1966
Death of the Jihadi Intellectual
Sayyid Qutb (1906-66) was an Egyptian-born author and Islamic theorist, enormously influential in establishing the intellectual foundations of Muslim notions of the modern state and justification for violence.
Quite was born to prosperous parents in an Egypt that was theoretically a kingdom but was, in fact, a British protectorate. He received a good Western-designed education, became a teacher, and then a civil servant, with a growing reputation as a poet and literary critic. Though a devout Muslim, he came to despise the backward imams of Egypt; and despite the fact he had studied in the United States, he developed an intense hatred of the West — it was soul-less, sexually-obsessed, secular, and mechanistic.
After his return from his studies in the USA, Qutb became involved with the Islamic Brotherhood, a powerful Muslim organization that sought increased influence for their brand of religion in all aspects of Egyptian life. The Brotherhood and Qutb opposed the corrupt Egyptian monarchy and dabbled with a group of army officers who were plotting to overthrow the government. When the colonels of the Free Officers Movement, who would come to be dominated by Gamel Abdel Nasser, had driven out King Farouk they revealed themselves to be Arab nationalists and secularists, rather than the Islamic liberators that the Brotherhood had hoped for. There was a falling out and the Brotherhood tried to assassinate Nasser, which lead to a crackdown on Islamists and Qtub being jailed.
In prison Qutb wrote his two masterpieces, a 30-volume In the Shade of the Qu’ran and Milestones, a work of political theory. Qutb wanted all human life subject to the Koran and sharia law but also respected the contributions of modern science; in order to achieve this end, offensive jihad was obligatory on all Muslims. Though Qutb ws executed in 1966 for another anti-Nasser plot, his works lives on, directly inspiring Al-Qaeda and ISIS.