Sayyid Qutb’s book ‘Milestones’ has been one of the main inspirations for violent Islamist groups since its publication in 1964. The appeal of his ideas lies in their ability to offer a religious framework to the political struggle against post-colonial regimes, as well as redefining the meaning of victory and defeat.
An Associated Press team that covered the Kurdish offensive to liberate the self-proclaimed Islamic State’s last stronghold in Syria in March 2019 described items left behind in one of the IS fighters’ bases: “The ID cards of two men from Aleppo province… a teddy bear; and, not far away, a torn copy of ‘Milestones’.”
An Egyptian Islamic theorist, writer and a leading member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, Qutb wrote ‘Milestones’ while in prison under the Gamal Abdel Nasser regime. The 200-page book lays out a plan to revive a true ‘Muslim society’, one that follows a strictly Quranic approach, according to his understanding. Qutb’s ideas have been an inspiration to armed Jihadist groups around the world, from the first wave of violence in Egypt in the 1970s to the fall of the IS caliphate. While Qutb’s rationale for violence is based solely on theology, other ideological frameworks have failed to gain similar influence. One faction of the Muslim Brotherhood offered a different ideological basis for the practice of violence against the post-2013 regime in Egypt following the removal of the Muslim Brotherhood president, Mohamed Morsi: one based on politics rather than theology. But its ideas failed to attract followers from within its own ranks, let alone inspiring outsiders to join.
