Islam as Revolt

Sayyid Qutb, the author of Milestones makes three arguments concerning his interpretation of Islam. The first argument is that the world today is living in a new age of Jahiliyyah, or ignorance to the divine will. The age of ignorance has been championed by the achievements of the western world, as the Arab world has lagged behind. Western penetration is the first symptom of this age. Qutb’s second argument revolves around the attempt to make a model, by which Islam could revive, and separate itself from Jahili society. For Qutb, if a non-Jahili society has existed before, than it could in fact be revived, and the second age of Jahiliyyah could be brought to an end. The third argument made by Qutb is that Islam is revolt. For Qutb the most obvious articulation of real Islam is revolt against everything and everyone who would take away in any part the sovereignty of God.
According to Qutb Jahiliyyah is even more devious today than it was before the prophet, because it masquerades under banners of Arab Nationalism, and “Islamic culture, Islamic sources, Islamic philosophy, and Islamic thought.”1 Qutb thinks that the beginning of the work to revive Islam is the de-jahilization of the Arab mind. (This is much like Frantz Fanon’s desire for the de-colonization of the mind in the post-colonial era.) Qutb believes Jahiliyyah is not just ignorance, but it is also tyranny. It would be not better if “Persian and Roman tyranny” were replaced by “Arab tyranny”.2 “All tyranny is wicked”, and thus according to Qutb, all tyranny is Jahiliyyah.3 For Qutb the only way to save Islam from this renewed Jahili society is to separate it from the Jahili and to revolt against Jahiliyyah where ever it is found.
Qutb says that today, “humanity is devoid of those vital values which are necessary not only for its healthy development but also for its real progress.”4 In order to prove that a society can exist that is not Jahili, Qutb sets up a model of what the one non-Jahili society looked like. Qutb begins his model by making it clear that “Islam cannot fulfill its role except by taking concrete form in society.”5 The reason Islam can not be reduced to abstract thought is because man will not listen to anything accept what he can see “materialized in a living society”.6 Qutb then adds to his model, that in a society truly free of Jahiliyyah, no man can rule over another man, sovereignty can belong to “God alone”.7 According to Qutb a non-Jahili society can exist since one has existed before. The non-Jahili society that had existed before was “the generation of the Companions of the Prophet”.8 This generation was said to be “pure in heart, pure in mind, and pure in understanding.”9 So for Qutb, a non-Jahili society can exist, because it has existed before.
Qutb feels that the current expression of Islamic culture is not only insufficient, but it is an apostasy. Qutb believes the only real Islamic culture can be one in constant revolt against all things Jahili. For Qutb, Islam is revolt. Qutb believes that there is a step before revolt in Islam, and that is to “change ourselves so that we may later change society.”10 Qutb has a strong disdain for intellectuals, because they treat Islam, and the Qur’an as some sort of literary work. Qutb resounds with a strong condemnation that “instruction is for action.”11 Qutb’s revolt is against all systems that allow “authority of one man over another.”12 The reason is because as far as Qutb is concerned; if one man rules over another he is taking sovereignty away from God. In Qutb’s Islam there would be a “proper division of wealth”.13 This would not mean a class war, but a unity, and fairness. Qutb “challenges the legality of any law which is not based on this belief”.14 It is pretty obvious why the Egyptians hung him for sedition. Qutb’s Islam is resistance to the Jahili world.
Qutb is a very modern writer. He writes with a vocabulary markedly similar to Frantz Fanon, the great articulator of African revolution. He critiques Arab nationalism, and Nasser’s Egypt. Qutb wants an Arab mind free of Jahili concepts. This de-jahilization of the Arab mind is the real legacy of Qutb’s work. He agitates for revolt against every authority in the name of God. Qutb believes firmly in struggle, and his Islam is the space in which the struggle begins.