Milestones By Qutb Chapter Summaries

This week the reading was chapter three and four of “Milestones” by Qutb. Chapter three begins with describing that after each prophet there is a time period in which everyone understands Islam as a religion until later generations eventually forget and return to jahillyyah. Jahillyyah is described as one man’s lordship over another. The call to Allah has remained constant throughout the different time periods and generations. This call is to introduce more people to Islam and eventually submission to Allah. The entirety of human life within Islam is governed by the system of natural laws that are from Allah. Every single person is powerless when it comes to the universal laws. The theoretical foundation of Islam is la llaha lua Allah that

Ya ayyuha al-muddathir was the second revelation of the prophet which means, “O you who are enwrapped in your mantle, arise and warn.” This was the point in which the prophet was appointed to messengership. For around thirteen years after his appointment to messengership the prophet Muhammad called people to Islam and Allah without fighting until he was eventually commanded to migrate, and then finally to fight or jihad. After the command to fight came the non-believers were divided into three categories: those who Muslims had peace treaties with, those Muslims were at war with, and the dhimmies. Those with treaties and the non-believers were also divided into three more categories. The people of the world were separated into Muslims who believed in Muhammad, those who had peace with, and his opponents. There are two approaches when spreading the word of Islam and Allah, which is preaching, and the movement. Islam is a declaration of the freedom of every man or every woman from servitude to other humans so that they may serve Allah