Qutbism
Qutbism is an ideology that advocates Islamic extremist violence in order to establish an Islamic government, in addition to promoting offensive Jihad. Qutbism has been characterized as an Islamofascist and Islamic terrorist ideology. Qutbism is also an exonym that refers to the Sunni Islamist beliefs and ideology of Sayyid Qutb, a leading Islamist revolutionary of the Muslim Brotherhood who was executed by the Egyptian government of Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1966. Sayyid Qutb's ideology was influenced by the doctrines of earlier Islamists like Hasan al-Banna and Maududi.
Sayyid Qutb's treatises deeply influenced numerous jihadist ideologues and organizations across the Muslim world. Qutbism has gained prominence due to its influence on notable Jihadist figures of contemporary era such as Abdullah Azzam, Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and Saif al-Adel. Its ideas have also been adopted by the Salafi-jihadist terrorist organization Islamic State. It was one inspiration that influenced Ruhollah Khomeini in the development of his own ideology, Khomeinism.
Qutbist literature has been a major source of influence on numerous jihadist movements and organizations that have emerged since the 1970s. These include the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, al-Jama'ah al-Islamiyya, al-Takfir wal-Hijra, the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, al-Qaeda, al-Nusra Front, and the Islamic State, and others that have sought to implement their strategy of waging offensive Jihad.
Terminology
While adherents of Qutbism are referred to as Qutbists or Qutbiyyun, they rarely refer to themselves with these names ; the name was first and still is used by the sect's opponents.Tenets
The main tenet of the Qutbist ideology is that modern Muslims abandoned true Islam centuries ago, having instead reverted to jahiliyyah. Adherents believe that Islam must be re-established by Qutb's followers.Qutb outlined his religious and political ideas in his book Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq. Important principles of Qutbism include:
- Adherence to Sharia as sacred law accessible to humans, without which Islam cannot exist
- Adherence to Sharia as a complete way of life that will bring not only justice, but peace, personal serenity, scientific discovery, complete freedom from servitude, and other benefits;
- Avoidance of Western and non-Islamic "evil and corruption," including socialism, nationalism and consumerist capitalism.
- Vigilance against Western and Jewish conspiracies against Islam;
- A two-pronged attack of
- *preaching to convert and,
- *jihad to forcibly eliminate the "structures" of Jahiliyya;
- Offensive Jihad to eliminate Jahiliyya not only from the Islamic homeland but from the face of the Earth, seeing it as mutually exclusive with true Islam.
Takfirism
Because of these serious consequences, Muslims have traditionally been reluctant to practice takfir, that is, to pronounce professed Muslims as unbelievers, even when in violation of Islamic law. This prospect of fitna, 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. Due in part to this teaching, Qutb's ideology remains controversial among Muslims.
It is unclear whether Qutb's proclamation of jahiliyyah was meant to apply the global Muslim community or to only Muslim governments.
In the 1980s and 1990s, a series of terrorist attacks in Egypt were committed by Islamic extremists believed to be influenced by Qutb. Victims included Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, head of the counter-terrorism police Major General Raouf Khayrat, parliamentary speaker Rifaat el-Mahgoub, dozens of European tourists and Egyptian bystanders, and over one hundred Egyptian police officers. Qutb's takfir against the Egyptian government, which he believed to be irredeemably evil, was a primary motivation for the attacks. Other factors included frustration with Egypt's economic stagnation and rage over President Sadat's policy of reconciliation with Israel.
History
Spread of Qutb's ideas
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 to Saudi Arabia along with fellow members of the Muslim Brotherhood. There, he became a professor of Islamic Studies and edited, published and promoted his brother Sayyid's works.One of Qutb's key proponents was one of his students, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, who went on to become a member of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and later a mentor of Osama bin Laden and a leading member of al-Qaeda. 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. Zawahiri paid homage to Qutb in his work Knights under the Prophet's Banner.
Qutbism was propagated by Abdullah Azzam during the Afghan-Soviet War. As the Muslim jihad volunteers from around the world exchanged religious ideas, Qutbism merged with Salafism and Wahhabism, culminating in the formation of Salafi jihadism. Abdullah Azzam was a mentor of bin Laden as well.
Osama bin Laden reportedly regularly attended weekly public lectures by Muhammad Qutb at King Abdulaziz University, and to have read and been deeply influenced by Sayyid Qutb.
The Yemeni Al-Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki also cited Qutb's writings as formative to his ideology.
Many Islamic extremists consider him a father of the movement. Ayman al-Zawahiri, former leader of Al-Qaeda, asserted that Qutb's execution lit "the jihadist fire", and reshaped the direction of the Islamist movement by convincing them that the takfir against Muslim governments made them important targets.
Backlash
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 book Du'ah, la Qudah . The book, written by Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Hassan al-Hudaybi, attacked the idea of Takfir of other Muslims, though it was ostensibly intended as a criticism of Mawdudi.Views
Science and learning
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. 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.
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 the universe, the origin of the life of man... philosophy, comparative religion... sociology... Darwinist biology.
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.
On philosophy and kalam
Qutb also strongly opposed Falsafa and Ilm al-Kalam, which he denounced as deviations which undermined the original Islamic creed because they were based on Aristotelian logic. He denounced these disciplines as alien to Islamic traditions and called for their abandonment in favor of a literalist interpretation of Islamic scriptures.Sharia and governance
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 but are operative even in this world".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.
In other works Qutb describes the ruler of the Islamic state, as a man 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".
Conspiracy theories
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.Non-Muslims
Qutbisms's teachings on non-Muslims gained attention after the September 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. 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.Qutb believed Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya's teachings that the realm outside of Muslim lands was Dar al-Harb, and had to be subjugated by Muslims. Subjugation would actually be "liberation" however, because it "would free men from all authority except that of God." However, this view also necessitates that non-Muslims not be allowed to make law or choose representatives, lest they disobey Islamic law.