TheNZThrower
Active Member
Hi everyone! This one Epoch Times article alleging that Islamic Terrorism is somehow tied to Communism claims that Islamist Sayyid Qutb was a Liaison officer for the Communist International and a Communist in his youth, citing a right-wing Catholic author, Robert R. Reilly, as their source:
If anyone is able to track down a copy of Reilly's booklet, please respond to this post.
The booklet sourced, The Roots of Islamist Ideology, leads to this dead PDF link. I was not able to find any other pdfs of the book online, and Google Books doesn't even have a cover picture or a preview of the book. Neither does Amazon. Looking at the Wikipedia page for Qutb, it makes no mention of him having any affiliations with any Communist organisation, and notes that though some of his ideas superficially resemble the Vanguardism of Lenin, he has made it clear that he opposes all Western ideologies, Socialism and Communism included:Qutb was a member of the Communist Party in his youth, and his ideas were steeped in the rhetoric of Marxism-Leninism. Robert R. Reilly, a senior fellow at the U.S. Foreign Policy Committee, has said that Qutb was actually a Communist International liaison for the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and the Communist Party of Egypt.
This appears to be confirmed via this pdf of one of Qutb's books, called Milestones:Though Qutb's program for a vanguard to lead a revolutionary bears some resemblance to Vladimir Lenin's Communist Party, he loathed all Western ideologies, socialism being no exception. "Islam ... is the only Divine way of life ... those who deviate from this system and want some other system, whether it be based on nationalism ... class struggle, or similar corrupt theories are truly enemies of mankind!
Likewise, Qutb also writes about the evils of Communism on the prior page of the aforementioned quote:Islam, then, is the only Divine way of life which brings out the noblest human characteristics, developing and using them for the construction of human society. Islam has remained unique in this respect to this day. those who deviate from this system and want some other system, whether it be based on nationalism, color and race, class struggle, or similar corrupt theories are truly enemies of mankind! [Milestones p.51]
Hence there is not much evidence for the claim made by Reilly, but a wealth of evidence against it.Communism also wanted to establish a new type of society, demolishing the walls of race and color, nation and geographical region, but it is not based on 'human relationship' but on a 'class system'. Thus the Communist society is like the Roman society with a reversal of emphasis; there nobles had distinction, while here the proletariat had distinction. The underlying emotion of this class is hatred and envy of other classes. Such a selfish and vengeful society cannot but excite base emotions in its individuals. [Milestones p.50]
If anyone is able to track down a copy of Reilly's booklet, please respond to this post.