Muslim Scholarship
Medieval Islamic scholar ibn Taymiyyah was probably the first to use the term to describe backsliders in contemporary Muslim society. In the 20th century, Indian Islamist writer Abul Ala Maududi wrote of it. Sayyid Qutb popularized the term in his influential work Ma'alim fi al-Tariq "Milestones", with the shocking assertion that "the Muslim community has been extinct for a few centuries."
When a person embraced Islam during the time of the Prophet, he would immediately cut himself off from Jahiliyyah. When he stepped into the circle of Islam, he would start a new life, separating himself completely from his past life under ignorance of the Divine Law. He would look upon the deeds during his life of ignorance with mistrust and fear, with a feeling that these were impure and could not be tolerated in Islam! With this feeling, he would turn toward Islam for new guidance; and if at any time temptations overpowered him, or the old habits attracted him, or if he became lax in carrying out the injunctions of Islam, he would become restless with a sense of guilt and would feel the need to purify himself of what had happened, and would turn to the Quran to mold himself according to its guidance. —Sayyid Qutb
Read more about this topic: Jahl
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