Sayyid Qutb and the Origins of Radical Islamism by Calvert John

Author:Calvert, John
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 2013-04-11T04:00:00+00:00

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The simmering tensions between the Muslim Brotherhood and the RCC erupted into open conflict on 12 January 1954 when young people attached to the Liberation Rally confronted Muslim Brothers at the gates of Cairo University. The Brothers were demonstrating against the RCC’s negotiations with Britain over the Canal Zone. They had been fired up by a speech delivered by Seyyed Mojtaba Navvab-Safavi, the founder of the Iranian underground Shi‘i Islamist organization Feda’iyan-e Eslam (Devotees of Islam), who was visiting Cairo; at the time of his visit Navvab-Safavi was close to Ayatollah Kashani, who was well respected by many Egyptian Islamists. The clash between the two groups, which resulted in injuries on both sides, provided the RCC with the pretext it needed to move against the Brotherhood. Three days after the disturbance the officers dissolved the organization, claiming that it was a political, not simply a religious group and thus subject to the January 1953 ban on political parties.

The authorities arrested over 450 Brothers. Qutb and Hudaybi were among those apprehended.124 Yet, despite the officers’ precipitate action, there is little evidence to suggest that they intended at this time to eradicate the movement. As Joel Gordon explains, “The crackdown was more a propaganda campaign against Hudaybi and his allies than a concerted effort to destroy the Brotherhood.”125 By chastening the Brothers, the officers hoped that upon their release they would adopt a more cooperative attitude towards the regime.

Qutb, however, did not come around in the way the officers had intended. His taste of prison had the effect of hardening, rather than softening, his heart toward the soldiers. In the damp and cold of his cell, Qutb reflected on the events that had transpired and began to channel his brewing anger in the writing of volumes seventeen and eighteen of his Qur’an commentary, In the Shade of the Qur’an.

However, beyond the prison walls events were moving in a direction that afforded Qutb some hope. For several months, tensions had been mounting between Colonel Gamal ‘Abd al-Nasser, the moving force behind the Junta, and General Muhammad Neguib, president of the new Egyptian republic and the figurehead of the Free Officers movement. At issue was the direction of the Egyptian revolution. Having implemented structural changes in Egypt’s political and social systems, ‘Abd al-Nasser and his close associates concluded that permanent military dictatorship over the apparatus of state was the logical next step. Neguib, concerned at his colleagues’ tendency to autocracy, began to advocate a return to the constitution and political pluralism. To facilitate this, Neguib opened channels of communication with Mustafa al-Nahhas, the former leader of the Wafd whom he regarded as a potential ally against ‘Abd al-Nasser.

‘Abd al-Nasser decided to nip Neguib’s challenge in the bud. In February 1954 army units loyal to the regime placed the general under house arrest. This, however, had the effect of turning Muhammad Neguib into a symbol of opposition to ‘Abd al-Nasser. Muslim Brothers, Communists, Wafdists—all those whom the Free Officers had proscribed—demonstrated on behalf of Neguib,

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