The myth of progress in the writings of Sayyid Qutb

The idea or, as I prefer to say, the ‘myth’ of progress has been both accepted and debated in the Western world as an essential component in what we call ‘modernity’. Outside the Western world it has also functioned as one of the most eVective weapons in the ideological arsenal supporting Western colonialism and imperialism. This article considers briefly how this myth has been received in the Islamic world and then, at greater length, how it was first accepted, then modified and then rejected by a man who came to be one of the ideological fathers of the current Islamic Resurgence, the Egyptian writer and activist, Sayyid Qutb. © 1997 Academic Press Limited.