QUTB, SAYYID (–) Sayyid Qutb was an Islamic activist and one of the principal ideologues of the Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan al-Muslimin). Qutb was born in a village near Asyut in Upper Egypt. He left for higher studies in Cairo around or , and received a B.A. in education in from Dar al-?Ulum. The founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hasan al-Banna, had graduated from the.