The post-Enlightenment tendency to define religion as a system of belief restricted to personal or private life, rather as way of life, has seriously hampered our ability to understand the nature of Islam. It has artificially compartmentalized religion, doing violence to its nature; and has reinforced a static, reified conception of religious conceptions of religious traditions rather than revealed their inner dynamic nature. To that extent, a religion that does not seem to do so (a religion that mixes religion and politics) appears necessarily retrogressive, prone to religious extremism and fanaticism, and thus a potential threat [1]

In this study I intend to explore how the implantation of secularism in the Middle East in the twentieth century has given rise to violent Islamist movements whose ideologies tarnish the reputation of Islam in the Western perception. The most notable thinkers in this context being Sayyid Qutb, Abdus Salam Faraj, Ayman al-Zawahiri and the sheik Abdullah Azzam.  How the ideology at the forefront of these movements has been implemented as a strategy of jihad that makes it permissible to kill innocent people, even fellow Muslims[2] are testament to the disparate nature of Islam today. This strategy ultimately serves to prevent understanding between the publics of East and West which is the key to conflict resolution, as it is the frightened masses who subscribe to doctrines that give leaders the legitimacy to carry out the interests of the powerful, rather than the interests of the people.

The present rulers have apostatised from Islaam. They have been brought up over colonial tables be they Christian, Communist or Zionist. What they carry of Islaam is nothing but names, even if they pray, fast and claim to be Muslims.[3]

The extent to which governments in Muslim countries fail to meet the “socioeconomic needs of their societies, are corrupt, resist political participation, fail to effectively incorporate Islam as a component in their national identity and ideology, or appear dependent on the West contributes to the appeal of an Islamic political alternative.” [4] As globalisation has shifted populations, Muslims across the world have struggled with pluralism and its consequences; the monotheistic vision of both Islam and Christianity both compete in claims and missions, producing theological and political conflict throughout history.[5]

Western hegemony over centuries has played a significant role. The carving up of the Caliphate and the resultant dependence of installed regimes on Western nations are responsible for their societal failures. In turn this has inflamed the politics of communities that know the Western threat all too well, that of “political, economic, and religiocultural imperialism”, an evident “political occupation accompanied by a cultural invasion”.[6]

In this study I intend to present the paradigm and seek to argue that colonisation of the Middle East by Western interests and the creep of capitalism has resulted in a fracturing of Islamic values so crucial to the unity of the ummah, amplified by the propagation of ideologies that are ultimately counterproductive to the true aims of the movement, and how these are perceived in the West to be a threat. I hope to demonstrate in this study that simply viewing Islam and events in the Muslim world through a “prism of violence and terrorism” only results in a failure to see and understand “the breath and depth of contemporary Islam, the multiplicity of orientations and diversity of expressions” [7] which highlight our common values.

The political as well as religious challenge today in an increasingly global, interdependent world is to recognise not only our competing interests but also our common interests.[8]

The power of ideas

This Jahiliyyahh is based on rebellion against Allah's sovereignty on earth. It transfers to man one of the greatest attributes of Allah, namely sovereignty, and makes some men lords over others.[9]

The history of Arab and non-Arab experiences, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood[10] in Egypt, are instructive regarding the linkage between state repression and radicalization. Gamal Abdel Nasser’s repression of the Brotherhood and the spiral of state violence and counter violence spawned the more militant ideological interpretation of Qutb and the ascendance of a radical wing within the Muslim Brotherhood.[11]

All nationalistic and. chauvinistic ideologies which have appeared in modern times, and all the movements and theories derived from them, have also lost their vitality. In short, all man-made individual or collective theories have proved to be failures and unsustainable[12]

After many years of British and French interference in the Middle East in the twentieth century, during which time British intelligence influenced the internal dynamics of scholars by planting modernist reformers who championed the standard liberal, socialist model with a view to establishing in Muslim regions a conformity with that model. It was in Egypt that an immense contribution to Islamic political thought was made at a time when the Muslim world was mesmerised by Western notions such as nationalism and the nation state. Against the backdrop of sweeping socialism and secularism in the Middle East, Egypt in the 1950’s was to give rise to one of the most well known members of the Muslim Brotherhood, an author, educator, poet, and leading intellectual of Islamist thought at the time, Sayyid Qutb.[13]

The main concept of Jahiliyyahh elaborated in his tome, Milestones, denounces the existing order in Muslim societies as such, meaning that the “whole environment, people's beliefs and ideas, habits and art, rules and laws is Jahiliyyahh, even to the extent that what we consider to be Islamic culture, Islamic sources, Islamic philosophy and Islamic thought are also constructs of Jahiliyyahh.”[14] He says of ‘modern’ nations that, “If we look at the sources and foundations of modern ways of living, it becomes clear that the whole world is steeped in Jahiliyyahh, and all the marvellous material comforts and high-level inventions do not diminish this ignorance.”[15] This society gives sovereignty to others than God and turns these sovereigns into objects of worship.[16]

Qutb could see that forces covertly hostile to Islam had gained complete control over Muslim lands and that once Islamic patterns of life were now dictated by a society that championed non-Islamic values. Furthermore, this Jahiliyyahh was well encroached, and “protected by all the coercive apparatus of a modern, authoritarian state,”[17] in short, Islam simply didn’t exist anymore.[18]

The term Jahiliyyahh for Qutb “encapsulated the utter bleakness of the Muslim predicament and served as a device for rejecting all allegiances other than Islam,”[19] and that jihad as a specific method for removing leaders was the only legitimate reaction. However some believe that violent overthrow of leaders alone is to misinterpret his message.[20]

The doctrine lays an ideological framework which provides guidelines for Muslim activists and describes the steps they must take to establish a society based on divine guidance; ever since it has been used along with other works as an ideological base for a strategy of jihad by violent splinter groups from Takfir w’al-Hijra and Jammat al-Jihad (built upon the ideology of Faraj[21] and credited as being the assassins of Sadat) to their offshoots today.[22] Militias have played a significant role in Muslim politics since the advent of these ideologues, and although some are associated with organisations that espouse a violent anti-government strategy, others seek to ‘Islamise’ their societies from within. The “origins, ideology, development, tactics and agendas, though religiously legitimatised” of these movemetns, are often the “product of political and economic factors as much as a theological-ideological worldview.”[23]

An interpreted reading of Qutb’s work, without a clear method for implementation, has contributed to the proliferation of clandestine, violent movements. He was not concerned with the absence of an Islamic government as such but focuses on the decline and absence of Islamic values, which has lead to the irrelevance of Islam as a complete and total system[24], its major strength.  He saw this Jahiliyyahh as so deep that Muslim conduct is now motivated by considerations drawn from other systems of thought. As with many thinkers that have influenced the movement, Qutb was not an Islamic scholar, and so his work should not serve solely as an intellectual legitimating of violence, the issue being unqualified ideologues quoting undisputed sources. He was, however, an academic with a good understanding of the prevalent ideologies of his time.  It was because of these series of problems for Islam in latter 20th century, a consequence of the absence of a manifestation of Islamic principles, norms and values on a societal level, which greatly contributed to the ‘revival’ Qutb heralded, but didn’t quite turn out perhaps as intended.

Jihad

It is for restraining the evil might of the unbelievers because unbelievers fear not our presence unless we fight: "And fight them until there is no more Fitnah (disbelief and polytheism: i.e. worshipping others besides Allah) and the religion (worship) will all be for Allah alone..." By neglecting fighting, Shirk, which is the Fitnah spreads, and Kufr becomes victorious[25]

In Egypt, writes Esposito in The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality, “throughout the Sadat and Mubarak years, secret Islamic revolutionary groups waged jihad to disrupt society and challenge the legitimacy and authority of the state.”[26] However by the late 1990’s the discourse had changed, Faraj had already coined the term ‘far (distant) enemy’[27] and al-Zawahiri had learnt some bitter lessons, coming to the conclusion that the jihadi movement was failure because the regimes they were fighting were not the real powers, and they had isolated themselves and failed to mobilise the masses.[28] Western powers had historically imposed a Western dominated structure which they had positioned directly and then via proxies, and militarily supporting the regimes.

And at what time on earth was Jihaad more needed than it is now, when the enemies of Islaam have surrounded our lands like wolves, taking from there what they wish.[29]

Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri returned to Afghanistan in 1997, bin Laden having been forced from Sudan who had come under pressure from the US to cease harbouring a known ‘entrepreneur’ of terrorism.[30] Their new organisation the World Islamic Front presented a new strategy of desperation [31] and “global paradigm”[32] which would prove to be somewhat of a gift to the a future of the neo-cons who had become marginalised in the United States searching for an excuse to expand further into the heart of the Middle East.[33] The perception of a monolithic ‘Islamic threat’ has often motivated the US to support repressive governments in the Muslim world, not only because of the ‘threat’ but to also serve its own interests, and “thus to a self-fulfilling prophecy.”[34]

A basis of this new international Jihad is the belief that land once conquered by Islam is always Islamic, and has to be re-conquered by obligation (the classical jurists reading) and the emphasis shifted from a domestic phenomenon to directly effecting Western world. This is the reason why the existence of Israel is so crucial, as it is land under ‘occupation’,[35] and the writings of Faraj and Azzam stress the obligation to take it back, as also stressed by Ibn Taymiyya centuries before.[36]

Conclusion

If this pupil wants to study engineering, medicine or history in a western country or

in America, where the Fitnah is like a black night, where temptation crashes around him like waves and the oceans of aflamed desires are astir.[37]

The ideologues quoted in this study, Qutb, Faraj, and Azzam all share the same outlook of the erosion of Islamic values and law, and therefore the identity, of Muslims in former Muslim lands. Azzam and especially Faraj take Qutb’s ideas to their logical extreme.

The Islamic movement will not be able to establish the Islamic community except through a common, people's Jihad which has the Islamic movement as its beating heart and deliberating mind.[38]

For all the fighting to unify the ummah and remove Western interests from Muslim lands in the name of Islam, Jihadists remain disparate. It is their lack of legitimacy and cult of personality that dilutes their priorities. What exactly are they trying to achieve? Is it remove leaders, a strategy that obviously failed when the death of Sadat did not change the direction of Egypt? Restore a caliphate that the imperial powers have ensured can never be brought back by fostering nationalism? [39] Remove western forces that are deeply entrenched…and last but not least, a free Palestine? It was their “vain hope that the revolutionary consciousness of the masses could be revived and mobilized, through a cycle of provocation, repression and solidarity.”[40]

For all the focus on Islamist movements, the “impact of revivalism can now be seen by the extent to which it has become part of mainstream Muslim life and society and is not simply the province marginalized and alienated groups. Secular institutions are now complemented or challenged by Islamically orientated schools, clinics, hospitals, banks, publishing houses and social services. Their ability to provide much needed services is often taken by regimes as an implicit if not explicit critique or threat, underscoring their limitations and failures”[41] Indeed, Hamas are the only organised movement in the Gaza Strip trusted by officials of the UNRWA (United Nations Relief Works and Agency) to “deliver food donations to the people,” [42] Many are now seeking a common ground with secularists, and beginning to celebrate the rights of the individual and the “democratic essence” of Islam.[43]

At the heart of Western “misinterpretation, stereotyping, and exaggerated fears” of Islam is a “clash of viewpoints.” Understanding and appreciation of Islam and Islamic movements have remained limited and selective. [44] According to the Western perception Islam and the West are on a collision course and is often portrayed as a ‘clash of civilisations’ which has become the excuse that’s justifies aggression and warfare. It appears that future global threats and wars are due less to a “clash of civilisations than a clash of interests,” according to Esposito. [45] “Spectacular terrorism” and the global media attention it attracts, Kepel writes, “made it possible for extremists to pose as champions of the cause…to regain popular fervour…in the absence of any effective work at the grassroots level.” [46]

The focus on ‘Islamic fundamentalism’ as a global threat in the West has reinforced a tendency to “equate violence and terrorism with Islam. It fails to distinguish between legitimate use of force in self-defence and terrorism.” Most importantly, the “illegitimate use or distortion of religion by individuals obscures the faith and practice of the majority of the worlds Muslims.” [47]

The focus of this study is that this emphasises that the “use of violence, distinguishing between moderates and extremists, between aggression and self-defence, resistance and terrorism depends on where one stands”[48] and the twisting of a message to serve ones interests, whether Western or Islamic, only serves to divide even further. What took place in Eqypt during the 1950’s - 70’s gave rise to secret underground groups, inspired by a literal and militant interpretation of Qutb and others, plotting violent overthrow of their regimes;[49] an ideology which later morphed into a jihad of global proportions. Some Muslims, it seems, like Christians and Jews, use religion to justify and legitimate aggression and warfare, and conquest and persecution, in the past and present.[50]

Bibliography

Azzam, Dr. A. 1979. Defense of the Muslim Lands: The First Obligation after Faith

Azzam, Dr. A. 1991 (second English ed.). Join the Caravan.

Esposito, J L. 1999. The Islamic Threat – Myth or Reality? Oxford: Oxford University Press

Faraj, M A S. 2000. The Absent Obligation – and expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Penisula. England: Maktabah Al Ansaar Publications

Fawaz, G A. 2009. The Far Enemy – Why Jihad Went Global. New York: Cambridge University Press

Kepel, G. 2004. The War for Muslim Minds – Islam and the West.  London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press

Kepel, G. 2009. Jihad – The Trail of Political Islam. London: I.B Tauris

Kepel, G. 2005. The Roots of Radical Islam. London: Saqi

Qutb, S. 2006. Milestones. England: Maktabah Al Ansaar Publications

[1] Esposito, J L. 1999. The Islamic Threat – Myth or Reality? Oxford: Oxford University Press (1999:260)

[2] For example, Qutb for one did not advocate co-existence with ‘Taghoot’ (institutions, ideas, individuals who embody non-Islam), hence the issue of pluralism for Islamist movements as Muslims settle in secular, capitalist countries.

[3] Faraj, M A S.. The Absent Obligation – and expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Penisula. England: Maktabah Al Ansaar Publications (2000:24)

[4] Esposito, J L. 1999. The Islamic Threat – Myth or Reality? Oxford: Oxford University Press (1999:267)

[5] Esposito, J L. 1999. The Islamic Threat – Myth or Reality? Oxford: Oxford University Press (1999:246)

[6] Esposito, J L. 1999. The Islamic Threat – Myth or Reality? Oxford: Oxford University Press (1999:217)

[7] Esposito, J L.  The Islamic Threat – Myth or Reality? Oxford: Oxford University Press (1999:259)

[8] Esposito, J L.  The Islamic Threat – Myth or Reality? Oxford: Oxford University Press (1999:231)

[9] Qutb, S. 2006. Milestones. England: Maktabah Al Ansaar Publications (2006:27)

[10] Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the Brotherhood, re-interpreted Islamic history and tradition too (as did Mawdudi) by calling for a moderate approach. This has produced a “common ideological worldview which has inspired and guided many Islamically orientated sociamoral reform movements”. However this was not reforming Islam at the root, only ‘Islamization’ of society. Esposito, J L. The Islamic Threat – Myth or Reality? Oxford: Oxford University Press (1999:131)

[11] Esposito, J L.  The Islamic Threat – Myth or Reality? Oxford: Oxford University Press (1999:272)

[12] Qutb, S. 2006. Milestones. England: Maktabah Al Ansaar Publications (2006:24)

[13] Best known in the Muslim world for his work on what he believed to be the social and political role of Islam, particularly Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq (Milestones or Signposts) and Fi Zilal al-Qur'an (In the Shade of the Qur'an), had significant impact on the modern perceptions of jihad, jahiliyyah and ummah.

[14] Qutb, S. 2006. Milestones. England: Maktabah Al Ansaar Publications (2006:34)

[15] Qutb, S. 2006. Milestones. England: Maktabah Al Ansaar Publications (2006:26)

[16] Kepel, G. The Roots of Radical Islam. London: Saqi (2005:47)

[17] A.B. al-Mehri  foreword in Qutb, S. 2006. Milestones. England: Maktabah Al Ansaar Publications (2006:11)

[18] “It is now not in that-simple and primitive form of the ancient Jahiliyyahh, but takes the form of claiming that the right to create values, to legislate rules of collective behaviour, and to choose any way of life rests with men, without regard to what Allah Almighty has prescribed. The result of this rebellion against the authority of Allah is the oppression of His creatures. Thus the humiliation of the common man under the communist systems and the exploitation of individuals and nations due to greed for wealth and imperialism under the capitalist, systems are but a corollary of rebellion against Allah's authority and the denial of the dignity of man given to him by Allah Almighty” Qutb, S. 2006. Milestones. England: Maktabah Al Ansaar Publications (2006:27)

[19] A.B. al-Mehri  foreword in Qutb, S. 2006. Milestones. England: Maktabah Al Ansaar Publications (2006:11)

[20] “For Qutb civilization must be able to speak to the human condition, ensure a humane order and this results from values in his thought not revolution per se. Qutb sees Democracy-Capitalism and Martial-Socialism as systems of thought and practice forced by history to come to a denouement because in the lack the values that will preserve the humanity of man  despite the fact that these systems have been the source of material progress. In the case of Democracy-Capitalism man has been been subdued by consumerism materialism and despite the fact Capitalism has advanced man’s material status it has marginalized and dehumanized a good majority. Whereas, in the case of Martial-Socialism for Qutb it has manifested too many inner contradictions not to mention it has birthed a crushing totalitarianism.” Available at: http://www.suhaibwebb.com/blog/general/an-archaeology-of-milestones-re-reading-the-thought-of-sayyid-qutb-by-imam-yusuf-rios/ [Accessed 12 November 2009]

[21] Esposito, J L. The Islamic Threat – Myth or Reality? Oxford: Oxford University Press (1999:143)

[22] Esposito, J L. The Islamic Threat – Myth or Reality? Oxford: Oxford University Press (1999:272)

[23] Esposito, J L. The Islamic Threat – Myth or Reality? Oxford: Oxford University Press (1999:276)

[24] Kepel, G. The Roots of Radical Islam. London: Saqi (2005:56)

[25] Azzam, Dr. A. Defense of the Muslim Lands: The First Obligation after Faith (1979:39)

[26] Esposito, J L. The Islamic Threat – Myth or Reality? Oxford: Oxford University Press (1999:142)

[27] Faraj, M A S.. The Absent Obligation – and expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Penisula. England: Maktabah Al Ansaar Publications (2000:52)

[28] Fawaz, G A. The Far Enemy – Why Jihad Went Global. New York: Cambridge University Press (2009:25)

[29] Faraj, M A S.. The Absent Obligation – and expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Penisula. England: Maktabah Al Ansaar Publications (2000:10)

[30] Kepel, G.. Jihad – The Trail of Political Islam. London: I.B Tauris (2009:320)

[31] This strategy was a symbol of the fragmentation and decline of the movement, not a  “sign of its irrepressible might.”

Kepel, G. Jihad – The Trail of Political Islam. London: I.B Tauris (2009:375)

[32] Fawaz, G A.. The Far Enemy – Why Jihad Went Global. New York: Cambridge University Press (2009:31)

[33] Kepel, G. The War for Muslim Minds – Islam and the West.  London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (2004:48)

[34] Esposito, J L. The Islamic Threat – Myth or Reality? Oxford: Oxford University Press (1999:272)

[35] The PLO’s recognition of Israel during he Oslo Peace Accords has “deprived many of the last hope of returning home.”

Kepel, G. The War for Muslim Minds – Islam and the West.  London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (2004:12)

[36] Ibn Taymiya "If the enemy enters a Muslim land, there is no doubt that it is obligatory for the closest and then the next closest to repel him, because the Muslim lands are like one land. It is obligatory to march to the territory even without the permission of parents or creditor, and narrations reported by Ahmad are clear on this." Azzam, Dr. A.  Defense of the Muslim Lands: The First Obligation after Faith (1979:17)

[37] Azzam, Dr. A. Defense of the Muslim Lands: The First Obligation after Faith (1979:30)

[38] Azzam, Dr. A. (second English ed.). Join the Caravan. (1991:15)

[39] Also seen to be ‘Israel was established only to challenge any new Islamic entity’. Available at: http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/library/report/2005/zawahiri-zarqawi-letter_9jul2005.htm. [Accessed 16 November 2009].

[40] Kepel, G.. Jihad – The Trail of Political Islam. London: I.B Tauris (2009:18)

[41] Esposito, J L. The Islamic Threat – Myth or Reality? Oxford: Oxford University Press (1999:284)

[42] Esposito, J L. The Islamic Threat – Myth or Reality? Oxford: Oxford University Press (1999:281)

[43] Kepel, G.. Jihad – The Trail of Political Islam. London: I.B Tauris (2009:368)

[44] Esposito, J L. The Islamic Threat – Myth or Reality? Oxford: Oxford University Press (1999:257)

[45] Esposito, J L. The Islamic Threat – Myth or Reality? Oxford: Oxford University Press (1999:232)

[46] Kepel, G.. Jihad – The Trail of Political Islam. London: I.B Tauris (2009:320)

[47] Esposito, J L. The Islamic Threat – Myth or Reality? Oxford: Oxford University Press (1999:286)

[48] Esposito, J L. The Islamic Threat – Myth or Reality? Oxford: Oxford University Press (1999:279)

[49] Esposito, J L. The Islamic Threat – Myth or Reality? Oxford: Oxford University Press (1999:140)

[50] Esposito, J L. The Islamic Threat – Myth or Reality? Oxford: Oxford University Press (1999:266)