Sayyid Qutb: The America He Hated

The "philosopher of the militant Islamist movement," Sayyid Qutb, is featured on Christiane Amanpour's God's Warriors (aired August 2007, by CNN). Qutb came to America from Egypt in 1948 to attend college—American culture quickly shocked him. He resented the lack of spiritualism in the U.S. and held disdain for cultural customs that were foreign to his Islamic upbringing. Upon return to Egypt he began preaching about returning Muslim nations to their roots before later being arrested as an extremist, convicted and later executed by the Egyptian government. His vision of an "Islamic awakening" would later be strongly accepted by men such as Usama bin Laden, Ayman al Zawahri and their al Qa'ida brethren.