Sayyid Qutb, who lived form 1906 to 1966, was an Egyptian author, poet, educator, Islamic revivalist and intellectual thinker. He is best known in the Muslim world for his intellectual contributions to the social and political role of Islam. He left behind a total of 24 books, including several novels and a number of religious books. His greatest and most renowned work, “Fi Thilal al-Quran” (“In the Shade of the Qur’an”), is a 30 volume work including commentary and reflections on the Qur’an. He disapproved of the obsession with materialism and violence which he saw permeating in the US culture during his stay there, and this is often reflected in his works. Qutb was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and was deeply influenced by the works of the Indian thinker and revivalist, Abul A’la Al-Mawdudi. Because of his outspokenness against the Egyptian government and all that he disapproved of, Qutb suffered imprisonment and torture in the Egyptian jails, where he was eventually executed.