Was Qutb right about America?

[Anonymous No.13929679]

>And the sight of the ravens when one of their own dies is a sight that many are accustomed to seeing. It is a sight that is hard to describe without mentioning that these birds must know “sadness,” “emotion,” and “kinship”! For a group of ravens will hover in circles, shrieking and wailing, until they carry the body of the deceased one and fly away. All this points to the gravity of death in the world of birds!

>The sanctity of death may be a natural instinct. So it is not the primitiveness of feeling that has erased the sanctity of death in the American soul. Rather, it is the drought of sentimental sympathy in their lives, and the foundation of their lives upon monetary and material measures, and sheer physical gratification. Americans intentionally deride what people in the Old World hold sacred, and their desire is to contrast themselves with the customary ways of the people there. Otherwise, the Americans would say, what merit does the New World have over the Old World?

>If the church is a place for worship in the entire Christian world, in America it is for everything but worship. You will find it difficult to differentiate between it and any other place. They go to church for carousal and enjoyment, or, as they call it in their language “fun.” Most who go there do so out of necessary social tradition, and it is a place for meeting and friendship, and to spend a nice time. This is not only the feeling of the people, but it is also the feeling of the men of the church and its ministers.

>In most churches there are clubs that join the two sexes, and every minister attempts to attract to his church as many people as possible, especially since there is a tremendous competition between churches of different denominations. And for this reason, each church races to advertise itself with lit, colored signs on the doors and walls to attract attention, and by presenting delightful programs to attract the people much in the same way as merchants or showmen or actors. And there is no compunction about using the most beautiful and graceful girls of the town, and engaging them in song and dance, and advertising.

[Anonymous No.13929697]

>Human society has long struggled to build and forge sexual mores. It has regulated these relations, emotions, and feelings, and struggled against the coarseness of sensation and the gloominess of natural impulse, in order to let genuine relationships fly about, and free‐ranging longings soar high unfettered, along with all the strong ties around these relationships, in the feelings of individuals, in the life of the family, and in society at large. . . .

>This struggle was isolated from life in America at once, and it rose devoid and destitute from every beautification: (males and females) as they were created the first time. Body to body, and female to male. On the basis of bodily needs and motives, relationships are based and ties are established. And from them stretch the rules of behavior, the mores of society, and the ties of families and individuals.

>With the temptation of the body alone, devoid of any cover, stripped of all modesty, girls meet boys, and from the strength of the body and its muscles the boy obtains the submission of the girl. And the husband obtains his rights, and those rights disappear completely the day that the husband fails to “perform” for one reason or another.