55 - Sayyid Qutb, disguised in a hero of liberty, wrote in his book Islamic Studies,

"Those who do not stand and shout against the face of insolent dictators either commit a big sin or behave in this manner because they are hypocritical in belief. Or they are utterly ignorant people who do not know real Islam." (Page 32) [Reference to the Turkish translation of Sayyid Qutb's Islamic Studies.]

Thus he incited fitna among Muslims. Whereas, the Hadith declares, "Fitna is asleep. May Allahu ta'ala damn him who wakes fitna!" and "When you cannot correct a wrong thing, be patient! Allahu ta'ala will correct it." Hadrat al-Imam ar-Rabbani said that al-amru bi 'l-maruf should be performed mildly. It was declared in a hadith, "He who cannot change the oppression of the cruel should migrate from there."

"Islam is a struggle, an endless war. It is not Islamic to murmur prayers, to jingle the beads of rosary, to trust in the words. 'O my Allah, you protect us,' and to believe in that benevolence will rain from the sky." (Page 33)

The forty-seventh letter of the third volume of Maktubat [For the translation of this letter, see Endless Bliss, III.] by Hadrat al-Imam ar-Rabbani is a precise answer to these writings of Sayyid Qutb and helps one understand immediately what kind of path Sayyid Qutb followed. Allahu ta'ala commands to pray to and trust in Him, and He says He likes those who pray to and trust in Him, but Sayyid Qutb made fun of those who prayed to and trusted in Allahu ta'ala. The Qur'an and the Hadith command to tell beads. They praise those who tell their beads, but he denied this. It is common to Muslims and unbelievers to get prepared for war, to hold fast to the means and to make the most modern media of defense; however, there is the weapon of tawakkul and prayer in Muslims in addition.

Hadrat Ibn Hajar al-Makki wrote: "The one who disbelieves in saying prayers, in fact, disbelieves in the Qur'an al-karim and the Hadith according to most Islamic scholars and, therefore, is an unbeliever. The thing asked in prayers will either be accepted and given, or it will be given in the next world, or it will cause a sin to be forgiven. Allahu ta'ala likes His human creatures to pray and beg Him. There are conditions for the prayers to be accepted. One of them is to eat and wear halal, and another is to ask them from one's heart, that is, sincerely. It is declared in a hadith, 'Allahu ta'ala likes those who pray very much. He who prays and does not give up hope will certainly attain one of the three things promised.' It is a sunnat to use rosary." [Al-fatawa al-fiqhiyya, p. 149-50.] Sayyid Qutb's writing, "It is not Islamic," about these kinds of worship, which are stated in the Hadith, shows what kind of a reformer he was.

"Islam never keeps in view to make war in order to convert anyone to the religion through compulsion." (Page 33)

"The thing asked of the Prophet of Islam and his followers is to convert people to the religion by making endeavor and showing zeal with mild invitations." (Page 41)

We have proved in detail in the forty-ninth paragraph that these writings were wrong and slanderous. Muslims treat and advice (al-amru bi 'l-maruf) everybody mildly. Muslims of dar al-Islam are commanded to get on well with the unbelievers of dar al-harb.

"All the early conquests were intended to make Islam the single religion of mankind not by using force but through free invitation." (Page 43)

The hadiths that refute this idea have been quoted above.

"Islam commands everybody to bring justice into effect on the world." (Page 45)

He meant that the ayat, "Reconcile Muslims!" referred to all the people in the world. Islam does not command to practice justice in the non-Muslim countries. It commands Muslims to introduce iman and Islamic justice into these countries.

"If we hold religious belief as a basis for moral education in order to achieve social solidarity in Arab countries, we will see that all the current religions in these countries -not only Islam- will help us." (Page 59)

Allahu ta'ala declares in the Qur'an, "There is only the Islamic religion which is right." As for this Egyptian writer, he held all the false, base religions equal to Islam. He could not realize that there was no need for false religions or ideas while there was Islam.

"Since property belongs to the society, the individual is bound to lend his possession without interest to those in need." (Page 69)

Property belongs to the society in socialist and communist countries only. In Islam, property is in the individual's possession, as we have proved at length in the fifty-second paragraph. In Islam, others cannot interfere with the individual's property. The society or the State cannot lay hands upon anybody's property. If it does, it will be oppression and usurpation. Nobody may be compelled to lend anything to anybody.

"Zakat is a payment which is not left to the individual's conscience. The government collects it. Zakat is not a donation given from individual to individual." (Page 70)

We told in the fiftieth paragraph that this writing of his is very wrong and absurd.

"Islam established its social order and overcame the world's orders not through force of arms but through force of ideal." (Page 75)

We have proved documentedly in the forty-ninth paragraph above that these thoughts are not compatible with Islam. In the same paragraph, we have quoted him as writing in his book World's Peace and Islam, "There is very little work done on the field of the policy of state control so far. This aspect of Islam has not been explained as much as necessary," which contradict with his words, "Islam established its social order..." It has often been seen in every field of knowledge that those who are not learned enough like him write at random.

"It will never suffice for us to invite them to Islam with brief or detailed teachings today, as the Prophet has done in his days. Unlike today, there were not detailed social theories standing against the Islamic theory in those days." (Page 77)

He supposes Islam as a theory, a human thought. His writings indicate that he knows nothing about Islam. Islam is not a theory. Allahu ta'ala and His beloved Prophet's ('alaihi 's-salam) commands and messages make up Islam. Theories arising from man's short comprehension or thought can never stand against these commands and messages but rot, melt and fade away. They are always overcome. If Sayyid Qutb had read the books of the Ahl as-Sunnat scholars and understood them a little, he would have known his place and behaved himself and perhaps refrained from offering his own thoughts and absurd words unconformable with Islam as Islam to the youth. To disseminate as Islam such writings as these, which are incompatible with the knowledge derived from ayats and hadiths and written in the invaluable books by the Ahl as-Sunnat scholars, means to attempt to spoil and demolish Islam from the inside.

"We invite all beliefs equally and to the same liberty. If is the duty of Muslim government to protect the freedom of belief. All the compatriots have equal dues from the sources of income. Personal possession is limited; it is the society's right to get the extra property." (Page 79)

These thoughts of his are also diametrically opposed to Islam. Above he said that Islam should be spread, and here, he wants every religion to be given freedom. His words do not make sense. In fact, he strives to change Islam into socialism and communism. We have already answered these words of his a few pages above.

"Whenever necessary, the government may get unconditionally from well-to-do individuals as much money as it needs for the protection of the society." (Page 87)

We have given detailed answers to these wrong thoughts of his in the fifty-second paragraph.

"If the zakat does not suffice to do these, the government gets the extra property which the rich have and hands it to the poor." (Page 92)

If Sayyid Qutb, instead of imputing these socialistic thoughts of his to Islam, had put them forth as his own, he would have perhaps been able to find a place for himself among the youth, who have been taken in and bewildered by various currents. But, his disguising himself as a religious man and attacking the Ahl as-Sunnat scholars and his misrepresenting his own thoughts as Islam disgrace him in both this and the next worlds, he himself being the target for the vengeance of Allahu ta'ala. Please read the fifty-second paragraph!

With the following words, he altogether stripped off his mask and displayed his abominable ideas:

"Islam is a force that runs to gift freedom to all people on the earth with no regard to the variety in their religious beliefs. When this force meets with aberrant forces, it is its duty to struggle and annihilate them." (Page 203)

He holds the unbelievers in dar al-harb and Muslims equal and considers it as a duty to struggle so that unbelief, which Allahu ta'ala calls foul and dirty, may spread and attain freedom. He sees jihad, which is done in the way of Allahu ta'ala, in this manner. From every earthenware leaks what is in it. He who goes to the rose-garden smells like a rose, but the bitter apple which grows in the rubbish-heap certainly spreads a noxious scent. Our master Rasulullah (sall-Allahu 'alaihi wa sallam) said "Do not smell the flowers grown in a rubbish-heap!" To attain happiness in this and the next worlds, one should read Ahl as-Sunnat scholars' books. These scholars wrote in them every kind of knowledge which individuals, families and societies need. A learned person will look for and find this knowledge. Those who are ignorant and heretic cannot find it and think that it does not exist. It is declared in the Hadith that those who depart from the Ahl as-Sunnat will go to Hell. May Allahu ta'ala protect the youngsters from the harms and books of the false men of religion! Amin.