Sayyid Qutb (ra) was one of the most influential Muslim reformer, thinker and activist of the twentieth century, not only within the so-called Political Islam, which had its roots and genesis in the �Ikhwan al-Muslemoon (Muslim Brotherhood)� in Egypt but also abroad.

His writings and, in particular, his theory of jahiliyyahhave been taken by the Islamic revivalists and revolutionaries (Islamic Revolution in Iran, 1979) a basis for their division of the world into Islamic and jahili societies. Apart from a few studies briefly touching on the concept of jahiliyyah, no systematic in-depth study has so far been done on this important concept, which influenced all shades of Islamic thought in the second half of the twentieth century. The main objective of this study is to explore the concept for jahiliyyah as used by Sayyid Qutb as a basic principle to critically assess secular ideas in the political, economic, social, intellectual and moral spheres. It also seeks to investigate and analyze the influence of the concept of jahiliyyah on the Islamists in Egypt.

http://www.geocities.com/abyassin/Qutb1.html - http://www.geocities.com/abyassin/Qutb1.html

http://eprints.unimelb.edu.au/archive/00000744/ - http://eprints.unimelb.edu.au/archive/00000744/

As Salamu Alaikum  

One of my favorite reformer, thinker, author although there are lots of people out there that criticize him and his works.

I found his book "The Milestone" very inspiring. No matter how advanced we are science and technology we are still Jahil (ignorant) because we have lost the true meaning of La ilaha illallah

I have read that Jahiliyyah was the state of the Arabs during the advent of Muhammad. They were mostly illiterate lovers of poetry, drunkards and killers of their female children. This sounds like the current state of blacks in America today. I see Rap music, nudity, drunkenness, drug addiction, illiteracy and abortion have reduced many in their communities to savagery.

It appears to me that the Sunnah was that Muhammad (pbuh) cleaned up and united a people in the state of Jahiliyyah and established Islam as the law of the land. Since Muhammad (pbuh) is no longer physically here, that job falls on those who profess to follow his example.

"5:67. O Messenger, deliver that which has been revealed to thee from thy Lord; and if thou do (it) not, thou hast not delivered His message. And Allah will protect thee from men. Surely Allah guides not the disbelieving people."

As Salamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu

After reading the Book "Milestones" by Sayyid Qutb, I found that there is a difference in the terms "Jahiliyyah" and "illiterate".

Insha Allah I will try to get hold of this book again and quote the difference.

Rehmat wrote: blond wrote: I have read that Jahiliyyah was the state of the Arabs during the advent of Muhammad. They were mostly illiterate lovers of poetry, drunkards and killers of their female children...... Not entirely true. Arabs at the time of the birth of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) were very brave, independent-minded, poetry-lovers, men of their words, and seasoned to live very harsh life � That�s the reason Allah chose them out of the rest of the world. Yes some of them used to bury their female offspring � but that was not rare amongst the two so-called �civilized nations� of that period � Rome and Persia.   However, the miracle is what the same �illiterate people� achieved once they followed the message of Holy Qur�an and the leadership of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Let us listen to HRH, The Prince of Wales. We have underestimated the importance of 800 years of Islamic society and culture in Spain between the 8th and 15th centuries. The contribution of Muslim Spain to the preservation of classical learning during the Dark Ages, and to the first flowering of the Renaissance, has long been recognized. But Islamic Spain was much more than a mere larder where Hellenistic knowledge was kept for later consumption by the emerging modern world. Not only did Muslim Spain gather and preserve the intellectual content of ancient Greek and Roman civilization, it also interpreted and expanded upon that civilization, and made a vital contribution of its own in so many fields of human endeavor -- in science, astronomy, mathematics, algebra (itself an Arabic word), law, history, medicine, pharmacology, optics, agriculture, architecture, theology, music. Averroes and Avenzoor, like their counterparts Avicenna and Rhazes in the East, contributed to the study and practice of medicine in ways from which Europe benefited for centuries afterwards. Islam nurtured and preserved the quest for learning. In the words of (the Prophet's) tradition "the ink of the scholar is more sacred than the blood of the martyr." Cordoba in the 10th century was by far the most civilized city of Europe. We know of lending libraries in Spain at the time King Alfred was making terrible blunders with the culinary arts in this country. It is said that the 400,000 volumes of its ruler's library amounted to more books than all the of the rest of Europe put together. That was made possible because the Muslim world acquired from China the skill of making paper more than four hundred years before the rest of non-Muslim Europe. Many of the traits on which Europe prides itself came to it from Muslim Spain. Diplomacy, free trade, open borders, the techniques of academic research, of anthropology, etiquette, fashion, alternative medicine, hospitals, all came from this great city of cities. Mediaeval Islam was a religion of remarkable tolerance for its time, allowing Jews and Christians to practice their inherited beliefs, and setting an example, which was not, unfortunately, copied for many centuries in the West. The surprise, ladies and gentlemen, is the extent to which Islam has been a part of Europe for so long, first in Spain, then in the Balkans, and the extent to which it has contributed so much towards the civilization, which we all too often think of, wrongly, as entirely Western. Islam is part of our past and present, in all fields of human endeavor. It has helped to create modern Europe. It is part of our own inheritance, not a thing apart.

Thank you.

I believe you completely missed the point of my post. It had nothing to do with Europe.

My point is that there are currently people living in the state of Jahilliya; and what is our duty to them? Is it to contemplate the vissisitudes of the history of Islam? Or is it to go and get them up out of that condition by any means necessary?

It appears to me that the true Sunnah is to bring people out of that condition where ever we find them and bring them to the Light of Islam.

blond wrote: ....I believe you completely missed the point of my post. It had nothing to do with Europe. My point is that there are currently people living in the state of Jahilliya; and what is our duty to them? Is it to contemplate the vissisitudes of the history of Islam? Or is it to go and get them up out of that condition by any means necessary? It appears to me that the true Sunnah is to bring people out of that condition where ever we find them and bring them to the Light of Islam.

Did I?

I am affraid not. The lesson from the statement was that when the Believers follow the true message of Holy Qur'an, the Prophet's (pbuh) Sunnah and apply Islamic Shari'ah in their every day life - then they too can achieve that glory. prosperity and peace of mind.

Cheers!

Rehmat wrote: blond wrote: ....I believe you completely missed the point of my post. It had nothing to do with Europe. My point is that there are currently people living in the state of Jahilliya; and what is our duty to them? Is it to contemplate the vissisitudes of the history of Islam? Or is it to go and get them up out of that condition by any means necessary? It appears to me that the true Sunnah is to bring people out of that condition where ever we find them and bring them to the Light of Islam. Did I? I am affraid not. The lesson from the statement was that when the Believers follow the true message of Holy Qur'an, the Prophet's (pbuh) Sunnah and apply Islamic Shari'ah in their every day life - then they too can achieve that glory. prosperity and peace of mind. Cheers!

Yes, I believe you did.

The Sunnah is not a set of rituals, the rituals develop the individual to accomplish the Sunnah. I believe Sunnah is to resurrect human life.

blond wrote: ....The Sunnah is not a set of rituals, the rituals develop the individual to accomplish the Sunnah. I believe Sunnah is to resurrect human life.

I agree with the above statement - But where you find something against it in my earlier post?

Salaam Everyone,

I have just joined in this forum, hoping that I would gain more knowledge by exchanging ideas and information.

Some Muslim in my country believes that we as a Muslim could use foul languages, what I mean by foul languages here are those really dirty words when one could hardly even bear to hear it. Worst still, one of the spiritual leader here (who is also the leader of an Islamic Party) supporting this by saying Allah is also using it..astaghfirullah..

Tell me what do you think, are these people Jahil ?

raihanah wrote: Salaam Everyone, I have just joined in this forum, hoping that I would gain more knowledge by exchanging ideas and information. Some Muslim in my country believes that we as a Muslim could use foul languages, what I mean by foul languages here are those really dirty words when one could hardly even bear to hear it. Worst still, one of the spiritual leader here (who is also the leader of an Islamic Party) supporting this by saying Allah is also using it..astaghfirullah.. Tell me what do you think, are these people Jahil ?

Greetings,

I spent a few years fasting at a very high level of discipline (one meal every three days), all while living and working amongst pure savages. This was very difficult because, when the body, heart and mind are purified, it becomes very difficult to relate to the people who are only focused on gratifying their appetites (food, sex, drugs, etc...). Just to hear someone swear literally hurt in my soul. I was hyper sensitive to everything within a certain radius of me.

Yet I could not pass judgement on others. The Law of Islam has grades. I believe that each is judged by the grade of righteousness they practice.

3:163. There are grades with Allah. And Allah is Seer of what they do.

Thank you.

"Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should say something good or keep quiet." [Bukhari]

Yet another hadith reminds us about the far reaching consequences of the words we utter. "Sometimes a person says something good but he does not realize how far will his words go. Yet it earns him the pleasure of Allah till the day he will meet Him. On the other hand sometimes a person says something bad, although he does not realize how far his words will go. Yet it earns him the wrath of Allah till the day he will meet Him." [Tirmizi, Ibn Maja, Muwwata Imam Malik].

�A believer is never a person who scoffs at others, calls them names, or utters vulgar and obscene phrases� (Tirmithi). 

The Prophet sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam said: �The one who starts abusing his fellow Muslim and calling him names bears the sin of both, unless the abused person uses more vulgar phrases than the first�. (Muslim)

4:148. Allah loves not the public utterance of hurtful speech, except by one who has been wronged. And Allah is ever Hearing, Knowing.

Thank you Blond and Abuayisha,

In fact, this is what I have already tried to explain to them in one of the online forum that we had. Unfortunately, some of them are real steadfast, sticking to the untruth and love practising it even while exchanging ideas in forum. 

Of course I do not seek that they change their mind so quick, but the fact that some Muslim here believe this kind of nonsense is just very disappointing.

Blond, I am so sorry to ask, are you a Christian? Because I have some christian friend who would be fasting for week and they took only water or liquid (except milk) during their fasting.

raihanah wrote: Thank you Blond and Abuayisha, In fact, this is what I have already tried to explain to them in one of the online forum that we had. Unfortunately, some of them are real steadfast, sticking to the untruth and love practising it even while exchanging ideas in forum.  Of course I do not seek that they change their mind so quick, but the fact that some Muslim here believe this kind of nonsense is just very disappointing. Blond, I am so sorry to ask, are you a Christian? Because I have some christian friend who would be fasting for week and they took only water or liquid (except milk) during their fasting.

I find it interesting that the name "Christianity" was given to the followers of Jesus by Jesus' enemies. The name means: to be Crystalized into oneness with God, by following the example of Jesus. A study of the process of crystalization would give the reader a deeper understanding of the concept.

I am striving to be a Muslim, an upright man.

blond wrote: ....I find it interesting that the name "Christianity" was given to the followers of Jesus by Jesus' enemies. ....

Historically that's not true. It has been custom among many communities, in the past and present' to name their faith, sects, and cities after their leaders, ethnic or nationality. For example, Isra'elites took their name from prophet Yaqub (Jacob); Judaism from Judah (the pervert); Hinduism from their country Hind; Buddhism from its founder, Lord Buddha; Jainism from its founder, Jain, and similarly Christianity took its name from Lord Christ.

However, the early followers of prophet Eass (as) used to call themselves 'Nazarene' - after his birth-place - the town of Nazereth. They even had their own Gospel - written by Jesus' scribe - his half-brother Barnabas.

Wa Salaam. 

Rehmat wrote: blond wrote: ....I find it interesting that the name "Christianity" was given to the followers of Jesus by Jesus' enemies. .... Historically that's not true. It has been custom among many communities, in the past and present' to name their faith, sects, and cities after their leaders, ethnic or nationality. For example, Isra'elites took their name from prophet Yaqub (Jacob); Judaism from Judah (the pervert); Hinduism from their country Hind; Buddhism from its founder, Lord Buddha; Jainism from its founder, Jain, and similarly Christianity took its name from Lord Christ. However, the early followers of prophet Eass (as) used to call themselves 'Nazarene' - after his birth-place - the town of Nazereth. They even had their own Gospel - written by Jesus' scribe - his half-brother Barnabas. Wa Salaam.

Historically, Jesus' enemies began calling Jesus' followers Christians in Antioch, after his death.

blond wrote: Historically, Jesus' enemies began calling Jesus' followers Christians in Antioch, after his death.

325 years to be exact.