Sayyid Qutb lived in a time when the Islamic caliphate had just been abolished (i.e. the fall of the Ottoman Empire), and the Islamic world had been divided into small 'nations' and 'countries.' The legal systems in these nations were not based on the shariah; instead, they were influenced by and imitated the laws of their colonisers. Qutb's tafseer work presents a vigorous Islamic critique of the flaws of secularism at a time in history when most Muslims were apologetic about Islam. His tafseer work isn't perfect, but it is a great piece of tafseer literature.
- Excerpts taken from the book: Usool at Tafseer.