Introduction:
This essay concerns itself with exploring the Islamic and political orientation of Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966), an Egyptian civil servant turned political and religious activist, inspired by fundamentalist Islam. To gain an understanding of what influenced and formulated Qutb’s ideas it has been necessary to provide some background information relating the history of modern day Egypt and the emergence of reformist and fundamentalist Islam, from the 19th century until Qutb’s time. The essay also seeks to give some biographical information in order to provide a fuller picture of Qutb the man.
Qutb’s involvement with Egyptian religious politics caused him to come into conflict with the Nasser government of 1950s’ Egypt and Qutb spent a decade in prison. It was during this period he produced many of his seminal writings on the establishment of a truly Islamic society. By drawing on early Islamic thinkers and on direct interpretation of the Qur’an, Qutb advocated violence in establishing an Islamic state. The thinking behind and the implications of these interpretations are discussed at length in this essay to demonstrate how they have informed the belief of many Islamic fundamentalists, especially with regard to the use of violence to achieve their aims. The latter part of the essay focuses on the legacy of Qutb’s ideas and how these have been manifest in various fundamentalist groups. However, because academic literature is often a few paces behind the present it has not been possible to explore some recent developmenst of Islam inspired violence in any detail, namely the emergence of fundamentalist groups within the Muslim diaspora of the West.
The rise of fundamentalist Islam, especia...
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Sayyid Qutb was a prominent Islamic thinker known to the world and fundamentally researched in the West. Many have attempted to understand the ideologies that Qutb followed that lead him to become such a radical Islamic thinker. The radical ideology that Qutb followed has been associated with terrorist organizations that exist today. He spent most of his life developing his ideological way of thinking. He was seen as being radical but when his ideology is put against others within the same category it is easy to see that they are very similar. For Qutb growing up in a small village left a huge impact on his outlook and ideologies for the future, which lead him to his most influential work.
In his 176-page volume, the leading German Islamist, Heinz Halm is able to trace the roots of the Iranian Revolution back throughout the history of the Shi’ism. Contrary to many western thinkers and Iranian militants, Halm feels as though Shi’i Islam’s character was not inherently revolutionary, but that the transition to revolution marked a milestone and a watershed in the history of Shi’i thought and history. The title of his book, “Shi’a Islam: From Religion to Revolution” really synopsizes Halm’s point quite adequately. Heinz Halm is currently a professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Tubingen and is the author of numerous other works on Sunni Islam, Shi’ism and Isma’ilism. Some of his works include: “The Empire of the Mahdi”, “The Rise of the Fatimids”, and “Shi’ism”.
Thomas W. Lippman gives an introduction to the Muslim world in the book Understanding Islam. He has traveled throughout the Islamic world as Washington Post bureau chief for the Middle East, and as a correspondent in Indochina. This gave him, in his own words, "sharp insight into the complexities of that turbulent region." However, the purpose of the book is not to produce a critical or controversial interpretation of Islamic scripture. It is instead to give the American layman an broad understanding of a religion that is highly misunderstood by many Americans. In this way he dispels many myths about "Muslim militants," and the otherwise untrue perception of Islamic violence. In this way the American reader will become more knowledgeable about an otherwise unfamiliar topic. However, the most significant element of Lippman’s book is that it presents Islam in a simple way that makes the reader feels his awareness rise after each chapter. This encourages him to continue learning about the world’s youngest major religion. Understanding Islam dispels many misconceptions about the Muslim world, and presents the subject in a way that urges his reader to further his understanding of Islam through continued study.
The issues of Islam being compatible with liberty, and democracy, such principles of “modernity” that make us free are questioned regarding the religion of Islam. Amin reasons that there are questions from both sides regarding Islam; however, there are inadequate answers to these questions. Instead of simplifying the answers, the author states that when a deed is done in the name of any doctrine, that doesn’t necessarily make that doctrine a source of evil. Rather, the extremity of the actions that the person makes following that doctrine is due to his or her own interpretation. Amin says his own interpretation of Islam has no significance as his ideas won’t put an end to the controversy surrounding
Islam is often presented in the media with a negative stereotype of violence and evil in relation to terrorism and terroristic acts not as a religion. After reading the chapter on Islam in Honoring Our Neighbor’s Faith I found much of the teaching on Islam attempt to promote harmony and in no way commit harmful acts on others or to be a terrorist. I personally had a misconception to this notion of linking all Islamic and Muslims with words such as militant and terrorist. A patient of mine recently attempted to explain to me that terrorism is not, in any way, associated with Islam. He stressed the fact that terrorism goes against the beliefs of Islam. In this paper I will provide a brief description of the Islam, their beliefs, similarities found in my Catholic religion and finally my thoughts on if the teaching of Islam and does or does not promote violence.
The Fatimid’s had been rumored to be tolerant, compassionate and focused on unifying Islam; however, it has been proved that this was not always the case. Orientalists have acknowledged their contribution towards the advancement of Islam and claim that the Christian and Jewish communities excelled during this time; but it did not come without its deceptions and deviations from Islamic norms and rules. This historiography will explore whether the Fatimids were actually the tolerant Muslims whose actions, belief systems and practices evidenced the growth of Islam and tolerance of other religions, or if they were merely politi...
Globalization, among other factors, introduced turbulence in the Muslim world. As such, there have been cases in Muslim countries where political and social movements began to arise in a form of revival to strengthen or bring back Islamic philosophy in such countries. In his book Global Political Islam, Peter Mandaville discusses case studies of early revivalist movements and their continuing legacy in the modern world. Mandaville explains that the term ‘political Islam’ is a political movement that is fundamentally “a state whose governmental principles, institutions and legal system derive directly from the shari’ah” (Mandaville pg.57). Thus all these movements are essentially linked by a goal to revive and retrieve a fundamentalist political ideology and practice. This paper will explore the revivalist movements in the case studies presented in Mandaville’s book. The movements will be divided in time periods covering pre-modern and modern revivalists. Lastly, this paper will conclude that pre-modern and modern political movements in Islam mainly differ in their responses to revivalism. In the case of pre-modern revivalists, the response was an internal solution where as the modern revivalists sought to abolish external factors that they saw as a threat.