Sayyid Qutb, Islamic Jihad and Extremism

Abstract

The present article, against the claim that Sayyid Qutb's supported theoretical and spiritual for Islamic extremism by proposing the concept of jihad, believes that by reading Sayyid Qutb's texts on his political and intellectual environment, his time shows the inaccuracy of this claim. Reading his texts for this article shows the conceptual development of defensive jihad in the political thought of Sayyid Qutb. With the transition of contemporary Islamism from a reformist to a revolutionary approach, he removed the concept of jihad from defensive jihad in its narrow sense and used it in its broadest sense. According to the author's view, the conceptual development of defensive jihad has not led to an aggressive jihad based on the idea of takfir, so he cannot be considered the intellectual and spiritual father of Islamic extremism. This article argues for this claim using an intentional hermeneutical method.

Keywords

• sayyid qutb
• jihad
• defense jihad
• offensive jihad
• islamic extremism