This autobiography tells of the early years of a person who, in later life, would become one of Egypt's most influential radical Islamist thinkers. This memoir - a document of substantial historical value - tells of Sayyid Qutb's childhood in the village of Musha in Upper Egypt. The book documents the era between 1912 and 1918 - a decade of immensely important influence on the creation of modern Egypt. Written with much tenderness toward childhood memories, it has become a classic modern Arabic autobiography. The book offers a clear picture of Egyptian village life in the early twentieth...

This work is a translation of an important book by one of the forerunners of the current "resurgence" of Islam. Its author was a prominent Islamic activist in Egypt in the late 1940s and early 1950s and was jailed and eventually executed for his activities. Today he is commonly viewed as a martyr and his books are widely read. First written in 1948, Social Justice in Islam went through five further editions, each revised in a manner reflecting his increasingly radical views. The present work translates the last edition, the most radical one, and also provides the alternative readings...