Islamism
The term Islamism refers to a group of usually extremist political ideologies based on the
Muslim religion, and claiming that
Islam must be the basis of political life as
well as a religion. Islamists believe that Islamic law (sharia) must be the basis for all statutory laws, that
Muslims must return to the original teachings and the early models of Islam; and that western military, economic,
political, social, or cultural influence in the Muslim world is un-Islamic. Most Islamists wish to restore and expand
the Muslim
Caliphate.
Those labeled Islamists often, if not always, oppose use of the term, maintaining they are just Muslims, and that
their beliefs are a straightforward expression of Islam as a way of life. Some Western anti-Muslim analysts agree with
them. Those views are controversial, inasmuch as they are seen to demonize all Muslims and delegitimize the Muslim
beliefs.
Other Muslims insist that Islamist ideologies are a perversion of Islam. Though the roots of the major Islamist
ideologies are in Sunni Islam, the Shia regime in Iran is a close ideological implementation of Islamism, including a
theocratic Islamic state and a foreign and domestic policy ostensibly governed by constraints of Islamist belief.
Islamists are often called "Jihadists" as well, being those who believe in the duty of Jihad in the sense of a holy war
against non-Muslim enemies.
The ideological father of Islamism was probably Sayed Abul Ala Mawdudi (or Mawdoodi), who lived in what is now
Pakistan, and who was strongly influenced by Deobandi ideology. He called for an Islamic state governed by Sha'ria
(Islamic law) and tried to reconcile Islam with modern science. Mawdudi founded the Jamaat-e-Islami in 1941 and headed
the movement until 1972. His key work was, "Towards Understanding Islam" (Risalah Diniyat). Earlier, Hassan El-Banna had
founded the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in 1928.
The Arab and Muslim world has suffered several frustrating disappointments. National ambitions were partially
frustrated by the Western take over of the Middle East after World War I, which, in the Arab view, prevented the
realization of the aims of Arab nationalism that had begun to crystallize during the last years of the Ottoman Empire,
and humiliated the Muslim Umma. In particular, the rise of Israel is a sore point and a focus for anti-Western
resentment. The Israeli victory in the Six Day War caused
widespread disillusion with the pan-Arab movement and contributed to the rise in support for extreme Islamist
ideologies. Much of the Arab and Muslim world, burdened by high population growth and lack of a middle class, has
failed to industrialize and lags far behind the west in standard of living, quality of life and democratic institutions.
Literacy rates are low and infant mortality is high relative to the West. The introduction of modern medicine has
produced a population explosion that hampers economic growth. Muslims blame oil-greedy western countries for repressive
regimes that they claim have stifled growth, even in the oil rich Arabian peninsula and Persian Gulf area. Islamists
have leveraged on this discontent and frustration to build populist movements that often have an extremely destructive
and reactionary philosophy.
Islamist doctrine is not a passive philosophy, but a program for action. One of their favorite "military" tools is
the suicide attack on civilians. Persons who die carrying out such attacks are considered to be holy martyrs (Shahid).
Islamists were responsible for suicide attacks on the US forces in Lebanon in the '80s. They have been involved in plots
to assassinate Arab leaders in different countries, and they instigated and carried out the attack on the United States
on September 11, 2001. Shi'a Islamists came to power in Iran in 1979 and formed an Islamic Republic.
Islamists, like all religious extremists, make clever use of culturally accepted symbols such as the
Quran, interpreted according to their own
ideas, in order to advance their own program.
The Muslim Brotherhood - The Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan) in Egypt has been a longstanding threat to the regime.
Founded in 1928 by Hassan El-Banna, their popularity grew rapidly in the 30s and 40s despite vigorous repression. They
combined strict Islamic practice, Fascist ideology and pro-Axis politics. In 1948, following their efforts in mobilizing
volunteers to fight in the war against "the Zionists" in Palestine to prevent establishment of a Jewish state, they were
ready to launch a coup against the Egyptian monarchy. However, On December 8, 1948, Prime Minister Nuqrashi Pasha
disbanded the Ikwhan in Egypt. Less than three weeks later, the Ikhwan assassinated Nuqrashi Pasha; Hassan El-Banna was
assassinated by government agents on February 12, 1949. The Ikhwan had organized extensively in Gaza, and remnants of
the Ikhwan eventually founded Palestinian groups including the Hamas. In Egypt, leadership of the movement was taken
over by Sayid Qutb.
Qutb had been more or less exiled to the USA in 1948 and studied there. He returned with a profound hatred for the
United States and the West, including Western materialism and sexual permissiveness, which he viewed as depravity. He
wrote extensively against democracy and characterized western society as "Jahil" - that is, benighted in the same way as
the pre-Islamic Jahiliyah period in Arabia. He called for Jihad against these infidels. Gamal Abdel Nasser banned the
Muslim brotherhood after they were involved in plots to assassinate him, and Qutb was executed in 1965. Eventually, the
Islamic Jihad, related to the Muslim Brothers, did assassinate Anwar Sadat after he signed a peace treaty with Israel.
Recently (2004), the Muslim Brothers in Egypt announced that they were modifying their philosophy to a more moderate
stance which abjured violence and supported democracy.
A Muslim Brother revolt that planned to overthrow the Syrian government and assassinate Syrian president Hafez
el-Assad was suppressed by gassing tens of thousands of people in El-Hama in 1982. In Iran, Shi'a Islamists led by
Ayatollah Khomeini came to power in 1979. The Iranians support the
Hezbollah guerilla group in Lebanon and
the Islamic Jihad Palestinian terrorist group. The initially ferocious Iranian regime has mellowed with time, and some
democratic reforms have been established. Likewise the Hizbollah in Lebanon claim that they want to come to power
democratically. However, it is now clear that the conservative clerics in Iran who hold the the real power will not give
it up in favor of the democratically elected president and his reform-minded supporters. A recent election in Iran was
rigged by eliminating candidates who were judged to be insufficiently "Islamic."
Osama Bin-Laden gained power by organizing Islamic resistance to the Soviet-supported regime in Afghanistan, with the
aid of the United States. Following the partial eclipse of Saddam Hussein after operation Desert Storm, Bin Laden and
his Al-Qaeda Mujaheddin may have
assumed increased importance as the symbols of successful resistance to the West and the infidels.
On September 11, 2001, Osama Bin Laden's Al-Qaeda movement carried out suicide attacks against the World Trade Center
in New York and the Pentagon in Washington DC. According to Bin Laden, the attacks were aimed at punishing the United
States for the presence of its soldiers in Saudi Arabia, which is supposed to be off limits to non-Muslims, and for its
support of Israel. Bin-Laden and Al-Qaeda may actually be aiming at the much more limited goal of taking power in
oil-rich Saudi Arabia. Despite the removal of the Taliban regime from Afghanistan by allied military intervention,
forcing Osama Bin Laden into hiding, Al Qaeda has since been responsible for terror attacks aimed at moderate regimes
throughout the Muslim world, especially in Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
There are also a number of Islamic political movements and parties, such as the Turkish AKP, which are apparently not
violent and may be compatible with democratic government. The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood claims it has moved in that
direction as well.
Synonyms and alternate spellings:
Jihadism, Muslim extremism
Further Information:
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