The intellect behind Islamic radicalism

[bemildred]

If one is actually interested in "islamism" as a political movement, one needs to know about this fellow (Qutb}.

Egyptian intellectual and author Sayyid Qutb (1906-66) occupies an important place among Islamic thinkers. He was one of the most quoted thinkers who provided guidance for Islamic radicals. He is associated with the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and is best known for his theoretical work on redefining the role of Islamic fundamentalism in social and political change.

It is not surprising that books about Qutb proliferate. The Power of Sovereignty is written for a scholarly audience, with not much attention to style or even to the organization of the text. Still, it provides insight into Qutb's philosophy and explains the reason it has become such a powerful force.

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The ideal of the total Islamization of society is an important element of Qutb's philosophy, but does not fully explain its appeal. It has a strong internationalist underpinning and resolutely discards nationalism. In this aspect it strongly resembles Marxism, even though Qutb himself - as author Sayed Khatab states - emphasized that his teaching, based on the Koran and divine revelation, had nothing to do with secular Marxism, which reduces everything to socioeconomic issues. Still, as can be deduced from the text, Qutb's outlook is very different from Marxism, at least in its eschatological form.

Indeed, Marxism as a doctrine had various implications and forms. In countries where parties that professed Marxism took over, it was usually "staticized" as an ideology of sociopolitical conformity and mobilization for the aggrandizement of the state. It usually blended with nationalism and produced what some Russian intellectuals called "National Bolshevism", found in Stalinist Russia, Mao Zedong's China, and especially post-Mao China.

Asia Times

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

1. "The Power of Nightmares" is an excellent BBC documentary which

juxtaposes Qutb's ideas with those of neo con idol Leo Strauss. Guess what? They're actually not that different in their hatred for liberalism and the people's right to self govern.

[bemildred]

2. Such people have always been alike. nt

[RaleighNCDUer]

3. Rather like Hitler and Stalin - diametrically opposed but so much alike. nt

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. I found this excerpt to be interesting

"Dedication to Islam and striving to create a truly Islamic society interpreted as a society of universal justice for all Muslims, actually all people regardless of ethnicity and race, were what counted."

I think we can all agree we as a planet are evolving towards a planetary, rather than nationalistic, identity. Actually, what we need to strive for IS universal justice, as Qtb talks of here-but a justice tempered with mercy and equal rights for all humanity.

[bemildred]

5. Utopians, and this fellow is a utopian, are all much the same ...

since they all aim at an imaginary perfection in human affairs, to be brought about by a good deal of very concrete violence now. I doubt that his notion of "universal justice" would look much like mine, or the Pope's, or Marx's, or Jerry Falwell's and George Bush's. I am always leery of people that use such language.

Nevertheless, it is easy to see the appeal of this fellow's message in the Muslim community, and it is easy to find analogs throughout history in other embattled cultures.

I do agree that we are seeing the rise of a global culture, and that that would seem to lead to the decline of ALL local cultures. I am not sure if that is a good thing, or not.

[Rydz777]

6. The future

Good comment and well said. On your point "...the decline of All local cultures. I am not sure if that is a good thing, or not." I personally think it would be terrible. But I like the Brit writer Leslie Hartley's remark "The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there." That applies to the future as well; so who knows?

I do believe, however, that as we become more and more dependant on complex systems there is increasing liklihood of systems collapse - which would bring de-centralization by default.

[bemildred]

7. Well, nature hates monocultures, complexity offers stability, resilence, redundancy.

So in that sense it's a bad thing to have fewer or one dominant culture. A great deal of knowledge, some of it hard won, is lost too, when a culture dies.

On the other hand, some degree of global governance of human affairs seems indicated if we are to survive. So I suppose it's a matter of balance between global and local interest, and some measure of accountability of the rulers to the ruled. And what have we got to lose? Not much that I can see.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

8. bemildred was my favorite Bat

from the Pogo series. Not on topic, but I had to tell you it is always nice to see the picture of the little guy.

Since we are moving to a global culture, I think it is important that progressives come out with definitions of what it means to have universal justice. To my mind, this means that workers around the world have the same rights to a safe work environment, a living wage, and collective bargaining. Universal justice means sharing of the world's resources so that no one starves and no one has to remain homeless. Universal justice means that people have the right to life and liberty, no matter what their gender or sexual orientation.

[bemildred]

9. Took me a while to dig it up and scan it.

I agree with everything you say. Same rules for everybody, and I DO mean everybody.

[blitzen]

10. His first book, "Social Justice in Islam," is actually quite good...

I teach parts of it to my grad students. He was arguing that the Islamic world didn't need either capitalism or communism, because Islam offered its own self-sufficient ethical system based on social justice. His later work got more and more radical--and his readings of the Qu'ran more skewed--especially after he was betrayed by Nassar, whom he had helped put into power. Nassar executed him in 1966.

By the way, he was a grad student at the University of Northern Colorado in the late 40s.