Signs on the way

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Signs on the way ( Arabic معالم في الطريق, DMG maʿālim fī ṭ-ṭarīq  'signs on the way' or ' waymarks ' or ' waymarks ') is a book by the Egyptian Islamist Sayyid Qutb (1906–1966). The 160-page font was published in 1964. It outlines the author's revolutionary plan and calls for strict application of the laws of Islam in the Arab countries . The democracies , the development of liberalism and capitalism are criticized and condemned. The aim is to fight against the global ignorance , especially against those who presume to be Muslims and thus threaten the very existence of Islam.

History of origin and impact

The book was written in prison after Qutb was sentenced to several years in prison in 1954 for participating in a conspiracy against President Gamal Abdel Nasser . According to Qutb, four of the twelve chapters in his Quran commentary In the Shadow of the Quran come from :

  1. "The Nature of the Method of the Qur'an"
  2. "Islamic Thought and Islamic Culture"
  3. " Jihad for Allah"
  4. "The rebirth of the Muslim community and its characteristics."

After his execution in 1966, Qutb was a martyr in the eyes of many Muslims , and Signs of the Way became a bestseller throughout the Arabic-speaking world. In the 1980s the book served the Egyptian militant movement al-Jamāʿa al-islāmiyya as standard reading for cadre training. The book had at least 2000 editions.

Meaning and reception

The book is considered to be one of the most influential works in Arabic of the second half of the 20th century. It is arguably the most famous work of Qutb and one of the most influential examples of Islamic literature. The book is also a manifesto of the ideology of Qutbism .

The author represents a dichotomous view of the world, he distinguishes between the Islamic culture that is built on the Islamic ideology and the Jahiliyya culture , their values enter the human mind the status of the divine, so that the truth or falsehood of Allah guidance decided becomes. Qutb sees the attempts to combine Islam with socialism or nationalism as a failure. In addition, at the beginning of the history of Islam , the Prophet Mohammed did not try to create a feeling of togetherness on an ethnic or national level. The English translation of the book was published under the title Milestones , Persian translations are from Ali Chamene'i and the Afghan politician Burhanuddin Rabbani .

While some critics read from the book the inspiration of a hero and saint, others criticize the lack of logic, self-pity and paranoia, and note a far-reaching influence on Islamist terror . Some political scientists put Qutbism as a totalitarian ideology in a row with National Socialism and Marxism .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lisbeth Lindeborg, in: Dagens Nyheter , October 25, 2001.
  2. ↑ Hendrik Hansen , Peter Kainz: Radical Islamism and Totalitarian Ideology.

literature

Web links