ORIGINS OF ISLAMIC EXTREMISM

Sayyid Qutb – (1900 – 1960)

One of the most prominent and influential figures of Islamic extremism was Sayyid Qutb of Egypt. He is often called the founder of Sunni (the majority branch of Muslims) fundamentalism. Most all Islamists today rely upon the radical ideology he developed while imprisoned by Egypt’s Nasser.

Highly regarded for his intellectual abilities, Qutb studied at the Dar al-ulum College in Cairo. It was there he fell in love with English literature. Qutb was very religious and by the age of ten had memorized the entire Quran. He continued to admire Western culture and secular politics. He even visited Washington D.C., California and Colorado from 1948 – 1950.

When he returned to Egypt in 1951, he joined the Muslim Brotherhood and became editor of their official journal. He became increasingly fundamental and wrote a scathing attack on America. He was shocked by American materialism and the sexual promiscuity of American women. He said churches spent more time on bake sales than on prayer. America was materially prosperous but morally rotten. And America had separated God from the State.

So Qutb strongly advocated a fundamentalist Islam. The Quran was to govern a man’s entire life. He said Islam means submission to God’s will as expressed in the Quran and not “peace”. The Quran should be the official constitution. For him, democracy was a form of atheism because it put the will of the people above the will of God.

Qutb had contempt for the Jews. They were the eternal enemies of Islam. Anyone leading Muslims away from their true faith can only be a Jewish agent. In his view Jews invented communism, psychoanalysis, and sociology with the intent of undermining Islam. He said, “behind the doctrine of atheistic materialism was a Jew; behind the doctrine of animalistic sexuality was a Jew; and behind the destruction of the family was a Jew.”

He said the Quran spoke much about the evil of the Jews. They commit abominations and kill and massacre. Qutb’s disciple, Osama bin Laden, embraced those views. He thought Islam was caught up in a monumental struggle against evil. Therefore, in their view, the good Muslim must destroy the Jews and the West. Such were the objectives of Qutb and his extremist disciples of today.

(For further information consult The Battle For God, by Karen Armstrong, Preachers of Hate, by Kenneth Timmerman, Journey of the Jihadist, by Fawaz A. Gerges)