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Milestones: Deluxe Expanded Edition
Hardcover
Published October 18, 2022
About the author
Sayyid Qutb
174 books2,119 followersSayyid Ibrahim Husayn Shadhili Qutb (Arabic: سيد قطب) was an Egyptian political theorist and revolutionary who was a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood.
As the author of 24 published books, with around 30 unpublished for different reasons (mainly destruction by the state), and at least 581 articles, including novels, literary arts critique and works on education, Qutb is best known in the Muslim world for his work on what he believed to be the social and political role of Islam, particularly in his books Social Justice and Ma'alim fi al-Tariq (Milestones). His magnum opus, Fi Zilal al-Qur'an (In the Shade of the Qur'an), is a 30-volume commentary on the Quran. Even though most of his observations and criticism were leveled at the Muslim world, Qutb also intensely disapproved of the society and culture of the United States, which he saw as materialistic, and obsessed with violence and sexual pleasures. He advocated violent, offensive jihad.
During most of his life, Qutb's inner circle mainly consisted of influential politicians, intellectuals, poets and literary figures, both of his age and of the preceding generation. By the mid-1940s, many of his writings were included in the curricula of schools, colleges and universities. In 1966, he was convicted of plotting the assassination of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and was executed by hanging.
Qutb has been described by followers as a great thinker and martyr for Islam, while many Western observers (and some Muslims) see him as a key originator of Islamist ideology, and an inspiration for violent Islamist groups such as al-Qaeda. Qutb is widely regarded as one of the most leading Islamist ideologues of the twentieth century. Strengthened by his status as a martyr, Qutb's ideas on Jahiliyya (pre-Islamic Arabia) and his close linking of implementation of sharia (Islamic Law) with Tawhid (Islamic monotheism) has highly influenced contemporary Islamist and Jihadist movements. Today, his supporters are identified by their opponents as "Qutbists" or "Qutbi".
As the author of 24 published books, with around 30 unpublished for different reasons (mainly destruction by the state), and at least 581 articles, including novels, literary arts critique and works on education, Qutb is best known in the Muslim world for his work on what he believed to be the social and political role of Islam, particularly in his books Social Justice and Ma'alim fi al-Tariq (Milestones). His magnum opus, Fi Zilal al-Qur'an (In the Shade of the Qur'an), is a 30-volume commentary on the Quran. Even though most of his observations and criticism were leveled at the Muslim world, Qutb also intensely disapproved of the society and culture of the United States, which he saw as materialistic, and obsessed with violence and sexual pleasures. He advocated violent, offensive jihad.
During most of his life, Qutb's inner circle mainly consisted of influential politicians, intellectuals, poets and literary figures, both of his age and of the preceding generation. By the mid-1940s, many of his writings were included in the curricula of schools, colleges and universities. In 1966, he was convicted of plotting the assassination of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and was executed by hanging.
Qutb has been described by followers as a great thinker and martyr for Islam, while many Western observers (and some Muslims) see him as a key originator of Islamist ideology, and an inspiration for violent Islamist groups such as al-Qaeda. Qutb is widely regarded as one of the most leading Islamist ideologues of the twentieth century. Strengthened by his status as a martyr, Qutb's ideas on Jahiliyya (pre-Islamic Arabia) and his close linking of implementation of sharia (Islamic Law) with Tawhid (Islamic monotheism) has highly influenced contemporary Islamist and Jihadist movements. Today, his supporters are identified by their opponents as "Qutbists" or "Qutbi".
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 20, 2025
Milestones is one of those rare works that manages to reorient an entire discussion, in this case Islamic politics, around itself– one is either a defender or an opponent of Qutb, whether or not he knows it. Many, if not all, works on modern Islamic politics appear to be in its orbit due to its sheer weight and rhetoric force. To completely disavow Qutb or even to ignore him and his approach would be to indirectly refer to him.
Like the legacy of any hero, there is much to be cherished and much to be critiqued about this book. Yusuf al-Qaradawi, although sympathetic to Qutb, has said that the work embodies a sense of pessimism about the fate of Islam and its reawakening in the 20th century. But the undeniable influence Qutb's writing has had on some of the most important Islamic movements of the late 20th and early 21st century– for better or for worse– seems to contradict this claim and indicate a generative element latent in it. The penultimate chapter's commentary on Suratul Buruj in particular is the clearest indicator to me that the author was not a crazed nihilist, but perhaps a crazed optimist.
Qutb's exposition of God's oneness and the lofty implications of this metaphysical reality manifests clearly in his remarks about human freedom generally, and specifically in the palpable threat that complete submission to God poses to human systems of oppression and exploitation.
In spite of being more than half a century old, Milestones provides a timely narrative to what has befallen the Islamic world since the fall of the Ottoman empire. Its enduring importance to the topic cannot be overstated.
Like the legacy of any hero, there is much to be cherished and much to be critiqued about this book. Yusuf al-Qaradawi, although sympathetic to Qutb, has said that the work embodies a sense of pessimism about the fate of Islam and its reawakening in the 20th century. But the undeniable influence Qutb's writing has had on some of the most important Islamic movements of the late 20th and early 21st century– for better or for worse– seems to contradict this claim and indicate a generative element latent in it. The penultimate chapter's commentary on Suratul Buruj in particular is the clearest indicator to me that the author was not a crazed nihilist, but perhaps a crazed optimist.
Qutb's exposition of God's oneness and the lofty implications of this metaphysical reality manifests clearly in his remarks about human freedom generally, and specifically in the palpable threat that complete submission to God poses to human systems of oppression and exploitation.
In spite of being more than half a century old, Milestones provides a timely narrative to what has befallen the Islamic world since the fall of the Ottoman empire. Its enduring importance to the topic cannot be overstated.
August 11, 2024
rip qutb you egyptian incel. you would've loved /pol/ and 4chan
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews