The Formative Stages of Sayyid Qutb's Intellectual Career and His Emergence as an Islamic Da'iyah, 1906-1952 (Egypt).

Abstract

This is an inquiry into the genesis of the career and thought of Sayyid Qutb, poet, educator, journalist, literary critic and a leading intellectual of the contemporary Islamic movement who was executed in Egypt in 1966 on charges of leading a conspiracy to overthrow the Nasser regime. This study places the greatest emphasis on an analysis of Qutb's intellectual transformation prior to the July 1952 "Free Officers" military revolution and his emergence as one of the leading ideologues of the Society of Muslim Brothers. However, an overview of Qutb's 1952-1966 career is also presented in the concluding chapter. Findings indicate that Qutb was a product of a society which had been going through major political and cultural dislocations at a time when Egypt's transition from a traditional to a modern society was taking place. In the 1920's and 1930's Qutb was very much influenced by secular forces, especially the Wafd Party, the modernist ('c)Abbas Mahmud al-('c)Aqqad and the D(')iwan school of literature's rebellion against neo-classicalism. Qutb, however, became increasingly alienated from the status quo because of rampant Westernization and the failure of the ruling establishment to achieve independence of the Nile Valley and to solve society's pressing problems. World War II and the economic, political and social dislocations it caused further alienated one-time adherents of liberal nationalist ideals like Qutb. The impact of World War II on Qutb is very much reflected in his writing; it was during this period, that many drastic changes began to take place in Qutb's outlook and he became increasingly more interested in the study of the Qur'an. Despite the fact that in the period between 1939 and 1947 Qutb was stressing the purely artistic or literary goal of his Qur'anic studies, the long-lasting spiritual effect of his deep study of the Qur'an is clear. His unhappiness in Cairo which was very much evident in his prose and poetry in the 1930's and 1940's, the death of his mother, his shattered love affair, his poor health and his alienation from the status quo and from Western civilization prompted him to turn increasingly toward the Qur'an for his personal needs and for answers to his society's ills.