Was Egyptian Islamic Revivalism really counter-Hegemonic? Sayyid Qutb and the problem of Islamic Consciousness

Following the great fragmentation in the Arab world today, as well as the problematic de-colonization phase, it would be relevant to investigate whether Arab-Islamic Egyptian revivalism has been truly capable of shaping a counter-hegemonic narrative against Western colonialism and post-colonialism in the twentieth century. Can we consider Sayyid Qutb’s political and religious analysis, as well as his formative background, a concrete counter-hegemonic narrative? Was the narrative of Rashid Rida and Hasan al-Banna solidly based on religious Islamic concepts and meanings? The main aim of this article is to reconsider the contemporary understanding of Islamic Egyptian thought in relation to Buruma and Margalit’s proposed Occidentalism methodology, on the one hand, and the hegemonic–counter-hegemonic debate, on the other.