This lecture is about the intellectual foundation of the Al-Qaeda ideology. And to establish that, we're going to take a close look at the writings of Sayyid Qutb, an Egyptian writer, philosopher in some ways, and ultimately political activist. Qutb was born in 1906 in a small town about 200 miles south of Cairo. He said he didn't grow up in a particularly religious environment. But, on the other hand, he also said that he memorized the Quran by the age of ten. He did his primary school education there. But then moved to Cairo and lived with his uncle when he was in his teens to complete his secondary work. Qutb was definitely a loner. His only close relations appear to be his family. His father died when he was 21. And his mother then moved to Cairo to be with him. Qutb worked in the Education Ministry in Egypt, kind of a mid- to upper-level bureaucrat.. And his aspiration was as a writer, was to rise to the top of the literary circles in Cairo. That really hadn't happened when he was in his late 30s or so. And his writings, then, began to take on more of an Islamic flavor. He was definitely in some ways becoming much more inspired and interested in writing about religion. That entered his kind of educational philosophy. And that was causing conflict for him in the Educational Ministry. So his friends helped arrange for him to win a fellowship that would take him to the United States to pursue his studies. Qutb dwelled on whether that was something he should do. But decided, ultimately, to board a ship headed for the United States in 1948. 1948 in Egypt was really the final throes of the British occupation. King Farouk had been installed by the British and was seen as a corrupted, Illegitimate ruler. There was widespread poverty and illiteracy in Cairo. And Egyptian society was not particularly healthy. 1948 also marked the Arab–Israeli War, after the formation of the State of Israel in May. By November, the time Qutb was heading for his sojourn to the United States, all the armies of the Arab world, but also the large and powerful Egyptian army, had been defeated. Represented in this slide by the picture on the bottom with the Israeli army driving an Egyptian tank. In some ways, leading to the humiliation of Egypt, and Egyptian, and Arab pride at this time. So this was the Cairo that Qutb was departing from. And he was entering a post-war United States. This 1948 in New York City, quite a contrast, a shock in many ways, for the Egyptian literary scholar who had never traveled outside of his country. He was, in many ways, appalled by the licentiousness of society. He didn't like the materialism, and the overabundance of commerce, everyone striving to make the quick, next buck. He certainly wrote about his discomfort with American women, their forwardness, their sexuality, their licentiousness. This, for him, was just a radical departure from his culture. And he was uncomfortable in many ways with it. Qutb spent the bulk of his time in the United States in Greeley, Colorado at a teacher's college in the northern part of the state. Now, in some ways, he should have felt more comfortable there because this was a temperance colony. But it was also a progressive institution. 40% of the students there were women. And, again, they were very much integral parts, professional women. And this was something that made Qutb very uncomfortable. Qutb also remarked about the racism he felt as an Egyptian in American society in the late 1940s, early 1950s. In many ways, the experience in America that, in some ways, his friends hoped might temper his views. Actually, he came back to Egypt in 1950 more radicalized. And in some ways more desirous of promoting Islam, and becoming ingrained in Islamic culture and thought. He joined the Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood was an organization created by the person in this picture, Hassan al-Banna in 1928. And the brothers desired to create a more Islamic society, to live under Islamic principles. That was their credo. And Qutb joined the brotherhood as soon as he returned. Al-Banna had actually died in 1948 while Qutb was in the United States. And the Brotherhood, in many ways, was making up for the dysfunction of other parts of Egyptian society. So whereas the civilians, the secular government, the Farouk administration, the British occupation was not providing services and education for the poor, for the downtrodden, for the average Egyptian, the Brotherhood was stepping in. Providing those services, and also tying much more of the Egyptian population to the culture and the neighborhood mosque. Two years after Qutb returned from the United States, the Egyptian Revolution occurred. A group of military officers led by Gamal Abdel Nasser, the Free Officers Movement, worked with the military, together with the Muslim brothers, who were also very much against the colonial rule. They were nationalists. They rose up, got rid of the monarch, and essentially ended the British occupation. Nasser takes control of the government, and is interested in co-opting the Muslim brothers into his movement. But he offers Qutb a couple of jobs, which Qutb turns down. And Qutb quickly realized that their programs were very different. Nasser wanted to lead a pan-Arabic movement, a highly status, social welfare, almost socialistic government, totally secular. And the Muslim brothers want to incorporate Islamic principles into governance. And so, ultimately, they quickly became rivals. In 1954, Qutb was thrown in jail for the first time. He was released and allowed to start, in order to essentially be the publisher of the Muslim Brotherhood's magazine. But after he published a number of editorials criticizing the government, the magazine was shut down. So relations were very strained. Later in 1954, there was a serious assassination attempt by the Muslim brothers against Nasser. He quickly rounded up and hung six of the alleged conspirators. Literally thousands were placed into camps, and Qutb was arrested. Qutb was highly mistreated in jail with dogs, terrible conditions, his health suffered. Ultimately, he went on trial. And the Egyptian government presented a case of a far-ranging conspiracy, much of which was made up. A far-ranging conspiracy for many types of incidents which the Muslim brothers were alleged to be conspiring to take over the government. And Qutb ultimately was sentenced to life imprisonment. But that sentence was reduced to 15 years due to his poor health. Qutb was very ill and suffered immensely in jail, but he continued to write. He wrote his first work, published from the time he was incarcerated, a lengthy and very detailed commentary on the Quran, called In the Shade of the Quran. But his most famous work is a book that we will examine called the Milestones. Which is, in many ways, the political manifesto for the Muslim brothers and lays the foundation for the Al-Qaeda ideology. It was smuggled out of jail in pieces and published in 1964. The book was quickly banned by the Nasser government, but it was too late. It had been published many times already, and was circulating among the populace.
