Fundamentalist Islam – A Fundamental Contradiction

For as long as I have been conscious, awakened to being Muslim, Islamic Fundamentalism has appeared in my window to the world. Back then, it was Shiekh Omar Abdel Rahman (the blind cleric) but there were random incidents of Sunnis and Shias engaged in a terrorist war against one another in Pakistan as well. Of course all this was minor in comparison to 9/11. This wasn’t due to the number of lives lost but to whom the victims were, The United States of America. Islamic Fundamentalists are believed to have been behind this terrorist attack and the American government responded with force. A new era had begun.

What is Islamic Fundamentalism?

In this discourse, Islam is a particular socio-culture, a possible home to any ideological superimposition and therefore before originalisation it is possible for Islamic fundamentalism to exist. The definitions of fundamentalism is this contexts are:

1. A usually religious movement or point of view characterized by a return to fundamental principles, by rigid adherence to those principles, and often by intolerance of other views and opposition to secularism.
2. strict adherence to any set of basic ideas or principles
3. the interpretation of every word in the sacred texts as literal truth.

None of the definitions above really suit the popular image of the Muslim Fundamentalist with the exception of the opposition to secularism. Islamic Fundamentalism , as popularly used usually indicate the following dispositions:

1. The permissibility of violence against anyone who opposes them.
2. The intention to create an Islamic superstate (self-labelled) which comprises the entire world.
3. The upholding of Sharia Law.

Islamic Fundamentalism, as defined above exists amongst Muslims. I cannot say for sure the popularity of such thinking. Statisticians themselves are at odds as to how high this figure is but I have personally encountered people who hold these views.

However, a more important question should be, can Islamic Fundamentalism stand in the face of scrutiny?

When we essentialise Islam (i.e. bring it back to the dimension of ideology as opposed to culturality which as we have stated above, opens it to any ideological superimposition), will Islamic Fundamentalism still stand as a valid conceptual entity?

If our validity is measured by the Quran, the answer is no.

If Islamic Fundamentalists attempt realise their goals through a violent conflict, creating chaos on earth and robbing of it of safety (amn) and beautiful balance (ihsan), then the Quran calls such people criminals, denying their belief in God and the Last Day.

If they create a state which profiles people according to religio-cultural heritage as opposed to their agreement to the social contract, they are in opposition with the Quran once again as the Quran judges people according to their mindfulness to goodness and decency.

If if in this state, they disallow people of Muslim cultural origin to join other religo-cultures and forcibly stop them, they are once again at odds with the Quran, which allows freedom of belief for anyone and everyone.

These three examples above aren’t peripheral to either Islamic Fundamentalism or the Quran. They represent issues which are fundamental to both. The Quran is the source of Islam and can re-ideologise it and liberate it from the realm of culture, in effect essentialise it. The Quran’s proposal for humankind is their liberation from the shackles of human authority so that they may flow with the universal will and evolve and this as anyone may witness from what Islamic Fundamentalism believes, this isn’t the case.

Islamic Fundamentalism therefore is a fundamental contradiction, in that for something to be described as fundamentalist in the way it’s described, it cannot possibly be Islamic.