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The religio-political ideology of Islamism (also often called political Islam or Islamic fundamentalism)[1] which has "arguably altered the Middle East more than any trend since the modern states gained independence", redefining "politics and even borders" (according to at least one observer (author Robin Wright),[2] is active in many countries around the world.
Islamism has many different varieties, but has been described an ideology seeking to revive Islam to its past assertiveness and glory,[3] purify it of foreign elements, reassert its role into “social and political as well as personal life";[4] and in particular reorder "government and society in accordance with laws prescribed by Islam" (aka Sharia).[5][6] [7][8]
Central and prominent figures in 20th-century Islamism include Hassan al-Banna (founder of the Muslim Brotherhood), Sayyid Qutb, Abul A'la Maududi,[9] Ruhollah Khomeini (founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran), Hassan Al-Turabi.[10]
Al-Banna and Maududi called for a "reformist" strategy to re-Islamizing society through grassroots social and political activism.[11][12] Other Islamists (Al-Turabi) have advocated a "revolutionary" strategy of Islamizing society through exercise of state power,[11] or for combining grassroots Islamization with violent revolution (Sayyid Qutb). The term has been applied to non-state reform movements, political parties, militias and revolutionary groups.[13] Islamists emphasize the implementation of sharia,[14] pan-Islamic political unity,[14] the creation of Islamic states,[15] (eventually unified), and rejection of non-Muslim influences—particularly Western or universal economic, military, political, social, or cultural.
At least one author (Graham E. Fuller) has argued for a broader notion of Islamism as a form of identity politics, involving "support for [Muslim] identity, authenticity, broader regionalism, revivalism, [and] revitalization of the community."[16] Islamists themselves prefer terms such as "Islamic movement",[17] or "Islamic activism" to "Islamism", objecting to the insinuation that Islamism is anything other than Islam renewed and revived.[18] In public and academic contexts,[19] the term "Islamism" has been criticized as having been given connotations of violence, extremism, and violations of human rights, by the Western mass media, leading to Islamophobia and stereotyping.[1]
Following the Arab Spring, many post-Islamist currents became heavily involved in democratic politics,[2][20] while others spawned "the most aggressive and ambitious Islamist militia" to date, such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).[2]
- ^ a b William E. Shepard; FranÇois Burgat; James Piscatori; Armando Salvatore (2009). "Islamism". In John L. Esposito (ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195305135.
The term "Islamism/Islamist" has come into increasing use in recent years to denote the views of those Muslims who claim that Islam, or more specifically, the Islamic sharīʿah, provides guidance for all areas of human life, individual and social, and who therefore call for an "Islamic State" or an "Islamic Order." [...] Today it is one of the recognized alternatives to "fundamentalist," along with "political Islam" in particular. [...] Current terminology usually distinguishes between "Islam," [...] and "Islamism," referring to the ideology of those who tend to signal openly, in politics, their Muslim religion. [...] the term has often acquired a quasi-criminal connotation close to that of political extremism, religious sectarianism, or bigotry. In Western mainstream media, "Islamists" are those who want to establish, preferably through violent means, an "Islamic state" or impose sharīʿah (Islamic religious law)—goals that are often perceived merely as a series of violations of human rights or the rights of women. In the Muslim world, insiders use the term as a positive reference. In the academic sphere, although it is still debated, the term designates a more complex phenomenon.
- ^ a b c Wright, Robin (10 January 2015). "A Short History of Islamism". Newsweek. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
- ^ Burgat, François, "The Islamic Movement in North Africa", U of Texas Press, 1997, pp. 39–41, 67–71, 309
- ^ Berman, Sheri (2003). "Islamism, Revolution, and Civil Society". Perspectives on Politics. 1 (2): 258. doi:10.1017/S1537592703000197. S2CID 145201910.
- ^ BYERS, DYLAN (5 April 2013). "AP Stylebook revises 'Islamist' use". Politico. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
- ^ Shepard, W. E. Sayyid Qutb and Islamic Activism: A Translation and Critical Analysis of Social Justice in Islam. Leiden, New York: E.J. Brill. (1996). p. 40
- ^ Tibi, Bassam (1 March 2007). "The Totalitarianism of Jihadist Islamism and its Challenge to Europe and to Islam". Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions. 8 (1): 35–54. doi:10.1080/14690760601121630. ISSN 1469-0764.
- ^ Bale, Jeffrey M. (1 June 2009). "Islamism and Totalitarianism". Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions. 10 (2): 73–96. doi:10.1080/14690760903371313. ISSN 1469-0764. S2CID 14540501.
- ^ Fuller, Graham E., The Future of Political Islam, Palgrave MacMillan, (2003), p. 120
- ^ Zhongmin, Liu (2013). "Commentary on "Islamic State": Thoughts of Islamism". Journal of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies (In Asia). 7 (3). Routledge: Taylor & Francis group: 38–40. doi:10.1080/19370679.2013.12023226.
- ^ a b Roy, Failure of Political Islam, 1994: p. 24
- ^ Hamid, Shadi (1 October 2015). "What most people get wrong about political Islam".
- ^ Nugent, Elizabeth (23 June 2014). "What do we mean by Islamist?". Washington Post. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
- ^ a b Eikmeier, Dale (2007). "Qutbism: An Ideology of Islamic-Fascism". The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters. 37 (1): 85–97. doi:10.55540/0031-1723.2340.
- ^ Soage, Ana Belén. "Introduction to Political Islam." Religion Compass 3.5 (2009): 887–96.
- ^ Fuller, Graham E., The Future of Political Islam, Palgrave MacMillan, (2003), p. 21
- ^ Rashid Ghannouchi (31 October 2013). "How credible is the claim of the failure of political Islam?". MEMO. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
- ^ "Understanding Islamism" (PDF). International Crisis Group. p. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 March 2013.
- ^ Emin Poljarevic (2015). "Islamism". In Emad El-Din Shahin (ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Politics. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
Islamism is one of many sociopolitical concepts continuously contested in scholarly literature. It is a neologism debated in both Muslim and non-Muslim public and academic contexts. The term "Islamism" at the very least represents a form of social and political activism, grounded in an idea that public and political life should be guided by a set of Islamic principles. In other words, Islamists are those who believe that Islam has an important role to play in organizing a Muslim-majority society and who seek to implement this belief.
- ^ Roy, Olivier (16 April 2012). "The New Islamists". foreignpolicy.com. Archived from the original on 9 October 2014. Retrieved 7 March 2017.