Political Islam

international | rights, freedoms and repression | opinion/analysis

Tuesday January 17, 2006 18:32

by Paul Baynes

Although the mass media often links Islam with militancy, Political Islam can refer to a wide range of movements - many of them progressive.

The phrase ‘political Islam’ often conjures up ideas of jihadists and militants, but there is a much wider range of political approaches that are linked to the Muslim faith. There are many variants of political Islam other that of the fundamentalist, militant Islamists in Al-Qaeda and other similar groups.

It should also be remembered that fundamentalists are never orthodox. Fundamentalism is always a move away from the basics of any religion. And so, Islamic fundamentalists do not have what most Muslims would call a normal view of their faith. Islamic fundamentalism is a move away from the traditional beliefs of Islam.

It is often thought that one of the reasons for Islamic fundamentalism is that, unlike Christianity, there has never been any reformation within Islam. However, at present there are many modernising and progressive trends occurring within Islam. It can be argued that Islam is presently experiencing a reformation of its own.

One example of this is Iran. Iran is host to a vibrant civil society movement in favour of democracy, transparency, and more equality for women. An underground culture of blogging, listening to and playing Western rock music, and reading banned books has sprung up in Iran. It should be remembered that Iran’s 1979 revolution, while it was certainly a self-consciously Islamic revolution, was also a response to the authoritarian rule of the Shahs, the deprived material conditions of the mass of the population, and the foreign domination of Iran. Although Iran was never a formal colony, it existed as a semi-colony during the period of the Shah, and the 1979 revolution established the independence of the country.

However, rather than fostering these progressive movements within Iranian society, the US has categorised Iran as a rogue state over the last ten years. By putting pressure on its client states in the region (which are authoritarian governments themselves), the US has helped to sideline Iran within the Middle East. Any incursion into Iran in a similar vein to Iraq would succeed in marginalizing any existing progressive movements within Iranian society. In fact, the US war on terror has contributed greatly to the radicalising of populations in the Middle East. Young people - who may otherwise be drawn to modernising movements - are angered by US arrogance towards fellow Muslim populations in Iraq and Palestine, and are more likely to be drawn into anti-American militancy.

The US’s supposed democratisation project in the Middle East would be better served by fostering progressive civil society movements in the region. However, it seems that such movements are a threat to US interests. This is why the discourse surrounding the war on terror has identified Islam with militancy and the West with democracy.

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For more info:
Interview with Professor Fred Halliday:
http://www.angelfire.com/dc/mbooks/mythofconfrontation.html

OpenDemocracy.net article "Arab states, Islamism and the West" (requires membership, but membership is free):
http://www.opendemocracy.net/debates/article.jsp?id=5&debateId=57&articleId=419