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The Astute Rise of Islamism

By Hasan Shakeel

By Hasan ShakeelPublished 6 years ago 9 min read
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In his book titled The Great Heresies, the great British historian Hilaire Belloc, in reference to the 1683 siege of Vienna, stated that ‘’It has always seemed possible, or even probable, that there will be a resurrection of Islam, and that our sons and our grandsons would see the renewal of that tremendous struggle between Christian culture, and what has been for more than a thousand years, its greatest opponent in history. The suggestion that Islam may re-arise sounds fantastic- but only because men are most powerfully affected by the immediate past:- One might say that they are blinded by it… Less than a hundred years before the declaration of Independence, Vienna was almost taken (by The Caliphate) and only saved by the Christian Army under the command of the King of Poland, on a date that ought to be among the most famous in history. September 11, 1683” (Belloc,1683). Belloc’s statement was resuscitated if not substantialized, following the attacks on the World Trade Centre on September 11th, 2001, which was arguably the most convulsive tragedy of the 21st century, after which the western world suddenly found itself vanquished with trepidation. The rest of the world, although startled, the attacks did not seem to provoke any threats. Perhaps the reason behind this was the fact that the terrorists had made clear what, or more appropriately, who their targets were, and what their underlying motivation was for their cause. Their targets, which exclusively consisted of innocent people, were not condemned to be so on the merits of the land mass or the natural resources of their respective countries, but solely because of ideological differences and were deemed as merely infidels. Their aim was not necessarily to conquer vast lands and claim natural resources, but rather, to revive the Islamic Caliphate by abolishing the economic, political and judicial systems of all infidel nations, thereby establishing a unified Islamic State under the hegemony of ‘Sharia’, which is the canon law of Islam. The end that Al Qaeda proclaimed to be to be striving towards at the time of 9/11, is shared today by the Islamic State.

However, along with the whole scenario came a huge caveat. Islam, the theology on the grounds of which the terrorists claimed they were carrying out their ‘’mission’’, is also a religion adhered by billions of other Muslims in almost all countries across the globe, majority of which are evidently moderate, peace loving, honourable and moral people and citizens and which is why many were distressed by the attacks and even protested them. In other words, Is Islam a religion of peace, or does it mandate war? I would like to argue that the Islamic doctrine does indeed condone violence and hatred towards non-believers and that waging “Jihad” or holy war, is rudimentarily Islamic. This makes it a direct threat to not only non-Muslim countries, but Muslim states which ISIL and other Islamist regard as moderate or secular. However, to address this issue, we need to turn our heads towards Islam itself, a doctrine which consists of four essential constituents. The Quran (the holy book of Islam), the hadith, which are the guidance and traditions of the prophet Muhammed, the Sirat Rasul Allah’, which is the earliest recorded biography of the Prophet that dates to the 8th century AD. Although an adequate comprehension of the latter two is necessary to make sense of the Koran in terms of context and applicability, Lastly, another key component of Islam is the ‘Sharia’, the canon law of Islam, which is considered to be the ultimate source of revelation for all private, political, economic, judicial matters.

To begin with, Islam, with its ultimate goal of establishing universal order under the hegemony of Islamic Law, is not simply a religion, but a doctrine which consists of guidelines concerning all political, economic, judicial, and private matters. Islamist Groups around the world, carry out their horrifying and hateful actions believing that it is their moral duty as Muslims, to impose their religion on others with, or without the use of force or violence while holding a disregard for the freedom of expression, conscience, and basic human rights of individuals. The nature of this ethnocentric belief has its roots within Islam itself. The ‘’Ummah’’(entire Muslim population) is regarded as morally superior as sanctioned in the The Koran 98:6 which states “…The people of the scripture (Jews & Christians) and the Al-Mushrikeen (Polytheists) who disbelieve, will abide in the fire of hell, They are the worst of creatures”, and The Koran 3:110 which states “You are the best nation produced for mankind”. To justify their terrorism, they point out the so-called verses of the sword (verses in the Quran condoning war)such as, ‘’Fight against those who believe not In Allah, nor in the last day, nor forbid that which is forbidden by Allah and his messenger, and those who acknowledge not the religion of truth among the people of the scripture (Jews & Christians), until they pay the Jizya (extortion) with willing submission and feel themselves subdued’’(Koran 9:29), and ‘’ Kill the unbelievers wherever you find them, but if they repent and accept Islam, then leave their way free’’(Koran 9:5)amongst many others. The Islamists also claim that they are carrying out their prophet, Muhammed’s vision in carrying out violence against the non-believers, since prophet Muhammed is regarded as the most virtuous and is held as blue-print model for how a truly devout Muslim should lead his/her life. Mandate for the violence and utter disregard with which non-Muslims are treated under Islamic law is also documented in the Sirat Rasul Allah’. “Then they surrendered, and the apostle confined them in Medina… Then the prophet went out to Medina and dug trenches. Then he sent for them and struck their heads off in the trenches as they were brought out to him in batches. There were 600 or 700 in all’’. (Ishaq, 7AD, pg #464).

Due to the prevalence of political correctness in the media, and also due to the fact that Islamist terror attacks have, and continue to occur at a relatively small scale, apologists, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, argue that the lack of impact of these relatively small scale attacks, in spreading terror and of dwindling of the liberty on the Western societies that have been hitherto been targeted is proof that the terrorists are but a minority of bad apples in the Muslim community, and thus the solution lies in targeting the terrorists specifically, and not the ideology which is shared by many moderate Muslims around the world. However, I would argue that this is a misconception that can partly be explained through the phenomenon of symbolic interactionism. According to Muslim traditions, Arabic is regarded as a holy language, since its believed by Muslims to be used by God in revealing the Koran to Muhammed. Thus, it is an obligation of every Muslim to at the least be able to read or recite the language, irrespective of their mother tongue. As a result, moderate Muslims tend to only learn the language adequately enough so that they can at least be able to recite the Koran, if not understand it, and consequently don’t adequately comprehend the rest of the doctrine.

According to the ‘Fiqh’ (Islamic Jurisprudence), the world is divided in two parts: Dar ul Islam (house of Islam), which is defined as a land in possession of Muslims, & Dar ul Harb (House of war), all non-Muslim nations. Furthermore, under the hegemony of Sharia law, all Non-believers should be either converted or subjugated. (Schacht, 1974). Individuals residing in Dar ul-Harb, are deemed as ‘harbis’ or the enemies of war in Dar ul-Harb. This means that Islam views itself to be in a constant state of war with non-Muslims. More shockingly, Islamic Jurisprudence does not allow for treaties or negotiated settlement. It only allows for ‘Hudna’, or truce which the Muslims are to uphold to for as long as they consider themselves weaker in power than the opposition. Perhaps this is why The Islamic Circle of North America(ICNA) published a handbook, advocating for the revival of the Muslim Caliphate and the enforcement of Sharia law. In it, is included a statement made earlier by Muslim Brotherhood’s main representative and the head of the European Fatwa Council, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who’s also a much-venerated Cleric in the Muslim community. “The Muslim Brotherhood must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating the Western Civilization from within and sabotaging its miserable houses by their hands and by the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated, and God’s religion is made victorious over all other religions”. This attests to the strategic approaches being used by Clerics and other Muslim leaders to employ Sharia in the western world.

Over the past few decades, Islam with its distinct culture and Ideology, has Catalyzed a vast amount of radical terrorist groups and religious movements across the world, and it has enormously influenced global and domestic politics. In my opinion, imperialism and different foreign policies have played a role in worsening the crisis, reviving a distinctly psychological instinct to acclimatize an “Islamic Identity” which is prevalent amongst pupils in Madrasas and conservative Muslims, and is considered exalting and honourable instinct, through invasion and other interferences of foreign affairs. Data gathered from reputable studies in the past account for the underlying support for the application of Sharia by Muslims who are considered moderate. A study published by the Pew research Centre published in 2010, 82% of Egyptian and Pakistani, & 56% of Nigerian Muslims endorse stoning as punishment for adultery. While About 84% of Egyptian, 76% Pakistani, 86% Jordanian, and 51% of Nigerian Muslims believe that the punishment for apostacy from Islam should be punishable by death (Boston.2012). Many cultured individuals from around the world, Muslim and non-Muslim including men, women, and children, who have fled from their respective countries, and have proudly abandoned their passports, regardless of how they are recruited, have had their rationale and conscience, submerged by the teachings that have their root in an ethnocentric, and despotic ideology, which had its origin 1,400 years ago. The growing number of terrorist acts over the past decade, including the shooting at Charlie Hebdo’s headquarters in Paris, a couple days after which a kosher supermarket was seized and attacked by an Islamist just three years ago in 2015, and numerous others, serve as an indication that we are currently living in the midst of a global Jihadist insurgency. An Insurgency of the Islamic Civilization against the Christian civilization, which began with the invasion of Sicily in 652AD by Muslims under the third Caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate. Due to political correctness, and unwillingness of Muslim and Western leaders to face the sources of Islamism, issues such as the one at hand, remain largely unknown. We must realize that Islam is not simply a religion, but a belief system of a political nature that mandates warfare against the Non-believers for the purpose of establishing a societal model, that is perversely incompatible with the Western model. However, in having a dialogue, we must be careful as to make a clear distinction between Islam, which is an ideology, and Muslims, who are a people, so that the much-needed effort to reform the religion, thereby, crafting a solution which can be made in accordance with the universal right to freedom of conscience and expression of all.

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