An Analytical Review of Sayyid Qutb’s Civilizational Views and His Attitude toward Western Modernity

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 MA student of History- Persian Gulf Studies, University of Tehran

2 Level-three Graduate from Al-Zahra Society (Qom Women's Seminary)

3 Assistant Professor, Islamic Philosophy and Theology, Allameh Tabataba'i University

Abstract

Sayyid Qutb was one of the contemporary prominent thinkers and scholars of the world of Islam and one of the outstanding supporters of a school of thought known as ‘the return to pristine Islam’. Developed based on a descriptive-analytical methodology, this paper reviews Sayyid Qutb’s most important civilizational views and quality of his attitude toward Western modernity to find appropriate answer to the principal question of “What are the major pillars of Sayyid Qutb’s civilizational discussions?”. According to the findings of this study, Sayyid Qutb’s keywords in illustrating civilization are interpretable in a chain system, so that “woman” as a vital factor for human growth, can enjoy her rights within a right social ground. In that environment, she can be a decisive element for realization of social calm and a notion of “social justice” as emphasized by Islam. However, stubborn resistance of the lords of power and wealth in the world against establishment of justice has rendered impossible the avoidance from a legitimate war for supporters of Divine sovereignty and has made inevitable an all-out confrontation of Muslims with governments that represent modern ignorance. Sayyid Qutb argues that the United States, i.e. symbol of Western modernity, is an example of extremist and destructive rules. Adopting a resistive approach against Western modernity, Sayyid Qutb emphasized demarcation between Muslims and Western values and fighting hegemonic and unethical US civilization. He has religiously decreed any Muslim to fight all secular governments for establishing legitimate Islamic governance.

Keywords

The Journal of Political Thought in Islam
Volume 7, Issue 24
October 2020
Pages 7-27

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