information:highlighting
Secularism

Beginning from 1948, Qutb's ideological orientation would radically shift to an Islamist worldview, when he penned his first Islamist treatise al-‘Adāla. Qutb would later denounce the literary works he published during the 1940s as "un-Islamic".

Different theories have been advanced as to why Qutb turned away from his secularist tendencies towards Islamic sharia. One common explanation is that the conditions he witnessed in prison from 1954 to 1964, including the torture and murder of the Muslim Brotherhood members, convinced him that only a government bound by Islamic law could prevent such abuses. Another is that Qutb's experiences in America as a darker-skinned person and the insufficiently anti-Western policies of Nasser demonstrated to him the powerful and dangerous allure of jahiliyyah (pre-Islamic ignorance) — a threat unimaginable, in Qutb's estimation, to the secular mind. In the opening of his book Milestones he presents the following views:

"It is necessary for the new leadership to preserve and develop the material fruits of the creative genius of Europe, and also to provide mankind with such high ideals and values as have so far remained undiscovered by mankind, and which will also acquaint humanity with a way of life which is harmonious with human nature, which is positive and constructive, and which is practicable."

"Democracy in the West has become infertile to such an extent that it is borrowing from the systems of the Eastern bloc, especially in the economic system, under the name of socialism. It is the same with the Eastern bloc. Its social theories, foremost among which is Marxism, in the beginning attracted not only a large number of people from the East but also from the West, as it was a way of life based on a creed. But now Marxism is defeated on the plane of thought, and if it is stated that not a single nation in the world is truly Marxist, it will not be an exaggeration. On the whole this theory conflicts with man's nature and its needs. This ideology prospers only in a degenerate society or in a society which has become cowed as a result of some form of prolonged dictatorship. But now, even under these circumstances, its materialistic economic system is failing, although this was the only foundation on which its structure was based. Russia, which is the leader of the communist countries, is itself suffering from shortages of food. Although during the times of the Tsars Russia used to produce surplus food, it now has to import food from abroad and has to sell its reserves of gold for this purpose. The main reason for this is the failure of the system of collective farming, or, one can say, the failure of a system which is against human nature."

These experiences would prompt Qutb to adopt a radical stance, of excommunicating the Muslim governments as well as their supporters out of the pale of Islam. These revolutionary ideas published through his 1960s prison writings " In the Shade of the Qur’an " and its spin-off, " Milestones ", would lay the ideological foundations of future Jihadist movements. In Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq Qutb argues that anything non-Islamic was evil and corrupt, and that following sharia as a complete system extending into all aspects of life, would bring every kind of benefit to humanity, from personal and social peace, to the "treasures" of the universe.

Qutb's experiences as an Egyptian Muslim — his village childhood, professional career, and activism in the Muslim Brotherhood — left an indelible mark on his theoretical and religious works. Even Qutb's early, secular writing shows evidence of his later themes. For example, Qutb's autobiography of his childhood Tifl min al-Qarya (A Child From the Village) makes little mention of Islam or political theory and is typically classified as a secular, literary work. However, it is replete with references to village mysticism, superstition, the Qur'an, and incidences of injustice. Qutb's later work developed along similar themes, dealing with Qur'anic exegesis, social justice, and political Islam.

Qutb's career as a writer also heavily influenced his philosophy. In al-Taswiir al-Fanni fil-Quran (Artistic Representation in the Qur'an), Qutb developed a literary appreciation of the Qur'an and a complementary methodology for interpreting the text. His hermeneutics were applied in his extensive commentary on the Qur'an, Fi zilal al-Qur'an, which served as the foundation for the declarations of Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq.

Late in his life, Qutb synthesized his personal experiences and intellectual development in Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq, a religious and political manifesto for what he believed was a true Islamic system. It was also in this text that Qutb condemned Muslim governments, such as Abdul Nasser's regime in Egypt, as secular, with their legitimacy based on human (and thus corrupt), rather than divine authority. This work, more than any other, established Qutb as one of the premier Islamists of the 20th century, and perhaps the foremost proponent of Islamist thought in that era. Qutb denounced secularism as an inherently "oppressive system" since it sabotaged freedom of religion by constraining all religious practice to the private realm; whereas an Islamic state would grant full religious freedom to Muslims by implementing Islamic laws publicly while delegating non-Muslim faiths to the private realm.

Qutb, dissatisfied with the condition of contemporary Islam, identified its benighted state as having two principal causes. The first was that many Muslims were forsaking their faith in the Qur'an, failing to enforce Sharia law. This had led to the virulent spread of a secular culture within Muslim societies, which, with the assistance of the innate and centuries-long Western hatred towards Islam, was a second important cause of the straying of many Muslims from the right path. Qutb asserted that the Islamic world had sunk into a state of jahiliyyah. This led Qutb to advocate in his book Milestones that the general masses weren't Muslims and that a revolutionary Islamic vanguard should return the ignorant people back to what he considered as pristine Islam:

"Indeed, people are not Muslims, as they proclaim to be, as long as they live the life of Jahiliyyah. If someone wishes to deceive himself or to deceive others by believing that Islam can be brought in line with this Jahiliyyah, it is up to him. But whether this deception is for others, it cannot change anything of the actual reality. This is not Islam, and they are not Muslims. Today the task of the Call is to return these ignorant people to Islam and make them into Muslims all over again".