From Secularism to Jihad: Sayyid Qutb and the Foundations of Radical Islamism

The modern political idea of "jihad"--a violent struggle against corrupt or anti-Islamic regimes--is essentially the brainchild of one man who turned traditional Islamic precepts inside out and created the modern radical political Islamist movement. Using the evolution of Sayyid Qutb's life and writings, Musallam traces and analyzes Qutb's alienation and subsequent emergence as an independent Islamist within the context of his society and the problems that it faced. Radicalized following hi...