What is Islamism?
Islamism is the name for political movements that want Islam to guide how a state and society are run. Their supporters say that Islam is a complete way of life and that law and politics cannot be set apart from faith. Beyond that, the movements disagree a great deal. Some are legal parties that run in elections and work in parliaments. Others are revolutionary, and some have used terrorism. Islamism is not the same as Islam, and most Muslims do not support militant groups. Many Muslims also reject Islamist politics altogether, in favour of secular government.
Core beliefs
- Islam covers public life as well as private belief.
- Law should follow the sharia, however that is understood.
- Muslim societies should free themselves from foreign domination and what Islamists see as moral decline.
- Rulers are answerable to God's law and to the community.
- Social justice and charity are religious duties.
- Muslims form one community, the ummah, which crosses national borders.
History
Islamism emerged in the twentieth century in answer to colonial rule, the fall of the Ottoman caliphate in 1924 and Western cultural influence. Hasan al-Banna founded the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in 1928, mixing preaching, schools and welfare with politics. Abul A'la Maududi founded Jamaat-e-Islami in British India in 1941. Sayyid Qutb, executed by the Egyptian government in 1966, wrote works that later inspired violent groups. The Iranian Revolution of 1979 created an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Khomeini. In the 1980s, Islamist fighters took part in the war against the Soviet army in Afghanistan. Al-Qaeda carried out the attacks of 11 September 2001 in the United States. In the 2010s, the group calling itself the Islamic State seized territory in Iraq and Syria and carried out massacres, including the killing and enslavement of Yazidis, which the United Nations described as genocide.
Variants
Strands differ sharply. Electoral Islamists, such as Tunisia's Ennahda and various Brotherhood parties, work inside democratic systems, though how far they accept pluralism is debated. Revolutionary Islamists, like the Iranian clerics, seek to rule through clerical institutions. Salafis stress a return to the practice of the first generations, and some stay out of politics. Jihadists such as Al-Qaeda believe in armed struggle and attack civilians, which most other Islamists and Muslim scholars condemn. Shia and Sunni versions differ in their ideas of religious authority.
Criticisms
Critics say that Islamist rule limits freedom of speech, of religion and of women, and that it punishes dissent and minorities. Liberals and secular Muslims object to laws on dress, blasphemy and personal conduct. Violent groups have killed large numbers of civilians, mostly Muslims. Defenders say that Islamist parties have won votes by being honest, helping the poor and standing up to corrupt rulers. They add that many Islamists accept elections, and that Western governments have backed autocrats who crushed them.
In practice
Islamist parties have governed or shared power in countries including Iran, Turkey, Sudan, Tunisia, Egypt and Gaza, with very different results. Others work through charities, schools and clinics. On the 12 axes it scores at the extreme toward Religious on Religion and very strongly toward Traditional on Morality, with a high score on Security. Its Authority and Ownership scores vary a lot between groups.