Islam and fascism

Islam and fascism have had a complicated relationship since the early 20th century. Since that time, there have been successive ideological conflicts worldwide, including World War II and the Cold War, which resulted in the emergence of the concept Islamofascism. first described as Islamic fascism in 1933



Overview

The concept highlights the similarities between Islamism and fascism. It gained popularity in the 1990s after the Cold War ended. For instance, Qutbism has been classified as a form of Islamofascism.

History

20th century

Islamofascism emerged as a contemporary concept in 1990 when Anglo-Irish writer Malise Ruthven mentioned it in an article. Ruthven used the concept to describe Arab autocracies that were appealing to religious traditions in order to unite the masses behind the ruling class.

21st century

The September 11 attacks caused a long-lasting change to the relationship between the United States (US) and the Muslim world, which came with some critics increasingly making references to "Islamofascism" when discussing Islamic extremism..: The Islamofascist ideology of Osama bin Laden and those closest to him, such as the Egyptian and Algerian 'Islamic Groups', is no more intrinsically linked to Islam or Islamic civilisation than Pearl Harbor [attack on December 7, 1941] was to Buddhism, or Ulster terrorists — whatever they may profess — are to Christianity. Serious Christians don't go around killing and maiming the innocent; devout Muslims do not prepare for paradise by hanging out in strip bars and getting drunk, as one of last week's terrorist pilots was reported to have done

Assessment

In contemporary context, Islamofascism is sometimes described as the "use of the faith of Islam as a cover for totalitarian ideology.". "Islamofascism refers to use of the faith of Islam as a cover for totalitarian ideology. This radical phenomenon is embodied among Sunni Muslims today by such fundamentalists as the Saudi-financed Wahhabis, the Pakistani jihadists known as Jama'atis, and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. In the ranks of Shia Muslims, it is exemplified by Hezbollah in Lebanon and the clique around President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran." The word was used by George W. Bush while he was President of the United States.: "Some call this evil Islamic radicalism. Others militant jihadism [...] Still, others Islamo-fascism.".

Academia

Some famous scholars, such as Christopher Hitchens (1949 – 2011) and Robert Wistrich (1945 – 2015), said that Islam was fascist. Islam's defenders say this is an "oversimplification" of Islam. Specialized academic papers described the similarities between Islamism and fascism as follows:

 Totalitarianism
 Anti-liberalism
 Ownership of paramilitaries
 Mobilization of the masses to fight imaginary threats
 Intolerance of dissent in pursuit of a new society free of deviations. Muslims not following the Sharia law are condemned as takfirs, sometimes executed
 An imperialist vision of their religion's supposed global influence. According to these academic papers, many Islamists long for the so-called golden age of Arab caliphates and the Ottoman Empire – when non-Muslim minorities were enslaved or suppressed – just as European fascists long for that of Christian empires

Related pages

 ISIS
 Hamas
 Houthis
 Nation of Islam
 Louis Farrakhan
 Palestinian political violence

References

Category:Islam
Category:Politics
Category:Fascism
Category:Islamism
Category:Middle East
Category:Neo-Nazism
Category:21st century in Asia
Category:20th century in Asia
Category:History of the Middle East