The Posthumous Impact of Sayyid Qutb (1906–1966) on Ayman Al-Zawahiri and Global Jihadists of Al-Qa'eda

Abstract

Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Vol. 43, No.2, Winter 2020 The Posthumous Impact of Sayyid Qutb (1906–1966) on Ayman Al-Zawahiri and Global Jihadists of Al-Qa‘eda Adnan A. Musallam* Introduction Islam is an Arabic word which means submission and obedience to Allah (God). More than a billion and a half persons or a fifth of mankind are Muslims. Unlike the religion of Islam, the creed and the basic set of beliefs, Islamism (Islamic fundamentalism or political Islam) is a political ideology, which insists that Islam is a way of life, which includes the religious, political, economic, social, and all other spheres of life. Islamism advocates a Shari‘ah (Islamic code) based society to replace the un-Islamic secular oriented governments and societies. On the other hand radical and revolutionary Islamism and global jihadism advocate the overthrow of infidel secular regimes by force if necessary and the establishment of Shari‘ah based Islamic societies throughout the world. Physician Ayman Al-Zawahiri, leader of Al-Qa‘eda symbolizes the radical trend in Islamism / global jihadism. The word jihad, which is derived from the trilateral Arabic root jhd (to strive, to endeavor, to exert oneself) and the verb jahada (to fight for a cause, or to wage holy war against infidels) means exertion of one’s power in Allah’s path, that is, to spread the belief in Allah and to make his word supreme over the world. Jihad by heart is concerned with combating the devil and evil things and was regarded by The Prophet Muhammad as the 1 Adnan A. Musallam earned his PhD from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. His interest is Contemporary Arabic/Islamic Thought; Contemporary History of the Arab World and the Middle East; and Contemporary Arabic Literature. He is associate professor of history at Bethlehem University, Palestine and he is an active member of AlLiqa ’s Board of Trustees. 2 “greater jihad.”1 Whereas “jihad” is regarded by most Muslim jurists as a collective duty (Fard Kifaya) when the Muslim community and the faith are subject to aggression, Sayyid Qutb and Jihadist Islamists disagree. They insist that jihad is an individual obligation (Fard ‘Ayn) as well as a collective duty and the Six Pillar of Islam. The Five Pillars of Islam which are deeply held by all Muslims include 1) The Shahada 2) Daily Prayer—Salat, 3) Alms giving—Zakat 4) Fasting during Ramadan, and 5) Hajj—Pilgrimage to Mecca. Jihad the Sixth Pillar, is a central theme of ‘Abd al-Salam Faraj’s tract AlFarida al-Gha‘ibah (The Forgotten Pillar) which served as a guide to al-Jihad group in Egypt. The same group led by Faraj, Khaled Islamboli and others, carried out the assassination of President Anwar al-Sadat of Egypt in October 1981.2 The Emergence of the Islamist Sayyid Qutb The period, from 1919 to 1952 in Egypt is the formative stage of Sayyid Qutb’s life and thought and his emergence as an independent Islamist in the late 1940s. It is a period of transition from tradition to modernity. It is a colorful period full of vitality and contradictions. It is also the formative stage for contemporary thought, literature, theatre and cinema, among other things, in modern Egypt.3 Sayyid Qutb (1906–1966), a secular man of letters in 1930s and 1940s became an Islamist in the late 1940s. It was during World War II that drastic changes took place in his outlook including his focus on Qur’anic studies. The Qur’an became a refuge for his personal needs and for answers to the ills of his society. As a result, he forsook literature permanently for the Islamic cause and the Islamic way of life. Qutb’s stay in the United States, 1948–1950, reinforced his deeply held belief that Islam is man’s only valid salvation from the abyss of Godless materialism of both capitalism and communism. Qutb’s active opposition to the secular policies 1 See for example, Majid Khadduri, War and Peace in the Law of Islam, Baltimore, John Hopkins University Press 1955, pp. 55-56, 60; and see Kenneth Church, “Jihad”, in Collateral Language, edited by John...