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Milestones

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This treatis on political Islam is helpful in understanding the mindset of violent Muslim Jihadists in today's world. You may disagree with the logic--or after close study lack thereof, in this book. I wish this volume included a better introduction of who the historical Sayyid Qutb was, it helps put this volume and what it was/is trying to accomplish in its proper context.

Qutb (1906-1966) was an Egyptian novelist and literature teacher who received a western-style education and even earning his Master's Degree in Education in the United States, where he lived from 1948-1950. At least partially due to Qutb's experience living in the United States, he developed an anti-western anti-modernization attitude. While in The United States, Qutb was horrified to witness such lewd events as Church sock-hops, where a female could look a male in the eye and talk to him without fear of having a male relative automatically assume the worst and cut her throat. He wrote:

"They danced to the tunes of the gramophone, and the dance floor was replete with tapping feet, enticing legs, arms wrapped around waists, lips pressed to lips, and chests pressed to chests. The atmosphere was full of desire..."

Whether this is what he actually saw at a church event in late 40's America (sounds more like Woodstock), whether it means Americans were dirty and immoral, or Qutb's own mind simply had a particularely laschivious bent which he deigned to blame other innocent people for, the reader must decide. The fact is that this "immorality" and events similar to it he witnessed in the West, coupled with injustices he saw and experienced in Egypt before and after his sojurn in the U.S. led Qutb to become heavily involved with the conservative Muslim Brotherhood upon his return to Egypt.

After the attempted assasination of Egyptian President Nasser in 1954 by Muslim Brotherhood operatives, a number of Muslim Brotherhood leaders, including Sayyid Qutb, were imprisoned. While in prison Qutb wrote a 30-volume series on his interpretation of the Quran, "In The Shade of the Quran", as well as this book, "Milestones". Milestones is at its core a treatis on Political Islam. If you're wondering how it became vital to many Jihadi factions in the modern age, After Qutb was hanged for subversion in 1966, his brother Muhammed Qutb went to Saudi Arabia, where he taught Islamic Studies. Among his students was Ayman Zawahiri, teacher of Osama Bin Laden.

I found this volume to be full of well-meaning idealism. Qutb desperately wants a just, fair society, for Islam to be THE ultimate and perfect solution to all human problems. With some limitations (namely on women and non-Muslims). He claims to be combating "Jahiliyya", or human ignorance of true religion. Included among the Jahiliyya societies are Communist and Western societies as well as modernized Muslim societies. Qutb it seems wished to turn back the clock and reconstruct an idealized Islamic society gleaned from his interpretation of Quran readings.

Qutb's rationalizations are often circular in nature and hard to follow. It is often a case of 'the Quran says it, it is true!'. Quotes from the Quran compete with a few mentions of long-outdated Western scandals people must seriously research to understand (how irrelevent they were in their time, even moreso today). Little thought is given to obvious contradictions any thinking person would have. For instance while quoting Islam's Prophet Muhammed as having castigated Christians and Jews as idolators who had lost their way:

"Whatever their priests and rabbis call permissible, they accept as permissible; whatever they declare as forbidden , they consider forbidden, and thus they worship them" (page 60)

Somehow, Qutb can quote this absurdity while attempting to justify those who stupidly follow Islamic Mullahs and Imams, blindly obeying their edicts and fatwahs with no critical thought whatsoever! Few are more obedient than fundamentalist Salafi & Wahabbist Muslims--yet Qutb himself didn't draw the same logical conclusion. Namely that fundamentalist Muslims _worship_ and _idolize_ their religious Mullahs and Ayatollahs--not to mention Prophet Muhammed! The whole book is quite NEUROTIC and hypocritical in this way, swaying from one standard for those Qutb opposes, to another for the "REAL" Muslims, whoever they are (Qutb & NOT Allah decides)...On page 61 Qutub says:

"It is not the intention of Islam to force its beliefs on people, but Islam is not merely 'belief'. As we have pointed out, Islam is a delaration of freedom of man from servitude to other men".

Reading Qutb's "Milestones" makes it very clear thoughout that this brand of Islam is _all about_ making men submit to _other men_ (Specific Hardcore Fundamentalist Salafi or Wahabbi Muslims) who are justifying themselves by seeing who can say God's name the most, Martyr the most poor & desparate members of their society, and kill the most of the creator's creations who are unlike them in belief. They are men who, unlike the rest of us peons, think they have the "One Truth". Or so they tell the rest of us. Qutb also justifies the use of violence and conquest in his chapter on "Jihad in the Cause of God", speaking of Jihad as "...the movement for freeing mankind and demolishing the obstacles which prevent mankind from attaining this freedom" (65).

Like many leaders in the Islamic world today Qutb constantly mixes the terms "submission" and "freedom". This is the most RIDICULOUS contradiction found throughout!!! Qutb sums up his school of thought with a quote from Sura 3:78 of the Quran on page 117: "In the world there is only one party of God: all others are parties of Satan and rebellion. Those who believe fight in the cause of God, and those who disbelieve fight in the cause of rebellion. Then fight the allies of Satan...".

According to Qutb, we are "free" to _submit_...or face the consequences! This is the "freedom" of Islamic extremism. What do YOU choose?

"Milestones" is a valuable primary source for the study of Islamic fundamentalism in the 20th century. Qutb's arguments present the flaws and vigor of extremist thinking: his ideal society is poorly delineated, and his desire for "freedom" clashes sharply with his desire to violently silence those who disagree with him. Furthermore, Qutb's notions of the inherent corruption and bankruptcy of man never manage to escape the reality that even in a "divinely ordained" society, the agents and authorities of its execution wil always be human beings.

Milestones has received more attention in the wake of 9.11, as many point to Qutb's works and ideas as the birth of modern Islamist terrorism.

I read this book a year ago, but the general theme is still with me. And with this in mind, I admit confusion. The tone is not nearly as violent as it has been portrayed in some quarters. I'd say Milestones is more revolutionary in thought, rather than violence. For Qutb, Islam is a beautiful thing that has been hijacked from within, and misunderstood from the outside. And in some ways, I can't help but think he's right.

While one can perceive his ideas a certain way that will lead to violent actions, there is still positivity to be taken from this tome. As you read it, you almost get caught up in the idea of a nationless world, where competition and hierarchy gives way to true brotherhood. Unfortunately, that brotherhood for Qutb comes from Islam. The underlying force of most religions seems to be to conquer the world, and this is a problem.

Yet, Qutb strikes me as one who had more love than hate in his heart. Milestones captures this. While I may disagree with his take on his religion, or Islam in general, I can understand his feeling that Islam has become something of a tool to be used against mankind. And while the tone can be abrasive at times, I don't think this is a manifesto for terrorists, as Qutb is as concerned with spreading knowledge as he is with picking up a sword.

In today's world, Milestones is an important document to understanding the essence of Islam. True devotees of this religion live in a world that us Westerners can't fully relate to. And I don't mean geographically so much as I mean culturally. We are so used to heirarchy and competition. We are used to bosses and leaders and kings and queens and bishops and popes and generals that is almost impossible to imagine a world where we are all indeed truly equal before the eyes of a god in the sky. Even for those who are not "religious," much can be gleamed from those whose path has included faith in religion. While Qutb's vision is ultimately unrealistic and perhaps a bit dangerous, it is nonetheless fascinating and potentially inspiring in a way that you wouldn't think of.

If you want to understand the theology of radical, Sunni Islamic thought, then this book is a short read in such thinking. Qutb, an Egyptian educator who visited the United States and has influenced a number of radicals, has a very simple thesis. He believed that Islam is the one and true religion, and that all other societies (the democratic West, the formerly Marxist Russia) and religions (Christians or Jews included) are basically in the state if jahiliyyah, or pre-Islamic ignorance. Only a true group of believing Muslims will be able to restore the freedom and humanity to mankind, because that is what Qutb thought his version of Islam is all about: restoring freedom and the truth to Islam. Qutb fought for his beliefs upon his return to Egypt, and was executed for them. Having said that, the "spiritual reality" of Qutb's writings is nothing further from truth. Qutb's ideas are a recipe for intolerant religion, a form of zero-sum thinking in which Muslim culture alone is based in truth and purity, and all other cultures are either to be tolerated by peace treaty, or ultimately subverted and conquered by "Islamic truth." Mohandas Gandhi was a true statesman of tolerant, inclusive religion for the modern age - Qutb is his exact opposite. So yes, if you want to be schooled in the basics of Sunni radicalism, this is a light and effective introduction. If you are looking for spiritual truth, don't of course bother with this book.

Sayyid Qutb is easily one of the major architects and "strategists" of contemporary Islamic revival. Along with Maulana Maududi, the founder of Jamaat-e-Islami, the revivalist movement in South Asia, and Imam Khomeini, the leader of Iran's Islamic revolution, he gave shape to the ideas and the worldview that has mobilized and motivated millions of Muslims from Malaysia to Michigan to strive to reintroduce Islamic practices in their lives and alter social and political institutions so that they reflect Islamic principles. Milestones was written to educate and motivate the potential vanguard of the re-Islamization movement.

Qutb, like most contemporary mujaddids, Islamic revivalists, was distressed with the growing distance between Islamic values, institutions and practices and the emerging postcolonial Muslim societies, specially in his native Egypt. In Milestones, he sought to answer some of the fundamental questions such as why Islam needs to be revived? why no other way of life is adequate? What is the true essence of an Islamic identity and an Islamic existence (he uses the term "concept" to signify these two elements)? How was Islam established by the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and his companions? Can the same method, which was undoubtedly divine in its conception be replicated again? Qutb is particularly concerned with this issue of "Islamic methodology". He believes that Islamic values and the manner in which they are to be realized (read as were realized by Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and his glorious companions) both together constitute the faith of Islam.

Relying entirely on the Quran, Qutb uses the concepts of jahiliyya, Islamic concept, Islamic methodology, jihad and Allah's sovereignty, to dilineate the strategy by which Muslims would:

1. realize the true significance and implications of La-ilaha-illallah, having faith in the exclusive unity of Allah (tawhid).

2. understand the imperfections, injustices and moral poverty of jahiliyya.

3. empower themselves by realising the meaning of ashhadu-anna-muhammadur-rasoolullah (bearing witness that Muhammad is Allah's messenger) -- internalizing his method of dawah and submitting to the will and laws of Allah.

4. through this Islamic methodology, as articulated in the Quran and manifested in the practices of Prophet Muhammad, which does not separate theory from practice, and discourse from action, establish an Islamic order. The Islamic order, which is Allah's most significant gift to the entire humanity.

5. The most remarkable aspect of Qutb's book is his insistance on an approach in "stages" and the repeated assertion that the need for implementing Islamic law would not arise until every member of the community had completely submitted to the sovereignty of Allah and by that agreed to live under Allah's laws. Laws would then be framed merely to serve the needs of this "living community of Islam". A far cry from the perception that a handful of Islamists are out to impose an essentialized shariah on all Muslims and non-Muslims living in Muslim lands.

Jahiliyya, as used in the traditional Islamic sense suggests ignorence in the ways of God. However, Qutb gives an interesting twist to the idea of jahiliyya. Jahiliyya for Qutb is the sovereignty of man over man. Socio-political orders where men have power over other men, to institute legislation and determine principles of right and wrong conduct. The Quran is explicit in postulating Islam as the antithesis of jahiliyya. Qutb, by redefining jahiliyya to encompass modern secular systems of political organization, is basically decreeing that all existing systems are unacceptable and even antithetical to the spirit of Islam. Thus the dichotomy, Islam and jahiliyya includes both the Islamic and the anthropocentric way of doing things, and Islamic regimes and the existing unIslamic regimes in Muslim lands. A clever ploy that uses Islamic reasoning to indirectly condemn contemporary political organizations as antithetical to Islam.

His notion of the sovereignty of Allah as opposed to the sovereignty of man is basically a restating of the meaning of Islamic faith -- submission to the will of God. It clearly suggests, that any principle of organization that is not premised on God's supreme and sole prerogative as a legislative source, is shirk. Shirk, in Islam is the only unforgivable sin. It means to associate other Gods with Allah thereby denying the fundamental article of faith, lailaha illalah, there is no deity but Allah. He also uses it to declare the "universal declaration of the freedom of man on earth from a every authority except Allah" (p. 48). I have already discussed his idea of the Islamic concept which basically emphasizes the inseparability of knowledge and practice. It is an important insight which means that one cannot really understand Islam fully unless one is also practicing it. Islamic methodology is his interpretation of how Prophet Muhammad realized the Islamic ideal. He believes that any other way of approaching Islamization is destined to fail.

His understanding of the obligation of jihad -- struggle in the path of Allah -- is also a significant departure from traditional understanding. He understands jihad as taking many different forms depending upon the stage of development of the Muslim community. Thus at the earliest stage it implies struggling to assert the principle of tawhid against all odds. Further along the journey of Islamization it means defending the communities right to "freely practice Islamic beliefs" even if it entails the use of arms. He challenges the "defensive" constitution of the duty of jihad and argues that jihad is a mandatory proactive activity that seeks to establish Allah's sovereignty on earth. He is however careful to emphasize that it does not necessarily mean the use of violence, it includes preaching use of service and wealth in the way of Allah. He is also careful to remind his readers that there is no compulsion in Islam. But if someone has chosen to live by it then no one has the right to prevent him from doing so. Jihad, for Qutb is both, the defense of the right to believe and live by Islam and also the struggle to establish Allah's sovereignty. Qutb, true to his preachings died for the values he espoused. He was sentenced to death and hanged by a military court established by Nasser. I think, and Qutb would agree, writing Milestones was his jihad against the jahiliyya that he saw all around him.

Perhaps the most well known book of modern political Islam in recent year new dimensions have been added to it due to the events of 9/11 and many linking the book to the Al-Qaeda leader Bin Laden. Sadly, much sensationalism has overshadowed any hope of examining the book itself and the man who wrote it.

Qutb in fact had little if any connection with the Wahhabi Saudi movement to which Bin Laden belongs, the books of Qutb are considered 'Bida' (an innovation) by Wahhabis and are by and large banned in the Gulf states. Qutb rather is a 'scholar' of political Islam, a system that ranges from electoral participation to political terrorism to retreating from city life to start a new life and system.

In order to examine why Qutb came to the conclusions in his book you need to look at the wider context in which he lived. The trauma of colonialism, the betrayal of the Nassirsit revolutionaries, the disaster of the Arab-Israeli war, the cold war and the social alienation of traditional societies (which much of Egypt in Qutbs time was) from the modern world.

When Qutb spoke out against corruption of political officials he struck a chord with the Arab youth who had came from the provincial towns and major cities alike and saw for themselves the nepotism that ruled political and social life. When he spoke out against the moral corruption again, for a society used to a more conservative way of life the excess as they saw of the West in particular (It is doubtful they would have had such a wide knowledge of the former Eastern block) When he spoke out against the Mosque and those that preached but did not practice he again caught the ear of the youth who saw themselves as distant from the previous generation who followed the local Sheikh, attended the Mawlid. Taha Hussain himself (though taking an entirely different path) Spoke out against the corrupting local Sheikh, the superstitions of the ordinary people. For Hussain the cure was an adoption of the West while maintaining Egyptian values (to some extent) For Qutb, it was a return to an idealistic image of early Islam that probably never existed.

While Al-Qaida may have taken some indirect influence from Qutb (Via Jama Islamiyya) It is groups like Hamas that are really the children of Qutb and while a combination of poverty, social frustration, political opertunism and an opponent as ruthless as they will always encourage new members to hopelessly join and ruin themselves and others in defiance of their own religious text, social morals, and logic Qutbs teachings will live on.

Qutb needs to be examined. Not with hysterical reaction almost as fanatical as some of the words within his books but rather examined in order to find a cure to the social ill that is poisoning the Middle East.

By now most of you have heard about Sayyid Qutb's influence on Osama bin Laden, and it was that connection which I hoped to investigate by reading Milestones. In short, Qutb preaches - a term that accurately captures the style of the book as it is basically a collection of simple themes repeated often - that because a true (i.e. one that follows sharia) Islamic society no longer exists and cannot exist in the presence of "worldly influences", all those who practice Islam should assist in bringing it about by any means necessary.

Qutb's notion of an ideal Islamic state one might characterize as anarcho-Islam, as he condemns the "rule of men over men", which he believes is in conflict with the first tenet of Islam, "there is no deity except God." He makes no distinction between temporal and spiritual lordship. Beyond that, he doesn't specify the exact form an Islamic society would take, other than its' compliance to Quranic principles. Probably the closest analog with which a Westerner might be familiar is the Millennial Reign disclosed in Revelations, a favorite book of Christian fundamentalists.

And in Milestones we find other fundamentalist parallels. Qutb uses the First Generation as a model for how Muslims should behave, while we in America have similar examples in Christianity (the Pentacostals and early Christian martyrs such as Stephen) and in secular politics (the near-deified "Founding Fathers" or the more politically correct term "Framers"). The method of their lives are similar as well - they began only with faith and little knowledge, revealed to them as God saw fit, a depiction Qutb spends considerable time justifying - contrasted with what he believes is the modern tendency of Muslims to indulge in a superficial piety based on analysis and discussion. And it's the watering down of the faith that has left Islam weak before the iniquity of "The World", which Qutb calls Jahiliyyah.

Some surprises I found in Milestones include Qutb's grudging admiration for the West's technical progress -- where he refers to the West as "Europe", presumably because he wishes to distinguish Enlightenment Europe from the American-dominated Modern Western Civilization - and his repeated emphasis as to which bodies of knowledge fall under Quranic scope (e.g. ethics, politics) and which do not (e.g. physics, mathematics, engineering). Qutb's motives are not clear on the distinction - is he a "strict constructionist" of the Quran, or does he recognize the "hard sciences" as a necessary source of power? Maybe both...

And while it would be easy for one to interpret his writings as a call to bring "scorched earth" to the heathen, Qutb outlines conditions for co-existence with "worldly" societies, albeit stringent and probably grudgingly given conditions. But at least Qutb had some capacity for realpolitik -- which may be the most striking similarity between him and the fundamentalists who exert influence in the USA.

The most disturbing part for me was Qutb's overindulgence in moral superiority - a trait not uncommon among believers of any religion or ideology, especially fundamentalists - but his exposition seems especially crass.

Actually, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood was Hassan al-Banna, in 1928. Sayyid Qutb was one of the Brotherhood's most widely known thinkers in the 50's and 60's, but he was not the founder.

This is a bit confusing, shall I give this book one star because it is foolish, violent and intolerable of people who does not share the same conviction of the author. Or shall I give it five stars because this is the most important text for radical Islam.
If you want to know how radical Muslims thinks, you have to read this book.

One could easily argue that Sayyid Qutb's 1950s era treatise "Milestones" is the most influential and historically far-reaching Islamic text written in the past century. Qutb's work - and "Milestones" above all else - created the philosophical foundation upon which Al Qaeda and other Islamic extremist groups have been built. For anyone looking to gain a deeper understanding of what motivates relatively well-educated, affluent and presumably sane young men to fly passenger jets into skyscrapers there is no better place to begin than here.

Milestones is meant to a be a handbook for a vanguard of "true Muslims" ready and willing to fulfill God's plan for humanity - a plan that was clearly elucidated and even demonstrated in Medina under Mohammed in the late seventh century. Qutb forcefully argues that this first generation of Muslims in Medina was also the last generation of true and pure Muslims. "They [the first generations of Muslims at Medina] became the bearers of this trust when no promise was made to them of worldly benefits which they could have demanded, nor were there sights fixed on acquiring such benefits. They were dedicated servants of God from the day they knew of no reward except his pleasure."

Qutb calls for a new generation of Muslims willing to sacrifice worldly pleasures, throw off loyalty and commitment to their families and nations, and perhaps give their lives to join a new generation of Muslims modeled on those who lived with Mohammed. A critical objective to achieving God"s Will is to remove all social, economic and political structures that impose the rule of one man over another and thus usurps God's sole and unabridgable authority to sovereignty over mankind. The end game is not to forcibly convert humanity to Islam, although it is difficult to imagine any other way for the vanguard to complete their mission.

This extended quote from Milestones is illuminating:

"It is not the intention of Islam to force its beliefs on people, but Islam is not merely 'belief'...Islam is a declaration of the freedom of man from servitude to other men. Thus it strives from the beginning to abolish all those systems and governments which are based on the rule of man over man and the servitude of one human being to another. When Islam releases people from this political pressure and presents to them its spiritual message, appealing to their reason, it gives them complete freedom to accept or not to accept its belief. However, this freedom does not mean that they can make their desires their gods, or that they can choose to remain in the servitude of other human beings, making some men lords over others. Whatever system is to be established in the world ought to be established on the authority of God, deriving its laws from Him alone. Then every individual is free, under the protection of this universal system, to adopt any belief he wishes to adopt."

In other words, you don't have to convert to Islam, but Sharia law must be imposed and obeyed on earth and you cannot worship other gods nor submit to the authority of any government or other social, religious or political institution. Other than that, you're free to believe and behave however you want.

In closing, this is a highly informative and eye-opening read. The text is painfully repetitive and the message is obviously assertive and didactic. Nevertheless, for anyone who believes that Bin Laden and his fellow travelers are motivated exclusively or even mainly by US foreign policy in the Middle East ought to read this book.