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Islamism
| Party Like It's 632 |
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| Turning towards Mecca |
“”...there’s no magic to the phrase “radical Islam.” It’s a political talking point; it's not a strategy. And the reason I am careful about how I describe this threat has nothing to do with political correctness and everything to do with actually defeating extremism. Groups like ISIL and al Qaeda want to make this war a war between Islam and America, or between Islam and the West. They want to claim that they are the true leaders of over a billion Muslims around the world who reject their crazy notions. They want us to validate them by implying that they speak for those billion-plus people; that they speak for Islam. That’s their propaganda. That's how they recruit. And if we fall into the trap of painting all Muslims with a broad brush and imply that we are at war with an entire religion -- then we’re doing the terrorists' work for them. |
| —President Barack Obama, speaking after a counter-ISIL meeting[1] |
Islamism is a set ofideologies rooted in the concept ofIslam as a political system as well as a religion; in short, thatgovernment should bebased around Islamic teachings. The term first appeared inFrench in the mid-eighteenth century, as a name for Islam, rather than in its modern political sense.[2] The term itself is controversial, as it is not a term used by adherents of Islamor Islamism, but applied without convention (and without accepted definition) to various social-political groups within Islam. Almost universally, Islamists are Islamic Fundamentalists — the reverse is not necessarily the case.
The term is used by the media and many western governments to apply specifically to individuals and groups who practice or advocate violence, including sexual assault, in their version of an Islamic world.
Individuals schooled in certain facets ofsharia support morality police to harass and arrest any woman found outside without wearing aveil. Organized groups such as theMuslim Brotherhood,Al Qaeda,DAESH, and theTaliban are four of the more (in)famous Islamist groups, though arguably the latter 3 have origins in the former.
Cause of the rise of Islamism[edit]
Islamists view themselves as under assault byWestern social, political, and cultural influences. Debates can range from women wearing bluejeans and lipstick[note 1] to the use ofMSG in processed foods.[3] There are several currents within the Islamist movement, most notably a re-born form ofSalafism composed of three strains of thought: Islamic purists, so-called "politicos", and the violentjihadi movement.[4]
Islamists refer to themselves as a "resistance movement" or "freedom fighters", borrowing a well-worn phrase from the struggles againstimperialism in the 20th century. Resistance can be passive or violent.
Fundamentalism vs Authoritarianism vs Islamism[edit]
Fundamentalism seeks religious purity. Authoritarianism seeks control over people. To some extent, Islamism is the combination of both, because it seeks to legislate religious purity.
Islamism vs Extremism/Jihadism[edit]
Writer Reza Aslan draws a distinction between Islamism andJihadism: "By the end of the millennium, Islamism and Jihadism, once cousins, had effectively split into two opposing, rival movements... Islamism remains anationalist ideology, whereas most Jihadists want to erase all borders, to eradicate all nationalities, and to return to an idealized past of religious communalism".[5]
Further reading[edit]
- Saudi Arabia Backgrounder: Who are the Islamists?, Middle East Report N°3121, International Crisis Group, Sep 2004.
See also[edit]
Notes[edit]
- ↑A Taliban leader remarking on the $500 shoes Michelle Obama wore on Inauguration Day claimed Muslims keep women at home to protect them "like a precious pearl" whereasPresident Obama waspimping his wife to sell shoes.
References[edit]
- ↑Full Transcript
- ↑Coming to Terms: Fundamentalists or Islamists?
- ↑International outrage over use of pork enzyme in halal food escalates, 9 January 2001.
- ↑Anatomy of the Salafi Movement, Quintan Wiktorowitcz, Talylor Francis Group, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 29:207–239, 2006.
- ↑Reza Aslan,How to Win a Cosmic War, p.29