{"id":468,"date":"2006-08-22T03:22:52","date_gmt":"2006-08-22T03:22:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/s265039441.onlinehome.us\/philpaine\/?p=468"},"modified":"2018-08-21T23:38:30","modified_gmt":"2018-08-22T03:38:30","slug":"tuesday-august-22-2006-the-ideology-of-qutb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=468","title":{"rendered":"Tuesday, August 22, 2006 \u2014 The Ideology of Qutb"},"content":{"rendered":"

I just fin\u00adished read\u00ading Sayyid Qutb\u2019s Ma\u2019al\u00adim fi-l-Tariq<\/em> [\u201cMile\u00adstones\u201d]. This book is not avail\u00adable in my pub\u00adlic library sys\u00adtem. Since it bears the same rela\u00adtion\u00adship to the rise of Islamist total\u00adi\u00adtar\u00adi\u00adan\u00adism as Mein Kampf and The Com\u00admu\u00adnist Man\u00adi\u00adfesto do to Euro\u00adpean total\u00adi\u00adtar\u00adi\u00adan\u00adism, you would think it would be smart for our libraries to have it. You can\u00adnot resist a move\u00adment of oppres\u00adsion and aggres\u00adsion by know\u00ading noth\u00ading about it.  Mile\u00adstones<\/em> is the ide\u00ado\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal entry-point by which bored, spoilt-brat teenagers in Mus\u00adlim fam\u00adi\u00adlies are drawn into the move\u00adment and con\u00advert\u00aded into zealots for death and destruc\u00adtion. It should be read, grasped, and under\u00adstood by sane peo\u00adple, so that its insan\u00adi\u00adty can be countered.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first thing one notices about Qutb\u2019s ide\u00ado\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal thought is how lit\u00adtle it has to do with tra\u00addi\u00adtions of Islam, or the needs of peo\u00adple in Islam\u00adic coun\u00adtries. It is pro\u00adfound\u00adly Euro\u00adpean in inspi\u00adra\u00adtion, and its chief mod\u00adels are Hitler, Marx and Lenin. All the ele\u00adments are there: the jus\u00adti\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtion of geno\u00adcide, the his\u00adtor\u00adi\u00adcal deter\u00admin\u00adism, the elit\u00adism mas\u00adquerad\u00ading as egal\u00adi\u00adtar\u00adi\u00adan\u00adism, the eth\u00adnic scape\u00adgoats, the rabid hatred of the indi\u00advid\u00adual and of democ\u00adra\u00adcy, the reduc\u00adtion of human beings to class\u00ades and castes to be dis\u00adposed of by meta\u00adphys\u00adi\u00adcal for\u00admu\u00adlae, the rejec\u00adtion of log\u00adic for dialec\u00adtic mys\u00adti\u00adcism. Lenin is by far the strongest influ\u00adence. Whole pas\u00adsages look like they were sim\u00adply copied out from his works and then a pseu\u00addo-Islam\u00adic ter\u00admi\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy insert\u00aded, \u201crev\u00ado\u00adlu\u00adtion\u00adary van\u00adguard\u201d becom\u00ading \u201cIslam\u00adic van\u00adguard\u201d, and so on. And just as the Nation\u00adal Social\u00adist and Com\u00admu\u00adnist par\u00adties made war on the rea\u00adson\u00ading mind and glo\u00adri\u00adfied mind\u00adless obe\u00addi\u00adence, so does Mile\u00adstones<\/em>. As Marx\u00adist mum\u00adbo-jum\u00adbo jus\u00adti\u00adfied the telling of any lie, the betray\u00adal of any val\u00adue, the com\u00admit\u00adment of any atroc\u00adi\u00adty, in the name of an implaca\u00adble des\u00adtiny, so too, does Mile\u00adstones<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

This kind of influ\u00adence is per\u00adfect\u00adly under\u00adstand\u00adable. Qutb was not some remote moun\u00adtain mufti. He was a priv\u00adi\u00adleged urban Egypt\u00adian who received a sec\u00adu\u00adlar, Euro\u00adpean-style edu\u00adca\u00adtion. He did post-grad\u00adu\u00adate work in Col\u00adorado, where he resent\u00aded the plea\u00adsure that Amer\u00adi\u00adcans took in their lawns as \u201cmate\u00adri\u00adal\u00adism\u201d, and denounced the \u201cimmoral\u00adi\u00adty\u201d of high school dances. The inde\u00adpen\u00addence of women drove him to a sput\u00adter\u00ading fury. Fam\u00adi\u00adly life, which is the foun\u00adda\u00adtion of tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal Islam, hor\u00adri\u00adfied him. One finds in him the usu\u00adal neu\u00adrot\u00adic sex\u00adu\u00adal pruri\u00adence of the ide\u00ado\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal fanat\u00adic: \u201c.\u2026..the Amer\u00adi\u00adcan girl is well acquaint\u00aded with her body\u2019s seduc\u00adtive capac\u00adi\u00adty. She knows it lies in the face, and in expres\u00adsive eyes, and thirsty lips. She knows seduc\u00adtive\u00adness lies in the round breasts, the full but\u00adtocks, and in the shape\u00adly thighs, sleek legs \u2014 and she shows all this and does not hide it<\/em>.\u201d [Qutb, Amri\u00adka allati Ra\u2019ay\u00adtu<\/em> (Amer\u00adi\u00adca that I Saw)] \u201cJazz is his<\/em> [the Amer\u00adi\u00adcan\u2019s] pre\u00adferred music, and it is cre\u00adat\u00aded by Negroes to sat\u00adis\u00adfy their love of noise and to whet their sex\u00adu\u00adal desires \u2026<\/em>\u201d [John Calvert, \u201cSayyid Qut\u00adb\u2019s Amer\u00adi\u00adcan Expe\u00adri\u00adence\u201d in Islam and Chris\u00adt\u00adian-Mus\u00adlim Rela\u00adtions<\/em>]. Qtub would fit more into the Berlin of a Her\u00admann Hesse nov\u00adel than into any Arab souk.<\/span><\/p>\n

Qutb was by no means alone. In the 1920\u2019s and 1930\u2019s, the Mus\u00adlim Broth\u00ader\u00adhood and oth\u00ader pre\u00adcur\u00adsors of today\u2019s jihadist move\u00adment were pro\u00adfound\u00adly influ\u00adenced by Marx\u00adism and Nazism. Before WWII<\/span>, Hitler was the greater influ\u00adence, but with his defeat, Com\u00admu\u00adnism became the prin\u00adci\u00adpal inspi\u00adra\u00adtion. In fact, Qutb him\u00adself was a del\u00ade\u00adgate to the Com\u00admu\u00adnist Inter\u00adna\u00adtion\u00adal, its prin\u00adci\u00adple liai\u00adson with the Mus\u00adlim Broth\u00ader\u00adhood. [R. R. Reil\u00adly, The Roots of Islamist Ide\u00adol\u00ado\u00adgy<\/em>]<\/span><\/p>\n

Euro\u00adpean as Qutb\u2019s inspi\u00adra\u00adtion might be, it is not with\u00adout some Islam\u00adic roots. In the ear\u00adly Mid\u00addle Ages, Islam was the apex of human civ\u00adi\u00adliza\u00adtion, a foun\u00adtain\u00adhead of sci\u00adence, math\u00ade\u00admat\u00adics, art, tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy, lit\u00ader\u00ada\u00adture, music and phi\u00adlos\u00ado\u00adphy. All of these things depend\u00aded on the assump\u00adtion that there was a fun\u00adda\u00admen\u00adtal har\u00admo\u00adny between rea\u00adson and Islam. It was the accep\u00adtance of this har\u00admo\u00adny, from the inspi\u00adra\u00adtion of Mus\u00adlim philoso\u00adphers, that allowed Chris\u00adtian\u00adi\u00adty to raise itself out of prim\u00adi\u00adtive squalor. Unfor\u00adtu\u00adnate\u00adly, the hand that lit another\u2019s torch extin\u00adguished its own. As well as the ratio\u00adnal\u00adism of the great Mus\u00adlim philoso\u00adphers and sci\u00aden\u00adtists, there were strains (as there were in Chris\u00adtian\u00adi\u00adty) of hos\u00adtil\u00adi\u00adty to ratio\u00adnal thought. Among them was the Asharite move\u00adment, which sought \u201cto free God\u2019s sav\u00ading pow\u00ader from the shack\u00adles of causal\u00adi\u00adty\u201d [Muhammed Khair]. The turn\u00ading point, where irra\u00adtional\u00adi\u00adty got the upper hand, prob\u00ada\u00adbly came in 1192, with the burn\u00ading of the great library of Cor\u00addo\u00adba, which held more books than exist\u00aded in all of Europe. After this, Islam\u00adic civ\u00adi\u00adliza\u00adtion went into steady decline, and the Mid\u00addle East slipped into back\u00adward\u00adness and pover\u00adty. Sub\u00adse\u00adquent flour\u00adish\u00ades of Islam\u00adic cul\u00adture appeared on the fringes, out\u00adside the Ara\u00adbic-speak\u00ading core, such as Moghul India.<\/span><\/p>\n

Qutb draws on the Asharite tra\u00addi\u00adtion, as well as on his Marx\u00adist and Nazi sources. But today\u2019s total\u00adi\u00adtar\u00adi\u00adan Islamism is not an attempt to restore the glo\u00adries of ear\u00adly Islam. Far from it \u2014 it draws its inspi\u00adra\u00adtion from the devi\u00ada\u00adtions from clas\u00adsi\u00adcal Islam that destroyed those glo\u00adries. Instead, it is an attempt to restore the vicious, cut-throat world of intel\u00adlec\u00adtu\u00adal Cen\u00adtral Europe in the 1930\u2019s, with a cos\u00adtume show of thaubs and beards and burkas past\u00aded onto it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not that it ulti\u00admate\u00adly mat\u00adters whether Qutb cribbed his work form Euro\u00adpean or Islam\u00adic sources. All of these var\u00adi\u00adous irra\u00adtional move\u00adments are in essen\u00adtial har\u00admo\u00adny. The ide\u00adol\u00ado\u00adgy of Unrea\u00adson, the ide\u00adol\u00ado\u00adgy that reduces human beings to cat\u00adtle \u2014 to be herd\u00aded, milked, and slaugh\u00adtered \u2014 cross\u00ades all geo\u00adgraph\u00adi\u00adcal, cul\u00adtur\u00adal and reli\u00adgious bound\u00adaries. It has a uni\u00adty and sim\u00adplic\u00adi\u00adty which makes it end\u00adless\u00adly adapt\u00adable, what\u00adev\u00ader its flags and anthems might be. Its prac\u00adti\u00adtion\u00aders have lit\u00adtle dif\u00adfi\u00adcul\u00adty scoot\u00ading from one flag to anoth\u00ader, as long as the irra\u00adtional sub\u00adstance remains the same. Thus, when a Pak\u00adistani Imam instruct\u00aded physi\u00adcists that they could not use the prin\u00adci\u00adple of cause and effect in their work, he was walk\u00ading in lock\u00adstep with the Com\u00admu\u00adnist Par\u00adty send\u00ading geneti\u00adcists to death camps, the pur\u00advey\u00adors of Nazi racial doc\u00adtrines, and the fun\u00adda\u00admen\u00adtal\u00adists seek\u00ading to sup\u00adpress bio\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal sci\u00adence in Amer\u00adi\u00adcan schools.<\/span><\/p>\n

The world is indeed beset by a \u201ccon\u00adflict of civ\u00adi\u00adliza\u00adtions\u201d, but it is not a con\u00adflict between Islam and the \u201cWest\u201d (what\u00adev\u00ader the hell that sil\u00adly term is sup\u00adposed to mean), but between Rea\u00adson and Unrea\u00adson, between civ\u00adi\u00adliza\u00adtion and brute bar\u00adbarism. That con\u00adflict is tak\u00ading place every\u00adwhere on this plan\u00adet, and with\u00adin every cul\u00adture, nation\u00adal\u00adi\u00adty and religion.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I just fin\u00adished read\u00ading Sayyid Qutb\u2019s Ma\u2019al\u00adim fi-l-Tariq [\u201cMile\u00adstones\u201d]. This book is not avail\u00adable in my pub\u00adlic library sys\u00adtem. Since it bears the same rela\u00adtion\u00adship to the rise of Islamist total\u00adi\u00adtar\u00adi\u00adan\u00adism as Mein Kampf and The Com\u00admu\u00adnist Man\u00adi\u00adfesto do to Euro\u00adpean total\u00adi\u00adtar\u00adi\u00adan\u00adism, you would \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,12,946,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-blog","category-au-blog-2006","category-b-reading","category-bu-reading-2006"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=468"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9497,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468\/revisions\/9497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}