Political Militant Islam portal Maʿālim fī aṭ Ṭarīq, also Ma'alim fi'l-tareeq, (Arabic: معالم في الطريق, romanized: ma‘ālim fī t-tarīq) or Milestones, first published in 1964, is a short book written by the influential Egyptian Islamist author Sayyid Qutb,[1] in which he makes a call to action and lays out a plan to re-create the "extinct" Muslim world on (what he believes to be) strictly Quranic grounds, casting off what he calls Jahiliyyah (pre-Islamic ignorance).

[3] Commentators have both praised Milestones as a ground-breaking, inspirational work by a hero and a martyr,[3] and reviled it as a prime example of unreasoning entitlement, self-pity, paranoia, and hatred that has been a major influence on Islamist terrorism.

First published in 1964, it was written in prison, where Qutb spent 10 years under charges of political conspiracy against the authoritarian Egyptian regime of Gamal Abdel Nasser.

[10] In his book, Qutb seeks to set out "milestones" or guiding markers along a road that will lead to the revival of Islam from its current "extinction."

[14] Sharia is much more than a code of religious or public laws (according to Qutb), it is a "complete" way of life covering "all minor or major affairs of mankind",[15] based on "submission to God alone,"[16] crowding out anything non-Islamic.

[18] The modern Muslim world has erred by approaching the Qur'an for the sake of "discussion, learning and information" or "to solve some scientific or legal problem."

Though these crowd-pleasing appeals would have undoubtedly shortened the thirteen years of hardship Muhammad had to endure while calling unresponsive Arabs to Islam, "God did not lead His Prophet on this course.

Preaching will persuade people to become true Muslims, while the movement will abolish "the organizations and authorities of the Jahili system"[30] by "physical power and Jihaad".

[35] True Muslims should maintain a "sense of supremacy" and "superiority,"[36] on the road of renewal, and to remember their enemies are angered by them, hate them "only because of their faith", "only because they believe in God".

[40] Two of Qutb's major influences were the medieval Islamic scholar Ibn Taymiya, and contemporary British Indian (later Pakistani) Islamist writer Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi.

")[45] Qutb's intense dislike of the West and ethnic nationalism notwithstanding, a number of authors believe he was influenced by European fascism (Roxanne L. Euben,[46] Aziz Al-Azmeh,[47] Khaled Abou El Fadl).

[50] The centrality of an Islamic 'vanguard' (Arabic: tali'a) in Qutb's political program also suggests influence from Communist leader Vladimir I. Lenin's key concept of the vanguard party.

Islamists have hailed him as "a matchless writer, ... one of the greatest thinkers of contemporary Islamic thought,"[52] and compared to Western political philosopher John Locke.

[7] Author Gilles Kepel credits Milestones with "unmasking" the socialist and "nominally" Islamic "faces" of the Egyptian regime of Gamal Abdel Nasser Qutb lived under.

At the top of the list of these activities is usury, the aim of which is that all the wealth of mankind end up in the hands of Jewish financial institutions which run on interest.

Evidence to support assertions in Ma'alim fi al-Tariq is limited to scriptural quotations — but does assure readers sharia is "without doubt ... perfect in the highest degree",[63] and will free humanity from servitude to other men.

Qutb's political philosophy has been described as an attempt to instantiate a complex and multilayer eschatological vision, partly grounded in a counter-hegemonic anti-western view of Islamic 'universalism'.