BOOK REVIEW: MILESTONES (MA`ALIM FIL TARIQ) BY SAYYID QUTB

BY: DAVID ZEIDAN

In "Milestones" Sayyid Qutb lays down a revolutionary manifesto for Islamic activists. His analysis of Western (Christian, Jewish, Capitalist and Communist) society claims that it is bankrupt as a result of losing its moral values. It is left with the empty search for material prosperity. Surprisingly, Qutb comes to the same conclusion regarding all Muslim societies where he sees similar loss of direction.

The main cause of this worldwide crisis is the return of humanity to paganism - jahiliyya - the dethroning of God from His rightful sovereignty and rule (hakimiyya). This crisis is a God-given opportunity for true Islam to step into the breach and lead humanity away from disaster towards a new golden age. It alone offers all missing ingredients for the necessary spiritual revival.

Whilst there is much truth in Qutb's analysis of the moral vacuum at the heart of contemporary society, he has failed to discern the deep spirituality still permeating parts of Western culture and influencing its political and social life.

Having identified the enemy as all jahili societies, thus supplying a specific focus for revolutionary action, Qutb reinterprets some basic Islamic concepts which impact his programme for renewal.

Tawhid, Islam's basic doctrine, states that Allah is the absolute sovereign and ruler of the universe, with the exclusive right to legislate for humanity - which he has done in Shari`a. Usurping God's sovereignty and legislative authority is the main sin of the modern world, both Western and Muslim. The way out of this predicament is by total submission (Islam) to God's hakimiyya, not just in individual life, but in all political and social areas.

Qutb's view of Islamic history is that of a short golden age under the Prophet and the Rashidun Caliphs. Islam then decayed as it got buried under the rubbish of man-made traditions, interpretations, and superstitions. No true Islamic society has existed for the last several centuries! Radical renewal (tajdid) is by a return to the pure sources of Quran and Hadith. All accretions must be discarded, and Muslims must return to the model of the first Muslim generation as the paradigm for today's revival.

His emphasis on Tawhid and Hakimiyya are in line with traditional Muslim thought. His call to return to the pure sources as the first step towards revival is part of Salafi teaching, though he does not indicate what interpretation of the sources is to be used....

Islam must be incarnated in a dynamic political society, totally obedient to God's sovereignty as expressed in shari`a. Any society or government that does not fully implement shari`a as the sole source of its legislation is jahili. Jahiliyya is not a pre-Islamic historical era of paganism - it is an ever present condition of denying God's rule, usurping His authority, and living by man-made laws that enslave men to their rulers and engender oppression and tyranny.

The first step towards renewal is to judge all societies, institutions and regimes by this criteria. All those that do not fulfill it are proclaimed jahili. This is takfir - the pronouncement of individuals or communities as apostate, thus making them legitimate targets for active jihad.

All Western societies, Christian, Jewish and Communist, and all contemporary Muslim societies are to be denounced as jahili. No truly Islamic state exists in the world today.

Qutb proposes a two-pronged strategy for revival. True Muslims must engage in the proclamation of the message (da`wa) and simultaneously establish a true Muslim community (jama`a) that will serve as the vanguard (taliya) of renewal. Individual conversion must be coupled to an organised community governed by shari`a and engaged in spreading Islam to the world. The new model community witnesses to true Islam and prepares for the renewal of society. This is a gradual process modelled on the prophet's community: the true jama`a will inexorably grow and reach the position of strength from which it can take over political power.

As da`wa prepares the way by turning individual's hearts towards God, jihad moves to replace all false political regimes with true Islamic ones that will implement shari`a and free men from slavery, oppression and tyranny.

Jihad, striving in God's cause, is the duty of every Muslim. God has not promised automatic success - Qutb engages here in Islamic theodicy - the vanguard might face persecution and martyrdom, but it will not be broken. God is on its side and ultimate victory is assured. There is a final Day of Judgement where justice will be done. God will reward the faithful with Paradise and punish the wicked in hell. In the meantime God comforts and strengthens those suffering for His cause.

The first Muslim community developed in clear stages under God's control, and these are to be emulated today. First was the proclamation of the message, then the separation from unbelievers, later the fight to implement God's new society on earth.

Separation (hijra, mufassala) from jahili society is a necessary step for establishing borderlines and identity. It is not conceived of as total physical separation, but as a spiritual separation whilst staying in society to proclaim and recruit.

The world according to Qutb is divided into two camps: true Islam versus jahiliyya; God's party versus Satan's. No compromise is permitted with jahiliyya. There is only One God, one way, one law. Man faces a moral choice he cannot evade. As man is involuntarily subject to God's laws in nature, so he must voluntarily submit to God's moral laws in shari`a.

Jahiliyya is always evil in whatever form it manifests itself, and it always seeks to crush true Islam. Jihad by force (bil saif) is used to annihilate jahili regimes and replace them by true Muslim ones. It is not aimed at individuals - "there is no compulsion in religion" defines Islam's attitude to individuals.

However, to guarantee individuals the free choice of accepting true Islam, they must live in a Muslim environment where no impediment is placed on the implementation of shari`a. In this society they see Islam operating as God intended: all are free, all are equally slaves to God, legal and social justice are practiced, and greed and usury are eliminated. Qutb repeats this often, as if trying to reassure himself that it is really true - his logic implies that the way to ensure free choice is by forcing people to live according to shari`a - they will then freely chose what they are compelled to do ...

Qutb senses a world-conspiracy of the Crusading Christian West, Marxist Communism and World Jewry against true Islam. These forces represent jahiliyya at its worst, always plotting against Islam in an endeavor to destroy it. Modern imperialism was a masked crusade. Jews use usury to accumulate wealth and infiltrate societies to fulfil their goal of world dominion. Marxists replace God with materialistic-dialectic determinism. All are enemies of true Islam. Qutb here descends to the gutter language of racism using notorious stereotypes and forgeries of Antisemitism (such as the Protocols of the Elders of Zion).

Most dangerous is his use of takfir, denouncing all societies in the world as jahili, and thus as legitimate targets of violent jihad.

Since the early khariji rebellions, the Ulama' have recognised the dangers of takfir, and laid down the rule that it cannot be used against any professing Muslim. This was especially important due to Shari`a's insistence on the death penalty for all apostates (kuffar). Qutb's reinterpretation of jahiliyya, takfir and jihad unsheathed a dangerous weapon that has already claimed tens of thousands of Muslim victims. It is tempting to pronounce all rival groups and individuals as kuffar - thus paving the way for a reign of terror.

It is a convenient revolutionary tool to label as "deviationist" all opponents and purge and repurge the Islamic regime in a way reminiscent of the French and Bolshevik revolutions.

Indeed, what is most worrying about "Milestones" is the similarity of Qutb's thought to fascist and Marxist ideas. Whilst clothed in Islamic idiom, they actually seem to represent an invasion of Islam by extreme secular modern philosophies.

Utopia will be ushered in by force. The old system is so degenerate it cannot be reformed and must be totally swept away. The new can only be established on the ruins of the old - This is radical revolutionary theory.

This new Utopia is a replica of the original golden age, a model that failed in history after a brief period of success. If shari`a is the key to its re-establishment, what guaranty do we have it won't degenerate again? Qutb is naive in his belief that shari`a is the panacea for all problems which will miraculously disappear at its implementation.

SUMMARY

Like an Old Testament Prophet, Qutb thunders against idolatry, calls people back to the One God, castigates the religious and political establishments, warns of coming judgement, and heralds a spiritual renewal.

Like a Jeremiah the message burns in his bones - it must out, even if it means imprisonment, torture and death! One cannot but admire the deep conviction, the uncompromising stand, the zeal and single-mindedness of this man. They are what attracted many younger Muslims to his radical message.

Was he a true prophet or a false one? From the Western point of view he sowed the seeds that produced a harvest of violence, and unleashed the sceptre of Muslim masses engaged in violent jihad against against their own regimes. From the Islamic point of view, Qutb as a fundamentalist-modernist preached a return to the sources in modern revolutionary idiom. In his use of takfir he has followed the khariji seceders and justified the term heretic used against him by Al-Azhar.

Rather than personal spiritual revival, Qutb is actually searching for the secret of political power as the key to Utopia. In this he is tragically no different from the many revolutionaries who have sought to impose a new world order by violence. The bones of millions of their victims mark the results of many such attempts in this century.

P.S. Qutb was the main ideologue of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Though from a religious family (he had memorised the Quran by the age of ten), he became a liberal writer and literary criticque. Following a visit to the USA he gradually shifted to a fundamentalist position and joined the Muslim Brotherhood, and became a member of its Guidance Copuncil. Imprisoned and tortured for his activities under Nasser, he was finally executed in 1966.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abu-Rabi, I. "Sayyid Qutb: From Religious Realism To Radical Social Criticism," in: Islamic Quarterly, Vol.28, 1984, pp 103-126

Ayubi, N. Political Islam, 1991, pp.134-142: "Sayyid Qutb And His Disciples,"

Haddad, Y.Y. "The Qur'anic Justification For An Islamic Revolution: The View Of Sayyid Qutb," in: MEJ, Vol. 37, No 1,Winter 1983

Haddad, Y.Y. "Sayyid Qutb: Ideologue of Islamic Revival, in:Esposito, J. ed., Voices Of Resurgent Islam, 1983

Kepel, G. Muslim Extremism In Egypt, 1985, CH.2: "Signposts,"

Qutb, Sayyid: Milestones, Indianapolis, American Trust Publications, 1990

Schleifer, S.A: "Jihad: Sacred Struggle In Islam (V)," in: Islamic Revue, Vol. XXVIII, No.3, 1984

Voll, J.O. "The Revivalist Heritage," in: Haddad, et Al, eds., The Contemporary Islamic Revival, 1991