(6) | How did Sayyid Qutb formulate a new concept of jihad?

In Article No. 4 of this series, I dealt with the differences between the first and second versions of the book "In the Shadows of the Qur'an", and I indicated there that the subject of jihad is one of the pillars of the new intellectual structure that resulted from the systematic change in dealing with the Qur'anic text of Sayyid Qutb, may God have mercy on him. .

This article will analyze the additions made by the second version of the shadows with regard to the subject of jihad;

In order to clarify the nature of the methodological transformation referred to first, and to clarify the dimensions of the political (or kinetic) interpretation of the Qur’an and religion in general, as it appears in its most prominent form at Sayed second.

Abu Al-A'la Al-Mawdudi, the prominent inspirer of Sayyid Al-Thani, had preceded such a political interpretation of religion. Even Aba Al-Hasan Al-Nadawi - may God Almighty have mercy on him - had written a criticism of what he called "the political interpretation of religion" according to Al-Mawdudi.

This new formulation presented by Syed to the concept of jihad left a great impact on what was later called the “jihadist project” among violent groups, and this is what I will single out the next article for, God willing.

I will start first by explaining some of the differences between the two versions of the shadows with regard to jihad, then explain the dimensions of the political interpretation of religion according to Sayed secondly, then how he formulated the concept of jihad based on his new interpretation of Islam thirdly, and I will then conclude with the characteristics of the dynamic project that the stages of jihad show according to the polar perspective.

First: the increases of the second copy

The comparison between Surat Al-Baqara and Surat Al-Anfal from the two versions of the shadows shows significant differences with regard to the subject of jihad in particular.

Verse 190 of Surat Al-Baqara, which says (and fight in the cause of God those who fight you, and do not transgress...) was the first occasion in which Sayyed addressed the subject of jihad in the second version;

He added pages on fighting and jihad (1: 184-192 Al-Shorouk edition).

He said at the beginning of it, “Perhaps it is better for us to say a general statement about jihad in Islam that is suitable as a basis for explaining the verses of fighting here and in other Qur’anic places” (1: 186, Al-Shorouk Edition).

As for Surat Al-Anfal, he added a very long introduction to it in the second version (3: 1429-1469);

Because he saw in it a specificity that we can summarize - from the words of Sayyid al-Mutafarir - in 3 matters:

The first: That the surah is one of the episodes of jihad in Islam (3: 1431);

In it, two lines emerge: the line of creed, the line of jihad and the statement of its faith and movement value, and its sublime self-justifications with which the Mujahideen proceed with confidence, tranquility and arrogance until the end of time (3: 1466).

Here Sayyid repeated several times, in the same terms, his campaign against those whom he described as spiritually and intellectually defeated by the "cunning Orientalism" who portrayed jihad as a mere defensive movement.

The second: Surat Al-Anfal organizes the Muslim community’s engagements on the basis of belief and clarifies the rulings by which it deals with other groups in war and peace.

Third: The surah presents a part of the Qur’an’s approach to educating the Muslim community and preparing it for the leadership of humanity.

Sayed says that "devotional rites" are just "a form of judgment to God in a matter of affairs; an image that does not take the meaning of worship, but that it comes with dependence, not originality." And that this political interpretation of worship is the same as the message of the prophets;

For if the reality of worship were merely devotional rituals, it would not deserve all this honorable procession of messengers and messages, and it would not deserve all these strenuous efforts made by the messengers.

Second: the political interpretation of religion

After being greatly influenced by Mawdudi, especially in his treatises "The Four Terms in the Qur'an" and "Jihad in the Way of God", Sayed - in his second edition of Shadows - reformulated the concepts of religion, faith, Islam and jihad according to a political (or dynamic) perspective based on political and legal governance.

Religion is the method and system that governs life, and it is more comprehensive than belief according to Sayed. Faith is not just “feelings and perceptions.” Islam is “not just belief,” “no words and slogans,” nor “merely devotional rites and prayers,” but rather a “comprehensive system” that combines 3 components that we can monitor from Sayed’s repeated and sporadic words:

• The first: the organizational and kinetic approach that creeps to liberate all people.

• The second: the revolutionary revolution that must take place in society and at the global level, and aims to "remove systems and governments that are based on the rule of people over people and the slavery of man to man."

• Third: the system that governs.

These three components - which can be summed up in 3 words: organization, revolution, and order

- are repeated in Sayed's words, to the extent that he masterfully expresses them. It is based on a specific system, a specific approach, and a specific leadership,” and “a general declaration for the liberation of man on earth from servitude to the servants and from servitude to his whims.” It is “the comprehensive revolution against human governance in all its forms, forms, systems, and conditions, and the complete rebellion against every situation in all parts of the earth.” Judgment in it is for human beings in one form,” and it is - according to what was reported by Mawdudi - “a call for a comprehensive global revolution,” and “a call for a social revolution,” and “a comprehensive system that wants to eliminate all the false and unjust systems in progress in the world, cut off their roots and replace It has a good system and a moderate approach.”

This political concept of religion is not a theoretical concept for Sayyid;

Because we will find its applications in at least 3 issues, namely: re-defining the location of religious rituals in Islam, correcting the reality of Islam and Muslims, and determining the location of organizations in religion.

With regard to religious rites, we find that this new concept of religion and governance led Sida to reduce the status of devotional rites in the heavenly messages, rather he gives them a secondary or dependent status, in contrast to all the old interpretations of scholars that make the goal of the creation of man is worship in its non-political religious sense.

From Sayyid’s words on this point, we find that he makes “devotional rituals” just “a form of judgment for God in any matter; He himself is the message of the prophets;

As "if the reality of worship were mere devotional rites, it would not deserve all this honorable procession of messengers and messages, and it would not deserve all these strenuous efforts made by the messengers."

For Sayyid Qutb, jihad is “a comprehensive word that includes all kinds of striving and exerting effort,” to include 3 types of jihad, the first is “changing people’s viewpoints, changing their inclinations and tendencies, and bringing about a mental and intellectual revolution by means of the flexibility of pens,” and the second is “the elimination of old, unjust life systems.” swords, and the establishment of a new system based on the principles of justice and fairness.” And the third is giving money, enduring hardships, and enduring hardships.

The one who deserved all this exorbitant price “is to extricate mankind altogether from the judgment of the servants, and to return them to judgment to God alone in every matter and in every matter and in the course of their entire life for this world and the Hereafter alike” (4: 1903).

That is why Sayed concludes in the book "Islam and the Battle of Capitalism" in the context of clarifying the status of work and rejecting idleness by saying that "worship is not a function of life," and he denounces those who have no work except to establish prayers in mosques (p. On the idea of ​​worship, which led him to the idea of ​​the primacy of work over worship, and that it is not a job in the modern concept of work that leads to production.

This is explained by Sayyid's saying that Islam "is besides this and that", rather, "and before this and that, a system that governs, a method that controls, leadership that is obeyed, and a situation that is based on a specific system, a specific approach, and a specific leadership."

With regard to assessing the reality of Islam and Muslims (or the requirements of the new concept of Islam), it was natural for Sayyid to conclude - in many places - to assert the absence of Islam from existence.

Because Syed's concept of Islam is a new and ideal concept.

For example, he says, "Without all of this, there would be no faith, there would be no Islam, and there would be no society that attributes itself to Islam." He repeated the idea of ​​the absence of Islam in the chapter "The Present and Future of Islam" from the book "Social Justice," and he is well aware of the consequences of such a ruling and declares them. without equivocation.

He says, “We must state this painful truth, and speak out about it, and not be afraid of the disappointment it will cause in the hearts of many who love to be Muslims” (p. 182).

With regard to the position of the organizations in religion, the new concept of Islam with its three previous components led Sayeda to consider the organizations as a requirement of the faith itself.

It is “not just regulations and legislation;

It is clear here that Sida is inspired by the idea of ​​totalitarianism that Mawdudi decided before, which resembles communist ideology in its conception of the state and society.

Third: How did the nature of religion establish the concept of jihad for Qutb?

The political interpretation of religion (and its basis is the concepts of governance and inclusiveness) led to the reconstruction of new concepts and perceptions related to jihad, grouping, sedition, and others.

Especially since Al-Mawdudi preceded the idea of ​​rebuilding Quranic concepts and terminology according to his approach to the political interpretation of religion.

Jihad - and Syed quotes here on the authority of Mawdudi - is about the revolutionary struggle and the constant, continuous movement that is carried out in order to reach this goal and realize this goal that was previously defined in the new concept of Islam (3: 1444).

Here Syed maintained the general linguistic concept of jihad.

Because he agreed with his conception of the revolutionary struggle and the perpetual movement. Jihad according to Sayyid Qutb is “a comprehensive word that includes all kinds of striving and exerting effort,” to include 3 types of jihad in the categories, the first is “changing people’s views, changing their inclinations and tendencies, and bringing about a mental and intellectual revolution by means of the flexibility of pens,” and the second “Eliminating the old unjust systems of life with the sharpening of swords, and establishing a new system on the principles of justice and fairness.” And the third is giving money, enduring hardships, and enduring hardships (3: 1447).

So, jihad is only to "determine the methodology and establish the system," which is - in the end - Islam in its previous Qutb concept;

Whoever realizes the nature of this religion - which is a revolution and a coup - "he realizes with it the inevitability of the movement of Islam in the form of jihad with the sword alongside jihad with the statement, and he realizes that this was not a defensive movement in the narrow sense."

The Islamic faith - according to Syed - is the basis of human life, and a general curriculum for all of it, and it is the one that will enable the Muslim nation to lead humanity in the path of God according to this approach that emanates from the complete and comprehensive conception of the purpose of all existence, which is worship in its political sense, as previously.

• The first: that humanity should convey the call to the comprehensive divine approach, and that no obstacle or authority should stand in the way of propagation in any way.

• The second: to leave the people - after the arrival of the call - free to embrace this religion;

  Do not prevent them from embracing an obstacle or authority.

• The third: If those whom God guided to it embraced this call, it was their right not to be tempted by any means: neither by harm nor by temptation, nor by establishing situations that would deter people from guidance and hinder them from responding.

From these three rights, two duties arise on the “Muslim community” from Qutb’s perspective:

• The first: that the group repel from them - by force - those who are subjected to harm and sedition;

  A guarantee of freedom of belief, a guarantee of the security of the converts, an endorsement of God's approach to life, and a protection for humanity from deprivation of the common good.

• The second: to destroy every force that stands in the way of the call and its transmission to the people, or threatens the freedom to embrace the faith and seduce people from it, and that the gatherings (regimes) that do not enable Islam to organize the lives of its subjects according to the Qutbian conception "is imperative for Islam" to remove them "as obstacles to general liberation." .

  “The Muslim community is required to continue fighting until it eliminates these aggressive, unjust forces,” and until sedition becomes impossible for any force on the ground.

So this polar perception is based on a political concept of religion in which the concepts of revolution and revolution merge, as Sayyid transforms it into a radical project to change the world, and links the nature of this political religion with the motives and goals of jihad, and therefore it was natural for Sayyid’s concept of jihad to expand, and become a struggle always revolutionary, whether in the political sense or in the social sense, and whether by force or statement;

It is indispensable for one of the other has.

Here we find that the concepts of religion and governance will determine the concept of a master for the Muslim community as well.

Because he asserted the cessation of the existence of Islam today, and he also expanded the concept of "sedition from religion", which requires combative jihad and the removal of unjust regimes because of it;

To include - in practice - the present Islamic world in which Islam was cut off and Jahiliyyah prevailed in it, according to Sayyed's perspective.

Among the forms of sedition from religion according to Sayed: “Establishing corrupt conditions that lead to misleading people, corrupting them, distancing them from God’s methodology, and beautifying for them disbelief in it or turning away from it” (1: 189), and diverting people from religion “by force or something like it, such as the force of the situation that live in it in general” (1:190).

The breadth of the concept of sedition from religion according to Sayyid is repeated in various forms, including those general and comprehensive expressions such as his stipulation that it should not stand in the way of the call "an obstacle or authority (...) in any way", and that people should not be seduced from the call "by any means: neither by harm nor by temptation, Not by establishing situations that would turn people away from guidance and hinder them from responding.”

Thus, we find that we all live in a time of discord over religion.

Because the concept of a master for both religion and sedition includes all of that, and it follows from this that we are in a permanent jihad;

As a master arranged duties on the "Muslim community" that lead to such permanent jihad and the use of force;

Although Sida does not justify forcing people to believe.

This expansion is confirmed by Syed’s downloading of meanings prior to our reality, through various texts, including his saying, “The text is general, the indication continues to direct, and the jihad proceeds until the Day of Resurrection. It is upon conviction.” Hence, “the Muslim group is charged at all times to destroy this unjust force and set people free from its oppression.” In his belief in any form, and in any form, he is required to fight and kill, and to fulfill the great principle enacted by Islam” i.e. preventing sedition (1: 190-191).

It is important that Syeda deduces from the "stages of jihad in Islam" what he calls "authentic and profound features in the dynamic approach of this religion", which apply to yesterday, today and tomorrow, and are summarized in 4 features:

• Serious realism in the approach of this religion:

  Religion is a movement that confronts ignorance with a conceptual belief based on realistic systems that are supported by authorities, and therefore the Islamic movement is required to confront this reality with two things

  :

  the call to correct perceptions, and “strength and jihad to remove the systems and authorities based on them” (3: 1432 ).

• Kinetic realism

  : Jihad here is a movement with stages, each stage is equivalent to its requirements and realistic needs, and therefore Sayyid criticizes those whom he describes as spiritually and mentally defeated who make Islam strive only for defense, while his approach is “removing all tyrants from the earth altogether, and people worshiping God alone (… After the ruling political regimes have been destroyed or subdued, until they pay tribute and declare their surrender.

• Persistent movement and renewable means

  : to achieve the goal of religion, which is sincerity of servitude to God;

  In the political sense of slavery, as previously.

• Legislative regulation of relations between the Muslim community and other societies

  : It is a regulation based on the fact that Islam belongs to God and is the universal principle to which all mankind must fulfill.

Sayed had contented himself - in the first edition of The Shadows - with a very brief commentary on verse 190 of Al-Baqara, and a brief introduction to Surat Al-Anfal, absent this new vision of jihad and that political interpretation of religion.

In the first version, he decided that the goal of fighting is “to ensure that Muslims will not be seduced from their religion, and that God’s religion will be glorified and victorious and refrain from harm and sedition.” That is, he did not expand the concept of sedition as he did later, just as war in Islam - according to the master of the first - is " A war to defend freedom of belief and the dignity of believers.” It is not a war against the whole world to accept the rule of Islam (Al-Zilal, Dar Jusoor 1: 151-152).

However, Sayeda II made the goal of jihad "the demolition of the structure of the systems that contradict his principles and the establishment of a government based on the rules of Islam in its place and replacing it with them." .

Perhaps it is useful for me to conclude this article by mentioning that the “International Islamic Federation of Student Organizations” had published in 1969 a treatise under the title “Jihad in the Cause of God” for Mawdudi, Hasan al-Banna and Sayyid Qutb.

And Qutb’s words in it are taken from Sayyid’s introduction to Surat al-Anfal from the second edition of The Shadows. Al-Ittihad had translated this letter into some languages, such as Turkish, and then the same letter was published by the “Dar Al-Jihad” of the Islamic Group in Cairo in 1977. Sayyid had quoted in his long introduction to Surat Al-Anfal, about 9 pages (Al-Dhilal 1444-1452) from the letter of Al-Mawdudi, who used to describe him as "the great Muslim."