subject to God’s call, they arethereforeequal. In sum, Khomeini contends, a
fully realized Islamic social system will cure the political, social, material, and
moral pathologies of the modern condition, while simultaneously tending to
the well-being of humankind in the hereafter (Khomeini 1981 , 36 ).
Unlike ‘Abduh and al-Afghani, Qutb and Khomeini presume that the
survival and integrity of Islamic truths depend on purifying Islam from the
corruption of foreign inXuence, or (borrowing from Jalal al-i Ahmad) what
Khomeini refers to as ‘‘WestoxiWcation.’’ Indeed, Khomeini contends that
‘‘our problems and miseries are caused by losing ourselves’’ (Fischer 1983 ,
168 ). Toward that end, Khomeini locates himself entirely within a Shi‘ite
Islamic lexicon, drawing upon the special role of the Imam (signifying an
outstanding religious leader) within Shi‘ite thought. As Sami Zubaida points
out, Khomeini writes largely without reference to contemporaries or prede-
cessors, couching his arguments almost exclusively in the idiom of Islamic
political theory and imagery (Zubaida 1989 ). Similarly, Qutb insists the
survival of the Islamic community depends upon overcoming the pernicious
inXuence ofjahiliyya: Muslims can only be redeemed from the bankruptcy
and fragmentation that plagues the rationalist, modern West by recapturing
the essential, universal, constant, and a priori unity of religious and political
authority in Islam. That this is the one and only authentic, uncorrupted Islam
is self-evident: ‘‘what we are saying about Islam is not a new fabrication, nor
is it a reinterpretation of its truth.It is simply plain Islam[emphasis added]’’
(Qutb 1949 , 13 ; Shepard 1996 , 9 ).
There are precedents in Islamic history for this particular brand of radic-
alism, and many of Khomeini’s and Qutb’s arguments take up themes and
concerns with a long and contested history in Muslim political thought. Yet
while both Khomeini and Qutb intend to recapture the timeless and pure
essence of Islam uncorrupted by WestoxiWcation orjahiliyya, their projects
are deWned as much by the contemporary world as by the putative origins of
Islam. For example, Qutb is preoccupied with such distinctively modern
phenomena as Enlightenment rationalism, Marxism, and liberalism; his
very understandings ofjahiliyyaand divine sovereignty are deWned in terms
of them. His arguments, moreover, unintentionally incorporate many of the
terms and concerns of his opponents at the very moment he insists on
philosophical purity. For example, his pronounced and repeated concern
for material equality echo precisely those of the communist and Arab socialist
systems he reviles, and scholars point to a distinctively modern emphasis on
the social dimension of justice not in fact present in the Qur’an andhadith
306 roxanne l. euben