UROP Research Mentor Project Submission Portal: Submission #682

Overall Research Project Description Have you ever tried to think like a terrorist? Even just for a moment, to crawl into their mind and see how the most heinous and evil acts are justified? Well, if you choose to work with me, you will get that chance. The goal of this project is to review a number of books I have translated from Arabic to English, by the Egyptian Islamist author Muḥammad Quṭb (1919-2014). If this name is new to you, it’s because he is radically understudied, and this dearth of research is doubly concerning as he was also the personal theology teacher to Osama Bin Laden. Muḥammad Quṭb was a man who much more than just a master orator, university professor, philosopher, prodigious author, and religious scholar. Muhammad Qutb’s religious zeal instilled in a young Bin Laden an unyielding desire to defend Islam no matter the cost, with violence as the primary means of affecting change. Although it was Bin Laden’s hand upon the sword used to commit acts of terror all over the world, it was the crucible of Muhammad Qutb’s fiery rhetoric, canonical interpretations, and juridical rulings which forged and tempered his weapon. Given the pre-eminence of Muhammad Qutb’s influences on contemporary terrorists, why is it that Muhammad Qutb remains ignored and virtually absent from historical accounts of radicalized Saudi youth, including and notably Osama Bin Laden, who went on to found international terror organizations? Moreover, Muḥammad Quṭb’s forty-five monographs have ensured the endurance of his dogmatic theological interpretations of Islamic scripture and jurisprudence. We need look no further than the Dark Web to find a new generation of radicalized youth who distribute and venerate his works on Daesh (Islamic State) recruitment sites. These sites have radicalized Canadians like Farah Mohamed Shirdon, who left his home in Calgary to fight for the Islamic State, citing the work of Muḥammad Quṭb as his inspiration. If you choose to work with me, we will explore his influence over a generation of international Islamist fighters through his academic production – you will get a chance to crawl into the mind of a terrorist and see how it ticks.