In prison, the Brotherhood fractured into competing groups. A new breed of activists, led by the charismatic Egyptian academic Sayyid Qutb, transformed al-Banna’s social movement into a revolutionary force dedicated to “setting up the kingdom of God on earth and eliminating the kingdom of man.” Qutb argued that Nasser—and in fact every other Arab leader—could not be considered a true Muslim unless he was willing to strictly apply and abide by Islamic law (known as Shariah). And since he was unwilling to do so, he was an apostate, a kafir; his punishment was death.
