Sayyid Qutb (/ˈkuːtəb/ or /ˈkʌtəb/; Egyptian Arabic pronunciation: [ˈsæjjed ˈʔotˤb], Arabic: [ˈsæjjɪd ˈqʊtˤb]; Arabic: سيد قطب‎ Sayyid Quṭb; also spelled Said, Syed, Seyyid, Sayid, Sayed, Koteb, Qutub, Kotb, Kutb; 9 October 1906 – 29 August 1966) was an Egyptian author, educator, Islamic theorist, poet, and the leading member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in the 1950s and 1960s.