Taking People As They Are: Islam As a “Realistic Utopia”in the Political Theory of Sayyid Qutb

摘要

This article presents an interpretation of Sayyid Qutb’s political theory based on a prominentnfeature of his thought: the claimthat Islamic law and human nature (fitra) are in perfect harmony,nand that the demands of Islamic law are easy and painless for ordinary human moral capacities. Inargue that Qutb is not only defending Islamic law as true and obligatory, but also as a coherent “realisticnutopia”—a normative theory that also contains a psychological account of that theory’s feasibility. Qutb’snwell-known fascination with the earliest generation of Muslims (the salaf) is an integral part of thisnaccount that serves two functions: (1) as amodel of the feasibility and realismof an ideal Islamic politicalnorder, and (2) as a genealogy of the political origins of moral vice in society. Qutb’s project is thus annaccount of exactly why and how Islam requires politics, and how modern humans can be both free andngoverned.