The Muslim Brotherhood and Al-Qaeda are two terrorist organizations that flourish in the Middle East. The Muslim Brotherhood and Al-Qaeda are alike in many ways. They both share the same Islamic ideologies and religious agenda. Both terrorist groups were also greatly influenced by an Egyptian author named Sayyid Qutb (White, 2014). Sayyid Qutb was one of the most popular authors of militant Islamic ideals of his time. He was college educated and was employed by the Ministry of Education in Egypt. Qutb left Egypt to study in the United States in 1948. Qutb’s decision to travel to the United States to study would greatly affect his beliefs on religion and his view of Western civilization, especially America (White, 2014, p. 197). …show more content…
Qutb believed that Americans were greedy people. He also believed Americans were very primitive people. Qutb believed women were vixens and men were sport obsessed brutes (Siegel, 2003). Qutb studied in the United States for only two years (White, 2014, p. 197). After he finished his studies, Qutb went home with a hatred for American and it way of life. Qutb returned to Egypt in 1950 and joined the Muslim Brotherhood. The Muslim Brotherhood and Qutb were attempting to establish a single Muslim nation through education and religious reform. Qutb also used his college education to write to write Milestones. Milestones is a book that outlines the jihadist revolution (White, 2014, p. 197). The ideals contained in Milestones greatly influenced the Muslim Brotherhood. It also influenced the formation and ideals of another terrorist group,