Sayyid Qutb

Sayyid Qutb (/ˈkuːtəb/ or /ˈkʌtəb/; Egyptian Arabic pronunciation: [ˈsæjjed ˈʔotˤb], Arabic: [ˈsæjjɪd ˈqʊtˤb]; Arabic: سيد قطب‎ Sayyid Quṭb; also spelled Said, Syed, Seyyid, Sayid, Sayed, Koteb, Qutub, Kotb, Kutb; 9 October 1906 – 29 August 1966) was an Egyptian author, educator, Islamic theorist, poet, and the leading member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1966 he was convicted of plotting the assassination of Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser and was executed by hanging.

Author of 24 books, including novels, literary arts critique and works on education, he is best known in the Muslim world for his work on what he believed to be the social and political role of Islam, particularly in his books Social Justice and Ma'alim fi al-Tariq (Milestones). His magnum opus, Fi Zilal al-Quran (In the Shade of the Qur'an), is a 30-volume commentary on the Quran.

During most of his life, Qutb's inner circle mainly consisted of influential politicians, intellectuals, poets and literary figures, both of his age and of the preceding generation. By the mid-1940s, many of his writings were officially among the curricula of schools, colleges and universities.

Sayyid

Sayyid (also spelled "Seyd", "Syed", "Sayed", "Sayyed", "Saiyid", "Seyed" and "Seyyed") (pronounced [ˈsæjjɪd], or [ˈsæjjed], Arabic: سيد‎; meaning Mister) (plural Sadah Arabic: سادة‎, Sāda(h)) is an honorific title denoting males accepted as descendants of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad through his grandsons, Hasan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali, sons of Muhammad's daughter Fatimah and his son-in-law Ali (Ali ibn Abi Talib). Conventionally, descent is patrilineal. However, in 1632 when an Ottoman court challenged a man wearing a sayyid's green turban he established that he was a sayyid on his mother's side, and this was accepted by the court.

Daughters of sayyids are given the titles Sayyida, Alawiyah, or Sharifa. In some regions of the Islamic world, e.g., India, the descendants of Muhammad are given the title Amir or Mir, meaning "commander", "general", or "prince". Children of Sayyida mother but a non Sayyid father are referred to as Mirza.

In the Arab world, it is the equivalent of the English word "liege lord" or "master" when referring to a descendant of Muhammad, as in Sayyid Ali Sultan. This is the reason the word sidi (from the contracted form sayyidī, 'my liege') is used in the Arabic.

Sayyid (name)

Sayyid (pronounced [ˈsæjjɪd], Arabic: سيد‎, also transliterated as Sayed, or Syed, IPA: [ˈsajed]) is a masculine given name derived from the title Sayyid, it is not to be confused with the similar looking name Sayid (often spelled Saeed, pronounced [ˈsaʕiːd]). These people are not necessarily considered to be Sayyid; they only use Sayyid as a given name. Some people however with the name may be considered as being Sayyid (males accepted as descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandsons, Hasan ibn Ali and Husain ibn Ali).

Given name