Name: Mohamad Ajounde

Personal number:0101165330

Between Qutb’s political Islam and the elements of

modernity: the case of Qatar
Mohamad Aljounde

Introduction:
The events that occurred in various majority Muslim countries in the 21 st century such as the
9/11 events and the birth of ISIS has functioned as a hard proof that Islam in not compatible
with any element of modernity. However, this kind of certainty does not exist in academia,
the question of whither Islam is compatible with the political elements of Modernity is a
debated understandably so, since it is a very nuanced topic and open to various interpretation.
One of the most influential Islamic thinkers is Sayyid Qutb whose writings were part of
the Islamic revivalism period, Qutb’s writings about Islamic tradition and the west, as well as
the politization of Islam are very debated between scholars. Many see Qutb’s thoughts as the
ideological foundation of radical Islamism terrorists’ groups, for instance, Colin Wight
(2015) argues that Qutb writings worked as the basis of the violent Islamism and heavily
influenced groups such as Al-Qaeda and other Islamic fundamentalists across the world.
(Wight, 2015, p. 199). However, the other side of the argument doesn’t necessarily dismiss
the idea that Qutb has influenced extremist groups, but that’s because the groups has
misinterpreted his writings. For example, Sayed Khatab (2011), argue that Jihadist groups
have misinterpreted Qutb writings and internalized and Orientalist discourse, he argues that
Qutb idea if understood correctly, are compatible with modern politics, and that Qutb has
provided a different perspective on how Islamic thoughts could be integrated with modern
political thoughts (Khatab, 2011).
With this mind, the issue of this paper is not the thought of Qutb himself, but how his
texts are understood and perceived differently by Sayed Khatab and Colin Wight, and what
that says about the extent to which Islam is compatible with modernity. I will first analyse
Sayed Khatab interpretation of Qutb and present a hypothesis based on the analysis. Second, I
will attempt to prove or disprove a hypothesis by applying the theoretical conclusion from
Khatab analysis on Qatar duality of liberal and Shari’ah law. That being said, my research
question is: How different interpretations of Qutb thoughts effect that extent to which Islam is
seen as compatible with modernity?
Name: Mohamad Ajounde
Personal number:0101165330

Framework: Purpose and methodological orientation

The aim of the paper is to first understand how mainstream, mostly western research view
Qutb’s thought and its’ influence as well as presenting a different, possibly uncommon
interpretation of Qutb’s writings. Drawing on Postcolonialism theory, specifically the concept
of Orientalism, I intended to showcase how Western views could misrepresent Non-western
scholars. Orientalism was coined by Edward Said, and its’ shortly defined as the prejudice
representation of “the Orient” (e.g., the middle east) as the “other” or in contrast to the west.
Simply put, it is the insider/outsider problem, where the western scholarship is seen as the
outsider giving a false or incomplete image of the insider which is the Orient (Shilliam,
2011). And second, to test extent to which Islam is compatible with modernity, yet a
different understanding of modernity needs to be conceptualized.
Modernity in general terms refers to the condition of social existence that is radically
different to all past form of human experience that are categorized as traditional. However,
after the enlightenment in the western world which was an intellectual and political process
that resulted in the progress of Human rights and social political changes such as democracy,
sovereignty and social welfare, the idea of modernity started to align with the western
progress which is also heavily influenced by colonialism and the “age of discovery ”
(Shilliam, 2011, pp. 12-20). Thus, the ideas of modernity were limited to the European
colonial rule, developing a perspective that still exist until today, in which any ideas that
opposed what is seen as modernity by the west is conditioned to be traditional and
“uncivilized”. Nonetheless, if the understanding of modernity shifts fr (Ventura, 2016)om the
modernity as a teleology to an idea of modernity that includes the different responses in
different context for instance the Islamic context, it would imply the modernity does not have
a fixed meaning but a context dependent one (Aching, 2011).
Therefore, in terms of this paper modernity will be analysed as the ability of a state to co-
exist politically, economically, and socially in the contemporary hegemony of western
powers and values while maintaining its’ Islamic traditions. The definition of modernity is
inspired by Khatab where he argues that the common Muslims’ response to modernity is the
“Rational modern response” meaning to make a rational assessment of western ideas about
modernity and adopt from them them whatever is consistent with the Islamic culture.
(Khatab, 2011, p. 91)
Name: Mohamad Ajounde
Personal number:0101165330

Moreover, I intended to formulate a hypothesis by analysing Sayed Khatab argument

about Qutb and the Islamic response to modernity in terms of orientalism. the process of
proving or disproving the hypothesis consist of applying it to two empirical case of Qatar
economic and political advancement while keeping a duality of its’ legal system, with two
types of judicial organization, the Adlia court which is based on Western concept of Law and
the Shari’ah court on Islamic law. I will analyse the case with respect to the definition of
modernity provided earlier and the relevance of political Islam to its’ institutional bodies.
Supported by using near experience approach, which put emphasis on the immediate
lifeworld of actors, such as their routines, institutional structures and how such elements
interact with one another, as well as the focus in producing conclusions in a manner that
place the local experiences of actors in the centre of the arguments, illustrating the unique
aspect of these experience (Jackson & Nexon, 2013).

Analysis:
Different interpretations of Qutb thoughts
Various scholars characterized Qutb writings as an assault on political elements of modernity,
such as sovereignty and rule of law, they present his arguments as if finding modernity
problematic and his political visions can not be understood as anything but an absolute
rejection of it. for instance Colin wight (2015) states that Qutb is clear about sovereignty
because in Qutb’s view, anyone who does not obey the traditional Islamic law is not a
Muslim, additionally, Wight argues that is Qutb’s view the rule of Shari’ah law in human
affairs is necessary, since human freedom is linked to the restoration of God’s sovereignty
(Wight, 2015, p. 199). Wight’s brief analysis of Qutb’s book “milestone” leads him to claim
that certain understandings of Islam and Shari’ah such as Qutb’s, could lead religiously
inspired forms of terrorism to demonetize and dehumanize local and foreign communities,
making the aim of terrorist group to not only destroy western state system, but whoever
support it or not directly challenge it.
One attitude of Orientalists is to place non-western thought into a specific context of their
choice, disregarding concrete historical contexts, thus producing an abstract image of these
thoughts (Ventura, 2016). Wight analyse Qutb’s thoughts very briefly and place them only in
the context of terrorism, leaving no space for different interpretations. One could argue that
whither its’ wight intention or not, the claim drawn from this analysis is a form of
generalization which creates a false or incomplete image of complex thoughts such as Qutb’s.
Name: Mohamad Ajounde
Personal number:0101165330

therefore, Wight’s argument about the impact of Qutb thoughts could be linked to the
Orientalist tendency to generalize the “other” this being possible because the West perceive
itself is the subject, the one who studies and the east is the object, the one who is studied
(Shilliam, 2011). According to Said, this process in Orientalism can build a mythology, or in
this case a false image of Qutb teachings, most importantly, Said also states that
generalizations could be internalized by the elite in the “the Orient” and re-present itself
differently (Ibid), yet in this case it is not the elite but the Jihadists who internalized similar
understanding of Wight about Qutb.
Sayed Khatab (2011) acknowledge the influence of Qutb on terrorists’ groups and the fact
that they’re argument against western modernity, more specifically the ideas of sovereignty
and rule of law are based on some of Qutb’s key concept of “hakimiyyah” (Khatab, 2011, p.
96). Nevertheless, Khatab argues that these groups do not grasp what Qutb meant by
hakimiyyah, and do not follow his program or teachings, they only use his writings to
influence domestic and international opinion. Thereby, many publications that deal with
terrorism such as Wight’s, finds Qutb’s writings as a threat to modernity, democracy, and
global security (Khatab, 2011, p. 96). Khatab provides a detailed analysis of Qutb thought on
modernity and more specifically the idea of sovereignty and rule or law, he analyses the
terminology used by Qutb in an attempt to provide an accurate understanding of his views, he
finds that Qutb is not against western culture or civilization, but the issue for him is that
systems of governance should originate locally, from the culture of the country itself.
Khatab points out two misconception about Qutb views on democracy and modernity, first
is that hakimiyyah is the sovereignty of God or Allah and second the Sharia’ah law is
absolute, meaning no other law could be used. By examining Qutb texts, Khatab finds that
hakimiyyah does not refer to the sovereignty of Allah instead it means the sovereignty of
Shari’ah which is seen as Allah’s command. Khatab also mentions that in Qutb’s view
Sharia’ah law does not cover all issues of a state, thus giving the rights to the people to
legislate for what fits the time, place and generation, this argument place Sharia’ah law as a
foundation for legislation rather than an absolute law that govern all aspects of a state.
Thereby, Khatab present an understanding of Qutb writing that align with idea of modernity,
the hakimiyyah concept if understood as the sovereignty of law with the condition of having
Sharia’ah as the foundation does not neglect democratic process of having a human legislator,
on the contrary it pushes for all people to be equal under the law, an important feature of
democracy.
Name: Mohamad Ajounde
Personal number:0101165330

With that being said, Khatab interpretation gives more attention to the language, the
philosophy and socio-political context of Qutb writings and avoids giving general
conclusions or falling to the Orientalist trap mentioned above, something that Wight lacks.
Nonetheless, Khatab article focuses on responding to misconception about Qutb and fails to
give example of state’s implementing Qutb’s teachings, making his argument merely
theoretical, hence, to test its relevance to reality the following hypothesis is tested: A state
that corresponds to Qutb concept of hakimiyyah as understood by Khatab could be
compatible with modernity

Qatar duality of law:

Qatar is known for having the highest income per capita mainly because of its’ wealth of Oil
and gas resources and small population of about 3 million, but its’ also very modernized
comparing to other gulf states (Britnica, 2021). Its press is among the freest in the regions and
most popular in the middle east, it has a free education that is heavily invested in by the state
and a free health care to all residents (Ibid). Additionally, its’ military expenditures are
among the highest globally as a percentage of gross national product (Ibid), and Qatar foreign
aid was estimated as 1.3 billion dollars in 2013, it provides aid to regional neighbours such as
Syria, Yemen, and Egypt as well as internationally, making Qatar an important factor in the
regional and international politics (OCHR, 2021). Therefore, following the definition of
modernity that’s provided earlier, Qatar fulfils the first condition as in the ability co-exist
politically, economically, and socially in the contemporary hegemony of western powers.
In terms of Qatar maintaining its’ Islamic traditions, and corresponding to Qutb concept of
hakimiyyah as understood by Khatab; Qatar after its’ independence o in 1971 the Shari’ah
court gained a full jurisdiction in all of civil and criminal matter of both Muslims and Non-
Muslim who resided in Qatar, however with an increase of Oil revenue and the fast pace of
modernization of different fields in Qatar, such as education, social welfare and state
administration (Hamzeh, 1994, p. 81). The need of new law and reforms in the juridical
system increased, especially with certain emergence of issue that were unknown to both
Shari’ah law and court, which resulted in the development of Qatar’s legal system to being a
dual judicial system, combing the Shari’ah court on grounds of Shari’ah law and the Adlia
court, on the grounds of Western civil law (Hamzeh, 1994, p. 82). Additionally, the current
constitution of Qatar states that Qatar is an “independent sovereign Arab state; its religion is
Islam and the Islamic Shari’ah is the main source of legislation [emphasis added], and its
Name: Mohamad Ajounde
Personal number:0101165330

system is democratic” (GCO) the constitution also prohibits the legislator to enact any civil
legislation that violates the Islamic Shari’ah.
Therefore, Qatar legal system in theory fits Qutb’s concept of hakimiyyah as understood by
Khatab, since Sharia’ah is the source of legislation and the other laws or courts were
developed from necessity or the Sharia’ah lack of resoluteness on certain areas. Yet, by
applying the near experience approach to understand how the Judicial structure interact with
the state routines or practices it seems that Shari’ah court has been restricted to family
matters only and is excluded from areas such as labour, trade and business, and with the
modernization of the economy in Qatar the Alida court became more dominant in terms of
the number of cases it handles and the seriousness of the offenses (Hamzeh, 1994, pp. 86-88).
Today, the Shari’ah law is seen as a resort to the civil law of the Alida court, evoked only if
the civil law could not handle a case, making Qatar Judicial system in practice inconsistent
with the concept of hakimiyyah. it is also important to note that for Qatar to fit Khatab
interpretation of hakimiyyah, the Shari’ah needs to be the highest governmental and legal
authority and legitimacy should only be placed in the executive power, or the Law, meaning
the government acquire its’ legitimacy from its success in applying the law (Khatab, 2011, p.
102). this creates uncertainty in how Qatar corresponds to Qutb though, since it’s system of
government is absolute monarchy, meaning the Amir of the royal family has the absolute
control over all matters of a states and no law is issued unless its’ ratified by the Amir, even
though the Amir is also abided by the law in most areas, the question of who hold the highest
authority in practice persist.
In summary, the hypothesis: A state that corresponds to Qutb concept of hakimiyyah as
understood by Khatab could be compatible with modernity, in the case of Qatar is proved to
be true but only theoretically, since the definition of the state and the constitution hold
Shar’ia law as the foundation of the legal system, But in practice Qatar is indeed compatible
with modernity however it does not correspond completely with the concept of hakimiyyah
as understood by Khatab, thus disproving the hypothesis.

Conclusion:
The paper finds the Orientalist tendency of generalizing non-western thought and the lack of
historical and local context leads to misconceptions as presented in Wight analysis of Qutb.
To respond to this Orientalist attitude Khatab emphasises the language, the philosophy and
socio-political context of Qutb writings and arrives to the finding that hakimiyyah concept, if
Name: Mohamad Ajounde
Personal number:0101165330

understood as the sovereignty of law with the condition of Sharia’ah being the highest
governmental and legal authority and source of legitimacy, does not neglect democratic
process of having a human legislator, on the contrary, it pushes for all people to be equal
under the law, this interpretation of Qutb thoughts makes Shari’ah law less absolute and gives
opportunity to develop a version of political Islam that is , to a large extent, compatible with
the modernity or more specifically, democracy and rule of law.
To test the finding relevance to reality, I test a hypothesis regarding the possibility of
finding a modern state with a system that correspond to Hakimiyyah concept as understood
by Khatab. By analysing Qatar duality of legal system, the paper arrives to a contradiction
between how the legal system in Qatar is presented by constitution or in theory, and how it is
practiced, thus arriving to two different conclusions. One: by constitution Qatar dual system
translates to hakimiyyah concept as understood by Khatab, since it states Qatar is an Islamic
state with Shari’ah being the main source of legislation, meaning having supremacy over the
western inspired law or Alida court. Proving that a state with a corresponding system to
Khatab interpretation of Qutb does exist in reality, thus exhibiting a version of political Islam
that is, to a large extent, compatible with modernity. Two: The fast pace of modernization is
making the Alida court with Western inspired law more dominant. Therefore, In practice the
dual system of Qatar fails to meet the hakimiyyah one condition of Shari’ah law being the
highest governmental and legal authority and source legitimacy. This illustrates that Qatar
does not only fails to correspond to Khatab interpretation of Qutb thoughts, leaving it merely
theoretical, but also it demonstrates a version of political Islam that is, to a small extent,
compatible with modernity.

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Name: Mohamad Ajounde
Personal number:0101165330