Milestones

Rating:
Summary: Correction to previous review
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: an American take on this controversial book
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Extremist ideologue's bankrupt
Review: Qutb's elevation of offensive jihad to and above the five pillars of Islam, his impossible idea of banishing the 'kingdom of man' (even in an Islamic society, people ultimately have to make decisions), and his rabid anti-Semitism make it no wonder that radicals and terrorists found inspiration in his intolerant views. This book is the work of a sad man, wallowing in prison, unable to cope with the modern world, and longing for some golden age of purity which never existed.

Rating:
Summary: an American take on this controversial book
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Informative from a sociological perspective, but very flawed
Review: This is a valuable primary source in the study of Islamic fundamentalism in the 20th century. Nevertheless, Qutb's arguments are deeply flawed and his ideal society poorly delineated and impossible to create. Moreover, his advocacy of violence should be deeply disturbing to those who would subscribe to the notion of civil discourse. Qutb's (and this he shares with other religious fundamentalists) notions of the inherent corruption and bankruptcy of man never manages to escape the contradiction that even in a "divinely ordained" society, the agents and authorities of its execution wil always be human beings.