Meet Sayyid Qutb

If radical Islamism has an equivalent to Karl Marx, that figure would be Sayyid Qutb. An Egyptian, Qutb was hanged by his own government in 1966 after spending a number of years in prison. Mike Palmer has a great post describing Qutb and his ideas, and quoting from his most influential work, Milestones. Anyone who still doubts that radical Islamists harbor a pathological hatred of "infidel" western society would be well advised to read Mike's post.

Most chillingly, Mike found Qutb described as a "Great Muslim" on a British-based Muslim website. As he sums it up:

The “Young Muslims of the United Kingdom” clearly consider Qutb, often dubbed “The Godfather of the Jihadists,” a “Great Muslim of the Twentieth Century.” In fact, he is the only person so ranked under the topic. So why should anyone be surprised that some Muslim students are willing to do whatever it takes to destroy a form of government that stands in the way of the application of Shari’ah in the UK? Why should anyone be surprised that some Muslim students do not accept the fundamental principles upon which British constitutional government is based? Qutb instructs them to challenge “all kinds and forms of systems which are based on the concept of the sovereignty of man.” The concept that sovereignty rests with the people is, of course, the fundamental ideal of Enlightenment—western—political philosophy. We need to understand that some Muslims reject this ideal and intend to destroy that system, by force if necessary.