Islamic fundamentalism

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Islamic fundamentalism is a term used to describe religious ideologies seen as advocating literalistic interpretations of the texts of Islam and of Sharia law.[1] Definitions of the term vary. It is sometimes is often regarded by non-Muslims as synonymous with Islamism,[2] or as an older, less accurate term for that word.[3] [4] It is attacked by some as fundamentally inaccurate since Islamic belief requires all Muslims to be fundamentalists,[5] and by others as a term used by outsiders to describe perceived trends within Islam. [6]

Contents

The definition offered by American historian Ira Lapidus distinguishes between mainstream Islamists and Fundamentalists. Although a fundamentalist may also be an Islamist, a Fundamentalist is "a political individual" in search of a "more original Islam," while the Islamist is pursuing a political agenda. He notes that Islamic fundamentalism "is at best only an umbrella designation for a very wide variety of movements, some intolerant and exclusivist, some pluralistic; some favourable to science, some anti-scientific; some primarily devotional and some primarily political; some democratic, some authoritarian; some pacific, some violent."[7]

Author Olivier Roy distinguishes between fundamentalists (or neo-fundamentalists) and Islamists in describing fundamentalists as more passionate in their opposition to the perceived "corrupting influence of Western culture," avoiding Western dress, "neckties, laughter, the use of Western forms of salutation, handshakes, applause." While Islamists like

"Maududi didn't hesitate to attend Hindu ceremonies. Khomeini never proposed the status of dhimmi (protected) for Iranian Christians or Jews, as provided for in the sharia: the Armenians in Iran have remained Iranian citizens, are required to perform military service and to pay the same taxes as Muslims, and have the right to vote (with separate electoral colleges). Similarly, the Afghan Jamaat, in its statutes, has declared it legal in the eyes of Islam to employ non-Muslims as experts."

Other distinctions are in

  • Politics and economics. Islamists often talk of "revolution" and believe "that the society will be Islamised only through social and political action: it is necessary to leave the mosque ..." Fundamentalists are uninterested in revolution, less interested in "modernity or by Western models in politics or economics," and less willing to associate with non-Muslims. [8]
  • Sharia. While both Islamists and fundamentalists are committed to implementing Sharia law, Islamists "tend to consider it more a project than a corpus."[9]
  • Issue of women. "Islamist generally tend to favour the education of women and their participation in social and political life: the Islamist woman militates, studies, and has the right to work, but in a chador. Islamist groups include women's associations." While the fundamentalist preaches for women to return to the home, Islamism believes it is sufficient that "the sexes be separated in public." [10]

Graham Fuller describes it not as distinct from Islamism but as subset, "the most conservative element among Islamist." Its "strictest form" includes "Wahhabism, sometimes also referred to as salafiyya. ... For fundamentalists the law is the most essential component of Islam, leading to an overwhelming emphasis upon jurisprudence, usually narrowly conceived." [11]

Muslims believe that the Qur'an is the unadulterated word of God as revealed to Muhammad through the angel Jibril (Archangel Gabriel).

Islamic fundamentalists, or at least "reformist" fundamentalists, believe Islam is based on the Qur'an, Hadith and Sunnah and "criticises the tradition, the commentaries, popular religious practices (maraboutism, the cult of saints), deviations, and superstitions. It aims to return to the founding texts." Examples of this tendency are the 18th century Shah Waliullah in India and Abd al-Wahhab in the Arabian Peninsula. [12] This view is commonly associated with Salafism today.

As with adherents of other fundamentalist movements[citation needed], Islamic fundamentalists hold that the problems of the world stem from secular influences. Further, the path to peace and justice lies in a return to the original message of Islam, combined with a scrupulous rejection of all Bid'ah ("religious innovation") and perceived anti-Islamic traditions.[citation needed]

Some scholars of Islam, such as Bassam Tibi, believe that, contrary to their own message, Islamic fundamentalists are not actually traditionalists. He points to fatwahs issued by fundamentalists such as “every Muslim who pleads for the suspension of the shari‘a is an apostate and can be killed. The killing of those apostates cannot be prosecuted under Islamic law because this killing is justified” as going beyond, and unsupported by, the Qur’an. Tibi asserts; “The command to slay reasoning Muslims is un-Islamic, an invention of Islamic fundamentalists”.[13][14]

Islamic fundamentalism's push for Sharia and an Islamic State has come into conflict with conceptions of the secular, democratic state, such as the internationally supported Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Among human rights disputed by fundamentalist Muslims are:

  • religious police
  • the equality between men and women (for example, under Sharia law a "man gets double the share of a woman in inheritance" because "he has much more responsibilities." (sic) The Prophet is said to have told early Muslims 'The best woman is she who, ... when you direct her she obeys." .... [15]
  • the separation of religion and state;
  • Freedom of religion. Muslims who leave Islam, or criticise it, "should be executed" [16]]].[17][18][19][20][21]

while the right of non-Muslims to convert to Islam is celebrated.

As a result of this sharp conflict, some say that fundamentalist Islam is incompatible with modern liberal democratic states.

  1. ^ Bruce Gourley: Islamic Fundamentalism: A Brief Survey
  2. ^ Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World, Macmillan Reference, 2004, p.261-2
  3. ^ Coming to Terms: Fundamentalists or Islamists?
  4. ^ Fundamentalism
  5. ^ Bernard, Lewis, Islam and the West, New York : Oxford University Press, c1993.
  6. ^ " 'The Green Peril': Creating the Islamic Fundamentalist Threat," Leon T. Hadar, Policy Analysis, Cato Institute, August 27, 1992.
  7. ^ Lapidus, 823
  8. ^ Roy, Olivier, The Failure of Political Islam, Harvard University Press, 1994. p.82-3, 215
  9. ^ Roy, Olivier, The Failure of Political Islam, Harvard University Press, 1994. p.59
  10. ^ Roy, Olivier, The Failure of Political Islam, Harvard University Press, 1994. p.p.38, 59
  11. ^ Fuller, Graham E., The Future of Political Islam, Palgrave MacMillan, (2003), p.48
  12. ^ Roy, Olivier, The Failure of Political Islam, Harvard University Press, 1994. p.31
  13. ^ Bassam Tibi, The Challenge of Fundamentalism: Political Islam and the New World Disorder. Updated Edition. Los Angeles, University of California Press: 2002. Excerpt available online as The Islamic Fundamentalist Ideology: Context and the Textual Sources at Middle East Information Center.
  14. ^ Douglas Pratt, Terrorism and Religious Fundamentalism: Prospects for a Predictive Paradigm, Marburg Journal of Religion, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Volume 11, No. 1 (June 2006)
  15. ^ EQUALITY AND STATUS OF WOMEN IN ISLAAM
  16. ^ "Murtadd", Encyclopedia of Islam
  17. ^ Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri: "Not Every Conversion is Apostasy", by Mahdi Jami, In Persian, BBC Persian, February 2, 2005, retrieved April 25, 2006
  18. ^ What Islam says on religious freedom, by Magdi Abdelhadi, BBC Arab affairs analyst, 27 March 2006, retrieved April 25, 2006
  19. ^ Fatwa on Intellectual Apostasy, Text of the fatwa by Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi
  20. ^ S. A. Rahman in "Punishment of Apostasy in Islam", Institute of Islamic Culture, Lahore, l972, pp. 10-13
  21. ^ The punishment of apostasy in Islam, View of Dr. Ahmad Shafaat on apostasy.

  • Sikand, Yoginder Origins and Development of the Tablighi-Jama'at (1920-2000): A Cross-Country Comparative Study, ISBN 81-250-2298-8
  • Roy, Olivier, The Failure of Political Islam, Harvard University Press, 1994
  • Shepard, William. "What is 'Islamic Fundamentalism'?" Studies in Religion. Winter 1988.

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