When it comes to the modern era, no Islamic intellectual has influenced modern Salafi Jihadism more than Sayyid Qutb. This unlikely Egyptian, steeped in Western literature and poetry, would come to define the ideological basis for modern Islamism. He was a poet, a writer and an aesthete who was a classic product of the tumult of the early twentieth century. How he became the most significant Islamist thinker today is quite the story… In this first of two episodes on this radical romantic, we take a look at Qutb’s formative years in Egypt, a time which saw his anti-Western thought grow and his intellectual prowess and writing flourish, as Egyptian nationalism went into full throttle and the spectre of the Second World War began to rear its head. Join our FB Discussion group to get exclusive updates:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/450486135832418 Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices