Political Islam/Islamism
Definition
Islamism, also called political Islam, refers to a wide ranging set of beliefs centered on the concept of using Islamic theology, scripture, jurisprudence and ideology to attain certain sociopolitical objectives.
Overview
The goals and objectives of Islamist movements vary widely, but most - if not all - seek to leverage Islam as a way of life and a method to rule over people, even over non-Muslim populations. Islamist ideology therefore seeks to limit personal liberties and freedoms on an individual scale, and aims to implement Islamic law as a basis of governance on a national and transnational scale. Overall, Islamism is an ideology that seeks to restore Islamic glory across the world, and to achieve this end, violence is not shunned - despite the variation in levels of violence practised by disparate Islamist groups. It must be stated that not all forms of Islamist extremism are associated with a willingness to achieve goals using violent methods, but religious extremism in general is born out of an intolerance towards beliefs that are not rooted in a specific, and often dogmatic interpretation of a certain religion. It is for this reason that the many violent Islamist organisations consider one another enemies, due to the levels of violence and dogma preached and practised by one group as opposed to the other.
Similar to other modern political doctrines, Islamism is an ideology, a movement, and a ‘form of governance’. Some Islamist groups, such as MB-affiliated parties in the Middle East exclusively seek to attain some level of political power in their respective legislatures by winning seats through voting. Other Islamist groups, such as transnational terrorist organisations seek to establish a global Islamic caliphate through violence and war. Although the majority of these groups disdain one another, their overarching goal remains the same: re-introducing their interpretation of Islam on a national level through governance, and on a social level through preaching, propaganda, and often, vilification.
Modern History
In the last century, Islamism as an ideology obtained its watershed moment when Hassan Al Banna founded the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in 1928. The ability of the MB in penetrating rural populations in Egypt to provide welfare and social services that Egypt’s rulers at the time had failed to reach. By leveraging this penetration, the MB built grassroot movements across the country, and managed to galvanise certain elements against the Wafd Party and King Farouk of Egypt. Over the coming decades, when the Egyptian government began to express its concern about the MB, and began a crackdown on the group, members responded with violence, including the assassination of the Egyptian prime minister in 1948. This later evolved into other acts of violence against Egyptian leaders and government infrastructure.
Some political Islamist groups have however proved adept at adapting to their local context, at times shedding their ideological zeal in favour of remaining popular in a Middle East that in many cases, has become to see political Islam as a key problem. One example where this has occurred was Tunisia’s Ennahda party, which came to power following the so-called Jasmine Revolution in 2011. Ennahda, originally an Islamist movement inspired by the MB, decided to shed its Islamist identity in 2016 and focus on ensuring a stable democracy Tunisia rather than supporting the mobilisation of Islamic institutions. The group’s decision to become purely a political party, rather than an Islamic movement was a radical change of strategy and a re-definition of its identity. The end of the group’s Islamist identity was a result of domestic and regional pressures, born out of pragmatism that Islamist groups have developed as survival mechanisms. Another case in point is the Gaza-based Hamas militant movement which rule the Strip. An offshoot of the MB, Hamas began removing any references to its affiliation to the Egyptian MB in 2018 in an effort to improve ties with the current Sisi administration in Egypt.
The Evolution of Violent Jihadism
Amongst the many movements that adhere to political Islamism are not only political organisations such as the Muslim Brotherhood, but violent transnational Jihadist organisations such as Al Qaeda and Daesh. The Iranian revolution in 1979 and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the same year was also a pivotal moment for the evolution of Islamism as an ideology and Islamist group across the Muslim world, with a Shia theocracy established in Iran, and the rise of the extremist Mujahideen fighters in Afghanistan following the Soviet invasion in 1979. Al Qaeda used the Soviet invasion to galvanise hardcore Islamists to fight the non-Muslim ‘infidels’ in Afghanistan, supported finanically by Islamic and western countries alike. The success of the Mujahideen in Afghanistan and the Islamic revolution in Iran was a cause for hope for Islamist thinkers and actors. These events continued to fuel the rise of Islamist religious extremism across the Middle East that culminated in a series of terrorist attacks against western targets across the world in the 1990’s, and later the September 11 (9/11) attaks in the United States in 2001.
The Muslim Brotherhood for instance rejected the secular, socialist and pan-Arab ideology of Nasserism in Egypt that was defeated numerous times by Israel. For Islamists and extremists, Jihad in the name of religion to fight enemies had proven itself in Afghanistan and in the Islamic revolution in Iran, whereas modern secular nation-states had failed to prove themselves in the fight against Israel and other nations, governments that were considered ‘enemies of Islam’.
Following 9/11, the US invasion of Afghanistan further strengthened the narrative of Islamist groups, who used mass media to drive forth a compelling argument that armed violence was needed to fight against not only foreign intervention, but also against governments in Muslim majority countries which these groups viewed as either heretics, un-Islamic, or treacherous. These groups often cite Sayyid Qutb’s works - a leading member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in the 1960’s, whose writings provided the underpinnings for many militant Sunni Islamist groups including Al Qaeda. Qutb, executed by the Egyptian authorities in 1966 argued that governments not based on Sharia are apostates, and therefore legitimate targets for Jihad. The so-called Arab Spring saw the uncontrolled spread of a plethora of aggressive Islamist groups across the region, from Syria to Libya, and Yemen to Iraq, with the most ambitious and deadliest amongst those groups being Daesh. Known in English as ISIS, Daesh - currently a mere shadow of what it was at its height in 2014-15 - continues to seek the overthrow of governments across the Middle East, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa, with the goal of establishing a global caliphate. Like Al Qaeda, Daesh has also called on its followers to carry out attacks against western civilian targets. This violent extremism based on Islamist thinking more than half a century ago, coupled with the failure of Arab socialism and the relative Islamist success in the Iranian revolition, the Mujahideen in Afghanistan, and the Grand Mosque seizure in 1979 galvanised Islamist thought, both violent and non-violent across the Islamic world.
Charity Organisations/NGO’s
Islamist discourse has not only led to the establishment of islamist political parties and violent extremist organisations, but has also underpinned the ideology of Islamic charities, Islamic NGO’s and other Islamic-based welfare and social services organisations around the world. Most of these organisation are legitimate, and are registered as charities in many parts of the world, primarily in western countries, where they collect donations and alms to assist Muslims in war torn countries and conflict zones. Islamic Relief Worlwide (IRW) is perhaps the largest Islamic charity organisation in the world, and has, on numerous occasions, been subject to investigations regarding its senior members’ ties to the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, as well as its partnerships with other local Islamic charities that have a history of incitement. IRW has many local affiliates, such as Islamic Relief Germany (IRG), and Islamic Relief Sweden (IRS). According to the NGO Monitor, an which focuses primarily on “independent analysis about non-governmental organizations (NGOs), their funders, and other stakeholders, primarily in the context of the Arab-Israeli conflict”, IRW and IRG have ties to the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), an organization prohibited from operating in Germany due to its role in funneling money to terror groups.
Although the NGO Monitor is a biased organisation that primarily receives funding from Israeli donours, the IRW’s ties to extremism are evident. Bangladesh for instance banned IRW from operating at Rohingya refugee camps in 2017 due to fears of radicalisation amongst refugees as a preventative measure. A year earlier, the UK-based banking-giant HSBC announced it would cut ties to IRW amid concerns that money was being funneled to terrorist groups abroad, particularly Hamas. A co-founder of IRW, Essam Al Haddad was a senior MB member and the national security advisor to former Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi. A member of Islamic Relief Sweden - another official member of the MB - was involved in supporting militias linked to the MB in the Syrian conflict through lobbying and weapons purchases.