Date of Award

Spring 5-16-2026

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Advisor(s)

Khatami, Nojang, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Caley Johnson, Ph.D.

Abstract

Historically and culturally, the meaning behind political philosophies has been misappropriated to serve new ideological aims, and understanding how contexts have changed is essential to contemporary debates surrounding militant jihadist ideology. Sayyid Qutb, a political philosopher in Egypt during the mid-twentieth century, whose political philosophy, which sought moral, spiritual, and societal reform in Egypt under Gamal ‘Abd-Nasser’s regime, has been classified as the philosopher of Islamic terror. In this thesis, I argue that Sayyid Qutb’s political philosophy has been misappropriated into a politicized and militant jihad ideology through successive reinterpretations by militant jihadist leaders, and that this misappropriation is evidence of the global decline of jihadist legitimacy. I further argue that the divergence between scholars and intelligence analysts can be bridged by incorporating the hermeneutic-semiotic theory introduced by Lisa Wedeen. Through a comparative analysis of Qutb’s Milestones and Signposts Along the Road, combined with the works of Euben, Zaman, Bonner, Gerges, and Cook, and intelligence assessments from the Transatlantic Intelligence Consortium, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, I follow the evolution of Qutb’s philosophy across four generational waves of jihadism, the Muslim Brotherhood, Al Qaeda, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and the Islamic State Khorasan Province. Influenced by Wedeen’s hermeneutic-semiotic framework, this thesis analyzes how meaning and symbolism are historically produced and later misappropriated within political and cultural contexts. Lastly, I demonstrate that Qutb’s philosophical framework, when contextualized, reflects a moral and theological call for reform rather than violence, and that the continued misappropriation of his ideas by militant groups exposes their ideological exhaustion and the global decline of jihadist discourses from the mid-twentieth century to the present.

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