Does Islamic fundamentalism ever justify terrorism as a means to an end?
By: Seth Heath
10/22/01
In order to understand how anyone could condone such atrocious acts against other people we must first understand the origins of Islamic fundamentalism. According to Andrew Heywood Islamic fundamentalism "represents a moral protest against decadence and hypocrisy."(Heywood, 292) The Islamic fundamentalist of today has problems not only with the morality and economic influence of the West, but also with Islamic nations societal embracing of and dependence on the West, which fundamentalist view as corrupting and exploitive. According to some Islamic fundamentalists any means is justified to rid the Islamic world of the corruption and oppression from the West. This is a hotly debated issue and many Islamic scholars and clerics have opposing viewpoints on this interpretation of the Koran.
What is the who, when, where and why of Islamic fundamentalism? At a symposium debating Islamic fundamentalism sponsored by UCLA in February of 2000 Khaled Abou El Fadl, a professor in Islamic Studies at the UCLA School of Law, states "the origins of fundamentalism began with the Khawarij, a puritan tribe around 600… (they) adopted a strict view of the Koran and eventually became a full-fledged movement."(King) Today there are two primary branches of Islamic Fundamentalism, Shia and Sunni. Yasmin Mather says that "Shias mainly live in Iran, parts of Iraq, and as a minority in Lebanon and Afghanistan; the rest of the Islamic world is predominantly Sunni."(Mather) The Shia branch of Islam is the basis of which the Iranian revolution of 1979 was based on. The majority of Muslims abide by the principles of the Sunni interpretation of the Koran. Since the majority of Muslims practice Sunni it follows that the majority of Islamic fundamentalists and extremists come from that arm of Islam. According to Jessica Wong, of CBC News Online, "(Osama) bin Laden belongs to a very strict fundamentalist strain of Sunni Islam that believes a core responsibility of every Muslim is to take up arms against enemies of Islam."(Wong) This belief well explains recent events. The beliefs of Osama bin Laden are not indicative of all Islamic fundamentalists. For many it is a matter of pride, morality and a feeling of economic helplessness.
Islam is purely Arabic in nature and does not borrow anything from western culture; this trait makes it very appealing to many people of Arab decent. In his book, Political Ideologies, Heywood states, "in preaching a return to traditional institutions and principles, Islamic fundamentalists therefore expressed a powerful desire for political and cultural independence from the West."(Heywood, 305) This desire for independence from western influence also reaches into the arena of morality. A follower of a devout form of Islam was quoted by Neil MacFarquhar as saying "When a guy says let a women uncover her face, what they are really aiming for is to be completely uncovered, to live like the West. This is just the first stone they are removing from the building. Where will it end if we allow every aspect of our lives to be taken away?"(MacFarquhar) This reference to veiling illustrates the logic behind Islamic morality. The issue is not solely one of pride or morality. Islamic fundamentalism also finds its roots in the same place as many social movements, poverty. Yasmin Mather effectively illustrates this point in a paper for the Islamic Fundamentalist Foundation located in the United Kingdom. Mathers states that
"Industrialization and the rural exodus that started in the 1960s in most Middle Eastern countries saw the creation of shanty towns around many cities. The state in these countries was incapable of dealing with this demographic change. Poverty, unemployment, cultural differences and lack of social mobility all played a part in the alienation of shantytown dwellers from the rest of urban society. At the same time, the rate of literacy increased and state education allowed sections of the petty bourgeoisie access to higher education. Many of the cadres of Islamic parties came from this section, while their rank-and-file support is mainly from the lumpen youth of the shanty towns."(Mather)
Coupled with poverty Heywood attributes the rise of Islamic Fundamentalism to "their continued economic dependence on the West or the Soviet Union" a feeling of "political impotence, symbolized by the survival of the state of Israel."(Heywood, 306) But why does Osama bin Laden, considered by many to be the epitome of an Islamic fundamentalist, feel that the US and the vast majority of western civilization are the enemy of Islam?
In and article titled "They can't see why they are hated" printed in The Guardian on Thursday September 13, 2001 Seumas Milne states his opinion on the causes.
"Unconstrained by any superpower rival or system of global governance, the US giant has rewritten the global financial and trading system in its own interest; ripped up a string of treaties it finds inconvenient; sent troops to every corner of the globe; bombed Afghanistan, Sudan, Yugoslavia and Iraq without troubling the United Nations; maintained a string of murderous embargos against recalcitrant regimes; and recklessly thrown its weight behind Israel's 34-year illegal military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza…"(Milne)
While this is a journalists take on the reasons for the recent spate of terrorism it does not stray far from the general feelings of Osama bin Laden and his Al-Queda group of extremists. In a report filed for CBC Online Jessica Wong says, "In February 1998, bin Laden issued a joint fatwa, or religious proclamation, along with the Islamic Group, Al Jihad, the Jihad Movement in Bangladesh and the "Jamaat ul Ulema e Pakistan." Under the name "World Islamic Front," it called for all Muslims to kill Americans and their allies, military or civilian, "in any country in which it is possible to do it."(Wong) In the Fatwa the World Islamic Front sites its reason for jihad, Islamic for struggle or holy war, against the West as the Following:
First, for over seven years the United States has been occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest of places, the Arabian Peninsula, plundering its riches, dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people, terrorizing its neighbors, and turning its bases in the Peninsula into a spearhead through which to fight the neighboring Muslim peoples.
Second, despite the great devastation inflicted on the Iraqi people by the crusader-Zionist alliance…the Americans are once against trying to repeat the horrific massacres…with the protracted blockade imposed after the ferocious war…
So here they come to annihilate what is left of this people and to humiliate their Muslim neighbors.
Third…the aim is also to serve the Jews' petty state and divert attention from its occupation of Jerusalem and murder of Muslims there…and their endeavor to fragment all the states of the region such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Sudan into paper statelets and through their disunion and weakness to guarantee Israel's survival and the continuation of the brutal crusade occupation of the Peninsula.
All these crimes and sins committed by the Americans are a clear declaration of war on God, his messenger, and Muslims. (World)
The preceding statement serves to illustrate the reasoning behind and justification for this particular group of Islamic fundamentalists to attack the west. But where do they get religious justification to wage this war of terrorism on the West?
The World Islamic Front, or WIF, claims that their jihad against the crusaders is justified by their interpretation of the Koran, the holy book of the Islamic faith. The WIF feels that the "Americans actions (listed in the fatwa) are a clear declaration of war on God, his messenger, and Muslims."(World) The WIF cite various ulema, interpretations of the Koran, as having said "jihad is individual duty if the enemy destroys the Muslim countries."(World) The WIF also quotes the writings of the shaykh of al-Islam in the their fatwa as saying "As for the fighting to repulse [an enemy], it is aimed at defending the sanctity and religion, and it is a duty as agreed [by the ulema]. Nothing is more sacred than belief except repulsing an enemy who is attacking religion."(World) These interpretational and theological differences are where the scholars disagree.
The greatest differences of interpretation exist between Islamic fundamentalists and moderates. In a recent article for the New York Times Blaine Harden says, "A number of prominent religious scholars describe Wahhabism as a particularly rigid minority Islamic sect that is intolerant of other forms of Islam, unwilling to accommodate other religions and likely to create a narrow view of the world among its followers"(Harden) The majority of Muslims, especially in America are moderate in nature. The difference between Islamic fundamentalists and moderates is comparable to that of Puritans and the modern Christian church.
Due to the interpretive nature of the Koran, as with many holy books, it is easy for extremist groups to manipulate the language to serve their twisted ends. The Spanish Inquisition is good example of Christian extremism. While the majority of Muslims are peaceful and kind there is that branch that isn't. Islamic fundamentalism in itself doesn't condone the use of terrorism. However, there are groups that exist within the boundaries of, and are often funded by, fundamentalist that justify the use of any force necessary to achieve their ends. To these Islamic extremists there is no place for boundaries when you are fighting the Great Satan, America.
Harden, Blaine. American Muslims. Online: 10/20/2001
Available:http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/20/national/20MUSL.html?searchpv=past7days&pagewanted=print
Heywood, Andrew. Political Ideologies 2nd Ed. New York: Worth Publishing, 1992.
King, David. Scholars debate fundamentalism. Online: 10/20/2001
Available: http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/db/issues/00/02.11/news.islam.html
Neil, MacFarquhar. Bin Laden and His Followers Adhere to Strict for of Islam. Online: 10/17/2001 Available: http://www.nytimes.10/07/2001.national.
Mather, Yasmin. Islamic Fundamentalism. Online: 10/19/2001
Available: http://www.isf.org.uk/ISFJournal/ISF3/IslamicFundamentalism.htm
Milne, Seumas. They can’t see why they are hated. Online: 10/18/2001
Available: http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,551036,00.html
Wong, Jessica. In depth Backgrounds. Online: 10/20/2001
Available: ttp://www.cbc.ca/news/indepth/background/wtc_questionbinladen.html
World Islamic Front. Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders. Online: 10/19/2001
Available: http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/980223-fatwa.htm