Qutbism

Qutbism is an Islamist ideology that advocates violent jihad to establish governance according to sharia (Islamic law). It is believed to be the foundational ideology of today’s most dangerous violent Islamist groups, including al-Qaeda and ISIS. Qutbism synthesizes the ideas of Sayyid Qutb, Hassan al-Banna, and Abul Ala Maududi, among other Islamic theologians. (Sources: West Point: Combating Terrorism Center, Parameters: The U.S. Army War College Quarterly, p. 86)

The late Muslim Brotherhood theologian Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966) propagated the tenets of Qutbism in his many books on Islamism and sharia. Qutb wrote his most popular work, Milestones, while incarcerated in Egyptian prison. In Milestones, Qutb outlined the key elements of his movement, which, according to author Paul Berman, has become a “classic manifesto of…Islamic fundamentalism.” Qutb was hanged by the government two years after its publication, making him a martyr in the eyes of many. According to Egyptian political commentator Aly Salem, “It is not an exaggeration to say that Qutb is to Islamism what Karl Marx is to communism.” (Sources: New York Times, Economist, Wall Street Journal)

Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi have each built their respective terrorist organizations on the pillars of Qutbism.

Qutbism forms the ideological backbone of today’s most violent Islamist groups. According al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, “Sayyid Qutub’s call for loyalty to God’s oneness and to acknowledge God’s sole authority and sovereignty was the spark that ignited the Islamic revolution against the enemies of Islam at home and abroad. The bloody chapters of this revolution continue to unfold day after day.” Indeed, Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi have each built their respective terrorist organizations on the pillars of Qutbism. (Sources: His Own Words: A Translation of the Writings of Dr. Ayman al Zawahiri, p. 48, Parameters: The U.S. Army War College Quarterly, p. 86)

Doctrine

Qutbists believe that Muslims live in ignorance of divine guidance, or jahiliyyah. According to Qutb, jahiliyyah arises from man-made political systems that disregard “what God has prescribed.” Therefore, Qutbism aims to return Muslim society to sharia, an all-encompassing Islamic law governing penal, civil, and personal affairs that “governs the entire universe,” according to Qutb. Only when man lives under sharia will his life be “harmonious and in tune with the rest of the universe.” (Sources: Milestones, Sayyid Qutb, p. 88-89, Andrea Mura (Comparative Philosophy), p. 43)

Qutbists believe sharia should govern not only Muslim lands but the entire globe. Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna—a contemporary of Qutb’s—declared: “It is the nature of Islam to dominate, not to be dominated, to impose its law on all nations, and to extend its power to the entire planet.” Qutb wrote that war should be fought against the Jews and Christians until they converted to Islam or paid jizya, a tax for non-Muslims living under sharia. (Sources: Milestones, Sayyid Qutb, p. 54, The Looming Tower, Lawrence Wright, p. 29)

Qutbists liken the current lack of sharia to what they describe as the ancient, or original jahiliyyah—the state in which Arabs lived before Muhammad introduced Islam to Arabia in the early seventh century CE. Qutb declared in Milestones, “jahiliyyah is evil and corrupt, whether it be of the ancient or modern variety.” (Sources: Milestones, Sayyid Qutb, p. 11, Andrea Mura (Comparative Philosophy), p. 43)

In order to fight against jahiliyyah, Qutb called for an Islamic uprising or “vanguard” to lead the ummah (global Muslim community) into battle against jahili states (ones afflicted by jahiliyyah). Qutb urged the vanguard to direct violence toward secular, Westernized Arab governments, which Qutb considered jahili “not because they believe in other deities besides God or because they worship anyone other than God, but because their way of life is not based on submission to God alone.” (Sources: Andrea Mura (Comparative Philosophy), p. 48, Sayyid Qutb, Milestones, p. 82)

According to Qutbists, religiously sanctioned violence toward jahili governments takes the form of jihad and takfir in order to bring about sharia. Jihad—the violent struggle to “establish God’s authority in the earth” and “make Islam dominant,” according to Qutb—is the responsibility of all Muslims. According to Qutbist theorist Abul Ala Maududi, jihad is a “militant struggle and utmost exertion.” (Sources: Sayyid Qutb, Milestones, p. 70, Dale C. Eikmeier (Parameters: The U.S. Army War College Quarterly), p. 87-89)

[Sharia should] govern... the entire universe.Sayyid Qutb

Takfir is the excommunication of Muslims who do not abide by sharia and are thus considered apostates. While Islam prohibits killing fellow Muslims, takfir renders the target an apostate and thereby religiously sanctions his execution. (Sources: Shahrough Akhavi (International Journal of Middle East Studies), p. 388), Dale C. Eikmeier (Parameters: The U.S. Army War College Quarterly), p. 89)

Qutbists’ theories on modern jahiliyya flow cohesively into the assertion that Muslims are obligated to carry out jihad in order to implement sharia.

According to pundit William McCants, Muslims who subscribe to Qutbist ideology reject the label “Qutbist” or “Qutbism,” because it implies that they worship a person rather than God, and thus deviate from Islamic dogma. The term “Qutbist” was thus created and used by the ideology’s critics and opponents. (Sources: William McCants (West Point: Combating Terrorism Center), p. 10-11))

  • Type of Organization:
    Islamist, jihadist, pan-Islamist, takfiri
  • Year of Origin:
    1920s

Abdullah Azzam

Strategic founder

Strategic founder, facilitator

Founder, financier

Osama bin Laden

  • Associations
  • Rhetoric

Ties to Extremist Entities:

Any Islamist group that contains each of the following attributes may be considered a Qutbist entity:

a) Wages violent jihad

b) Disseminates material propagating violent jihad

c) Declares takfir on heads of state or governments with the intention of waging violent jihad against them

d) Uses these tactics as a means toward implementing sharia

  • Al-Qaeda

    Ayman al-Zawahiri, Abdullah Azzam, and Osama bin Laden—the co-founders of al-Qaeda—are referred to as Qutb’s “disciples” by analyst Dale C. Eikmeier. Bin Laden attended lectures by Qutb’s brother, Muhammad Qutb, at the King Adbulaziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (Sources: Dale C. Eikmeier (Parameters: The U.S. Army War College Quarterly), p. 90, Congressional Research Service, Today’s Zaman)

    As a teenager in Egypt, Zawahiri revered the Islamists who defied the secular regime. Zawahiri wrote that Qutb’s execution by the government resulted in the “immediate interaction with Sayyid Qutb’s ideas and the formation of the nucleus of the modern Islamic jihad movement in Egypt.” (Source: Lawrence Wright, The Looming Tower, p. 44)

    The basis of al-Qaeda’s ideology is Qutb’s concept of unrestricted jihad against any barrier that gets in the way of implementing sharia. Bin Laden and Zawahiri fully subscribed to Qutb’s goal of defeating jahiliyyah through offensive jihad, taking Qutb’s concept further by applying it against the “far enemy” (the West) as opposed to the “near enemy” (‘apostate’ Muslim regimes). Bin Laden first introduced the prioritization of attacking the “far enemy” in the mid-1990s. (Sources: Dale C. Eikmeier (Parameters: The U.S. Army War College Quarterly), p. 89-90, Foreign Affairs)

    According to al-Qaeda’s adaptation of Qutbist theory, attacking the far enemy would provoke a military response from the West, which in turn would unify the Muslim world behind al-Qaeda. These events were expected to launch a world war between Islam and the West whereby Muslims would rally to defeat the West and replace it with a global caliphate. (Sources: Dale C. Eikmeier (Parameters: The U.S. Army War College Quarterly), p. 91))

    According to Egyptian-American scholar Mamoun Fandy, the excommunication process of takfir is central to the al-Qaeda movement. “[F]or [bin Laden and Zawahiri] to leave the Arab world and go to Afghanistan is a literal interpretation of Takfir… they had pronounced their own societies to be the societies of infidels and therefore they had to leave it… and turn the Arab world into a Muslim society.” (Source: PBS Frontline)

    In a 1997 interview, Zawahiri described the mujahideen, or holy warriors, as “vanguards of Islamic awakening,” and claimed that they would only stop fighting when “the regime hands the rule to Muslims.” Al-Qaeda has exemplified Qutb’s notion of an Islamic vanguard, fighting “jahili” regimes in order to implement sharia. (Sources: Montasser Al-Zayyat, The Road to Al-Qaeda, p. 47)

  • Muslim Brotherhood

    Hassan al-Banna founded the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928, sharing Abul Ala Maududi’s vision of restoring a more authentic Islam and seeking to establish rule by sharia, first in Egypt and eventually worldwide. The return of the caliphate—under which Muslims would be ruled by sharia—has served as the cornerstone of the Muslim Brotherhood’s ideology since the group’s inception. (Sources: Dale C. Eikmeier (Parameters: The U.S. Army War College Quarterly), p. 88))

    Throughout its history, the Brotherhood has relied on its “secret apparatus,” an underground military wing dedicated to carrying out jihad first against British rule and then against the Egyptian government. In 1954, members of the secret apparatus attempted to assassinate Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser. Qutb was charged with membership in the military wing and placed in prison. In 1964, following his release, Qutb again plotted with the secret apparatus to overthrow Nasser’s regime. He was rearrested and executed in 1966. (Sources: BBC News, Washington Institute, Mount Holyoke, Foreign Policy, Lawrence Wright, The Looming Tower, p. 36.)

  • Hamas

    Hamas, a Palestinian offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, was created in 1988 as an Islamist insurgency committed to destroying Israel and forming an Islamist state. As a Muslim Brotherhood affiliate, Hamas follows the ideology of Qutb and Banna, in particular drawing on their hatred of Jews and Zionists. (Sources:Council on Foreign Relations, Bassam Tibi, (Yale University), p. 11)

    According to political scientist Bassam Tibi, “[Hamas] subscribes fully to the Antisemitism Islamized by Qutb.” Hamas’ charter essentially rephrases a passage in Qutb’s book, Ma’rakutuna ma’a al-Yahud, or “Our Struggle Against the Jews,” in which Qutb argues that Jews “stand behind” the “war waged against Islam…which persists against the Islamic revival in all places on earth.” Hamas’s doctrine and ideological backbone are not only inspired and effectuated by Qutb’s Antisemitism, but by the totality of Qutb’s vision for political Islam. According to Tibi, “all basic features of Islamism emanate from Qutb’s work, including his Jew-hatred.” (Sources: Bassam Tibi, (Yale University), pp. 11, 13, 16)

  • ISIS

    ISIS subscribes to Qutbist ideology as displayed in its strict interpretation of sharia and offensive jihad strategies. The group strives to create an ever-expanding, transnational caliphate wherein Muslims practice Islam as during the time of the Prophet Muhammad. ISIS’s caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, espoused Qutb’s philosophy of jihad, preaching: “O worshippers of Allah! Apply your religion and act upon it…. And if you are given a life full of blessings, fear Allah, and make jihad in his sake.” ISIS controls land in Iraq and Syria and around the world, in what it refers to as the “Islamic State,” or caliphate. (Sources: Council on Foreign Relations, Jihadology)

Abul Ala Maududi, 1939

“Islamic ‘Jihad’ does not seek to interfere with the faith, ideology, rituals of worship or social customs of the people. It allows them perfect freedom of religious belief and permits them to act according to their creed. However, Islamic ‘Jihad’ does not recognize their right to administer State affairs according to a system which, in the view of Islam, is evil. Furthermore, Islamic ‘Jihad’ also refuses to admit their right to continue with such practices under an Islamic government which fatally affect the public interest from the viewpoint of Islam.”David Aaron, In Their Own Words: Voices of Jihad (Santa Monica: RAND Corporation, 2008), 57-58.

Abul Ala Maududi, 1939

“In reality Islam is a militant ideology and programme which seeks to alter the social order of the whole world and rebuild it in conformity with its own tenets and ideals. ‘Muslim’ is the title of that International Militant Party organized by Islam to carry into effect its militant programme. And ‘Jihad’ refers to that militant struggle and utmost exertion which the Islamic Party brings into play to achieve this objective.”Abul A’la Maududi, “Jihad in Islam,” April 13, 1939, 5, http://muhammadanism.com/Terrorism/jihah_in_islam/jihad_in_islam.pdf.

Abul Ala Maududi, 1939

“Islam wishes to destroy all States and Governments anywhere on the face of the earth which are opposed to the ideology and programme of Islam regardless of the country or the Nation which rules it…It must be evident to you from this discussion that the objective of Islamic ‘Jihad’ is to eliminate the rule of an un-Islamic system and establish in its stead an Islamic system to State rule. Islam does not intend to confine this revolution to a single State or a few countries; the aim of Islam is to bring about a universal revolution.”Abul A’la Maududi, “Jihad in Islam,” April 13, 1939, 5, http://muhammadanism.com/Terrorism/jihah_in_islam/jihad_in_islam.pdf.

Abul Ala Maududi, 1939

“Islam is not merely a religious creed or compound name for a few forms of worship, but a comprehensive system which envisages to annihilate all tyrannical and evil systems in the world and enforces its own programme of reform which it deems best for the well-being of mankind. Islam addresses its call for effecting this programme of destruction and reconstruction, revolution and reform not just to one nation or a group of people, but to all humanity.”Abul A’la Maududi, “Jihad in Islam,” April 13, 1939, 16, http://muhammadanism.com/Terrorism/jihah_in_islam/jihad_in_islam.pdf.

Sayyid Qutb, Jihad in Modern Islamic Thought A Collection, Date unknown

“Those who say that Islamic Jihad was merely for the defense of the ‘homeland of Islam’ diminish the greatness of the Islamic way of life and consider it less important [than] their ‘homeland.’... However, [Islamic community] defense is not the ultimate objective of the Islamic movement of jihad but it is a mean of establishing the Divine authority within it so that it becomes the headquarters for the movement of Islam, which is then to be carried throughout the earth to the whole of mankind….”Dale C. Eikmeier, “Qutbsim: An Ideology of Islamic-Facism,” U.S. Army War College 37, no. 1 (2007): 89, http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a485995.pdf.

Hassan al-Banna

Hassan al-Banna, Date Unknown

“Islam does not recognize geographical boundaries, nor does it acknowledge racial and blood differences, considering all Muslims as one Umma (global community of Muslims). The Muslim Brethren (Muslim Brotherhood)…. believe that the caliphate is a symbol of Islamic Union and an indication of the bonds between the nations of Islam. They see the caliphate and its re-establishment as a top priority, subsequently; an association of Muslims people should be set up, which would elect the imam.”“Hassan al-Banna and his political thought of Islamic Brotherhood,” Ikhwanweb: The Muslim Brotherhood’s Official English web site, last modified May 13, 2008, http://www.ikhwanweb.com/article.php?id=17065.

Hassan al-Banna

Hassan al-Banna, Date Unknown

“For the Islamic Sacred Law and the decisions of the Islamic jurists are all-sufficient, supply every need, and cover every contingency, and they produce the most excellent results and the most blessed fruits. If the punishments prescribed by God were carried out, they would be a deterrent dismaying even the hardened criminal…”Hasan al-Banna, Five Tracts of Hasan Al-Banna: A Selection from the Majmu at Rasail al-Imam al-Shahid Hasan al-Banna (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978), p. 72.

Hassan al-Banna

Hassan al-Banna, Date Unknown

“[T]he Noble Qur’an appoints the Muslims as guardians over humanity in its minority, and grants them the right of suzerainty and dominion over the world in order to carry out this sublime commission. Hence it is our concern, not that of the West, and it pertains to Islamic civilization, not to materialistic civilization.”Hasan al-Banna, Five Tracts of Hasan Al-Banna: A Selection from the Majmu at Rasail al-Imam al-Shahid Hasan al-Banna (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978), p. 71.

Hassan al-Banna

Hassan al-Banna, Date Unknown

“Now you can see from all this how the men of learning…agree unanimously that jihad is a communal obligation imposed upon the Islamic umma in order to broadcast the summons [to embrace Islam], and that it is an individual obligation to repulse the attack of unbelievers upon it. Today the Muslims, as you know, are compelled to humble themselves before non-Muslims, and are ruled by unbelievers. ...Hence it has become an individual obligation, which there is no evading, on every Muslim to prepare his equipment, to make up his mind to engage in jihad, and to get ready for it until the time is ripe…”Hasan al-Banna, Five Tracts of Hasan Al-Banna: A Selection from the Majmu at Rasail al-Imam al-Shahid Hasan al-Banna (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978), p. 150.

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On May 8, 2019, Taliban insurgents detonated an explosive-laden vehicle and then broke into American NGO Counterpart International’s offices in Kabul. At least seven people were killed and 24 were injured.

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