“What is the Islamist Movement?”

Last updated on: February 12, 2020 at 11:26 pm by Dan Peterson

“What is the Islamist Movement?” 2020-02-12T23:26:38-07:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

NASA does the Arabian Peninsula
(A photograph in the public domain from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration)

Bill Hamblin and I published the column below back in the early 2000s. To which particular “terrorist atrocity” was it referring? I can no longer recall. But since, alas, there are constantly new terrorist atrocities, it scarcely matters.

What is the Islamist Movement?

Following last week’s terrorist atrocity, many people have been wondering about Islamic fundamentalists, or, as they are more commonly (and less misleadingly) called today, Islamists. What is the Islamist movement? During the lifetime of Muhammad, the founder of Islam (570-632), he became not only a prophet but the ruler of a kingdom, which, in the last two years of his life, encompassed most of Arabia. The Qur’an (Koran)—the collected revelations of God to Muhammad, revered as Islamic scripture—contains numerous, sometimes lengthy passages presenting the legal principles upon which an authentic Muslim society should be governed. At its core, Islamic law (Arabic shari’ah) is Qur’anic law, a mixture of civil, criminal and religious regulations.

Following the death of Muhammad, the principles of law and government in the Qur’an were interpreted by generations of legal scholars. When facing new legal and political questions not explicitly answered in the Qur’an, judges and rulers would try to formulate scholarly consensus on how to answer a question based on logical extrapolation and analogy. The result was the development of a complex Islamic law code, which in many ways parallels the role of the Talmud in medieval Jewish life. There were enough fundamental differences between differing models of interpretation that eventually five major different legal systems developed in the Islamic world, which agree in fundamentals but often differ on many particulars. For over a thousand years, countries with Muslim majorities, including most of the Middle East, were governed by one of these five schools of Islamic law. (It should be noted that Orthodox Judaism is also distinguished by its strict adherence to rabbinic Law as codified in the Talmud. One of the goals of the Orthodox in Israel is to establish Talmud principles and rabbinic Law as the official legal and political system of Israel—which currently has a European-style, secular system.)

In the nineteenth century, European imperialists managed either to conquer nearly all Middle Eastern countries or render them tributary. In the process, the imperial powers brought European ideas about government and law to the region, promising liberty and equality. In reality, however, for over a century Muslims were generally treated by European powers as second-class citizens in their own lands. The usual Muslim experience was, therefore, that the European system of constitutionalism, parliamentary government, equality, and democracy was a cynical farce, intended only as a means to subdue conquered peoples.

When European colonial domination of the Middle East collapsed following World War II, newly independent Muslim states faced the enormous problems of creating new governments and legal systems from scratch. For practical purposes, most states retained the legal systems of their European colonizers, which had been in force in much of the area for over half a century. Many states retained monarchies—constitutional or otherwise. Other states attempted to formulate some type of democracy. Some flirted with Marxism or socialism. Tragically, most ultimately devolved into military dictatorships.

The Islamists want to change this situation, seeking to restore what they feel is the authentic Muslim political and legal system that had been in force before the coming of the Europeans. At the most basic level, Islamists believe that their societies should be based upon, organized, and run according to Islamic law as it is found in the Qur’an and its schools of orthodox interpretations. Another general Islamist goal is that the moral decadence of the West—immodesty, sexual promiscuity, drinking, drug use, greed, secularism, vulgarity—should be minimized in their societies through strict moral and legal codes.

Whereas all Islamists agree that majority Muslim countries should reestablish Islamic law as their foundational legal and political system, they often differ as to the best means to attain this goal. The vast majority of Islamists opt for moderate and peaceful means of renovation, via religious revival, education, and legal transformation through legitimate political and legal channels. Thus, many Muslim countries have Islamist political parties advocating peaceful change. Unfortunately, many governments in the Near East—like Iran under the former shahs—are oppressive and tyrannical military dictatorships that brook no opposition (and that, like the shah, are often supported by Western powers, including the United States). Thus, peaceful change is often impossible, leading to the radicalization of Islamist groups, who come to see violent revolution as the only means of obtaining their legitimate political aspirations, precisely as happened in the Islamic revolution in Iran. The Hamas movement in Palestine is another example—an Islamist group which, after fifty years of failed negotiations, sees violent revolution as the only means to obtain independence for Arab Palestine.

There are many facets and factions to Islamist movements today. A large minority of Muslims throughout the Near East are Islamists, and the vast majority of these advocate peaceful and moderate means to obtain their goals. Unfortunately, however, a small but growing minority are increasingly turning to violence and terrorism. Usama bin Ladin’s terrorist organization is one of these; in a future column we will explore why Usama and his supporters view the United States as their major enemy.

Previous Post

February 12, 2020

Yup! Religion Poisons EVERYTHING!

Next Post

February 13, 2020 Relativism, consciousness, and the sacred

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What is the name of the lake into which the beast and false prophet are thrown?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The abyss The outer darkness The lake of burning sulfur (lake of fire) Gehenna