Talk:Milestones (book)

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Untitled

This article was nominated for deletion on January 17 2006. The result of the discussion was keep. An archived record of this discussion can be found here.

Criticism

Even a section on criticism has to be polite and not use a sarcastic tone. Sentences like "It's not clear whether he includes among these lucky Africans the slaves who worked in the salt mines of early Islam..." betray the obvious bias of the editor and should not be acceptable. Also, the whole section is written from the editors perspective and not from a critic's perspective, another reason why this section needs to be edited for POV. Aslamt 05:12, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Surely there's a better way

Surely there should be a better way to write about this book than quoting verbatim from it. Instead of this format, can one simply discuss the main themes in the book and the book's impact?

Definitely. Anyone interested should also look to improving the article on Sayyid Qutb. --Vector4F 17:02, 1 January 2006 (UTC)

New, More Complete, Entry for Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq

Warning: A lot of vertabim quotes are used but I want to let the book speak for itself.

Any comments?

--Leroy65X 21:51, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Seems good. I would definitely have more summary of the main thrust of the book and its historical impact first (that's already on the page, mostly), but the other details are nice. SnowFire 13:39, 10 July 2006 (UTC)
Quick facts Author, Original title ...
Milestones
AuthorSayyid Qutb
Original titleMa'alim fi-l-Tariq
LanguageArabic
PublisherKazi Publications
Publication date1964
Publication placeEgypt
Media typePrint (Paperback)
ISBN1567444946 (1993 edition)
Close

Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq or Milestones, first published in 1964, is a book by Egyptian Islamist author Sayyid Qutb in which he lays out a plan and makes a call to action to re-create the Muslim world.

The title Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq translates into English as "Milestones Along the Way" or "Milestones Along the Road". English translations of the book are entitled simply "Milestones," (The book is also sometimes referred to as "Signposts").

Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq is probably Qutb's most famous and influential work, and one of, if not the most influential Islamist tracts ever written. It is often described as a major influence on radical Islamist terrorists.

History

Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq or Milestones marked the culmination of Qutb's evolution from modernist author and critic, to Islamist activist and writer, and finally to Islamist revolutionary and theoretician. It was written in prison where Qutb spent 10 years under charges of political conspiracy and first published in 1964.

Less than a year after its publication, Qutb was again arrested and brought to trial in Egypt under charges of conspiring against the state. [1] Excerpts from the book were used to incriminate Qutb and he was found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging in 1966. His death elevated his status to Shaheed or martyr and Milestones became a best seller and widely distributed across the Arab speaking world. To date, close to 2,000 editions of the work are said to have been published. [2]


Contents

In his short (12 chapter 160 pages) book, Qutb seeks to set out "milestones" or guiding markers along a road that will lead to the revival of Islam from its current "extinction."

"The Muslim community has been extinct for a few centuries," and reverted to its pre-Islamic state, (a.k.a. Jahiliyyah [3]), according to Qutb, because those who call themselves Muslims have failed to follow "the laws of God" or Sharia (also Shariah, Shari'a, or Shari'ah), traditional Islamic law. (p.9)[4] Following the Sharia is not just important but a defining attribute of Muslims, more necessary than belief itself (p.89), because "according to the Shari'ah, 'to obey' is 'to worship'." Obeying Sharia is to worship God, likewise "Anyone who serves someone other than God" -- be they priests, presidents, parliaments or secular legal statutes -- "is outside God's religion, although he may claim to profess this religion." [p.60]

Qutb sees Sharia as much more than a code of religious or public laws. It is a complete "way of life ... based on submission to God alone," (p.82) crowding out anything non-Islamic. It's rules range from "belief" to "administration and justice" to "principles of art and science." (p.107) Being God's law, Sharia is as much a part "of that universal law which governs the entire universe, ... as accurate and true as any of the laws known as the `laws of nature,`" like gravity or electricity. (p.88, also p.45-46)

"The establishment of God's law on earth" will lead to "blessings" falling "on all mankind." (p.90) Sharia is "the only guarantee against any kind of discord in life. (p.89)" and will "automatically" bring "peace and cooperation among individuals." It will reveal "the knowledge of the secrets of nature, its hidden forces and the treasures concealed in the expanses of the universe." (p.90), its "harmony between human life and the universe" will approach the perfection of heaven itself. (p.91)

Just as Sharia is all encompassing and all wonderful, what is non-Muslim (or Jahiliyyah) is "evil and corrupt," and its existence anywhere intolerable to true Muslims. "The Islamic society is by its very nature, the only civilized society." (p.94) "We will not change our own values and concepts either more or less to make a bargain with this jahili society. Never!" (p.21) "Islam cannot accept or agree to a situation which is half-Islam and half-Jahiliyyah ... The mixing and co-existence of the truth and falsehood is impossible." (p.130) In preaching and promoting Islam, for example, it is very important not to demean Islam by "searching for resemblances" between Islam and the "filth" and "the rubbish heap of the West." (p.139)

Some may ignore this fact and attempt to introduce elements of socialism or nationalism into Islam or the Muslim community (as Egypt's Arab Socialist Union government was doing at the time). They should bear in mind that the Prophet (pbuh) never appealed to ethnic or class loyalty to build his religion. Though such crowd-pleasing appeals would have undoubtedly shortened the thirteen years of "tortures" the Prophet (pbuh) had to indure while calling initially unresponsive Arabs to Islam, "God did not lead His Prophet (pbuh) on this course. ... This was not the way," (p.25-27) and so must not be the way now. Only God's law brings justice.

To restore Islam on earth and free Muslims from "jahili society, jahili concepts, jahili traditions and jahili leadership," (p.21) Qutb preaches that a vanguard (tali'a) be formed modeling itself after the original Muslims ("Companions of the Prophet") and their community. These Muslims successfully vanquished Jahiliyyah (Qutb declared), principally for two reasons:

  • They cut themselves off from the Jahiliyyah -- i.e. they ignored the learning and culture of non-Muslim groups (Greeks, Romans, Persians, Christians or Jews), and separated themselves from their old non-Muslim friends and family. (p.16, 20)
  • And they looked to the Qur'an for orders to obey, not as "learning and information" or solutions to problems. (p.17-18)

Following these principles the vanguard will fight Jahiliyyah with a two-fold approach: preaching, and "the movement" (jama'at). Preaching will persuade people to become true Muslims, while the movement will remove by "physical power and Jihaad" (p.55) "material obstacles" from the Sharia's path. The foremost of these obstacles is the "political power which rests on a complex yet interrelated ideological, racial, class, social and economic support," (p.59) but ultimately includes "the whole human environment." (p.72) Force is necessary, Qutb explains, because it is naive to expect "those who have usurped the authority of God" to "give up their power" without a fight. (p.58-9)

Remaining aloof from Jahiliyyah and its values and culture, but preaching and removing obstacles within it, the vanguard will travel the road, gradually growing from a cell of "three individuals ... to ten, the ten to a hundred, the hundred to a thousand, and the thousand ... to twelve thousand," and blossom into a truly Islamic community. The community may start in the "homeland of Islam" but this is by no means "the ulimate objective of the Islamic movement of Jihad." (p.72) Jihad must not merely be defensive, it must be offensive, (p.62) and its objective must be to carry Islam "throughout the earth to the whole of mankind." (p.72)

True Muslims should maintain a "sense of supremacy" and "superiority," (p.141), but sadly it is important that they also prepare themselves for a "life until death in poverty, difficulty, frustration, torment and sacrifice" (p.157), and even brace themselves for possibility of death by torture at the hands of Jahiliyyah's sadistic, "arrogant, mischievous, criminal and degraded people." (p.150) Qutb ends his book describing the gruesome burning and dismemberment (he believes) many Muslims will be subject to. (p.150, 157)

Some revision made 5.7.06

--Leroy65X 15:10, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Influences

Qutb popularized ideas first advanced by Indian Islamist writer Abul-a'la Mawdudi: al-'ubudiyya, or worship, (which is performed not only by praying and adoring but by obeying); and al-hakimiyya, or sovereignty, (which is God's over all the earth and violated when His law, the Sharia, is not obeyed). [5]

Qutb's intense dislike of the West not withstanding, certain of his ideas (such as the "infertility" of democracy, victimhood from malicious foreign and Jewish conspiracies, and the necessity of a corrective revolution led by a vanguard following principles from a earlier golden age) are strongly reminiscent of European fascism. Some have found "ideas, constructs and phrases" used by Qutb "clearly adapted from the works of" German "fascist philosopher" Carl Schmidt [6], or that Qutb "appreciated' the work of French fascist Alexis Carrel.[7]


Influence

In terms of Milestones' influence over others, the debate centers on whether or which terrorist or insurgent groups were inspired by Milestones and to what extent. In the decades following Qutb's execution, groups formed generally thought to be inspired by Qutb's Milestones-- such as al-Jihad al-Islami, al-Takfir was al-Hijrah, al-Jihad, Tanzim al-Faniyyah al-Askariyyah, Jund Allah.[8] Two vanguard groups dedicated to overthrowing the Egyptian government and renewing Islam -- al-Jihad al-Islami, and particularly Jama'at Islamiyya -- were responsible for hundreds of deaths in Egypt during the 1980s and 90s, including those of a president (Anwar Sadat), a head of the counter-terrorism police (Major General Raouf Khayrat), a parliamentary speaker (Rifaat el-Mahgoub), dozens of European tourists, and over 100 Egyptian police.

Egypt, A Timeline of Recent Events[9] "Survivors of the Qutbist movement joined Bin Laden,"[10] including members of al-Jihad al-Islami which merged with al-Qaeda and whose leader Ayman al-Zawahiri became bin Laden's 2nd in command. [11]

On the other hand, supporters defending his innocence against the Egyptian governments accusations deny Milestones instigated "violence and destructive activities" [12] More persuasively, some point to passages in Milestones that talk of how "first" Islam must be "imprinted on hearts" and "consciences" (p.35) of the people before Sharia law is implemented, [13], although these contradicts his call for offensive jihad in the manner of the early Caliphs. (p.62) [14]

It should also be pointed out that some Salafi/Wahhabi radicals have attacked Qutb as insufficiently militant in opposing allegedly apostate Muslims. [15]

Notes

Reference

See also

Qutb and Fascism

Vandalism of "Racism" and "Christians and Jews as Polytheists" sections

"Christians and Jews as Polytheists" section revised

Thanks SnowFire

Neutrality

Ah yes, the old canard of "Arab slave-drivers" ....

Section on "American racism" removed ....

Learn to read Arabic

Fair use rationale for Image:Milestones.jpg

Proposed title change from Ma'alim fi al-Tariq to Ma'alim fi al-Tariq (Milestones)

Restrictions

This article needs serious reworking

title

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