Sayyid Qutb | |
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Sayyid Qutb on trial in 1966 under the Gamal Abdel Nasser regime
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Born |
Mūshā, Asyut Governorate, Khedivate of Egypt |
9 October 1906
Died | 29 August 1966 Cairo, Egypt |
(aged 59)
Ethnicity | Egyptian |
Era | Modern era |
Religion | Islam |
Jurisprudence | Shafi'i |
Creed | Sunni |
Main interest(s) | Islam, politics, Quranic exegesis (tafsir) |
Notable idea(s) | Jahiliyyah, Ubudiyya |
Notable work(s) | Milestones, In the Shade of the Quran |
Sayyid Qutb (/ˈkuːtəb/ or /ˈkʌtəb/; Egyptian Arabic pronunciation: [ˈsæjjed ˈʔotˤb], Arabic: [ˈsæjjɪd ˈqʊtˤb]; Arabic: سيد قطب Sayyid Quṭb; also spelled Said, Syed, Seyyid, Sayid, Sayed; Koteb, Qutub, Kotb, Kutb; 9 October 1906 – 29 August 1966) was an Egyptian author, educator, Islamic theorist, poet, and the leading member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1966, he was convicted of plotting the assassination of Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser and was executed by hanging.
Author of 24 books, including novels, literary arts critique and works on education, he is best known in the Muslim world for his work on what he believed to be the social and political role of Islam, particularly in his books Social Justice and Ma'alim fi al-Tariq (Milestones). His magnum opus, Fi Zilal al-Quran (In the Shade of the Qur'an), is a 30-volume commentary on the Quran.