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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. 1 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. 2 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. 3 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. 4