Download Islamic Fund.Part 2 - The Simmons Review

How to Influence Moderate Muslims to Marginalize Islamic Fundamentalism
Segment 2
The Main Grievances and Contributing Factors Dividing Islam and Producing
Fundamentalism
In the first segment I introduced the internal/external principle of reducing or
marginalizing just about any feature of our world. Weakening factors can either be produced
from within or from without any body, structure, or organization. I also presented a brief
historical sketch of events leading to the present state of Islam today. In this segment I will focus
upon the primary factors contributing to divisions within Islam and which also are fueling the
rapid development of Islamic Fundamentalism.
So, what has this historic progression of fundamentalism produced? What exactly are the
main grievances and issues that have motivated these fundamentalists historically, especially in
the last century? It is important to identify what factors are contributing to the frustrations these
extremists experience and why they are not only angry with the West, but are brutal on other
Muslims who disagree with them.
Following the principle of the illustration in the first segment of this article
(internal/external threats), there are paralleling grievances by most Muslims against both internal
and external issues. We are most interested in those issues that cause the deepest grief among
Muslims who are fundamentalists and which cause the most destructive division within and
without Islam.
The main focus of the fundamentalists’ grievance internally toward Islam has to do with
what may be considered as the threat toward a lack of true Islamic spirituality, especially as it
was taught and practiced in earlier centuries. This was a huge point of frustration for Sayid Qutb,
and why he was bitterly opposed to trends which he considered to be leading modern Islam away
from true Muslim faith. He often referred to al-jahiliyya as a concept which criticized nonfundamentalist Muslims as barbarians. Colin Chapman sums up Qutb’s thoughts: “He applied
the concept al-jahiliyya, the Age of Ignorance, to Islamic countries today, and believe that
violence and terrorism were justified in the jihad to overthrow existing governments which were
not sufficiently Islamic.”1 This sheds tremendous light on the reason there are so many
assassinations, coups, and revolts in these countries. The fundamentalists, following Qutb’s
teachings (and others) are genuinely committing themselves to what they believe is to be a valid
means to restore Islam to its true expression. This is compounded significantly for the internal
affairs of all social and cultural life in Muslim countries when there is no distinction in the
Muslim’s mind between spiritual and secular, or state and religion. Sayid Abul A’la Mawdudi
taught that “the chief characteristic of the Islamic concept of Life is that it does not admit a
conflict, nay, not even a significant separation between life-spiritual and life-mundane.”2 This
means that fundamentalist spirituality compels adherents to consider anything in the social,
political, or cultural realms kafir (infidel, blasphemer) which does not align to their beliefs.
1
Chapman, Kindle location 2264 (Part Two: Understanding Islam, Chapter 13: The Spread and
Development of Islam, section, “Movements of Revival and Reform).
2 Sayyid Abul A’la Mawdudi, The Islamic Way of Life, 1, available from:
http://www.islambasics.com/index.php?act=download&BID=70.
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This internal criticism of the majority of Muslims by the fundamentalist is a grievance
about what they consider as false Islam. Applying the terms al-jahiliyya and kafir to define what
they consider this majority of Muslims to be is a massive point of contention for these Islamic
Fundamentalists. This is why it is so important to understand the distinctions among the sects
and groups within Islam. Internally, there is a lot of strife that will call for the use of jihad force
by fundamentalists even within Muslim society to intimidate and coerce other Muslims to
commit to their ideology. David Garrison writes, “There is an evil in Islam, as with all religions,
when it is used to control and manipulate its followers or incite them to violence against those
who would exercise their freedom of conscience to embrace a different way. Islam today is
perhaps the most intrusive and egregious world religion at squelching nonconformity of belief.”3
This may be true in a general sense entirely for all Islamic religion, but it must be significantly
truer in the fundamentalist form of Islam. Garrison adds, “Today’s Muslims are increasingly
repulsed by a religion that imposes its will with force. Muslim brutalities against Muslims in
North Africa, the Arab World, South Asia and Indo-Malaysia have been key stimulants to
millions of Muslims questioning the divine origins of Islam and turning to Christ.”4 Andrew
Hart, in a post about the myths of ISIS, reminds us that many Muslims get caught up in the
violence of ISIS’s tactics, and therefore the divisive, extreme forms of Islam advocated by ISIS
and similar fundamentalists are condemned by most Muslim scholars and the majority of Islam’s
adherents.5
The main factors contributing to the fundamentalists’ grievances from an external
orientation really contribute to the grief most Muslims experience. However, the most
aggravated reactions to these threats issue exclusively from fundamentalists. There is not at all
space in this segment to explicate even the major grievances adequately. We can only list some
of them and make a brief comment.
Fundamentalists generally consider all external grievances as resentment for injustices
committed toward them or other forms of oppression and discrimination that they feel have
contributed to their disappointments and challenges. There is a long legacy to these grievances
going back as far as the Crusades of the eleventh-thirteenth centuries. Almost every sincere
scholar, Christian or secular, would grant that the Muslim community is correct in its deep grief
for the brutal treatment they received by the crusaders. Garrison writes, “Though the Crusades
(1096-1272) can be seen as Christian Europe’s imitative response to centuries of Islamic jihad,
these military forays proved counterproductive to the advance of the gospel.”6 So deep is the
grief for the brutal acts of the Crusades that after eight hundred years fundamentalist proponents
like Sayid Qutb could still refer to some Christians as “Modern Crusaders” when he wished to
compare their actions to those of centuries ago.7 Many Muslims simply believe that the West’s
3
David Garrison, A Wind in the House of Islam: How God is Drawing Muslims Around the World to
Faith in Jesus Christ, E-book version (Monument, CO: WIGTake Resources, 2014), Kindle location. 3290 (Part
3: In the House of War, “Looking Back,” section “View of Islam”).
4 Ibid, Kindle location. 3524 (Part 3: In the House of War, “How and Why,” section “Ten Bridges of
God).
5 Andrew Hart, The WorldPost (The Huffington Post), “The 9 Biggest Myths About ISIS Debunked,”
posted 9-30-2014, available from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/30/isis-mythsdebunked_n_5875050.html.
6 Garrison, Kindle location, 149 (Part 1: The Hinges of History, “Something is Happening,” “Crusades,
Inquisitions and Other Failures”).
7 See Jabbour, The Rumbling Volcano for discussion, 128.
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recent military occupations in the Middle East are attempts to rule over the nations there and
continue the heritage of the Crusades.8
Another grievance by the fundamentalists focuses upon the colonial occupation and
exploitation of many Islamic lands. The policies that involved oppression and abuse by the
European colonizers have led to bitterness and resentment in today’s Islamic world. These
humiliating years have produced a retaliation mentality. The belief of fundamentalists today is
that the policies of foreign powers remain oppressive even if authorities of those foreign powers
do not presently live among them. They consider that they are under a new form of colonialism
that attempts to form their political views, control by occupying military forces, and manage
their economies. Associated with this grievance is the rejection and cutting off of the Islamic
caliphate in 1924 at the end of the Ottoman Empire and the beginning of the new Turkish
Republic. Wanting to make modern and secular reforms, President Mustafa Kemal
constitutionally abolished the caliphate. This in essence destroyed Islamic belief in the ordained
successor to Muhammad’s leadership which Muslims refer to as al-Imama. The caliph was the
political-spiritual leader of the Islamic world. This was essentially declaring that there was now
no unified authority in Islam. This move has led to tremendous resentment and frustration to a
majority of Muslims, especially fundamentalists, who look for a renewed Islamic State.
Without question, though, the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land is the greatest
grievance to Islamic Fundamentalists, if not a majority of the Arab Muslim world. Again, the
Muslim community in general, and the fundamentalists specifically, have a significantly valid
reason to complain. However, this still should not justify violence. Gary Burge, in a powerfully
convincing work, Whose Land? Whose Promise? notes that, “the vast majority of the world’s
nations see the Israeli settlement and occupation of the West Bank as violating international
law.”9 Colin Chapman evaluates the Muslim point of view by stating, “The creation of the state
of Israel in 1948 is seen by most Arabs and Muslims as the last---and perhaps the most bitter--example of Western imperialism.10 Fundamentalists view this combination of Israeli occupation
with Western support as the most violating conspiracy against them. It is the union of Western
support with Israeli occupation that adds exponentially to the grief and frustration these Islamists
experience. In a personal testimony about his path to Christ, Ahmer Khokhar revealed the
bitterness and ostracism he experienced from his family. In trying to convey how his father felt
about Islamic beliefs, Khokhar reveals that US citizens need to try to understand “that the
creation of Israel is the pinnacle of the Islamic world’s hatred.”11 Perhaps his evaluation over
generalizes the view of all Muslims, but it stands that there is a great crisis in fundamentalists’
minds concerning Israeli occupation and the unwavering Western support of it. Nabeel Jabbour
reports that Egyptians have “a hypothesis which is believed as a fact in Egypt…the longer it
takes to reach a peaceful settlement for the Palestinian problem, the stronger the Fundamentalists
will become. Furthermore, the more it is known that Christian Zionism plays an influential role
in giving Israel financial, moral, political, and theological support, the deeper the conviction of
8
See Chapman, Cross and Crescent, Kindle locations 601, 2131. For a similar theme about the
perception many Muslims have about Christian missionaries today, see discussion at location. 2186.
9 Gary M. Burge, Whose Land? Whose Promise? What Christians Are Not Being Told About Israel and
the Palestinians, (Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press, 2013), 62.
10 Chapman, Kindle location 2200 (Part Two: Understanding Islam, Chapter 13: “The Spread and
Development of Islam,” section, “European Imperialism”).
11 Ahmer Khokhar, I May Lose My Muslim Family, available from:
http://www.m4truth.com/page40.html.
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the Fundamentalist will become.” This appropriately evaluates the sentiment across the
Fundamentalist Movement concerning grievances, and helps bridge to the subject of determining
how moderation of fundamentalism might take shape. If what has just been remarked upon
possesses any validity, there can be no mistake that the Israeli/Palestinian conflict must be
seriously addressed and dissolved if there is any hope to moderate the fundamentalists. Is this
hopeless? Are there options to consider which have not been presented yet? What might
moderation look like? I will begin in the next segment by trying to demonstrate from both an
internal and external frame what might prompt a majority of Muslims to be influenced by
moderation away from fanaticism.
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