25 - Islamism Flashcards
Key ideas of islam
- Religion is politics, politics is bounded by religion
- Fundamentalist society following a holy book
- Anti-modern
- Militant/violent
Islam and radical political Islamism
- Religion - One of the three great Abrahamic religions, along with Judaism and Christianity
- Ideology - Radical political Islamism, a fundamentalist political ideology
- Related but not the same
Background to Islam
-Islam = “submission” (submission to God, goodness, morality, righteousness, righteous behaviour)
-Mohammed - Follow teachings of the prophet who wanted to fight against injustice
-Qur’an = A holy book where Muslims go to learn how to live their lives
-Hadith = Sayings that need to be followed, how to live a good life
-Shari’a = Laws that are created to be followed based off of the Qur’an and the Hadith
-Jihad refers to “struggle”
-Great Jihad: The
greatest struggles in life
against temptation
and vice
-Lesser Jihad: Struggle
with an evil in the world,
oppression of Muslims
and the poor and other
oppressed individuals
History and external threats to radical Islam
- Crusades (1095 – 1300AD)
- European Imperialism
- The state of Israel
- Western ideas of modernity
Record to US/West in Muslim-majority countries
- Counter-intervention (Arab Springs)
- Military attacks
- Support corrupt regimes
- Occupying Muslim holy lands
Whose ideas inform radical political Islamism?
-Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966)
-Muslim counter-enlightenment
-Appalled by America
Joins Muslim Brotherhood
-Executed in Egypt
-Jahiliyya (darkness or ignorance)
-False consciousness
-Offensive holy war
Problem: Western decadence
- Resist Western decadence
- Establish Islamic State
Against the corrupt west
- Attacking corrupt Muslims (intellectuals, governments)
- Attacking US power (militarily, internally)
- Educating boys, not girls
- Bearings witness (Shahadah)
Radical political Islamism: Fracture?
- Al Qaeda: Terrorist attacks
- ISIS: Islamic State (Iraq, Syria)
