In Search of Self in a Troubled World: Transformations in the Life and Thought of Sayyid Qutb of Egypt, 1906-1966

This is an inquiry into the intellectual career of Sayyid Qub(1906-1966),an Egyptian poet,educator,journalist,literary critic and a leading but highly controversial intellectual of contemporary Islamic movements in Egypt, the Arab and Islamic worlds. Qutb was imprisoned with many of the rank and file of the Society of Muslim Brothers from 1954-1964 and was subsequently rearrested and tried in 1965 and 1966 for allegedly leading an underground apparatus which was conspiring to overthrow the late President Nasser's regime by force... His controversial work Ma'alim fi al-tariq(Milestones on the Road),1964,was utilized by the Egyptian state security's prosecutor's office in building its case against him and was instrumental in sending him to the gallows in August 1966. Qutb's execution only created a new "martyr" for the contemporary Islamic movement. Qutb's writings have become an integral part of Islamic resurgence since the 1967 Arab defeat and the failures of Arab regimes to build viable social justice in Arab societies. The impact of Qutb's thought on global jihadists such as Physician Ayman Al-Zawahiri of Al-Qa'eda is examined.