Islamism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Islamism is a term used to denote a set ofpolitical ideologies holding thatIslam is apolitical system, not just areligion. Islamism holds thatIslamic law (sharia) must be the basis for allstatutory law of society; that Muslims must return to theoriginal teachings and the early models of Islam; and thatwesternmilitary,economic,political,social, orcultural influence in theMuslim world is unIslamic.
This usage is controversial. Those labeled Islamists often, if not always, oppose use of the term, maintaining they are simplyMuslims, and that their beliefs are a straightforward expression of Islam as away of life. Some people find it troublesome that a word derived from "Islam" is applied to organisations they considerradical andextreme.
Synonyms for Islamism include political Islam[2] andactivist Islam.[3]
Contents
[hide]
1 Islam, Islamism and the west1.1 Relation between Islam and Islamism1.2 Controversy1.3 Post 9/11 Issues1.3.1 Fear of Cultural Hegemony of the West
1.4 History of usage
2 History2.1 Earliest History and Classical Thinkers2.2 The End of the 19th Century2.3 The Deobandi Movement2.4 Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi2.5 The Muslim Brotherhood2.6 Sayyid Qutb2.7 The Six Day War of 1967: Reawakening of Islamic Resurgence2.8 Iranian Islamic Revolution of 19792.9 Pakistan and general Zia-ul-Haq‘s Islamization campaign2.10 Afghanistan jihad against the Soviets2.11 Afghanistan Taliban2.12 Islamic Jihad movements of Egypt2.13 Sudan2.14 Salafism/Wahhabism2.15 Algeria2.16 Lebanon2.17 Saudi Arabia2.18 Hizb ut-Tahrir
3 Other countries4 Islamism and modern political theory5 Islamist movements6 See also7 Further reading8 Citations9 References10 External links
[edit] Islam, Islamism and the west
[edit] Relation between Islam and Islamism
Part of a series on
Controversies related to Islam and Muslims
Theological conflicts
Criticism of IslamCriticism of MuhammadCriticism of the Qur‘an Islamism |Qutbism |JihadIslam and SlaveryIslam and antisemitismIslamophobia
Human conflicts
Historical persecution by Muslims |DhimmiPersecution of MuslimsIslamist terrorismWomen in Muslim societies
Events post 9/11
September 11, 2001 attacksGuantanamo Bay detention campMuhammad cartoons controversyQur‘an desecration controversyCPT hostage crisisFox journalists kidnappingPope Benedict XVI controversyEgyptian ID card controversyIslamic Cultural Revolution2005 Indonesian beheadings of Christian girlsFrench headscarf banFlying Imams controversyImam Rapito affair
People
Theo van GoghMohammad NajibullahAhmad KasraviList of Guantánamo Bay detaineesMoazzam BeggDavid HicksIbn Warraq
v • d • e
While some experts on Islam reject the notion that Islam is inherently political (e.g.Fred Halliday andJohn Esposito), others (includingRobert Spencer,Bat Ye‘or, andBernard Lewis) disagree, arguing that political stances characterized as Islamist are actually central to Islam as a faith and questioning the validity of the terms "Islamist" and "Islamism". Muslims who do not see a difference between Islamism and Islam ask, "If Islam is a way of life, how can we say that those who want to live by its principles in legal, social, political, economic, and political spheres of life are not Muslims, but Islamists and believe in Islamism, not [just] Islam"?[4] However, the terms "Islamist" and "Islamism" are used often and without apology by Muslim-owned and -run media to describe domestic and trans-national organizations seeking to implement Islamic law. The English-language website ofAl Jazeera, for example, uses the term "Islamist" or "Islamism" to refer to, among other groups, theIslamic Salvation Front in Algeria[5] andJamaa Islamiya, an Egyptian Islamist group.[6]
Like other religions, Islam promotes a vision of society and provides guidelines for social life. TheQur‘an and thehadith outline Islamic governance, including criminal law, family law, and the prohibition ofusury (as well as other economic regulations that are highly contentious in the Arab world). A polarizing controversy exists as to whether Muslims who live in non-Muslim countries can fully exercise their religion while living there.
Authors such as the American historianIra Lapidus define Islamists as Muslim movements having specifically political agendas. Devout Muslims (as well as Muslims who promote Islam socially without entering the political sphere) are thus excluded from the notion of Islamism.[7] Political Islam, whether we choose to label it as Islamism or not, represents a form of ideological protest, solidarity, unity of belief, aspirations, goals and aims and so on, to those people who believe in it. Moreover, "No less significant has been the role of Islamic fundamentalism as an ideology of protest against arbitrary rule and socioeconomic injustice. In the absence of other institutional and ideological channels of opposition, fundamentalism has provided a religiously sanctioned means for the articulation of popular dissatisfaction"[8] Political Islam in this sense represents a ‘natural‘ response to the failure of the political systems in the Muslim countries to address and meet the demands and aspirations of certain groups within the Muslim society. Furthermore, the use of Islam by ‘Islamists‘ is not their innovation. In fact, Islam has been used throughout the Islamic history as a justification tool for political reasons by both governments and oppositions. According toBernard Lewis who uses the term "activist Muslim" instead of "Islamist":[9]
"There are in particular two political traditions, one of which might be called quietist, the other activist. The arguments in favor of both are based, as are most early Islamic arguments, on theHoly Book and on the actions and sayings of theProphet. The quietist tradition obviously rests on the Prophet as sovereign, as judge and statesman. But before the Prophet became a head of state, he was a rebel. Before he traveled from Mecca to Medina, where he became sovereign, he was an opponent of the existing order. He led an opposition against the pagan oligarchy ofMecca and at a certain point went into exile and formed what in modern language might be called a "government in exile," with which finally he was able to return in triumph to his birthplace and establish the Islamic state in Mecca...The Prophet as rebel has provided a sort of paradigm of revolution—opposition and rejection, withdrawal and departure, exile and return. Time and time again movements of opposition in Islamic history tried to repeat this pattern."
[edit] Controversy
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The usage of the words/concepts/terms ‘Islam‘ and ‘Islamism‘ are controversial and highly politicized. Arguably, Islam and Muslims are often subjects to prejudgements and misconceptions. According to theAnti-Orientalist school of thought, this is by no means a result of a new phenomenon. QuotingEdward Said:
For most of the Middle Ages and during the early part of the Renaissance in Europe, Islam was believed to be demonic religion of apostasy, blasphemy, and obscurity. It did not seem to matter that Muslims considered Mohammed a prophet and not a god; what mattered to Christians was that Mohammed was a false prophet, a sower of discord, a sensualist, a hypocrite, an agent of the devil… Real events in the real world made of Islam a considerable political force. For hundreds of years great Islamic armies and navies threatened Europe, destroyed its outposts, colonized its domains… Even when the world of Islam entered a period of decline and Europe a period of ascendancy, fear of ‘Mohammedanism‘ persisted. Closer to Europe than any of the other non-Christian religions, the Islamic world by its very adjacency evoked memories of its encroachments on Europe, and always, of its latent power again and again to disturb the West. Other great civilizations of the East- India and China among them- could be thought of as defeated and distant and hence not a constant worry. Only Islam seemed never to have submitted completely to the West; and when, after the dramatic oil-price rises of the early 1970s, the Muslim world seemed once more on the verge of repeating its early conquests, the whole West seemed to shudder.[10]
But it is not only the West. The Muslim world also shares the hostile perception about the other side as a result of the interpretation of history. This goes back to "the invasion of Iberia in the seventh century, through the crusades which began in the eleventh century, then through the conflicts with the Ottoman empire that lasted from the fifteenth century to the collapse of that last Islamic challenge in 1918", all of which have fed into the belief of Western hostility towards Islam in the hearts and minds of Muslims.[11]
The problematic relationship between the two sides is not solely a result of old history. The end of the Cold War is often believed to have led to the (re)emergence of the ‘old‘ conflict between Islam and the West. "The inner need of western society for a menacing, but subordinated ‘other‘" is alleged to be the indirect cause allowing the conflict to re-shape itself. However, it is not certain that this ‘neo conflict‘ is a product of the West. The end of the Cold War led to the breakdown of communism worldwide especially its perceived threat to the Third World, including the Muslim countries. This meant the end of a ‘common enemy’. Consequently, there was a steady diminishing need for continuous high level cooperation similar to that existed between the West and Islam during the Cold War which led the latter to (re)direct itself against the West. The (re)adoption of the term jihad, this time to face the West with, rather than communism, Islamists‘ expressions of harsh, ‘racial‘ over-generalised views — such as zionists, capitalists, colonialists etc. — about the West, the US more often, Jews (& Israel) among others, in addition to the allegations against some Islamic countries of supporting ‘terrorist‘ organisations and so on, all contributed towards the affirmation of the ‘Islamic threat‘ in the hearts and minds of the Westerners.
These two points of the history legacy and the post-Cold War reality led to the politicisation of the term Islamism as indicated earlier. Given that the term applies to a wide range of organizations and groups (including moderates as well as radicals), many Muslims with moderate views find the term troublesome when applied to their own organizations. Many also reject the term because they associate it with political extremism and radicalism, which they do not support: for instance, Islamist groups such as the EgyptianMuslim Brothers participate—though as independent candidates—in democratic elections, and reformers such as TunisianRashid Al-Ghanouchi support the idea of democracy and oppose any forced implementation ofsharia law.
[edit] Post 9/11 Issues
"While ignoring the overwhelming majority of Islamists who have nothing to do with terror and making them virtually irrelevant and stigmatized in Western political discourse… To ignore the complexity of political Islam and tar all Islamists with the same brush of terrorism guarantees Bin Laden‘s success."[12]
Nazih Ayubi has described the socio-economic impact of this exclusion and alienation. The lack of jobs and therefore lack of purchasing power meant "social defeat". Thus:
…radical Islamists, frustrated over the lack of jobs, houses and commodities, are seeking to turn social defeat into moral victory.[13]
Gilles Kepel goes further, describing Islamists as:
…living symbols, and their numbers are massive, of the failure of the independent state’s modernization projects.[14]
Even though Islamist groups such as theMuslim Brotherhood inEgypt orHamas provide important health and social services at a local level, according to Ayubi, Islamists argue that "Islam is the solution" ("al-islam huwa al-hall") and wish simply to "escape upwards" without providing practical solutions.[13]
[edit] Fear of Cultural Hegemony of the West
Since the 1970s, an increasing number of movements now identified as Islamist have advocated a re-Islamisation of society, since according to some, "For Islamists, the primary threat of the West is cultural rather than political or economic. Cultural dependency robs one of faith and identity and thus destroys Islam and the Islamic community (ummah) far more effectively than political rule."[15]
[edit] History of usage
The term "Islamism" first appeared in eighteenth-century France as a synonym for "Islam". At the turn of the twentieth century, it was being displaced by the latter, and by 1938, when Orientalist scholars completed the Encyclopaedia of Islam, had virtually disappeared from the English language.[16]
It attained its modern connotation in late 1970s French academia, thence to be loaned into English again, where it has largely displaced "Islamic fundamentalism" as the preferred term.[17]
[edit] History
[edit] Earliest History and Classical Thinkers
Islamist is a modern term that came into popular use towards the end of the twentieth century, but similar movements are to be found throughout Islamic history, including theWahabis of the 18th century in Saudi Arabia, andIbn Taimiya (1263-1328), a Damascene law specialist. According to theMerriam-Webster Dictionary, usage of the term "Islamism" dates to1747.[18]
[edit] The End of the 19th Century
The end of the 19th century was the time of the slow disintegration of theOttoman Empire, a time of religious and cultural decline. The empire was financially and militarily dependent on European powers, including Britain, France, and Germany. In this context, the publications of Jamal ad-dinal-Afghani (1837-97),Muhammad Abduh (1849-1905) andRashid Rida (1865-1935) became popular among small groups of followers who considered their messages important in thinking about indigenous alternatives to the political, economic, and cultural decline of the empire.
Their ideas included the rejection of any change to Islam after 855, among them the Islamic schools of law (madhhabs) since they were considered deviations from the true Islam. Society should return to the true messages of Islam, remove the wrong interpretations and additions of the past centuries, and create a truly Islamic society under sharia law.
[edit] The Deobandi Movement
Main article:Deobandi
InIndia, theDeobandi movement developed as a reaction toBritish colonialist actions against Muslims and the influence of Muslim modernistSayed Ahmad Khan, who advocated the Westernization of Islam. Named after the town ofDeoband, where it originated, the movement expanded under the guidance of Maulana Qasim Nanotwi on the traditional methods of Fiqh (jurisprudence), Aqidah (theology). Now the foremost movement of traditional Islamic thought in the subcontinent, it lead to the establishment of thousands ofmadrasahs throughout India, Pakistan, Bangladesh. Deobandi thought is defined foremost by its adherence to the Hanafi Fiqh (and to a lesser extent, the Shafi‘i Fiqh) and by its emphasis on Tasawwuf (Spiritual reformation and purification).
In Pakistan, Deobandiism is represented by theJamiat Ulema-e-Islam organization/political party and its splinter groups. The thousands ofmadrasahs they established helped spawn theTaliban, a Deobandi-based movement, held power from 1996 to 2001 in most of Afghanistan. The Taliban were famed in particular for the many restrictions they placed on women, and their hosting ofOsama bin Laden, in spite of the attacks he organized on American targets, and the eventual American-organized attack and overthrow of the Taliban in retaliation.
[edit] Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi
Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi was a "Deobandi alumni"[19] and an important early twentieth-century figure in the Islamic revival inIndia, and then after independence fromBritain, inPakistan. Trained as a lawyer he chose the profession of journalism, and wrote about contemporary issues. Most of his writings addressed topics of Islamic law,[20] governance, and human rights.[21] He was instrumental in turning Indian Muslims away from a united India and toward a separate Muslim state of Pakistan,[22] and an inspirational figure for modern Islamist groups in South Asia and elsewhere.
Maududi advocated the creation of an Islamic state governed by sharia, Islamic law, as interpreted byShura councils. Maududi founded theJamaat-e-Islami party in 1941 and remained at its head until 1972. Although Maududi had had education at Deobandi institution(s)[23] his party is a long time rival of the DeobandiJamiat Ulema-e-Islam party/group.
Maududi was much more influential in his writing than in his political organizing. His extremely influential book,Towards Understanding Islam (Risalat Diniyat inArabic), placed Islam in modern context and enabled not only conservativeulema but liberal modernizers such asal-Faruqi, whose "Islamization of Knowledge" carried forward some of Maududi‘s key principles. Chief among these was an integration of Islam with an ethical scientific view. Quoting from Maududi‘s own work:
Everything in the universe is ‘Muslim‘ for it obeys God by submission to His laws... For his entire life, from the embryonic stage to the body‘s dissolution into dust after death, every tissue of his muscles and every limb of his body follows the course prescribed by God‘s law. His very tongue which, on account of his ignorance advocates the denial of God or professes multiple deities, is in its very nature ‘Muslim‘... The man who denies God is calledKafir (concealer) because he conceals by his disbelief what is inherent in his nature and embalmed in his own soul. His whole body functions in obedience to that instinct… Reality becomes estranged from him and he gropes in the dark.
Because Islam is all-encompassing, Maududi believed the Islamic state should not be limited to just the "homeland of Islam". It is for all the world:
Islam wishes to destroy all States and Governments anywhere on the face of the earth which are opposed to the ideology and programme of Islam regardless of the country or the Nation which rules it. The purpose of Islam is to set up a State on the basis of its own ideology and programme, regardless of which Nation assumes the role of the standard bearer of Islam or the rule of which nation is undermined in the process of the establishment of an ideological Islamic State. It must be evident to you from this discussion that the objective of Islamic ‘Jihad‘ is to eliminate the rule of an un-Islamic system and establish in its stead an Islamic system of State rule. Islam does not intend to confine this revolution to a single State or a few countries; the aim of Islam is to bring about a universal revolution.[24]
Although Maududi talked about Islamic revolution,[25] he was both less revolutionary and less politically/economically populist than later Islamists like Qutb.[26]
[edit] The Muslim Brotherhood
Main article:Muslim Brotherhood
Roughly contemporaneous with Maududi was the founding of the Muslim Brotherhood in Ismailiyah, Egypt in 1928 byHassan al Banna. His was arguably the first, largest and most influential modern Islamic political/religious organization. Under the motto "the Qur‘an is our constitution,"[15] it sought Islamic revival through preaching and also by providing basic community services including schools, mosques, and workshops. Like Maududi, Al Banna believed in the necessity of government rule based onShariah law implemented gradually and by persuasion, and of eliminating all non-Muslim imperialist influence in the Muslim world.Jihad was declared against European colonial powers.
Some elements of the Brotherhood, though perhaps against orders, did engage in violence against the government, and its founderAl-Banna was assassinated in 1949 in retaliation for the assassination of Egypt‘s premier Mahmud Fami Naqrashi three months earlier.[16] The Brotherhood has undergone periodic repression in Egypt and has been banned several times, in 1948 and several years later following confrontations with Egyptian presidentGamal Abdul Nasser, who jailed thousands of members for several years. In Egypt its status is currently usually described as a "semi-legal."[17] Despite periodic repression, the Brotherhood has become one of the most influential movements in theIslamic world,[27] particularly in theArab world. Along with being the most powerful opposition group in Egypt, it has fostered several offshoot organizations in many other countries.[18]
[edit] Sayyid Qutb
Maududi‘s political ideas influencedSayyid Qutb, one of the key philosophers of Islamism, and a leading member of theMuslim Brotherhood movement. Qutb believed things had reached such a state that the Muslim community had literally ceased to exist. It "has been extinct for a few centuries,"[28] having reverted to Godless ignorance (Jahiliyya).
See also:Qutbism
To eliminate jahiliyya, Qutb arguedSharia, or Islamic law, must be established. Sharia law was not only accessible to humans and essential to the existence ofIslam, but also all-encompassing, precluding "evil and corrupt" non-Islamic ideologies like socialism, nationalism, or liberal democracy. Qutb preached that Muslims must engage in a two-pronged attack of converting individuals while also wagingjihad to forcibly eliminate the "structures" of Jahiliyya -- not only from the Islamic homeland but from the face of the earth.
See also:Ma‘alim fi-l-Tariq
Qutb was both the most famous member of the brotherhood and enormously influential in the Muslim world at large. Qutb is considered by some to be "the founding father and leading theoretician" of modern jihadis, such asOsama bin Laden.[29][30] Ironically, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and in Europe has not embraced his vision of armed jihad, something for which they have been denounced by more radical Islamists.[31]
[edit] The Six Day War of 1967: Reawakening of Islamic Resurgence
The quick and decisive defeat of the Arab troops during the Six Day War by Israeli troops constituted a pivotal event in the Arab Muslim world. The defeat along with economic stagnation in the defeated countries, was credited to the Arab nationalism of the ruling regimes. A steep and steady decline in the popularity and credibility of both secular and nationalist politics ensued.Ba‘athism,Arab Socialism, andArab Nationalism suffered, and Islamist movements inspired by MawlanaMaududi, andSayyid Qutb gained ground.[32]
[edit] Iranian Islamic Revolution of 1979
Main article:Islamic revolution of Iran
See also:Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists
The first Islamist state (with the possible exception of Zia‘sPakistan) was established not amongSunni but among theShia ofIran. In what was nothing short of a major shock to the rest of the world, theAyatollahRuhollah Khomeini led an Islamic Revolution of 1979 to overthrow the oil rich, rapidly Westernizing and pro-American secular monarchy ruled by ShahMuhammad Reza Pahlavi.
Khomeini‘s beliefs were similar to those of Sunni Islamists like Mawdudi and Qutb: He thought imitation of early Muslims and restoration ofSharia law was essential to Islam, that secular, Westernizing Muslims were actually agents of Western interests, and that "plundering" of Muslim lands was part of a long-term conspiracy against Islam by the Christian West.[33]
But they also differed:
As aShia, the early Muslims Khomeini looked to were Ali and Hussein, not Caliphs Abu Bakr, Omar or Uthman. Khomeini talked not about restoring theCaliphate but about an Islamic state were the leading role was taken by Islamic jurists (ulama) as the successors ofShia Imams during the occultation ofMahdi. His concept ofvelayat-e-faqih ("guardianship of the [Islamic] jurist"), held that the leading Shia Muslim cleric in society -- which Khomeini and his followers believed to be himself -- should serve as head of state to protect or "guard" Islam and Sharia law from “innovation" and "anti-Islamic laws" passed "by sham parliaments.”[34]
While initial enthusiasm for the revolution in the Muslim world was intense, it gradually waned -- particularly during the course of the extremely bloody 8-year-longIran-Iraq War, where Khomeini failed to replace neighboring, secular, Iraqi dictatorSaddam Hussein with an Islamic Republic.[35]
As a model for potential Islamist states, the Islamic Republic has not been notably successful in achieving many of its goals: raising standards of living; ridding Iran of corruption, poverty, political oppression and Westernization, or even protecting Sharia from innovation.[36] Internally, it has been modestly successful in increasing rate of literacy[37][38] and health care.[39] It has also maintained its hold on power in Iran in spite of theU.S. economic sanctions, and created or assisted like-minded Shia Islamist groups in Iraq (SCIRI)[citation needed] and Lebanon (Hezbollah)[citation needed], (two Muslim countries that also have large Shiite populations). Currently, the Iranian government has enjoyed something of a resurgence in popularity amongst the predominantly Sunni "Arab street,"[citation needed] due to its support forHezbollah during the2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict and PresidentMahmoud Ahmadinejad‘s vehement opposition to the United States and call for the annihilation ofIsrael.[citation needed]
[edit] Pakistan and general Zia-ul-Haq‘s Islamization campaign
Zia-ul-Haq‘s Islamization of Pakistan was a socio-political process that was implemented in the country by the rulingmilitary regime, beginning in the late1970s and continuing throughout the1980s. OnDecember 2,1978, the then-President of Pakistan GeneralMuhammad Zia-ul-Haq officially called for an Islamic system to be imposed in its totality. The implementation of sharia law, however, came about only in small steps.
Islamization has brought Islamist political parties into prominence, and all but destroyed the traditional secularism of theMuslim League and its leaderMohammad Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan.
[edit] Afghanistan jihad against the Soviets
In 1979 theSoviet Union deployed its 40th Army intoAfghanistan, attempting to suppress an Islamic rebellion against an allied Marxist regime. The conflict, pitting indigenous impoverished Muslims (mujahideen) against an atheist superpower, galvanized thousands of Muslims around the world to send aid and sometimes to go themselves to fightjihad. One leader of the pan-Islamic effort, Palestinian sheikhAbdullah Yusuf Azzam, for example is said to have organizing paramilitary training for more than 20,000 Muslim recruits from about 20 countries around the world.
When the Soviet Union abandoned the Marxist Najibullah regime and withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989 (the regime finally fell in 1992), the victory was seen by many Muslims as the triumph of Islamic faith over superior military power and technology that could be duplicated elsewhere.
The jihadists gained legitimacy and prestige from their triumph both within the militant community and among ordinary Muslims, as well as the confidence to carry their jihad to other countries where they believed Muslims required assistance.[40]
The "veterans of the guerrilla campaign" returning home toAlgeria,Egypt and other countries "with their experience, ideology, and weapons," were often eager to continue armed jihad.
When the Soviet Union itself collapsed in 1992, many Islamists, including Bin Laden, saw it as a defeat of a superpower at the hands of Islam: "[T]he US has no mentionable role" in "the collapse of the Soviet Union ... rather the credit goes to God and the mujahidin" of Afghanistan.[41]
[edit] Afghanistan Taliban
Sadly, the Afghanistan the jihadists left did not build on its victory over the Soviets, but sank into vicious and destructive civil war between warlords, becoming one of the poorest countries on earth. In 1996, a new movement known as theTaliban, based on Deobandiism and supported by governmental and nongovernmental groups in neighboring Pakistan, rose to defeat many of the warlords and take over roughly 80% of the country.
The Taliban differed somewhat from other Islamist movements to the point where they might be more properly described asIslamic fundamentalist or neofundamentalist. Their ideology was also described as influenced by Pashtunwali tribal law, Wahhabiism, and the jihadistpan-Islamism of their guestOsama bin Laden. Unlike most Islamists, the Taliban enforced very strict prohibitions on women -- employment, schooling, etc. -- and seemed indifferent to social, economic, technological development -- at one time explaining that "We Muslims believe God the Almighty will feed everybody one way or another."[42]
The Taliban considered "politics" as againstSharia and did not hold elections. They were led by MullahMuhammad Omar who was given the title "Amir al-Mu‘minin" or Commander of the Faithful, and a pledge of loyalty by several hundred Taliban-selectedPashtun clergy in April 1996. The Taliban were also famous for the wide variety of activities they banned -- music, TV, videos, photographs, pigeons, kite-flying, beard-trimming, etc. -- and for the energy and resources they used to enforce the bans, including hundreds or thousands of religious police armed with "whips, long sticks and Kalashnikovs."[43]
The Taliban opposed Shi‘ism and were accused of indiscriminate killing of Shia by human rights groups.[44] They were also overwhelminglyPashtun and accused of not sharing power with the approximately 60% of Afghans who were from other ethnic groups. (see:Taliban#Ideology)
Although driven from power in 2001 following the 9/11 attacks, the Taliban have launched a vigorousinsurgency from their exile in the frontier regions of Pakistan with suicide/homicide bombing onNATO and Afghan government targets.
[edit] Islamic Jihad movements of Egypt
While Qutb‘s ideas became increasingly radical during his imprisonment prior to his execution in 1966, the leadership of the Brotherhood, led by Hasan al-Hudaybi, remained moderate and interested in political negotiation and activism. Fringe or splinter movements, however, did develop and pursued a more radical direction, perhaps inspired by final writings of Qutb in the mid-1960s (e.g. "Milestones," akaMa‘alim fi-l-Tariq). By the 1970s, the Brotherhood renounced violence as a means to their goals.
The path of violence and military struggle was however taken up by such movements as theEgyptian Islamic Jihad organization, responsible for the assassination ofAnwar Sadat in 1981. Unlike earlier anti-colonial movements, Egyptian Islamic Jihad focused its efforts on "apostate" leaders of Muslim states, or those leaders who held secular leanings or introduced or promoted Western/foreign ideas and practices into Islamic societies. Their views were outlined in a pamphlet written by Muhammad Abd al-Salaam Farag, in which he states: "…there is no doubt that the first battlefield for jihad is the extermination of these infidel leaders and to replace them by a complete Islamic Order…"
Islamists in Egypt sometimes employed violence in their struggle for Islamic order. Victims of campign against the Egyptian state in the 1990s included the head of the counter-terrorism police (Major General Raouf Khayrat), a parliamentary speaker (Rifaat el-Mahgoub), dozens of European tourists and Egyptian bystanders, and over 100 Egyptian police.[45] Ultimately the campaign to overthrow the government was unsuccessful, and the major jihadi group, Jamaa Islamiya (oral-Gama‘a al-Islamiyya), renounced violence in 2003.[46]
[edit] Sudan
For many yearsSudan had an Islamist regime under the leadership ofHassan al-Turabi. HisNational Islamic Front first gained influence when strongman GeneralGaafar al-Nimeiry invited members to serve in his government in 1979. After al-Nimeiry was overthrown in 1985 the party did poorly in national elections but in 1989 was able to overthrow the elected post-al-Nimeiry government with the help of the military. The NIF regime was noted for strict application ofsharia law, intensification of the long-running war in southern Sudan,[47] human rights abuses, harboredOsama bin Laden for a time (before 9/11), and working to unify anti-American Islamist opposition to the American attack on Iraq in the 1991Gulf War.
Main article:National Islamic Front
Eventually Turabi fell from favor of the military and was imprisoned for a time in 2004-5. Some of the NIF policies, such as the war with the non-Muslim south, have been reversed, though the National Islamic Front (now named National Congress Party) is still holds considerable power in the Sudanese government.
[edit] Salafism/Wahhabism
An influential strain of Muslim thought came from theWahhabi movement in Saudi Arabia. The Wahhabists, who emerged in the 18th century led by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, also believed that it was necessary to live according to the strict dictates of Islam, which they interpreted to mean living in the manner that the prophetMuhammad and his followers had lived in during theseventh century inMedina. Consequently they were opposed to many religious innovations such as veneration of saints. They were also opposed to the many superstitions that were beginning to spread in Arabia such as the wearing of talismans etc. When KingAbdul Aziz al-Saud foundedSaudi Arabia, he brought the Wahhabists into power with him. With Saud‘s rise to prominence, Wahhabism spread, especially following the1973 oil embargo and the glut of oil wealth that resulted for Saudi Arabia. The Wahhabists were proselytizers and made use of their wealth to spread their interpretation of Islam. Some Salafis are against modern political Islamism, and many have sharply criticized Islamist figures such as Sayed Qutb[19][20], Abu A`la Maududi[21][22] and Usamah bin Laden[23]. They have also been critical of Islamist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood[24], and the methods they use, such as the political party system[25], and terrorism.[26][27]
[edit] Algeria
An Islamist movement influenced by Salafism and the jihad in Afghanistan, as well as the Muslim Brotherhood, was the FIS or Front Islamique de Salut (theIslamic Salvation Front) in Algeria. Founded as a broad Islamist coalition in 1989 it was led by Abbassi Madani, and a charismatic radical young preacher, Ali Belhadj. Taking advantage of liberalization by the unpopular ruling leftist/nationalist FLN regime, it preached legal system followingSharia law, education in Arabic rather than French, and gender segregation, with women staying home to alleviate the high rate of unemployment among young Algerian men. The FIS swept local elections and was favored to win national elections in 1991 when voting was canceled by a military coup d‘etat.
As Islamists took to arms to overthrow the regime, the FIS‘s leaders were arrested and it became overshadowed by guerilla Islamists groups particularly theIslamic Salvation Army, MIA andArmed Islamic Group (or GIA). A bloody and devastatingcivil war ensued with between 150,000 and 200,000 killed over the next decade. Civilians -- including foreigners, University academics, intellectual, writers, journalists, and medical doctors -- were targeted by Islamist extremists[48][49] although government forces were also accused of killing civilians and of manipulating the brutaltakfiriGIA.
Main article:List of Algerian massacres of the 1990s
The civil war was not a victory for Islamism. By 2002 the main guerrilla groups had either been destroyed or surrendered. Islamist parties popularity has declined. In the 2004 presidential election, "the Islamist candidate, Abdallah Jaballah, came a distant third with 5% of the vote."[50]
[edit] Lebanon
One movement Islamism can count a success isHezbollah in Lebanon. Founded in 1985 byLebanese Shia aided by Iranian Shia Islamists, the movement is dedicated to the expulsion of Western "colonialist entities" from Lebanon and the destruction ofIsrael, which it sees as an illegal and state usurping Islamic territory. Hezbollah was instrumental indriving the Israeli military from Lebanon in 2000, which heightened its popularity in Lebanon even among non-Shia.[51] In 2006, anIsraeli attack on Hezbollah strongholds in south Lebanon attempting to crush the movement sustained serious casualties and was considered by many observers a failure for Israel.[52]
[edit] Saudi Arabia
TheNovember 20,1979Grand Mosque Seizure atMecca, in western Saudi Arabia, occurred at the holiest site in Islam. The hostage-taking, two week siege, and bloody ending shocked the Muslim world, as hundreds were killed in the ensuing battles and executions. The event was explained as a fundamentalist dissident revolt against the Saudi regime. TheIran hostage crisis had begun only weeks earlier, onNovember 4,1979 when a mob of students stormed and seized the U.S. embassy. Immediately following the Mecca event, Iran blamed the U.S.[citation needed], and angry Islamic mobs then burned two more U.S. embassies to the ground, inIslamabad, Pakistan, and atTripoli, Libya.
In his book Jihad: The Trail of Political IslamGilles Kepel argues that the central importance of Islamism in the 1990s was a product of theGulf War. Prior to 1990 organized political Islam had been mostly associated with Saudi Arabia, a nation founded on Wahhabism and an ally of Islamist groups in Egypt and in Afghanistan. Saudi Arabia, as a close ally of the West and with a strong interest in regional stability, played an important restraining role on Islamist groups.
The Shi‘ite clerics in Iran had long argued that Saudi Arabia was an apostate state, a puppet of the West that espoused a corrupted Islam.[53] During the 1980s these accusations had little effect, largely because of their Shi‘ite origin. However, Kepel argues that whenSaddam Hussein turned on his former allies, he embraced this rhetoric, arguing that Saudi Arabia had betrayed its duty to protect the holiest sites of Islam. Kepel states that Saddam Hussein embraced Islamic rhetoric and trappings and tried to draw leading scholars and activists to his camp. Some of the main Islamist groups remained loyal to Saudi Arabia, but a number such as parts of the Muslim Brotherhood and Afghanimujahideen aligned themselves with Saddam. Far more groups declared themselves neutral in the struggle.
According to Kepel the rapid defeat of Saddam did not end this rift. As Saddam had likely predicted Saudi Arabia had found itself in a severe dilemma, the only way to counter the Iraqi threat was to seek help from the west, which would immediately confirm the Iraqi allegations of Saudi Arabia being a friend to the west. To ensure the regime‘s survival Saudi Arabia accepted a massive western presence in the country and de facto cooperation withIsrael causing great offense to many in Islamist circles.
After the war, Saudi Arabia launched a two-pronged strategy to restore its security and leadership in Islamist circles. Those Islamist groups who refused to return under the Saudi umbrella were persecuted and any Islamists who had criticized Saudi regime were arrested or forced into exile, with most going toLondon. At the same time, Saudi oil money began to flow freely to those Islamist groups who continued to work with the kingdom. Islamistmadrassas around the world saw their funding greatly increased. More covertly, Saudi money began to fund more violent Islamist groups in areas such asBosnia and the former Soviet Union. Saudi Arabia‘s western allies mostly looked the other way — seeing the survival of their crucial ally as more important than the problem of more money and resources flowing to Islamist groups.[citation needed]
[edit] Hizb ut-Tahrir
An influential international Islamist movement is the ‘party‘Hizb ut-Tahrir, founded in 1953 by aSufi and IslamicQadi (judge)Taqiuddin al-Nabhani. HT is unique from most other Islamist movements in that the party concentrates not on local issues but on the unification of the Muslim world under its vision of a new Islamiccaliphate spanning from North Africa and the Middle East to much of central and South Asia. To this end it has drawn up and published a constitution for its proposed caliphate state. The constitution‘s 187 articles specify such policies assharia law, a "unitary ruling system" headed by a caliph elected by Muslims, an economy based on thegold standard, andArabic as the "sole language of the State."[54]
HuT does not engage in armedjihad or vote-getting, but works to take power through "ideological struggle" to change Muslim public opinion, and in particular elites who will "facilitate" a "change of the government," i.e. launch a bloodlesscoup. It allegedly attempted and failed such coups in 1968 and 1969 inJordan, and in 1974 inEgypt, and is now banned in both countries.[55]
The party is sometimes described as "Leninist"[citation needed] and "rigidly controlled by its central leadership," with its estimated one million members required to spend "at least two years studying party literature under the guidance of mentors (Murshid)" before taking "the party oath."[56] HuT is particularly active in the ex-soviet republics ofCentral Asia and inEurope. In theUK its rallies have drawn thousands of Muslims,[57] and the party is said to have outpaced the Muslim Brotherhood in both membership and radicalism.[58]
[edit] Other countries
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In the 1990s, Islamist conflicts erupted around the world in areas such asAlgeria, thePalestinian territories,Sudan, andNigeria. In 1995 a series of terrorist attacks were launched against France. The most important development was the rise to power of the Taliban inAfghanistan in 1996. In the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan a number of anti-Saudi and anti-Western Islamist groups found refuge.[citation needed] Significantly,Osama bin Laden, a wealthy Saudi influenced by Wahhabism and the writings of Sayed Qutb, joined forces with the Egyptian Islamic Jihad underAyman al-Zawahiri to form what is now calledal-Qaeda.
A considerable effort has been made to fight Western targets, especially theUnited States. The United States, in particular, was made a subject of Islamist fire because of its support for Israel, its presence on Saudi Arabian soil, what Islamists regard as its aggression against Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan, and its support of the regimes Islamists oppose. In addition, some Islamists have concentrated their activity against Israel, and nearly all Islamists view Israel with hostility. Osama bin Laden, at least, believes that this is of necessity due to historical conflict between Muslims and Jews, and considers there to be a Jewish/American alliance against Islam.
There is some debate as to how influential Islamist movements remain. Some scholars assert that Islamism is a fringe movement that is dying, following the clear failures of Islamist regimes like the regime in Sudan, the Habitué‘s Saudi regime and the Deobandi Taliban to improve the lot of Muslims. However, others (such asAhmed Rashid) feel that the Islamists still command considerable support and cite the fact that Islamists in Pakistan and Egypt regularly poll 10 to 30 percent in electoral polls, despite the fact they are prosecuted and that many believe the polls are rigged against them.
An alternative direction has been taken by many Islamists inTurkey, where the Islamist movement split into reformist and traditionalist wings in 2001. The reformists formed the moderate Islamist[citation needed]Justice and Development Party (Ak Party), which gained an overall majority in the Turkish parliament in 2002, and has sought to balance Islamic values with the requirements of a secular and democratic political system. Some in the Justice and Development Party see theChristian Democrat parties of Western Europe as a model, which has led some to question whether it is a genuinely Islamist movement.
[edit] Islamism and modern political theory
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The development of modern Islamism was also both a reaction to and influenced by the other ideologies of the modern world. Modern Islamism began in the colonial period, and it was overtly anti-imperialist. It was also opposed to the local elites who wanted independence, but who also supported adopting western liberal ideals. Writers like the EgyptianSayyid Qutb and the PakistaniSayyid Abul Ala Maududi saw western style individualism as counter to centuries of tradition, and also as inevitably leading to a debauched and licentious society.
In the years after independence, the most important ideological currents in the Muslim world werenationalism,socialism andcommunism. This influenced Islamism in two ways. Much Islamist thought and writing during this era was directly addressed to countering Marxism. For instance,Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr‘s main works are detailed critiques of Marxism, paying much less attention tocapitalism andliberalism. Another option was to try to integrate socialism and Islamism. This was most notably done byAli Shariati. At several points, Islamist and leftist groups found common cause and several organizations, such as thePeople‘s Mujahedin of Iran andIslamic Socialist Front in Syria, were both overtly Marxist and overtly Islamist. While most Islamists reject Marxism, the influence of socialist ideologies during the formative period of modern Islamism means that Islamist works continue to be infused with Marxist language and concepts. For instance, Qutb‘s view of an elite vanguard to lead an Islamic revolution is borrowed directly fromLenin‘sVanguard of the Proletariat.
During the 1930s, a number offascistic groups arose in the Middle East. Some, such as theSSNP and theKataeb Party, were mostly supported by Christians and other minority groups; others, such as the EgyptianMisr al-Fatat, were mainly Sunni Arab. The fascist method of seizing power did inspire IslamistHassan al-Banna, who founded organizations directly based on theBrownshirts andBlackshirts to try and seize power.[59] This method proved ineffective, and most Islamists have since used the cell based structure commonly used by leftist groups. Ideologically there is little evidence that fascism had much influence on the development of Islamism.
[edit] Islamist movements
International —Al-Qaida, theMuslim Brotherhood, andHizb ut-TahrirAfghanistan —TalibanAlgeria —Groupe Islamique Armé,Islamic Salvation Front,Groupe Salafiste pour la Prédication et le CombatEgypt —Gama‘at IslamiyaLebanon —HizballahIraqiKurdistan —Islamic Movement in Kurdistan,Islamic Group of Kurdistan,Islamic Union of KurdistanIranKurdistan —KhabatPalestinian Territories —HamasCentral Asia —Hizb ut-TahrirSouth Asia —Jamaat-e-Islami (there are Jamaats in India, Pakistan and Wahhabism),Jamaat-ul-MujahideenTurkey —Justice and Development Party (disputed),Felicity PartyBahrain —Al WefaqAsalat