Teaching & Learning Guide for: Islamic Fundamentalism and Political Islam
Authors: Sonn Tamara 
Published: June 2007

Focus Questions

What distinguishes political Islam from fundamentalism?

What are the major distinctions among political Islamists?

Author Recommends

* Ahmed Akbar, Islam Under Siege: Living Dangerously in a Post‐Honor World (Cambridge: Polity, 2003).

Provides excellent introduction to pervasive sense of siege among Muslim communities that forms the backdrop to many modern developments, including the more militant and radicalized representatives of politicized Islam. After describing the perception of lawlessness and brutality in today’s world, Ahmed – a renowned anthropologist – analyses this strain of political Islam in terms of tribalism. Economic deprivation, political impotence, and continuing conflict in areas such as Palestine, Bosnia, Chechnya, and Kashmir, have effectively suspended Islamic ideals among some groups. Islamic solidarity and its core values in such instances have been replaced by a kind of hyper‐tribalism. Perceiving no benefit from broader group identities – indeed, subjected to humiliation and outrage – certain segments of Muslim societies have retreated into smaller units and concocted perverse notions of honor and vengeance bearing no resemblance to mainstream Islamic values.

* Montasser al‐Zayyat, The Road to al‐Qaeda: The Story of Bin Laden’s Right‐Hand Man (London: Pluto Press, 2002).

A fascinating first‐hand account of the development one segment of radicalized political Islam under the impact of specific experiences, including imprisonment and torture. An Egyptian lawyer, al‐Zayyat provides insight into the conflicts within political Islam.

* Raymond W. Baker, Islam without Fear: Egypt and the New Islamists (Cambridge, MA: Harvard, 2003).

Baker surveys the views of influential contemporary Egyptian thinkers grappling with issues of pluralism and women’s rights. He presents the views of these public intellectuals – lawyers, judges, scholars, and journalist – as foundational to a centrist Islam, with potentially profound impact on education, the arts, economics, politics, and the environment.

* John O. Voll, Islam: Continuity and Change in the Modern World (Syracuse, NY: Sysracuse University Press, 1994).

A comprehensive survey of Islamic movements in modern history. Voll presents a careful and nuanced discussion of various reactions to specific political developments, including those that may accurately be called ‘fundamentalist’. Provides a good example of the difficulty of neatly characterizing diverse movements.

Online Materials

1. The Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan) – Official English Website

http://www.ikhwanweb.com/Home.asp?zPage=Systems&System=PressR&Lang=E

The official English‐language Web site for the Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan al‐Muslimin) – the oldest and most widespread Islamist organization. Provides news, statements and messages from leaders, opinions on world events, as well as links to other articles, and opinion surveys.

2. Progressive Muslim Union

http://www.pmuna.org/

The Web site for the Progressive Muslim Union of North America, ‘a grassroots organization that aims to provide a forum, voice, and organizing mechanism to North American Muslims who wish to pursue a progressive intellectual, social and political agenda.’ Provides useful news and links.