Milestones

Sayyid Qutb's 1964 manifesto — the foundational text of modern jihadist ideology, calling for a Muslim vanguard to wage jihad against the jahiliyyah (barbarism) of modern society.

Milestones as jihadist blueprint: Qutb's framework in Milestones: (1) All existing societies — including Muslim ones — are in a state of jahiliyyah because they submit to human authority rather than God's sovereignty. (2) Islam requires that God's sovereignty (hakimiyyah) be established on earth. (3) A Muslim vanguard must lead the movement, paralleling Lenin's vanguard party. (4) This requires jihad — both the inner spiritual struggle and external struggle against jahiliyyah systems. The vanguard framework (explicitly parallel to Lenin and Mao) combined with the theological absolutism of Qutb's reading produced the ideological template for al-Qaeda and subsequent movements.