Islamic fundamentalism
Misquoting the
In the
aftermath of the terrorist attacks on
Myriad forms
For most
of us, awareness of Islam and its myriad religious, political and cultural
forms, has been heightened by two factors: the migration of large numbers of
Muslims to Western Democracies - often as refugees or foreign workers - and the
growing crescendo of violence world-wide in the name of Islam.
This
violence snowballed after the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, the fall
of the Shah of Iran and the subsequent setting up of the Islamic Republic by the
Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979, the invasion of
Of the
seventeen terrorist organisations set up in Islamic States and named by the US
State Department in 2000 as actively engaged in terrorism in 1999, eleven are
professedly Islamic or are rabidly anti-West and operate through a blend of
Marxism and Islam to destabilise their regions or to overthrow their respective
governments.
In
addition to these high profile radical groups there are many anonymous extremist
groups in most Muslim countries devoted to the establishment of Islamic states
ruled by the
Closest to
The
In the light of vocal
demonstrations of support for the terrorists who attacked the US after September
11 by certain elements within Muslim communities in the
Since its
foundation in the seventh century, Islam has, with few exceptions, dominated by
military force the regions where it has been implanted. The juridical status of
non-Muslims living in these countries has not changed since Muhammad’s time:
under the
Up until
the 1800s it was virtually unheard of for Muslims to live in a non Islamic
country of their free will. Apart from exceptional circumstances, they were
forbidden to do so. The Qur’an is interpreted as forbidding them to submit themselves
to non-Islamic laws; to obey non-Islamic rulers and by implication, to send
their children to non-Islamic schools.
Qur’an
Muslim fundamentalists take the
Qur’an to be a divine and irrevocable
Law revealed by God to Muhammed. It legislates for every aspect of their lives,
social, political, cultural and religious.
For
fundamentalist Islam, democracy with its secular laws, rulers, judges, courts
and associations is an affront. The only rulers and judges with legitimate
authority are those whose authority comes from the
For
fundamentalist Muslims, the
In the Qur’an the Prophet decreed that ‘infidels,’ i.e. Jews and Christians, along
with atheists, rationalists, agnostics, humanists and free-thinkers, are to be
warred against. He warned Muslims against friendship with non-Muslims, a caution
repeated by the Taliban in Afganistan and by fundamentalists world-wide.
Fundamentalist Muslims demand that Muslims who change their religion be
killed. They cite Ibn ‘Abbas, the cousin of Muhammad who quoted the latter as
decreeing ‘kill him who changes his religion,’ and ‘behead him’. It
would be this
For fundamentalists, the world is divided into those who live in a dar alharb or ‘land of
war,’ meaning any country inhabited by non-Muslims who have not yet been
subjugated to Islam; and those who live in dar al-Islam or ‘
Legitimate targets
All Western, free, democratic countries are, in Islamic terms, dur alharb or ‘lands of
war’ where fundamentalist Muslims may legitimately, in fact are obliged, to do
all they can to bring about the dominance of Islam. Any war-like act against
non- Muslims in a dar al-harb is lawful and just.
When the former chief Justice of
Jihad
The major contemporary radical Islamic groups derive their inspiration
from the teachings of Said Qutb in
Both Qutb and al-Mawdudi put Jihad at the forefront of Islamic
obligations. In the words of the Ayatollah Khomeini, Jihad ‘means the
conquest of all non- Muslim territories. It will be incumbent on every
able-bodied adult man to volunteer for this war of conquest whose final goal is
the domination of Qur’anic Law from one end of the earth to the other’.
The carnage wreaked in
The conspiracy of silence in the massmedia when fundamentalist Islamic
violations of the rights of Muslims and non-Muslim minorities are concerned -
the ongoing slaughter of Christians and other non-Muslims by the Laskar Jihad in
the
Atypical Moslems
Fundamentalist Muslims are a vocal minority; they are not typical of the
vast majority of Muslims throughout the world. It would greatly help the cause
of moderate Islam if its proponents came out courageously and strenuously in
condemnation of violence and terror emanating from within their communities.
Their credibility would be enhanced if they supported efforts to remove from
their religious and legal tradition whatever could be construed as inciting
violence against non-Muslims, and if they protested at the violation of the
rights of all - be they Muslims or non- Muslims - in Islamic countries.
- This edited article is republished with permission of “The Annals”.
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eventh
century, Islam has, with few exceptions, dominated by military force the regions
where it has been implanted.