Well known throughout the Islamic world as the foundational thinker for a significant portion of the contemporary Muslim intelligentsia, Sayyid Qutb (1906 1966) was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and was jailed by Gamal Abdul Nasser s government in 1954. He became one of the most uncompromising voices of the movement we now call Islamism and is perhaps best known for his book, Malam fi al-tariq.
A Child from the Village was written just prior to Qutb s conversion to the Islamist cause and reflects his concerns for social justice. Interst in Qutb s writing has...