Islamic Fundamentalism

Islamic Fundamentalism

Introduction

According to Ruud Koopmans, the WZB Berlin Social Science Centre director, religious fundamentalism can be described through three key ways, namely; that the believers should adhere to the unalterable and eternal rules that were laid down long-ago; that such laws permit only a single interpretation in addition to binding every believer, as well as that the religious laws have precedence over the secular rules. In this regard, the sociologies have insisted that strict religiosity or religious fundamentalism refers to the ideologies that are based on a group of ideas that also refer to the behaviors and attitudes with regards to the manner of perceiving life. Moreover, religious fundamentalism does not essentially justify or take in aspects of violence given the view that violence is a type of behavior as opposed to an ideology. As such, sociologists have often compared religious fundamentalism to communism and fascism, which are other notable ideologies that neither include nor justify violence. Nonetheless, Eisenstadt (1999) maintains that religious fundamentalism may promote aspects of violence including radicalization. Thus, though it does not imply aggression, out-group aggression and hostility may be observed. In this regard, sociologists that include Kaya and Eisenstadt have presented the argument that Islamic fundamentalism is painstakingly modern.

Discussion

As noted in the introduction, a number of sociologist including Kaya and Eisenstadt hold the belief that one of the politically important contemporary fundamentalism globally is Islamic fundamentalism. This arises from the observation that the militant and extreme faith in the various Islamic beliefs tends to comprise the numerous dominant principles that pertains to politics and social life even though these were initially noted in the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood and writings of Sayyid Qutb. The goals of groups such as Muslim Brotherhood and thinkers like Qutb were mainly to institute Islamic States that would be founded on the Sharia Law principles. In this regard, Kaya (2004) maintains that the 1979 Iranian revolution brought to fore the Political Islam that has been accredited for the founding of the initial Islamic State. However, this has extended into parts of North Africa, Asia and the Middle East. In the present times, in spite of Iran’s Shi’ite fundamentalism bringing about the fiercest commitment and loyalty, Islam has, on the whole, turned out to be a mean of articulating anti-westernism through the various efforts made towards resisting the extension of materialism and permissiveness, as well as through the hatred towards western powers’ neocolonialism. Such have been aptly articulated in Afghanistan’s Taliban regime before, along with the materialization of various jihadist organizations that include al-Qaeda and ISIS, groups that equate spiritual quest to martyrdom, armed struggles and militant politics.

With more than 1.6 billion followers, Islam is the globe’s fast growing and second biggest religion. Moreover, in addition to its being concentrated in Asia and Africa, it has also been approximated that more than half of Africa’s population will adopt Islam as its population in the near future. Nevertheless, regions such as Europe and Americas have also witnessed increase in the spread of Islam even though Islam is not simply a religion but a way of life that has stipulated economic and political behavior for nations and individuals, as well as instructions on morals. Islam’s fundamentalisms and way of life is founded on the various teachings of Prophet Muhammad as articulated in the Muslim Holy Book, Quran, and are considered as the actual words of Allah, as well as on Sunna, which are conventional customs that devout Muslims observe and is found on the deeds and life of Prophet Muhammad. The above observations are amongst the notable reasons why a number of sociologists consider Islam Fundamentalism as the most modern in the globe.

Still, all through Islam’s history, a conflict between politics and religion has been witnessed, particularly between the leaders regarded as flexible and secularly minded with regards to the application of the principles of Islam to politics, and the fundamentalists who have developed conviction on the need to adhere to the way of life and principles of Prophet Muhammad. This indicates that in Islam, fundamentalism does not necessarily imply totally belief in Quran’s literal truth, as this has been approve d by every Muslim, and this makes all Muslims to be fundamentalists. Rather, it implies an increasingly militant and intense faith in the various Islamic convictions as the dominant principles that guide politics and social life, as well as morality of individuals (Eisenstadt, 1999).  In this regard, the Islamic fundamentalists are seen as seeking to institute dominance of their religion over politics. Practically, this implies the establishment of the Islamic state, which is a theocracy under the ruler-ship of a spiritual Islamic leader as opposed to the temporal leadership, as well as the application of the Sharia laws on the basis of the Principles of Quran. In such instance, the Sharia laws tend to determine the codes for moral and legal behaviors and these include the punishment system for the crimes committed by individuals and groups, along with the various rules that guide individual conduct for members of the society. Similar to the other notable religions, Islam also has several beliefs and doctrines that have been employed in the justification of an array of political issues. This has been noted in the economic ideas of Islam. For instance, the Quran tends to uphold the private property institution, and this has been noted as approving capitalism. Nevertheless, it additionally bans profiteering and usury, that are seen as being sympathetic to socialism. Based on this, sociologists have observed that Islamic Fundamentalism tends to take a contemporary approach to economic matters given the ability to incorporate the various economic models, including socialism and capitalism.

Additionally, the various Islamic fundamentalist groups that have been founded in recent times and in the past, including the Muslim Brotherhood have been established with the objective of revitalizing what the group leaders tend to believe is an increasingly besmirched Islamic faith, and also to offer the Muslim faithful the essential political voice (Kaya, 2004). Groups such as the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and ISIS seek to establish Islamic governments to offer an option to socialist and capitalist economic models. The objective of such governments would be to change the extant social systems through the application of the Islamic Principles to the political and economic life, along with individual morality (Kaya, 2004).

Further, in recent time, the advancement of Islamic fundamentalism has assumed an array of forms. For instance, in nations such as Turkey, the constitutional type of fundamentalism has become prominent after the Justice and Development Party clinched the 2002 election. On the other hand, in Afghanistan, the revolutionary fundamentalism’s strength was effectively depicted by the Taliban regime that was subsequently deposed from power through military action of the United States. In this regard, the Taliban has been accredited for having brought about an increasingly radical and novel fundamentalism that did not compromise with ideas that were contradictory to the Islamic principles (Aly, 2007). These were mainly based on the Deobandism, which is a Sunni Hanafi Islamic fundamentalism with origin in Pakistan. As a result, Taliban did not only make attempts at rooting out the various types of non-Islamic corruption but additionally brought into force the strict and highly repressive Sharia law interpretation. This led to the exclusion of women from aspects like economy, education and the public life, in addition to the prohibition of every type of music. In addition to the Taliban rule being authoritarian, the group ensured that only a smaller group of senior Islamic clerics with ranks in Taliban had power and were led by Mullah Omar (Kaya, 2000).

As from the 1990s, novel groups of Jihadists and Islamic fundamentalists have emerged even as the most prominent has been the Osama bin Laden led al-Qaeda and ISIS, and have all articulated such novel fundamentalism (Aly, 2007). For such fundamentalist groups and organizations, devotion to Islam assumes a form of Jihad, and is comprehended as a holy war against Western nations, so as to eliminate foreign influence in nations such as Saudi Arabia and Iraq. In this regard, militant Islamism tends to depict suicide attacks and terrorism as justifiable and purifying expression of social and political struggles. Nevertheless, Islam’s critics tend to perceive such developments as the fundamental incompatibility between the values of the increasingly liberal-democratic west and the various Islamic values. Based on such view, Islamic fundamentalism comes out as intrinsically totalitarian as the objective of developing the Islamic state founded on the Sharia law is not only spartanly anti-pluralist but also irreconcilable with the public/private divide notion (Eisenstadt, 2003). The continued employment of aggression and terror is perceived as a manifestation of the religion’s totalitarian potential.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, based on the above observations, one can conclude that Islamic fundamentalism is the most modern given the push by various Islamic fundamentalist groups to establish governments that are based on the principles of Quran and Sunna. Moreover, the Islamic fundamentalists also hold the view that they are the chosen individuals and have been directed to institute God’s kingdom throughout the globe. Unlike the humanists, the fundamentalists hold the belief that all humans regardless of the races are equal and none is superior or inferior, and that all have basic rights to life, happiness and liberty. In case the Islamic fundamentalists become successful in usurping power, they are liable to eliminate humanism even though the prominence of the humanist authority allow them a number of freedoms including those of expression and ability to become theocratic leaders.

References

Aly, Waleed 2007 ‘Introduction’ in People Like Us: How arrogance is dividing Islam and the       West,Picador: Sydney, pp xi-xx. See other attachment

Aly, Waleed 2007 ‘What is so Medieval about al-Qa’ida?”’ in People Like Us: How arrogance    is dividing Islam and the West,Picador: Sydney, pp 178-208.See other attachment

Eisenstadt (SN), 1999 ‘Fundamentalism as a modern Jacobin anti-modern utopia and        heterodoxy’, in Fundamentalism, sectarianism, and revolution: the Jacobin dimension of     modernity, Cambridge University Press Cambridge.

Eisenstadt, SN 1999 Fundamentalism, Sectarianism and Revolution, CUP, Cambridge, UK .

Eisenstadt, SN 2003Ch 38 ‘The reconstruction of religious arenas in the framework of multiple    modernities’ in Comparative Civilizations and Multiple Modernities, Brill, Leiden.   Ebook.

Kaya, I. 2000. Modernity and veiled women. European Journal of Social Theory, 3, 195-214.

Kaya, I 2004 ’Kemlamism and Islamism on the ‘Female Question’ in Social Theory and Later       Modernities: The Turkish Experience, Liverpool University Press, Liverpool.

Kaya, I 2004 ‘Islam and Modernity: Radical openness to interpretation’ in Social Theory and       Later Modernities: The Turkish Experience. Liverpool University Press, Liverpool.