# Islamism

Islamism, also known as Political Islam (Arabic: إسلام سياسي islām siyāsī), is an Islamic revival movement often characterized by moral conservatism, and the attempt "to implement Islamic values in all spheres of life." Islamism favors the reordering of government and society in accordance with the Sharia. The different Islamist movements have been described as "oscillating between two poles": at one end is a strategy of Islamization of society through state power seized by revolution or invasion; at the other "reformist" pole Islamists work to Islamize society gradually "from the bottom up".

## Quotes

* A century ago it was the West’s great blunder to think it would not matter if Lenin and his confederates took over the Russian Empire. Incredible as it may seem, I believe we are capable of repeating that catastrophic error. I fear that, one day, we shall wake with a start to discover that the Islamists have repeated the Bolshevik achievement, which was to acquire the resources and capability to threaten our very existence.
** Niall Ferguson, "The cautionary tale of the Bolshevik revolution", Boston Globe, November 13, 2017.
* Nationalism, then Islamism, both twentieth-century inventions, destroyed the Greek civilization in Egypt that had endured for three thousand years.
** Ian McDonald, The Dervish House, Ch. 5, §1 (p. 158) (2010)
* Islamism is not Islam. Islamism is the politicisation of Islam, the desire to impose a version of this ancient faith over society.
** Maajid Nawaz, 'I watched a man stabbed in a London street - and felt nothing' (25 May, 2013)
* As he continued to talk to me, I realized one of the fundamental points about Islamism that so many people fail to understand. The way Osman was speaking wasn’t in the orthodox, religious way of the imam with a stick; he was talking about politics, about events that were happening now. That’s crucial to understanding what Islamism is all about: it isn’t a religious movement with political consequences, it is a political movement with religious consequences.
** Maajid Nawaz, Radical: My Journey out of Islamist Extremism, Page 62 (2013)
* The one reason that I could not ignore, the one reason that grew deep inside me till it consumed me with guilt, was the realisation that I was abusing my faith for a mere political project. After learning in prison that Islamism was not the religion of Islam, but rather a political ideology dressed up as Islam, I no longer felt guilty simply for criticising a political system inspired by modern European constructs, while justified by seventh-century norms.
** Maajid Nawaz, Radical: My Journey out of Islamist Extremism, Page 210 (2013)
* If the dangers of racism are apparent, even in a non-violent form, then it was the same for Islamism. Communalist identity politics, self-segregation and group-think are far more damaging to societies in the long run than the odd bomb going off here or there, because it is such a milieu that keeps breeding bomb-makers.
** Maajid Nawaz, Radical: My Journey out of Islamist Extremism, Page 211 (2013)
* We are fighting against Islamism, not Islam. Islamism is the will to impose Shariah for all as civil, political and religious law. … In reality, it's asking French people to increasingly submit themselves to the Muslim religion. That goes totally against the secular principles of the French republic.
** Marine Le Pen, Interview with The Daily Telegraph (26 December 2010)
* Even as the nation monitors the Muslim world within its borders more closely for signs of Islamism, it must continue, of course, to protect the civil rights of law-abiding American Muslims. Political leaders should regularly and publicly distinguish between Islam, the religion of Muslims, and Islamism, the totalitarian ideology. In addition, they should do everything in their power to make sure that individual Muslims, mosques, and other legal institutions continue to enjoy the full protection of the law. A time of crisis doesn’t change the presumption of innocence at the core of our legal system. Police should provide extra protection for Muslims to prevent acts of vandalism against their property or their persons.
** Daniel Pipes, Fighting Militant Islam, Without Bias, City Journal, Autumn 2002.
* Nazism and Islamism are on the opposite sides of the same coin – we oppose both. Nazism has been defeated and Islamism is spreading across the country.
** Tommy Robinson, on BBC's Sunday Politics (16 June 2013) (video)
* It is of the essence of a totalitarian ideology that it enforces its right to regulate the totality of life. The Koran, hadith, the fatwas represent one continuous endeavor in this respect; they aim at controlling every single aspect of life.…The ideology is premised not just on the belief that believers are eternally separate from, and eternally superior to non-believers. It is premised on eternal hostility between the two. Fanaticism and terrorism, aggression are inevitable results of this world view. Accordingly, the ideology makes it well-nigh impossible for Muslims to live peaceably in societies in which Muslims are just one of several communities. Indeed, it makes it impossible for an Islamic state to live peaceably in a world where there are non-Islamic States also.
** Arun Shourie. The World of Fatwas (Or The Shariah In Action), New Delhi, 1995, pp. 629, 654-655. quoted in Bostom, A. G. (2015). Sharia versus freedom: The legacy of Islamic totalitarianism.
* "....As long as Islam evades its reformation we can expect more extremists in the future. Even if the Islamic State (IS) and Taliban, et al are dismantled, the religion itself will continue to radicalize new groups of terrorist organizations as there are religious scriptures that support their entitlement to violence as a practicing Muslim. Any religious person can succumb to fanaticism – however, we can factually confirm that there isn’t a worldwide trend among Hindus, Christians, Jews and Pagans constructing a global takedown to implement the totalitarianism of their ideology as the Islamists...."
** Aki Muthali in Death to infidels!, nation.com.pk 2015 May, 17.
* "...What’s frightening about being an atheist in context to Islamism is the sheer volume of scripture that go a step further in disparaging atheists – it has numerous quotes that literally incite violence against them – and thus implying atheists are the most evil creatures in the kingdom of Allah that must be punished at all time. This is a well-respected sentiment held by a vast majority of Muslims – and it can be easily substantiated by all Islamic nations that have criminalised atheism and apostasy – where the resulting punishment is death...."
** Aki Muthali in Atheistophobia: It’s time to talk about the most persecuted minority in the world, nation.com.pk 2015 September, 27.

## External links

* Radical: My Journey out of Islamist Extremism by Maajid Nawaz (Lyons Press, 2013)
* Rashdan, Abdelrahman. Terminological Chaos: Political Islam and Islamism. OnIslam.net. Oct. 16, 2012. Retrieved Oct. 16, 2012.
* Evaluating the Islamist movement – written by Greg Noakes, an American Muslim who works at the Washington Report
* Elizabeth Barre, Review of Roxanne Euben and Muhammad Qasim Zaman, "Princeton Readings in Islamist Thought: Texts and Contexts for al Banna to Bin Laden," Reason Papers 33 (Fall 2011)
* Islamist.Com Documenting the rise of Islam and Islamists on the world stage. Lots of links on Islamist political prisoners
* Islamism, fascism and terrorism (Part 1)
* Qantara.de-Dossier: Islamism
* Asabiyya: Re-Interpreting Value Change in Globalized Societies
* Why Europe has to offer a better deal towards its Muslim communities. A quantitative analysis of open international data
* Online-Dossier on Islamism or Political Islam by GIGA - German Institute of Global and Area Studies