As I start my journey reading through the eyes of Lawrence Wright, many things catch my attention, pulling me towards the piece of writing in front of me. The prologue tells the story of how despite the many warnings towards U.S intelligence agencies on the 9/11 bombing, absolutely nothing was done and we failed to prevent it from happening. An FBI agent by the name of Daniel Coleman, was in charge of foreign intelligence and found evidence of possible attacks by Al-Qaeda leader: Osama Bin Laden. Guess what? His superiors and colleagues couldn’t care less and that was the start of an event that would imprint a dark hole into our country’s history.
Sayyid Qutb arrived in America in 1948, just three years after WW II. A quite well known educator of Egypt. Qutb was raised in Upper Egypt and by the age of 42, he had made a name for himself as an educator. Soon, the Egyptian Government exiled him to America because of education – related criticism towards the Egyptian government. Qutb decided to make his home New York. Before setting foot in America, Qutb had a strong belief that the Western portion of the world was immoral. After going to college in New York, hearing the news of the assassination of Hasan al-Banna, and going to Colorado for more education, Qutb returned to Egypt. In 1954, Qutb became the editor of the Muslimi Brothers magazine. During this time, he was targeted by a man by the name of Nasser. An assassination attempt occured but the shooters missed and this gave Nasser popularity. Nasser eventually used his popularity to hang people and make people think that he wasn’t in the wrong. Qutb was put in prison for his involvement of the assassination attempt. Like a figure known as Mandela that we learned about in the book “Invictus,” Qutb knew he couldn’t waste time and jail and wrote 2 books which were banned when they were published. His books covered morality, law, life, and just about every topic you can think of. He soon gained popularity but was given the death sentence. However, people still know his legacy today.