As-salaamu `alaykum.
Syed Qutb's rahimahullaah, tafseer has been described by some of the prominent scholars as a "crime upon the book of Allaah"... This is due to the strange, new, uncprecedented ideas he brings. As for the 3 that I mentioned then they are all in someway affiliated with the Ikhwaan ul-Muslimoon, an organisation who aim to unite the Muslims (maa shaa Allaah) but don't seem to realise that unity can only occur with adhereance to the book and the sunnah. They have also been the cause of extremism, since they don't care what you are upon; sunnah or bid`ah as long as your Muslim (or simply claim it). Hence you find many of the foolish youth, terrorists, extremists referring back to their so-called "scholars". The Imaam, Muhaddith of Yemen, Shaykh Muqbil Ibn Hadee Al-Waadi`ee, rahimahullaah said after being asked about the matter,
[Q]: ‘What is your statement concerning the student of knowledge requesting the beginners to read Fee Dhilaalil-Qur‘aan, and to place it in their houses? So when the student excuses himself as being a beginner who is incapable of distinguishing between the fat and the thin from whatever the writer possesses of wahdatul-wujood (oneness of existence between Allaah and His creation), they seek as evidence the fact that the book Fathul-Baaree, Sharhul-Muslim and Riyaadus-Saaliheen contain errors as well. So how can you read those books, yet you do not read this particular book? So he answers their statement by stating that Sayyid Qutb had wahdatul-wujood. So he answers, ‘What else is there?’ It is as if he does not even see that as a point of censure. So is it correct to perform the following actions: requesting the students to read that book; [ii] placing Sayyid Qutb amongst the ranks of the Imaams such as an-Nawawee (d.676H) and Ibn Hajar in terms of his errors in creed and his rank in knowledge?’
[A]: “As for the book adh-Dhilaal and the writings of Sayyid Qutb – rahimahullaah – then we advise that they not be read at all, because some people from Jamaa’atut-Takfeer and some of the youth who were conceived by Jamaa’atut-Takfeer were a direct result of the writings of Sayyid Qutb (rahimahullaah). [2] And Sayyid Qutb was merely called a writer, he was not called a mufassir (explainer of the Qur‘aan). So his tafseer is the tafseer of someone who lived in apostasy for eleven years, as he himself admitted. So how can that be a tafseer?! However, these issues were there before the Ikhwaanul-Mufliseen (the Bankrupt Brotherhood) came along. So they were the ones who raised the individual, even though he was not at the level where he could be referred to as ‘Dr.’ He was an activist, not a Dr. So when we were in the Islaamic University, if you were prominent in knowledge and it was said to you, ‘Have you read the books: Allaah, ar-Rasool and al-Islaam by Sa’eed Hawwaa?’ So if you said that you had not read them, they would say, ‘You do not possess anything of knowledge.’ So I praise Allaah that I accepted the search for knowledge upon beneficial knowledge. I ask Allaah the Magnificent to preserve our brother, Rabee’ Ibn Haadee, since he has clarified the beliefs of Sayyid Qutb and what he possesses of deviations. Likewise, may Allaah bestow mercy upon our brother, ’Abdullaah Ibn Muhammad ad-Duwaysh – the muhaddith (Scholar of hadeeth) and haafidh (hadeeth memorizer). I have not seen anyone with these two eyes of mine one who was similar to him in memorization. So he has recorded many of the errors of Sayyid Qutb in his book al-Mawridul-’Adhabiz-Zalaal fee Bayaan Akhtaa‘idh-Dhilaal. So Sayyid Qutb is not to be referred to as one of the mufassireen, nor is he from amongst the elite. Rather, he is a person who has zeal for Islaam, without any insight.
So we advise the brothers to return back to Tafseer Ibn Katheer, about whom ash-Shawkaanee (d.1250H) said that his tafseer is from amongst the most beautiful tafaaseer, having no equal. And as-Suyootee (d.911H) stated in Tabaqaatul-Huffaadh that Tafseer Ibn Katheer is from amongst the most beautful of tafaaseer. So Tafseer Ibn Katheer is a tafseer of the Qur‘aan by the Qur‘aan and by the Prophetic ahaadeeth and by separating the authentic Sunnah from its weak, and its defective narrations from its sound ones, and by falsifying the Israa‘eeliyyah stories. And likewise, I advise that the tafaaseer of our Salaf be read, such as Tafseer Ibn Jareer, Tafseerul-Baghawee and whatever is present from Tafseer Ibn Abee Haatim and Tafseer Ibn Mardawayh, since there is abundant goodness in them. So we are not in need of adh-Dhilaal, since we fear that we will fall into ad-Dalaal. So if it is absolutely necessary that you read adh-Dhilaal, then I advise him to read what the brother, ’Abdullaah Ibn Muhammad ad-Duwaysh and what Shaykh Rabee’ Ibn Haadee – hafidhahullaah – wrote.”
The full fatwa can be viewed at www.troid.org. As for the works of the members of the Ikhwaan, then we do not want to see them here as I stated (an exception would be for those amongst them who have excelled in fiqh etc, so long as the content is limited to such a topic). The same goes for Hamza Yusuf's lectures, articles and books etc, as do those of any other astray soofee.
For further reading, this book should be informative...