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Islamism
– The course of the past few hundred years of history has been a
story of the exploitation of the poorer areas of the world (in
terms of economics and power) by the richer areas of the
world.
– We needed the poorer areas so that we could get raw
materials and maintain our own power, wealth and lifestyles.
– We needed to keep them weak so that we could maintain
control over them – so we installed puppet governments
which were often brutal, and actively prevented education and
economic development.
– The result of all this, was a high level of resentment and
also division in the countries which were being exploited.
– Communism as an ideological response has been
attempted by some groups in these countries (politicising
their grievances) – but it too is a western ideology.
– Islamism is a non-Western ideology – it is anti-Western,
and offers people the opportunity to be empowered in
their fight against exploitation. This is why it has become
so popular in recent years.
– Islamism is a political ideology and should not be mistaken as
being just the same as Islam – which is a religion.
– Islamism is on the bottom right of the political spectrum, it is a
reaction against what is seen as the decadence of society –
moral decline where people in Muslim countries have taken on
aspects of Western life – dress, entertainment etc.
– It is important to remember that not all Islamists are terrorists
– sometimes politicians misuse the term – it is a political
ideology, and fits in with the second stage of the process
– Islamists tend to believe that the world order has to be
completely changed, as modern life has moved us away
from the way that Allah had intended the world to be – as
made clear through the teachings of Muhammad.
Islam
– Islam is a religion which began around the year 622, and
which and which spread across the Middle East and North
Africa between 622 and 1900.
– Muhammad is considered by Muslims to be the last
prophet sent by God – Muslims, like Jews and Christians,
believe that there is only one God. Muslims also believe
that Adam, Abraham, Moses and Jesus were all prophets
from the same God – so basically Muslims believe in all the
same things that Jews and Christians have in common –
Muslims just think that their book completes the trilogy.
– Muhammad was born around 570 in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. He
was orphaned very early in life, and was brought up by an
uncle. However, it wasn’t really part of the culture of that
time for family members to take care of orphans, and so he
was unlikely to have received much in the way of education
etc.
– He fell in love with a woman who was older than him and
already a widow. Her name was Khadija. She married him,
and was a strong influence on his life. She was renowned for
being quite a strong independent woman – and this is today
used as evidence that Muhammad had respect for women.
– Perhaps as a consequence of his lonely childhood, he had a
tendency throughout his life to go away into the desert
caves on his own, for solitary contemplation, and he
claimed to have been visited by the angel Gabriel during
this time – who told him that it was time to unite the
people by preaching to them that there is only one God,
and everyone must submit to that God.
– This preaching became the foundation for Islam – today
anyone can convert to Islam by repeating this one phrase –
in Arabic it’s called the Shahaddah
– “There is only one God, and Muhammad is his prophet”
– If you accept that, then you are a Muslim. Which is why
Islam became a religion that spread quite quickly
throughout the world.
– Muhammad faced a lot of aggression in Mecca for his new
teachings and so he had to move to Medina – he fled the city
of Mecca in 622, and travelled across the desert to Medina –
this was called the Hijra, and is celebrated every year by
Muslims from all over the world who are bound to try and do
the pilgrimage from Medina to Mecca at least once in their
lives (which is why Saudi Arabia is such an important country
to Muslims)
– He managed to build up a large number of followers in the
intervening years – many of his teachings were about charity
and setting up a state to make sure that the weakest in society
are cared for.
– However, tribes from Mecca kept attacking, so he raised an
army of 10,000 and marched on Mecca – managing to take
the city.
– This was seen as a miracle, as the army they fought was
much larger – and a sign from God that he really did
approve of this Islam thing, and so Islam then began to
spread quickly across the Arabian Peninsula.
– Muhammad died shortly after the battle with Mecca – and
it is what happened next which has split Islam, and led to a
significant conflict in the Middle East in the centuries which
followed.
– During the last years of his life, Muhammad had managed to
unite the Arab tribes, and had brought peace to the area. But
when he died, a dispute broke out about who should take
leadership of the movement.
– Some people thought that they should follow the Arab
tradition and have one of his close friends and allies take over
– Abu-Bakr, had been a loyal follower of Muhammad since the
early days
– But some people thought that it should be Ali – who was his
cousin (and who had been like a brother to him). Ali had also
married Muhammad’s daughter Fatima, so there were strong
family ties.
– This caused an early conflict in Islam – those who supported
Abu-Bakr became known as Sunni Muslims, they wanted to
follow the Sunnah – which is a collection of things that
Muhammad had done and said throughout his life. They
thought this was the example of how best to live one’s life.
They believed that as the world changes and progresses,
people might get further away from how Muhammad taught
them to be, and so modernity is a threat.
– Those who followed Ali became known as Shia Muslims, as
they believe that in the future another great Imam will come
to lead all Muslims.
– This split between Sunni and Shia Muslims has continued and
deepened through the years.
– Sunni make up about 85% of the world’s Muslims, and Shia
make up about 15%.
– The Arabian Peninsula, including Saudi Arabia is mostly Sunni,
whereas Iran is 95% Shia. This means there is a divide
between these two areas of the Middle East.
– Iraq is one of the only countries which has a close to even split
between Sunni and Shia. This has meant that it is most
susceptible to violence between the two groups – and has
become the battleground for this Middle Eastern conflict
– In Syria, President Basshar Al Asad is an Alawhite – which is
an ethnic group who follow the Shia faith. But the majority
of people in Syria are Sunni.
– So when the civil war broke out to attempt to overthrow
Assad, he deliberately instigated a sectarian war between
Shia and Sunni, in order to make himself indispensable to
the Shias in the country.
– Western involvement in the recent conflicts has been
problematic, as the US and Britain have appeared to
support the Shia in fighting ISIS, who are a Sunni group.
This could have the effect of deepening Sunni hostility
against the West.
– As with all political ideologies, there are many different
forms of Islamism, and most promote peaceful political
protest as a means of moving towards the development of
an Islamic State, however, there are some branches of
Islamism which do justify the use of violent struggle – or
Jihad –
– The most famous of thinkers leading such a movement was
Sayyid Qutb. Osama Bin Laden and Ayman Al Zawahiri
were both followers of Qutb.