audiobook The Philosophical Works of al-Kindi (Studies in Islamic Philosophy) by From Oxford University Press in History

Description

Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966) was an influential Egyptian ideologue credited with establishing the theoretical basis for radical Islamism in the post colonial Sunni Muslim world. Lacking a pure understanding of the leader's life and work; the popular media has conflated Qutb's moral purpose with the aims of bin Laden and al-Qaeda. He is often portrayed as a terrorist; Islamo-Fascist; and advocate of murder. This book rescues Qutb from misrepresentation; tracing the evolution of his thought within the context of his time. An expert on social protest and political resistance in the modern Middle East; as well as Egyptian nationalism; John Calvert recounts Qutb's life from the small village in which he was raised to his execution at the behest of Abd al-Nasser's regime. His study remains sensitive to the cultural; political; social; and economic circumstances that shaped Qutb's thought-major developments that composed one of the most eventful periods in Egyptian history. These years witnessed the full flush of Britain's tutelary regime; the advent of Egyptian nationalism; and the political hegemony of the Free Officers. Qutb rubbed shoulders with Taha Husayn; Naguib Mahfouz; and Abd al-Nasser himself; though his Islamism originally had little to do with religion. Only in response to his harrowing experience in prison did Qutb come to regard Islam and kufr (infidelity) as oppositional; antithetical; and therefore mutually exclusive. Calvert shows how Qutb repackaged and reformulated the Islamic heritage to pose a challenge to authority; including those who claimed (falsely; he believed) to be Muslim.