Sayyid Qutb: The Life and Legacy of a Radical Islamic Intellectual

Sayyid Qutb is considered by many to be the founder of radical Islamism -- the "Philospher of Islamic Terror," in the words of Paul Berman. Many draw a direct line from Qutb through Ayman al-Zawahiri to Osama bin Laden. Qutb first gained notice as a novelist, literary critic, and poet but then began writing religious and political criticism aimed at the Egyptian government and Muslims he deemed insufficiently pious. Under pressure from the authorities, Qutb left Egypt in 1948 for a two-year visit to the United States, during which he grew even more radical. He returned to Egypt and joined the Muslim Brotherhood, eventually taking charge of its propaganda operation. After members of the Brotherhood attempted to assassinate Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, the group was outlawed and Qutb was thrown in jail. He was executed in 1966 -- becoming, in effect, the first martyr to the Islamist cause. In this book, James Toth traces the life and thought of Qutb, giving attention not only to his well-known Signposts on the Road, but also to his less-studied works like Social Justice in Islam and his 30-volume Quranic commentary. By returning to these sources, Toth draws a complex portrait of Qutb: one that moves beyond the cartoonish depictions of him as the evil genius lurking behind today's terrorists.

Table of Contents:
Preface His Life Chapter 1. Introduction Chapter 2. Qutb's Early and Modern Years Chapter 3. Qutb's Transition, From Secularism to Islamism Chapter 4. Qutb's Moderate Islamism Chapter 5: Qutb's Radical Islamism His Legacy: Ideas & Issues Chapter 6: Sayyid Qutb's Islamic Concept Chapter 7: Islam as a Revitalization Movement Chapter 8: Islamic Society and System Chapter 9: The Islamic Economy Chapter 10: The Islamic State Chapter 11: Islamic History Epilogue Appendices Bibliography

About the Author :
James Toth is an anthropologist who studies Egypt, the Arab world, and the wider Islamic community. He has taught at the American University of Cairo and at Northeastern University, and since 2011, has worked at New York University in Abu Dhabi. He is the author of Rural Labor Movements in Egypt and Their Impact in the State, 1961-1992.

Review :
"Toth provides an important analysis of one of the most influential Muslim thinkers of the twentieth century. He presents a portrait that includes Qutb's activities as a young Egyptian intellectual as well as his later works as an articulator of militant Islamic ideologies. A special strength of this study is that Toth provides a much-needed contextualization of Qutb within Egyptian intellectual life during the first two-thirds of the twentieth century."--John Voll, Professor of History, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University "Toth avoids the trap of automatic, simplistic condemnation and instead unveils the vexing, evolutionary and ultimately fascinating mind of Qutb. The book is a surprising and rounded read." --Publishers Weekly "Toth provides an important analysis of one of the most influential Muslim thinkers of the twentieth century. He presents a portrait that includes Qutb's activities as a young Egyptian intellectual as well as his later works as an articulator of militant Islamic ideologies. A special strength of this study is that Toth provides a much-needed contextualization of Qutb within Egyptian intellectual life during the first two-thirds of the twentieth century." -- John Voll, Professor of History, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University "An evenhanded analysis of Qutb's philosophies in light of his experiences." --Library Journal "Excellent . . . hefty and impressively researched . . . [Toth's] book provides a useful précis of the main themes that Qutb explored and the terms he introduced. This is no small feat, considering that the Muslim Brotherhood's preeminent thinker penned countless articles and more than twenty books, one of them a six-volume commentary on the Koran." --New York Review of Books "In providing a balanced account of Qutb's ideas, [Toth] measures their impact, and approaches him like other intellectuals who inspire revolutions, however unpopular they may be to some. While Qutb is reviled by propagandists of a certain bend, Toth's work deepens the understanding of a central figure of a movement." --Islamic Horizons "Toth presents a balanced, nuanced picture of the often-misunderstood Qutb..." --Journal of Church and State