Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities. London: Verso, 2006.
Dr. Benedict Anderson is Aaron L. Binenkorp Professor of International Studies Emeritus at Cornell University. The genesis for Imagined Communities were the Indochina armed conflicts during 1978 to 1979. Anderson posits that the modern understanding of nationalism and nation states were developed due to the decline of kingship, scope of religious territories, among other factors. Anderson explains the communities people espouse to be members of are essentially imagined by the fact that one is unable to possibly know everyone in their ‘nation’. In this exploration of nationalism Anderson is less refuting Marxist historiography and Marxist theory than he is reassessing the place nationalism holds within the two as is his opinion that nationalism has been largely ignored by both theories.
Certain topics within the text are especially pertinent to my topic as he explains the sacral languages of major religions around the world where communities without any definable borders insofar as the common language used between members of the community was the sacral language. While this still remains true within the context of the Salafiyya, Sayyid Qutb and the more general global jihad ( the jihadist group al-Shebaab of Somalia is very diverse having called members of the Ummah to make hijjra from all over the world) contradictions occur when a Muslim who refuses to adopt their fiqh is considered a member of the jahiliyya.
Aslan, Reza. No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of
Islam. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2011.
Aslan has a Master Theological Studies degree from Harvard Divinity School and a Doctorate of the Sociology of Religions from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is a contributor to many newspapers and periodicals. In No god but God Aslan gives a contemporary and somewhat view secularist view of the Islamic narrative including where it should and may go from today’s current circumstances. This text is topical as he examines the global jihadist movements origins, he connects the salafiyya movement with Sayyid Qutb and he gives his opinion on how to mitigate the problem.
Calvert, John. Sayyid Qutb and the Origins of Radical Islam. New York,
Chichester West Sussex:Columbia University Press, 2010.
John Calvert is associate professor of history at Creighton University in Nebraska. In this study of Qutbs life and evolution of Islamic philosophy Calvert is careful to not misjudge Qutb and to dispel currently held misconceptions about his ideology with regards to radical Islam. He manages to bring Sayyid Qutb into the context of a man of his time and circumstances. This text is central and essential to my topic as it contains much of the information necessary to formulate a cohesive study of Global Jihadism. This text gives evidence of how global jihadist movements such as al Qaeda have adopted much of Qutbs ideology into theirs. Calvert espouses that the majority of Qutbs work is not violent and is respected by many members of the non violent traditionalist and salafi movements as well as many Muslims in general.
Hegghammer, Thomas. “Jihadi-Salafis or Revolutionaries? On the Religion and Politics in the study
of Islamism”. Global Salafism: Islam’s New Religious Movement. Ed.
Roel Meijer. New York, Chichester, West Sussex:Columbia University
Press, 2009. Pages 244-266.
Thomas Hegghammer is a Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School and a Senior Research Fellow at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment. In Hegghammers contribution to this text and overall dialogue of radical Islam, as well as the Salafi Movement and Global Jihad he strives to get to the core of what a Jihadi-Salafi most accurately is given its multi-layered and highly complex nature. In this anthology there are entries regarding the Salafi movement in different locations internationally and their role as either apolitical, political and its subgroup of radical Islamists. Hegghammer argues that it may be more beneficial when trying to analyze violent political behavior to shed the term Salafi and any other religious connotations as Salafis in different political movements often have different political goals. Ultimately, willy-nilly overuse of ambiguous religious terminology corrupts scientific research as its true meaning is lost and usurped by a vague unscientific pre-notion.
Helbawy, Kamal. “The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt: Historical Evolution
and Future Prospects”. Political Islam: Context versus Ideology.
Ed. Khaled Hroub. London: SAQI in association with London Middle
East Institute, 2010. Pages 61-85.
Dr. Kamal El-Helbawy is a graduate of Cairo University. He has been a member of the Muslim Brotherhood since he was twelve years old. Since then El-Helbawy has occupied many senior positions within the group. He stepped down in 1997 and helped create many Muslim Associations and Interfaith outreach groups. In this anthology the various Islamic political movements are discussed and brought to light regarding their history and contemporary significance as well as the various movements taking hold in Western Europe. El-Halbawys contribution discusses the formation the Muslim Brotherhood, it’s foundations, evolution and its current and future trajectory. This text is quite informative as it studies at length Imam al-Banna, the founding member of the Muslim Brotherhood and a very influential figure for Sayyid Qutb. I do find it odd that El-Helbawy does not even mention Qutb in his text at all. The Fleshing out of the Muslim Brotherhood is extremely important as they have in the past and continue to have extensive outreach programs and charities all over the world.
Salahi, Adil. Muhammad: Man and Prophet. Markfield Leicestershire, The
Islamic Foundation, 2010.
Adil Salahi is an Instructor of Islamic Studies at The Markfield Institute of Higher Education, an associate college of the University of Gloucestershire. He also has a column called “Islam in Perspective” in the Saudi based news site Arab News. Salahi has written a glowing biography of the prophet Muhammad. More than an obvious bias as a believer he also is the translation of a thirty volume set of Sayyid Qutbs In the Shade of the Qur’an. In Salahis biography of Muhammad he praises Sayyid Qutb and references his work. This particular biography of the prophet Muhammad is topical insofar as it gives a unique understanding of Qutb and one of his major admirers approach to their tafsir.
This is the first in a series of posts cretiqueing John Calverts Sayyid Qutb and the Origins of Radical Islamism. I am mostly concerned with Calverts school of thought regarding Qutb and The Muslim Brotherhood as this is one of five books being used in a historiography about the latter.
