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[Sayyid Qutb] Let Us Know Who We Are

There are various committees in the country today laying the foundations of the future for this people. There is a committee for the constitution, a committee for education policy, a committee for developing the national economy, and so on. All these committees first need to answer this question: Who are we?

They need to answer this question before beginning any policy, project, or step. In light of this answer, the direction can be determined, the plan drawn, and the projects built. The kind of answer has a decisive effect upon the kind of policy, plan, and projects.

Who are we?

Are we an isolated people behind the twenty-second parallel? Are we a people whose borders are those of the Nile Valley? Are we an Egyptian Arab people tied to the Arab nation by bonds? What is the nature of these bonds?

Are we an Egyptian Arab Islamic people tied to the Islamic world by bonds? What is the nature of these bonds?

All this concerns the geographic and international aspect. There is an equivalent question in the social and ideological aspect. Are we a capitalist people?

Are we a socialist people? Or are we an Islamic people?

[Later compiler's provenance line 6] Al-Daʿwa, 24 March 1953.