Sayyid Qutb Milestones
Sayyid Qutb Milestones
Mankind today is on the brink of a precipice, not because of the danger of complete annihilation which is hanging over its head-this being just a symptom and not the real disease
The work of Sayyid Qutb Milestones outlines the various phases in the founding and the
launching of a true Islamic life. Qutb after describing the mission of Islam and the
methodology to accomplish it, sites the ways the Prophet nurtured and guided the
premium Muslim community and afterwards the author stress out the issue of how the
Muslims lost their inspiration and the concepts of their forefathers. Qutb, being one of the
major originators of contemporary Islamic revival, was anguished with the alienation
among the Islamic values and the birth of post-colonial Muslim societies.
In Milestones Qutb sought to answer questions such as of why Islam needs to be revived
and what is the true Islamic identity and existence. How Islam was created by the Prophet
and how it can be applied to the modern Muslim societies.
Through his writings and martyrdom, the Egyptian rationalist and author Sayyid Qutb has
turn out to be a known ambassador of radical contemporary Islam. Although he might be
described as an activist and nationalist without rejecting Islam as religion his concern
was directed towards political and social issues of Islam that are depicted in several of his
works among them Milestones. Qutb was arrested and executed as a traitor by order of
the Nasser government in 1964, however, the book managed to be copied and to spread
influencing the entire Muslim world.
Towards the end of his introduction in Milestones, where Qutb points out the need for
Islamic renewal, he gives away to the reader the theory of his book.
“Without doubt, we possess this new thing which is perfect to the highest degree, a thing
which mankind does not know about and is not capable of producing. But as we have
stated before, the beauty of this new system cannot be appreciated unless it takes a
concrete form. Hence it is essential that a community arrange its affairs according to it
and show it to the world. In order to bring this about, we need to initiate the movement of
Islamic revival in some Muslim country. Only such a revivalist movement will eventually
attain to the status of world leadership, whether the distance is near or far.” (Milestones,
pp. 11-12). Qutb uses the “new thing” in order to show his Islamic vision without being
traditional but the “new thing” and the revival of the Muslim nation must be done in one
state. Moreover, the vanguard of Muslims which he believed would accomplish the
revival he points out little later in the introduction that “It is necessary that there should
be a vanguard which sets out with this determination and then keeps walking on a path,
marching through the vast ocean of Jahiliyyah which has encompassed the entire world.
During its course, it should keep itself somewhat aloof for this all- encompassing
Jahiliyyah and should also keep some ties with it.”(p.12). So Qutbs vision is closely
related to that of a Communist state, to establish and renew Islam the same way
the Communist Manifesto gave way to revolution. Although Qutb does not vindicate
violence he implies any means