human lords" is intolerable and is a practice Islam "has come to annihilate." Christians and Jews are guilty of it since they give priests and rabbis "the authority to make laws" and "it is clear that obedience to laws and judgments is a sort of worship." Because of this these religions are actually polytheist, not monotheist. Qutb quotes the Quran (9:31): “They have taken their rabbis and priests as lords other than Allah, and the Messiah, son of Mary; and they were commanded to worship none but One Allah. There is no God but He, glory be to Him above what they associate with Him!” Western and Jewish Conspiracies Qutb asserted that "World Jewry" was and is engaged in conspiracies whose "purpose" is: He also alleged that the West had a centuries-long "enmity toward Islam" which led it to create a "well-thought-out scheme ... to demolish the structure of Muslim society." At the same time, "the Western world realizes that Western civilization is unable to present any healthy values for the guidance of mankind," and in one Western country he had visited, "the American people blush" with shame when confronted with the "immoralities" and "vulgarity" of their own country in comparison with the superiority of Islam's "logic, beauty, humanity and happiness". Olivier Roy has described Qutb's attitude as one of "radical contempt and hatred" for the West, and complains that the propensity of Muslims like Qutb to blame problems on outside conspiracies "is currently paralyzing Muslim political thought. For to say that every failure is the devil's work is the same as asking God, or the devil himself (which is to say these days the Americans), to solve one's problems." Milestones and Islam Other questions involve Qutb's ideas of sharia and freedom. Sharia Although Qutb's ideology is premised upon sharia law and its application to every aspect of life, he does not explain or illustrate how any specific statutes are better or different from man-made law. Evidence to support assertions in Ma'alim fi al-Tariq is limited to scriptural quotations — but does assure readers sharia is "without doubt ... perfect in the highest degree", and will free humanity from servitude to other men. Some, such as scholar Khaled Abou El Fadl, have questioned Qutb's understanding of sharia, and his assumptions that sharia is not only perfect but accessible to mortals in its completeness. While Islamic scholars of sharia traditionally have