the real zenith of civilization, which for Qutb began with Muhammad in the seventh century and reached its apex in the Middle Ages ....
Hmmmm ...
Let's put away the thesaurus and get out the dictionary.
Zenith:1: the point of the celestial sphere that is directly opposite the nadir and vertically above the observer — see azimuth illustration
2: the highest point reached in the heavens by a celestial body
3: culminating point : acme <at the zenith of his powers — John Buchan>
Apex:1: a : the uppermost point : vertex <the apex of a mountain>
b : the narrowed or pointed end : tip <the apex of the tongue>
2: the highest or culminating point <the apex of his career>
First, we have a fundamental problem in that the author uses two words meaning the same thing, and pretends that one of them doesn't mean what it means. Both "zenith" and "apex" mean highest point. How can a "highest point" span a period of several hundred years? What the quoted sentence says, then, is:
"the real high point of civilization, which for Qutb began with Muhammad in the seventh century and reached its high point in the Middle Ages ...."
In other words, it's a logical fallacy.
And then there's the problem of time. There is no scholarly consensus on exactly when the "Middle Ages" began, but the potential dates range from 312 A.D. to around 700 A.D. The ending point for the Middle Ages is variously pegged as having been somewhere between 1341 and 1517. So this Qutb uses 700 as the beginning. But the Middle Ages are generally regarded as being the LOW point of western civilization, the period of know-nothingness between the fall of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Renaissance. So it looks like our genius really said,
"the real high point of civilization, which for Qutb began with the start of the low point of civilization and reached its high point during the low point ...."
Color me confused.