by Abdul Wasay
Yusuf Al Qardawi is the unofficial spiritual guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, and all it’s related off shoots. He is one figure, Qutbists can’t term as ‘Madkhali’. Followers of Sayyid Qutb have coined a condescending term for all the Ulama who have criticized and censured Qutb, and that is ‘Madkhali’.
Sheikh Rabee Madkhalee has been the most vociferous and prolific of Qutb’s detractors having written more than five books on Qutb’s methodology and crooked ideology alone.
So as far as Al Qardawi goes then, this term can’t certainly be used for him since he calls for revolt against Muslim rulers, and all the other corallaries which Qutbists and Al Qaeda believe in, but with one strong exception ; Qardawi is a harsh critic of Qutb’s takfiri ideology and how he brandishes anyone and everyone besides himself as an unbeliever.
In a nutshell then, Qardawi regards Qutb as:
A person who was a literary figure but in matters of Fiqh was a complete layman.
He had a very rigid stance and regarded everyone as un-believer and a Polytheist.
Fi Zilal Al Quran, Qutb’s tafseer and another book of his, Social Justice in Islam talk about his Takfiri ideology which culminated on it’s final form in his seminal work, Milestones.
He regards his contemporary Ulama as stupid and defeatist.
The following are the quotes from two of Qardawi’s books, and which bring out in the open his disapproval of Sayyid Qutb and his ideology.
Had Sayyid Qutb had the opportunity to study Islamic Fiqh, and had he spent some time contemplating towards Books of Fiqh, then maybe he would have changed his ‘extremist’ stance, but his nature of education and flavor for poetry and literature never gave him the chance. Had he perused books of Fiqh through a specialized way of studying (the way Fiqh is studied ) things wouldn’t have come to this pass. His literary flavor kept him away from knowledge of Fiqh. (Al Haq ul Mubeen Fi Radd ala man talaib Bi deen, page 124)
From among Sayyid Qutb’s works, Milestones is not the only book which declares Muslims as un-believers as a whole. Fi Zilal Al Quran is the base of such talk, and besides other books, an important work of his, Social Justice in Islam also carry the same message. (Ibn Al Qariata wal Kitab, Volume 3, page 69)
The evil which we find in Ustadh Sayyid Qutb is that he puts two kinds of allegation on his counterparts and Ulama who oppose his version of Jihad.
He alleges his opponents of stupidity, less experience and of being un-aware. This way he insults their knowledge and reasoning skills.
He alleges that his opponent Ulama are under the impression of Western pressure and Colonialist deceit and have psychologically accepted defeat and weakness. By saying this he criticizes his opponent by picking on their private matters and bodily capabilities. (Ibn Al Qariata wal Kitab, Volume 3, page 61)
Having myself debated and reasoned with Sayyid Qutb, I found him rather rigid and having a very myopic vision. He used to accept Islamic Fiqh, but was strictly against Fuqaha and Ulama of his era. In his view we need to give Dawah to Muslims that they should be ready to fight the whole world that either the whole world accepts Islam or they be debased and forced to pay jizya. (Ibn Al Qariata wal Kitab, Volume 3, page 59)
This is a new stage of Sayyid Qutb – that which we call the so-called Islamic revolution against the Muslim governments or we can say the attack on Muslim society by an Islamic group. Or we can say that Sayyid Qutb’s organisation is that which regards itself as Islamic, but in reality according to them all the people on the face of this Earth have gone into Jahiliyya and have become Infidels and Mushriks. Their so-called revolutionary ideology is to label society and all those associated with it as un-believers. (Ibn Al Qariata wal Kitab, Volume 3, page 56)
Despite, Qardawi has openly criticized Sayyid Qutb’s interpretation of Islam, Qardawi’s interpretation of the religion has also brought destruction and mayhem in the middle-East. Qardawi’s extremist views have invoked catastrophe across the region.
The criticism of Qardawi upon Sayyid Qutb is like kettle calling pot black.
