The man behind the counter at the Islamic bookstore in London says they are out of stock. A closer look at the rows of bookshelves packed tight with Koranic interpretations reveals the slim purple spine of the last copy of Milestones. Inside, on thin paper inky with blurred lettering, the opening sentence is ominous: "Mankind today is on the brink of a precipice. . ." it reads.
What follows is probably the most influential manifesto of the jihad movement, one that inspired a generation, including Osama bin Laden, his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri and thousands of others. Its author, Sayyid Qutb, was hanged by the Egyptian government in 1966 but his rallying call still resonates in the numerous translations of his work available throughout the Islamic world.
"My father was not only influenced by the thought of Sayyid Qutb, he considered him the giant of modern Islamic ideology," says Huthaifa Azzam, son of bin Laden's mentor Abdullah Azzam.
Often described as the jihadi equivalent of the Communist Manifesto or Mein Kampf, Milestones hinges on Qutb's idea that contemporary society is bankrupt and directionless with declining moral values, a state of affairs he compared to jahiliyyah or pre-Islamic ignorance.
This view was shaped in part by the period Qutb spent studying in the US between 1948 and 1950. Drawing on his experience of racism and his distaste for what he considered American permissiveness, Qutb's letters from that time show a growing bitterness towards "the life of jahiliyyah, hollow and full of contradictions, defects and evils". In his eyes, this malaise had come about because the primacy of God had been replaced by other sources of authority.
Instead of viewing jihad as a collective action bound by strict rules and regulations, Qutb reworked the concept of jihad to mean a personal obligation to wage perpetual struggle "against every obstacle that comes into the way of worshipping God and the implementation of the divine authority on earth".
He railed against Muslim scholars and clerics he believed had adopted "defeatist and apologetic mentalities" in restricting jihad to "defensive war" and called for the formation of a "vanguard" to put his ideas into practice.
A leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Qutb's rhetoric later led to his denunciation by the organisation. However, it was to strike a chord elsewhere.
Milestones provided the religious justification for jihadist groups from Egypt to Algeria and Afghanistan, with militants revering Qutb as a martyr who resisted jail and torture before his eventual execution. It was Osama bin Laden, however, who took that reverence even further, borrowing heavily from Qutb's writings to formulate his own communiques.
Today excerpts from Milestones are found on countless websites and Qutb is cited as perhaps the most influential ideologue of radical and militant Islam.
Montasser al-Zayat, a former militant who was al-Zawahiri's cellmate in the early 1980s, says Qutb was a major influence on his generation.
Now a lawyer representing Islamic militants in Egypt, he says younger jihadists are bypassing Qutb's writings to listen to bin Laden or al-Zawahiri's latest taped message for guidance.
"Qutb started much of this philosophy and his influence was felt for a very long time," al-Zayat told The Irish Times. "But today bin Laden and al-Zawahiri have greater influence on the militant Islamic movement and particularly the youth. Their message is more immediate."
Writing in his prison cell in the early 1960s, Qutb decided his polemic should be titled Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq, which translates into English as Milestones [ or Signposts] Along the Way.
His hoped-for "vanguard", Qutb explained, should know the signposts on the road toward their destination - to rid the world of jahiliyyah and restore divine authority. In the foreword, Qutb writes: "I have written Milestones for this vanguard, which I consider to be a waiting reality about to be materialised."
Little did he realise what shape that reality was to take.