Islamism

{{Islam}}
{{cquote|...there’s no magic to the phrase “'''radical Islam'''.” It’s a political talking point; it's not a strategy. And the reason I am careful about how I describe this threat has nothing to do with political correctness and everything to do with actually defeating extremism. Groups like ISIL and al Qaeda want to make this war a war between Islam and America, or between Islam and the West. They want to claim that they are the true leaders of over a billion Muslims around the world who reject their crazy notions. They want us to validate them by implying that they speak for those billion-plus people; that they speak for Islam. That’s their propaganda. That's how they recruit. And if we fall into the trap of painting all Muslims with a broad brush and imply that we are at war with an entire religion -- then we’re doing the terrorists' work for them.|||President Barack Obama, speaking after a counter-ISIL meeting<ref>[http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/barack-obama-transcript-isil-orlando-224330 Full Transcript]</ref>}}
'''Islamism''' is a set of [[ideology|ideologies]] rooted in the concept of [[Islam]] as a political system as well as a religion; in short, that [[government]] should be [[Theocracy|based around Islamic teachings]]. The term first appeared in [[French]] in the mid-eighteenth century, as a name for Islam, rather than in its modern political sense.<ref>[http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.geocities.com/martinkramerorg/Terms.htm&date=2009-10-26+02:20:35 Coming to Terms: Fundamentalists or Islamists?]</ref> The term itself is controversial, as it is not a term used by adherents of Islam ''or'' Islamism, but applied without convention (and without accepted definition) to various social-political groups within Islam. Almost universally, Islamists are Islamic Fundamentalists — the reverse is not necessarily the case.

The term is used by the media and many western governments to apply specifically to individuals and groups who practice or advocate violence, including sexual assault, in their version of an Islamic world.

Individuals schooled in certain facets of [[sharia]] support morality police to harass and arrest any woman found outside without wearing a [[Burqa|veil]]. Organized groups such as the [[Muslim Brotherhood]], [[Al Qaeda]], [[DAESH]], and the [[Taliban]] are four of the more (in)famous Islamist groups, though arguably the latter 3 have origins in the former.

==Cause of the rise of Islamism==
<!-- [[Daniel Pipes]], American historian and controversial expert on "[[Middle East]]" politics and Islam, believes that Islamism and Islamic Fundimentalism is a reaction to Muslim disappointment that they are no longer dominant. Pipes states "Islamism turns the bits and pieces within Islam that deal with politics, economics, and military affairs into a sustained and systematic program." He claims Islamism is a direct reaction to the tensions of Western society.<ref group=note>These "tensions" are not limited to Islam, but exist throughout the world. They include issues of access to massive amounts of information, shifting from small intimate family and social groups to large disconnected societies, extremes in access to wealth, demands for equality and reactions to those demands by "traditional" society, etc.</ref> One example he gives is western style law making, impacting what were traditionally personal religious laws. For example, prior to "Islamism", a Christian could not only drink alcohol, but could also open a liquor store for other Christians. The law against alcohol only applied to Muslims. Today, however, it has become a state crime in many Islamist States to buy or sell alcohol. He also demonstrates that, contrary to popular opinion, Islamism is not a response to poverty — there are Islamists in every socio-economic level. -->

Islamists view themselves as under assault by [[Western world|Western]] social, political, and cultural influences. Debates can range from women wearing bluejeans and lipstick<ref group=note>A Taliban leader remarking on the $500 shoes Michelle Obama wore on Inauguration Day claimed Muslims keep women at home to protect them "like a precious pearl" whereas [[Barack Obama|President Obama]] was [[non sequitur|pimping his wife to sell shoes]].</ref> to the use of [[MSG]] in processed foods.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110227044024/http://www.just-food.com/news/international-outrage-over-ajinomotos-use-of-pork-enzyme-in-halal-food-escalates_id87474.aspx International outrage over use of pork enzyme in halal food escalates], 9 January 2001.</ref> There are several currents within the Islamist movement, most notably a re-born form of [[Salafism]] composed of three strains of thought: Islamic purists, so-called "politicos", and the violent [[jihad]]i movement.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110815105803/http://www.cerium.ca/IMG/pdf/WIKTOROWICZ_2006_Anatomy_of_the_Salafi_Movement.pdf Anatomy of the Salafi Movement], Quintan Wiktorowitcz, Talylor Francis Group, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 29:207–239, 2006.</ref>

Islamists refer to themselves as a "resistance movement" or "freedom fighters", borrowing a well-worn phrase from the struggles against [[imperialism]] in the 20th century. Resistance can be passive or violent.

==Fundamentalism vs Authoritarianism vs Islamism==
Fundamentalism seeks religious purity. Authoritarianism seeks control over people. To some extent, Islamism is the combination of both, because it seeks to legislate religious purity.

===Islamism vs Extremism/Jihadism===
Writer Reza Aslan draws a distinction between Islamism and [[Jihad|Jihadism]]: "By the end of the millennium, Islamism and Jihadism, once cousins, had effectively split into two opposing, rival movements... Islamism remains a [[nationalist]] ideology, whereas most Jihadists want to erase all borders, to eradicate all nationalities, and to return to an idealized past of religious communalism".<ref>Reza Aslan, ''How to Win a Cosmic War'', p.29</ref>

==Further reading==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110904024457/http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/Middle%20East%20North%20Africa/Iran%20Gulf/Saudi%20Arabia/Saudi%20Arabia%20Backgrounder%20Who%20are%20the%20Islamists.pdf Saudi Arabia Backgrounder: Who are the Islamists?], Middle East Report N°3121, International Crisis Group, Sep 2004.

==See also==
*[[DAESH]]
*[[Iran]]
*[[Muslim Brotherhood]] <!--This can probably be fit into the article--> 
*[[Ruhollah Khomeini]]
*[[Taliban]]
*[[Hindutva]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{stub|religion}}

[[Category:Authoritarianism]]
[[Category:Anti-Christian bigotry]]
[[Category:Antisemitism]]
[[Category:Atheophobia]]
[[Category:Fundamentalism]]
[[Category:Fascism]]
[[Category:Homophobia]]
[[Category:Islamic extremism]]
[[Category:Islamic fundamentalism]]
[[Category:Islamism| ]]
[[Category:Transphobia ]]
[[Category:Sexism]]
[[Category:Anti-Western]]
[[Category:Cults]]

Categories: Authoritarianism, Anti-Christian bigotry, Antisemitism, Atheophobia, Fundamentalism, Fascism, Homophobia, Islamic extremism, Islamic fundamentalism, Islamism, Transphobia , Sexism, Anti-Western, Cults