The Place of Sayyid Qutb's Thought among Religious Activists in Pre- Revolutionary Iran

Sayyid Qutb، the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood’s eminent thinker، has influenced his age to a large extent. He was the link between the first generation of Muslim Brotherhood members and the later ones. His thoughts and political activities introduced a pattern that was followed by the next generation of Muslim militants all over the world، including Iran، where Muslim political activists were fighting against the Pahlavi Regime. The similarities between his thought and those of revolutionary Islamic forces in Iran can be an interesting scholarly topic. The main question in this paper is: what was the place of Sayyid Qutb’s thought among religious activists in the pre-Revolutionary Iran? Direct and indirect personal contacts with Sayyid Qutb and some of his prominent followers، access to his works، some of which were translated into Persian، led to the spread of his thought in Iran. His thought was welcomed by religious-minded activists، as it can be seen in the introductions written by translators to the Persian translations of his works، criticisms of his thought as well as the expressing of the need for his views in works written by Iranian Muslim activists.