Re: Global Citizenship Essay

Kudos to ChristaB for name-checking the Muslim Brotherhood in her essay. To understand Islamism you need to understand its source and that source is the Brotherhood. It was the Brotherhood that emphasized the comprehensive nature of Islam, insisting that there was more to it than religious observance. It was it's leading light Sayyid Qutb who helped radicalize the Brotherhood and twist the meaning of jihad from one of personal fulfillment and struggle to its current interpretation a call for violence and bloodshed. Qutb's writings have helped inspire at least two generations of terrorists. Even bin Laden's ideological lineage can be traced to Qutb and the Brotherhood.

One last thing about Qutb. His story disproves the truism that "if they get to know us, they'll love us." Qutb was a relatively free-thinking Muslim until he came to study in America in the late '40's. He was horrified by the social mores and the free wheeling sexuality of post War America, can you imagine his reaction if he would have come over twenty years later? Qutb returned to Egypt convinced that the west was immoral and decadent. Next thing you know he's inspiring fanatics to kill Nasser. I'm not saying that we should not have cultural exchanges or permit foreign students, I'm just saying that it is not the magic bullet that many consider it to be.