Sayyid Qutb and the Origins of Radical Islamism Quotes

“One such club activity was a dance that was held after the regular service in an adjacent hall. Qutb describes the seductive atmosphere of the occasion: “The dance hall was illuminated with red, blue and a few white lights. It convulsed to the tunes of the gramophone and was full of bounding feet and seductive legs. Arms circled waists, lips met lips, chests met chests, and the atmosphere was full of passion.”
― John Calvert, Sayyid Qutb and the Origins of Radical Islamism

“were a purely biological matter.” He relates also how a nurse at the George Washington Hospital attempted to excite him by detailing the characteristics she desired her lovers to have. He draws a disapproving picture of the American woman’s seductive appearance (“thirsty lips…bulging breasts…smooth legs…”) and flirtatious demeanour (“the calling eye…the provocative laugh…”). He castigates Arab mission students who gave in to these wiles and dated American girls.35 Although Qutb meant his sharply”
― John Calvert, Sayyid Qutb and the Origins of Radical Islamism

“were a purely biological matter.” He relates also how a nurse at the George Washington Hospital attempted to excite him by detailing the characteristics she desired her lovers to have. He draws a disapproving picture of the American woman’s seductive appearance (“thirsty lips…bulging breasts…smooth legs…”) and flirtatious demeanour (“the calling eye…the provocative laugh…”).”
― John Calvert, Sayyid Qutb and the Origins of Radical Islamism

“I had what we can call a “spiritual crisis,” a spontaneous awakening…. In my conscience it was a pure quest for God. Very simply. I am someone who asked himself existential questions, who told himself: “Here it is. I am forty years old, what have I done with my life? Where am I going?” Anxiety over death, anxiety over having lost something. (…) So I began this spiritual quest…. It is not so much my reading of Islamic or Islamist books which determined my action…but an internal logic which holds that Islam must lead to the imane [iman—“faith”], and the imane must go to the summit of ihsan [perfection], and the summit of ihsan is the jihad.101”
― John Calvert, Sayyid Qutb and the Origins of Radical Islamism

“That was the night I embraced true Islam. That very night I shed two things off me: secular nationalism and traditional Islam. That night I embraced what I believed was the original Islam, Islam as revealed and not as shaped or distorted by history and tradition. That was the night I was overwhelmed by an immense surge of faith, love and admiration for this religion to which I pledged my life. On that night I was reborn, my heart filled with the light of God, and my mind with the determination to review and reflect on all that which I had previously conceived.100”
― John Calvert, Sayyid Qutb and the Origins of Radical Islamism