Sayyid Quṭb’s Exegesis of Hospitality in Prophetic Narratives

This study examined Sayyid Quṭb’s interpretive approach to the Quranic narratives of hospitality in his seminal tafsīr, Fī Ẓilāl al-Qurʾān (In the Shade of the Quran). Focusing on the stories of Prophet Abraham and his honored guests, and Prophet Lot and his people, the study analyzed how Quṭb situates these episodes within his broader project of tafsīr ijtimāʿī wa ḥarakī (social and movement-oriented exegesis). This study highlighted Quṭb’s hermeneutical methods, including his emphasis on thematic unity within the sūrah, his literary sensitivity to Quranic imagery, and his insistence on linking Quranic guidance to the lived realities of Muslim societies. Through his reading of these narratives, Quṭb derives a set of ethical principles governing hospitality: the obligation to welcome guests warmly, the duty to provide food promptly and generously, the importance of ensuring guests’ comfort and safety, and the moral imperative to uphold their dignity. In Quṭb’s view, these Quranic stories do not only recount historical events but also serve as paradigms for cultivating justice, mercy, and communal solidarity in contemporary Muslim life. By foregrounding hospitality as a Quranic ethical principle, this study argued that Quṭb’s tafsīr underscores the role of Islam in addressing social challenges and fostering human dignity

Duty · Foregrounding · Hospitality · Islam · Narrative · Obligation · Solidarity · Education and Islamic Studies · Islamic Studies and History · Islamic Thought and Society Studies