Qutbism and the Muslim Brotherhood
By Douglas Farah
One of the interesting threads emerging on the debate over the Muslim Brotherhood is the comparative weight of the "reformist" wing of the _Ikhwan_ versus the "Qutbists" who follow Sayyid Qutb's teachings on the need to destroy the West and create a Muslim world, governed by _sharia_ law.
Qutub's works, particularly "Milestones," are widely cited by Osama bin Laden, Zawahiri, and the _jihadist_ camp as the theological justification and roadmap for their attacks.
One of Qutb's breakthroughs, theologically, was the justification of the concept of "offensive jihad," the proclamation of the right to wage jihad in conquest.
"Those who say islamic Jihad was merely for the defense of the "home land of Islam" diminish the greatness of the Islamic way of life and consider it less important than their homeland," Qutb wrote. "However, defense (of the Islamic community) is not the ultimate objective of the Islamic movement of jihad but it is a means of establishing the Divine authority within it so that it becomes the headquarters of the movement of Islam, which is then to be carried throughout the earth to the whole of mankind."
Qutb is also routinely praised by Brotherhood leaders, and his work, to the best of my searches, has never been denounced or publicly questioned by Brotherhood leaders in any forum. My full entry is here.
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://counterterrorismblog.org/mt/pings.cgi/3939
