western languages.

Sayyid Qutb's best known work is Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq, but the majority of Qutb's theory can be found in his Qur'anic commentary Fi zilal al-Qur'an.

Sayyid Qutb's influence isn't limited to Sunnis either, as the current Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, translated his work into Persian.

Sayyid Qutb was the one who most affected our generation.

Sayyid Qutb was an important source of influence to Ruhollah Khomeini and other Iranian Shia intellectuals leading up to the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

Sayyid Qutb's works were translated by Iranian Islamists into Persian and enjoyed remarkable popularity both before and after the revolution.

An Iranian Islamic youth organisation named Kanoon Youth Thought Center conducted a conference on Sayyid Qutb's thought in Tehran in 2015, attended by major religious leaders and intellectuals of the Iranian revolution.

Shi'ite scholar Ahmad Rahdar criticised Sayyid Qutb's call to uncompromising militant action as serving the intellectual basis for Jihadist groups like Al-Qaeda, IS, etc.

Sayyid Qutb argued that humans can choose only between Islam and jahiliyya.

Third, no middle ground exists in what Sayyid Qutb conceived as a struggle between God and Satan.