“Islamic Revivalist” (A "Follow-up" To NYT Article "The Philosopher of Islamic Terror")

n/a | unpublished (written in Spring 2002) | Pyro7480

[Pyro7480]

At the request of FReeper knews_hound, this is the full text of my term paper from a history class I took at the University of Delaware in the spring of 2002 titled "Islamic Radicalism in the Middle East." This class was offered in the aftermath of September 11th, to give undergraduate students an understanding of the history of Islamic fundamentalism, which obviously motivated the terrorist attacks. I found the class to be fairly-balanced, with little bias. The professor, a native of the Netherlands, is fluent in Arabic and Farsi, and is an expert in Middle Eastern history, particularly in Iranian history. He was a great teacher, in my opinion. After I saw the NYT article, I e-mailed him with the link to the article. He had already seen it, but thanked me for sending it to him.

Even though this paper was initially finished almost a year ago, I still consider it "a work in progress." I wrote it in a bit of a hurry, because of the workload I had that semester, and because a power outage at my dormitory while I was in the middle of writing it shortened the time I had to write it. I am considering using it for my graduate school entrance applications, so I am planning on rewriting it, using footnotes instead of in-text citations, and to make sure that there is no question of improperly paraphrasing the source material (even though the professor graded it and saw no problem - I want to cover my bases).

I hope this article proves educational to those seeking knowledge of the roots of Islamic radicalism. As knews_hound said, it is less verbose than the NYT article, and is not really analytical. It wasn't the point of the assignment to be analytical, but to chronicle the history of a major figure or movement in the history of Islamic radicalism. Sayyid Qutb is probably one of the most important figures in the history of modern Islamic fundamentalist movements. His work is something that shouldn't be ignored by those who are concerned with the defense of Western civilization.

[Pyro7480]

PINGing the members who commented on the original NYT article threads!

[TomSmedley]

ping

[Pyro7480]

BUMP!

[knews_hound]

BTTT

Thank you for posting this.

IMHO, the West will never come to terms with radical Islam until it understands the motivations behind it.

Qutb is the founder of this movement and as its principal author, his words resonate with the current crop of Radicals that threaten us now.

What amazed me the most Pyro, was his assertion that viewing 1940s America revealed its decadence. He would have fallen over in shock if he were to see the Western World of today.

I have grave suspicions however about many of the assertions he makes. For instance, a Western Woman tried to seduce him on the ship? Yeah right, I'm sure they were falling all over thenselves for his studly bod. Additionally, the idea that British intellegence would under any circumstance reveal their long term plans to an admitted Radical and likely foe seems ludicrous.

I do thank you for posting this, knowledge is power. And like any good soldier, I like to know my enemy.

Cheers,

knews hound

[BunnySlippers]

Thanks, and a BUMP!

[Sabertooth]

Islam will always be dangerous, because revival is an ever present phenomenon of religions. In revival, followers attempt to emulate their religions' founders.

In Jewish revival, Jews emulate Moses, living by the law, and trying to get to the Promised Land.

In Christian revival, Christians emulate Christ, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, and evangellizing the masses.

In Islamic revival, Muslims emulate Mohammed, and seek to conquer and drive out the infidel, butcher indiscriminately, plunder their neghbors, take their woman as they please, and enslave whom they will.

Peaceful Islam is the aberration.

[knews_hound]

You might find this intresting.

Cheers,

knews hound

[joesnuffy]

The root of any and all forms of islam is in satan

Mohammed wrote the koran under the influence of a demon by his own admission..he was tricked by one of his wives and his own pride into changing his mind...

The fruits of Mohammed and his belief in Allah being the same God as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are fairly evident in history..death

By their fruits you will know them...and their dogma

Moderate islam is the trojan horse of the pure form

Jesus refered to himself as "living water..the water that eliminates all thirst" He and He alone is the wellspring of all life...

Mohammed and Islam denies this..all Islam denies this...even the moderate form

Moderate muslims are often kind hearted, decent, hard working tax payers..in a secular society and even a Christian one this is all that is required..and should be

Jesus said that he who is not against us is for us..

As long as islam is not against Christ in an open ovet manner ..it is ok...this doesnt alter the fact that its a false religon that will ultimately deliver its followers into eternal damnation...but to allow them to live among us is ok as long as they are not against us...

And perhaps this way many will be allowed by Jesus to see the truth and come to saving faith in Christ...

If they plot in secret in their mosques or teach death to US citizens Jews and Christians in their Islamic training centers than it would be in the interest of national security to stop them

To give the wahhabi lobby -CAIR access to the pockets of our politicans is also cultural suicide imo..

[Lael]

In Islamic revival, Muslims emulate Mohammed, and seek to conquer and drive out the infidel, butcher indiscriminately, plunder their neghbors, take their woman as they please, and enslave whom they will.

You've got that right!!!

Slavery was almost extinct in Northwest Europe. Slave capture and 'processing' that existed were almost exclusively to trade with the Moslems of Turkey and the 'Barbary Coast'.

You see, under Sharia law, a man may only sleep with his wife(s) and Slaves. Hence, Slavery WILL be revived.

Interestingly, when the British 'got religion' and outlawed and began surpressing the Slave Trade, Moslems considered that action as being "anti-Moslem".

We really don't want a world where Slavery returns!!

[beckett]

Thanks for pinging me to your paper. I trust you received a top grade, since the scholarship is excellent. I learned a lot.

[wtc911]

There are 25 countries around today's globe where there is some level of internal armed conflict caused by the muslim push to create a Global Caliphate. Putin warned about it last year. The PM of Singapore showed documents taken when al-queda cells in his country were arrested that talked of the plans to create a SE Asian Caliphate.

In spite of this eveidence there are muslims who post here trying to convince us that the idea of a Global Caliphate is just a joke...nothing to concern us...sound just like the US communists of the last century who did their best to fool us about Stalin. It didn't work then and I don't see it working now.

[Pyro7480]

Thanks for the compliment. :-) As I said in my comments below the article, I am planning on rewriting it, using footnotes instead of in-text citations, and to make sure that there is no question of improperly paraphrasing the source material (even though the professor graded it and saw no problem - I want to cover my bases). Out of a total of 80 points possible for the paper, I received a 78. I got 2 points taken off for some minor errors I made in the original draft, but I fixed them in this post. The professor wrote "excellent paper, well-organized and deftly argued." Even with that, there's always room for improvement. ;-)

[swarthyguy]

Bookmarked. Great material. Have you read Malise Ruthven's A Fury for God that has a decent summary of this guy?

[Pyro7480]

Thanks for the compliment. :-) Unfortunately, I haven't read Ruthven's "A Fury for God," but I have his "Islam: A Very Short Introduction," which was a textbook for my history class. Ruthven briefly mention Qutb in the book.

What largely pushed me in the direction of writing my term paper about him was reading Dinesh D'Souza's book "What's So Great About America." The first chapter was printed in .pdf format on the Young America's Foundation website shortly before the book was released, and I saw the part where he mentioned Qutb. We obviously talked about him in my class, so I decided to do my paper about him.

When I made my trip to the university library, the few outright sources about Qutb had been taken out, so it took me a little bit more time to find sources, but what I did find was great. By the time I got around to sitting down and writing the paper, the one source that I wanted to use was back in the library, so I got to use it. I'll have to check out Ruthven's book now. Thanks for telling me about it. :-)

[tictoc]

Thank you for pinging me to this thread.

A good paper, and I am glad that I read it.

Thanks again.

[Pyro7480]

You're quite welcome, and thanks for your compliment. :-)

[GOPJ]

Thanks for the ping. Please add me to your ping list.

[homeagain balkansvet]

ATTENTION DC AREA FREEPERS - The full and collected works of Sayyed Qutb can be found at a quiet little meatshop-and-bookstore in Northern Virginia. There's also a remarkable collection of the most vile anti-Semitic literature imaginable, starting (but NOT ending!) with three different translations of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. It's like a frumpy old Catholic bookstore, except 'taint anything Catholic about it. Caveat emptor.

[GOPJ]

What ideas can be used to fight these people. What ideas will allow them to exist in peace -- with anyone. Most wars in the world involve Muslims. What part of the ideas they hold are the most dangerous to our way of life -- to their way of life? Is compromise possible? Do you feel Iran is different and if so, why?

With the Russians we would sit down and push pawn to King four - they would respond with pawn to King four... While seeming different, both sides were chess players. With Iraq, we push pawn to king four, and they piss in the corner, then hit the chess board with an ax. Please share your insight.