Editing Islamic fundamentalism (section)

==Definitions and descriptions==
{{salafi|Related}}
The term fundamentalism has been deemed misleading by those who suggest that all mainstream Muslims believe in the literal divine origin and perfection of the [[Quran]] and are therefore "fundamentalists",<ref>Bernard, Lewis, ''Islam and the West,'' New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.</ref> and others who believe it is a term that is used by outsiders in order to describe perceived trends within Islam.<ref>" 'The Green Peril': Creating the Islamic Fundamentalist Threat", Leon T. Hadar, ''Policy Analysis,'' Cato Institute, 27 August 1992.</ref> A professor of religious studies at [[Georgetown University]], [[John Esposito|John L. Esposito]], criticized the usage of the term "Islamic Fundamentalism" due to its ambiguous nature; asserting that the linguistic deployment of the term has been heavily influenced through Western-centric lens of Christian presuppositions. According to him, the more appropriate terms would be "Islamic activism", since the traditions of ''[[Tajdid]]'' (revival) and ''[[Islah]]'' (reform) are rooted within the Islamic religious history, from the early Islamic centuries to the contemporary times. During the 1990s, the [[post-Soviet states]] used "Islamic fundamentalism" as a synonym for "[[Wahhabism#Etymology|Wahhabism]]".<ref>{{Cite web|last=Atkin|first=Muriel|date=2000|title=The Rhetoric ofIslamophobia|url=https://www.ca-c.org/online/2000/journal_eng/eng01_2000/16.atkin.shtml|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210925070024/https://www.ca-c.org/online/2000/journal_eng/eng01_2000/16.atkin.shtml|archive-date=25 September 2021|website=CA&C Press}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=L. Esposito|first=John|title=The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality?|publisher=Oxford University Press Inc.|year=1992|isbn=0-19-510298-3|location=New York|pages=7–8}}</ref>

Some 20th century preachers and writers sometimes dubbed Islamic fundamentalist include [[Sayyid Qutb]], [[Ibn Saud]], [[Mawdudi|Abul Ala Mawdudi]],<ref name="Islamic fundamentalism">{{cite web|url=http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ip/rep/H007 |title=Islamic fundamentalism |publisher=Muslimphilosophy.com |access-date=16 May 2013}}</ref> and [[Israr Ahmed]].<ref>Esposito, ''Voices of Resurgent Islam'' {{ISBN|0-19-503340-X}}</ref> The [[Wahhabi movement]] and its [[International propagation of Salafism and Wahhabism|funding by Saudi Arabia]] is often described as being responsible for the popularity of contemporary Islamic fundamentalism.

Definitions vary as to what Islamic fundamentalism / activism exactly is and how it differs from [[Islamism]] (or political Islam) or [[Islamic revivalism]].

* Form of Islamism – [[Graham Fuller]] believes that Islamic fundamentalism is a subset of Islamism rather than a distinctive form of it, and to him, Islamic fundamentalists are "the most conservative element among Islamists". Its "strictest form" includes "[[Wahhabism]], which is sometimes referred to as [[salafi]]yya. ... For fundamentalists the law is the most essential component of Islam, and it leads to an overwhelming emphasis upon [[Islamic jurisprudence|jurisprudence]], usually narrowly conceived."<ref>Fuller, Graham E., ''The Future of Political Islam'', Palgrave MacMillan, (2003), p. 48</ref> Author [[Olivier Roy (professor)|Olivier Roy]] takes a similar line, describing "neo-fundamentalists", (i.e. contemporary fundamentalists) as being more passionate than earlier Islamists in their opposition to the perceived "corrupting influence of Western culture", avoiding Western dress, "neckties, laughter, the use of Western forms of salutation, handshakes, applause", discouraging but not forbidding other activities such as sports, ideally limiting the Muslim public space to "the family and the mosque".<ref name=ORFPI1994:83>[[#ORFPI1994|Roy, ''Failure of Political Islam'', 1994]]: p. 83</ref> In this fundamentalists have "drifted" away from the stand of the Islamists of the 1970s and 1980s, such as [Abul A'la Maududi] who:
{{blockquote|...didn't hesitate to attend Hindu ceremonies. [[Ruhollah Khomeini|Khomeini]] never proposed giving [[Christianity in Iran|Iranian Christians]] and [[Persian Jews|Jews]] the status of [[dhimmi]] (protected communities) as provided for in the sharia: the [[Iranian Armenians|Armenians of Iran]] have remained Iranian citizens, are required to perform military service and pay the same taxes as Muslims, and have the right to vote (with separate electoral colleges). Similarly, the Afghan Jamaat, in its statutes, has declared it legal to employ non-Muslims as experts in the eyes of Islam.<ref name=ORFPI1994:215/>}}
* Umbrella term – Another American observer, [[Robert Pelletreau, Jr.]], Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, believes it the other way around, Islamism being the subset of Muslims "with political goals ... within" the "broader fundamentalist revival".<ref>Remarks by Robert H. Pelletreau, Jr., ''[[Middle East Policy Council]]'', 26 May 1994, "Symposium: Resurgent Islam in the Middle East," ''[[Middle East Policy]]'', Fall 1994, p. 2.</ref> American historian [[Ira Lapidus]] sees Islamic fundamentalism as "an umbrella designation for a very wide variety of movements, some intolerant and exclusivist, some pluralistic; some favourable to science, some anti-scientific; some primarily devotional and some primarily political; some democratic, some authoritarian; some pacific, some violent."<ref name=Lapidus-2002-823>{{cite book|last1=Lapidus|first1=Ira M.|title=A History of Islamic Societies|date=2002|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge, UK|page=823|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I3mVUEzm8xMC&pg=PA823|access-date=23 December 2015|isbn=9780521779333}}</ref> 
* Synonym – Still another, [[Martin Kramer]], sees little difference between the two terms (at least in usage in one country): "To all intents and purposes, Islamic fundamentalism and Islamism have become synonyms in contemporary American usage."<ref name="KramerTerms">[https://web.archive.org/web/20030801132248/http://www.geocities.com/martinkramerorg/Terms.htm Coming to Terms, Fundamentalists or Islamists? Martin Kramer] originally in ''Middle East Quarterly'' (Spring 2003), pp. 65–77.
</ref>
* Scriptural literalism – According to another academic, [[Natana J. Delong-Bas]], the contemporary use of the term Islamic fundamentalism applies to Muslims who seek not just "to return to the primary sources", but who use "a literal interpretation of those sources".<ref name=WahhabiIslam>{{cite book
 | last = DeLong-Bas
 | first = Natana J.
 | title = Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad
 | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]], USA
 | year = 2004
 | location = New York
 | page = [https://archive.org/details/wahhabiislamfrom0000delo/page/228 228]
 | edition = First
 | isbn = 0-19-516991-3
 | title-link = Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad
 }}</ref>
* Use of ''ijtihad'' in Islamic law – According to academic [[John Esposito]], one of the most defining features of Islamic fundamentalism is belief in the "reopening" of the gates of ''[[ijtihad]]'' ("independent reasoning" used in reaching a legal decision in Sunni law).<ref>Esposito, John, ''Voices of Resurgent Islam'' {{ISBN|0-19-503340-X}}</ref>

===Differences with Islamism===
According to Olivier Roy, distinctions between Fundamentalism and Islamism (or at least pre-1990 Islamism) are in the fields of:

* Politics and economics. Islamists often talk of "revolution" and they believe "that the society will only be Islamized through social and political action: it is necessary to leave the mosque ..." Fundamentalists are primarily interested in Islamic practice, less interested in "modernity or Western models of politics or economics", and less willing to associate with non-Muslims.<ref name=ORFPI1994:82-3>[[#ORFPI1994|Roy, ''Failure of Political Islam'', 1994]]: pp. 82–3, 215</ref>
* [[Sharia]]. While both Islamists and fundamentalists are committed to implementing Sharia law, Islamists "tend to consider it more a project than a corpus."<ref name=ORFPI1994:59>[[#ORFPI1994|Roy, ''Failure of Political Islam'', 1994]]: p. 59</ref>
* Issue of women. "Islamists generally tend to favour the education of women and their participation in social and political life: the Islamist woman militates, studies, and has the right to work, but in a [[chador]]. Islamist groups include women's associations." While the fundamentalist preaches that women should return to their homes, Islamism believes that it is sufficient if "the sexes are separated in public".<ref name=ORFPI1994:38>[[#ORFPI1994|Roy, ''Failure of Political Islam'', 1994]]: pp. 38, 59</ref>
Variety and diversity within Islamic social movements has been highlighted by Husnul Amin in his work by referring to plurality within these movements.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Amin|first=Husnul|date=2014|title=Making Sense of Islamic Social Movements: A Critical Review of Major Theoretical Approaches|url=https://www.questia.com/read/1P3-3396928401/making-sense-of-islamic-social-movements-a-critical|journal=Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society|access-date=19 January 2020|archive-date=1 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801234915/https://www.questia.com/read/1P3-3396928401/making-sense-of-islamic-social-movements-a-critical|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Historian Ervand Abrahamian (who essentially devoted a book—''Khomeinism: Essays on the Islamic Republic''—to why Ayatollah [[Ruhollah Khomeini]], leader of the Iranian Revolution, was not a fundamentalist but a populist, and calls the term "Islamic fundamentalism" in general "not only confusing but also misleading and even downright wrong"), notes that in the Islamic Republic of Iran, supporters of Ayatollah [[Ruhollah Khomeini]] "finding no equivalent in Persian or Arabic" for fundamentalist, "have proudly coined a new word, ''bonyadegar'', by translating literally the English term fundamental-ist."<ref>''Khomeinism: Essays on the Islamic Republic'', by Ervand Abrahamian, University of California Press, 1993, p. 13.</ref>

===Differences with Christian fundamentalism===

Differences between [[Christian fundamentalism]] and Islamic fundamentalism include (according to [[Bernard Lewis]]):<ref>Lewis, Bernard(1993) Islam in history:ideas, people and events in the Middle East:398</ref>
{{blockquote|
"In western usage, these words [Revivalism and Fundamentalism] have a rather specific connotation; they suggest a certain type of religiosity- emotional indeed sentimental; not intellectual, perhaps even anti-intellectual; and in general apolitical and even anti-political. Fundamentalists are against [[Liberal movements within Islam|liberal theology]] and biblical criticism and in favor of a return to fundamentals-i.e. to the divine inerrant text of the [[scriptures]]. For the so call fundamentalists of Islam these are not and never have been the issues. Liberal theology have not hitherto made much headway in Islam, and the divinity and inerrancy of the [[Quran]] are still central dogmas of the faith ... Unlike their Christian namesakes, the Islamic fundamentalists do not set aside but on the contrary embrace much of the post-scriptural scholastic tradition of their faith, in both its theological and its legal aspects."}}

===Types===
Islamic fundamentalism (at least among [[Sunni]] Muslims) traditionally tends to fall into "doctrinist" and "principlist" tendencies:
* Doctrinists accept "the continuity" between the founding Islamic "texts"—the ''[[Quran]]'' and the ''[[Sunnah]]''—and their commentaries. Doctrinists take "imitation" (''[[taqlid]]''), accepting what was said before and refusing to innovate (''[[Bidʻah|bidah]]''), as a "basic principle, They follow one of the great [[Madhhab|schools]] of religious jurisprudence ([[Shafi'i]], [[Maliki]], [[Hanafi]], [[Hanbali]]). Their vision of the ''[[sharia]]'' is essentially legalistic and used to determine what is religiously right or wrong for [[Enjoining good and forbidding wrong]]. Doctrinists are sometimes connected to the popular forms of [[Sufism]] such as the [[Barelvi]] school in [[Pakistan]])."<ref name=ORFPI1994:30-1>[[#ORFPI1994|Roy, ''Failure of Political Islam'', 1994]]: pp. 30–31</ref>
* Principlists, in contrast, "criticizes the tradition, the commentaries, popular religious practices" ([[Marabout]]ism, the cult of saints), "deviations, and superstitions"; it aims to purify [[Islam]] by returning to the ''Quran'' and the ''Sunnah''. 18th-century examples of principlists are [[Shah Waliullah Dehlawi]] in India and [[Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab|Ibn Abdul Wahhab]] in the Arabian Peninsula. This style is often "developed in response to an external threat" such as "the influence of Hinduism on Islam". In the late 19th century, the ''[[Salafi movement|salafiyya]]'' movement spread throughout the [[Arab world|Arab countries]]; "marking a phase between Fundamentalism and [[Islamism]]".<ref name=ORFPI1994:30-1/> [[Rashid Rida|Sayyid Rashid Rida]] (1865–1935), a major scholar of the [[Salafi movement#Evolution|early ''Salafiyya'']], believed that the triumphs of early generations of Muslims (''[[Salaf]]'') were [[God in Islam|God's]] reward for them being faithful followers and blamed contemporary decline of [[Muslims]] on four major factors: i) [[European imperialism]] ii) [[Western philosophy]] iii) neglect of the correct practice of Islam iv) ''[[Rafida|Raafidi]]'' doctrines<ref>{{Cite journal|last=M. Bennett|first=Andrew|year=2013|title=Islamic History & Al-Qaeda: A Primer to Understanding the Rise of Islamist Movements in the Modern World|url=https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1035&context=pilronline|journal=Pace International Law Review Online|publisher=PACE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW|volume=3|issue=10|page=344|via=DigitalCommons}}</ref>.

===Controversy===
====Criticism of the term====
The term "Islamic fundamentalism" has been criticized by [[Bernard Lewis]], [[Khaled Abou El Fadl]], [[Eli Berman]], and [[John Esposito]], among others. Many have proposed replacing it with another term, such as "puritanical", "Islamic revivalism" or "activism", and "radical Islam".

Lewis, a leading historian of Islam, believes that although "the use of this term is established and must be accepted":

{{blockquote|It remains unfortunate and can be misleading. "Fundamentalist" is a Christian term. It seems to have come into use in the early years of the last century, and it denotes certain [[Protestantism|Protestant]] churches and organizations, more particularly, those that maintain the literal divine origin and [[Biblical inerrancy|inerrancy of the Bible]]. In this, they oppose the liberal and modernist theologians, who tend to have a more critical, historical view of Scripture. Among Muslim theologians, there is as yet no such liberal or modernist approach to the Qur'an, and all Muslims, in their attitude to the text of the Qur'an, are in principle at least fundamentalists. Where the so-called Muslim fundamentalists differ from other Muslims and indeed from Christian fundamentalists is in their scholasticism and their legalism. They base themselves not only on the Qur'an, but also on the Traditions of the Prophet, and on the corpus of transmitted theological and legal learning.<ref>Bernard Lewis, ''The Political Language of Islam'' (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988), pp. 117–118, n. 3.</ref>}}

John Esposito has attacked the term for its association "with political [[activism]], [[extremism]], [[fanaticism]], [[terrorism]], and [[anti-Americanism]]", saying "I prefer to speak of Islamic revivalism and Islamic activism."<ref name="esposito-1992-8">John L. Esposito, ''The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality?'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), p. 8.</ref>

[[Khaled Abou El Fadl]] of UCLA, a critic of those who are called Islamic fundamentalists, also finds fault with the term because:

{{blockquote|[M]any liberal, progressive, or moderate Muslims would describe themselves as usulis, or fundamentalist, without thinking that this carries a negative connotation. In the Islamic context, it makes much more sense to describe the fanatical reductionism and narrow-minded literalism of some groups as puritanical (a term that in the West invokes a particular historical experience)<ref>abou el Fadl, ''The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists'', Harper San Francisco, 2005, p. 19</ref>}}

[[Eli Berman]] argues that "radical Islam" is a better term for many post-1920s movements starting with the [[Muslim Brotherhood]], because these movements are seen as practicing "unprecedented [[Islamic extremism|extremism]]", thus, they do not qualify as movements which are returning to the practice of historic fundamentals.<ref>Eli Berman, [http://econ.ucsd.edu/~elib/tamir.pdf Hamas, Taliban and the Jewish Underground: An Economist's View of Radical Religious Militias], UC San Diego National Bureau of Economic Research. August 2003, p. 4</ref>

====Defense====
In contrast, American author Anthony J. Dennis accepts the widespread usage and relevance of the term and calls Islamic fundamentalism "more than a religion today, it is a worldwide movement." He notes the intertwining of social, religious and political goals found within the movement and states that Islamic fundamentalism "deserves to be seriously studied and debated from a secular perspective as a revolutionary ideology."<ref>Dennis, Anthony J. ''The Rise of the Islamic Empire and the Threat to the West'' (Ohio: Wyndham Hall Press, 1996), p. i.</ref>

At least two Muslim academics, Syrian philosopher [[Sadiq Jalal al-Azm]] and Egyptian philosopher [[Hassan Hanafi]], have defended the use of the phrase. Surveying the doctrines of the new Islamic movements, Al-Azm found them to consist of "an immediate return to Islamic 'basics' and 'fundamentals'.&nbsp;... It seems to me quite reasonable that calling these Islamic movements 'Fundamentalist' (and in the strong sense of the term) is adequate, accurate, and correct."<ref>Sadik J. al-Azm, "Islamic Fundamentalism Reconsidered: A Critical Outline of Problems, Ideas and Approaches", ''South Asia Bulletin, [[Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East]]'', 1 and 2 (1993), pp. 95–7.</ref>

Hassan Hanafi reached the same conclusion: "It is difficult to find a more appropriate term than the one recently used in the West, 'fundamentalism,' to cover the meaning of what we name Islamic awakening or revival."<ref>Quoted by Bassam Tibi, "The Worldview of Sunni Arab Fundamentalists: Attitudes toward Modern Science and Technology," in Martin E. Marty and R. Scott Appleby, eds., ''Fundamentalisms and Society'' (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993), p. 85.</ref>

===Study===
In 1988, the [[University of Chicago]], backed by the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]], launched [[The Fundamentalism Project]], devoted to researching fundamentalism in the worlds major religions, [[Christianity]], [[Islam]], [[Judaism]], [[Hinduism]], [[Buddhism]] and [[Confucianism]]. It defined fundamentalism as "approach, or set of strategies, by which beleaguered believers attempt to preserve their distinctive identity as a people or group ... by a selective retrieval of doctrines, beliefs, and practices from a sacred past."<ref>Martin E. Marty and R. Scott Appleby, "Introduction," in Martin and Appleby, eds., Fundamentalisms and the State (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993), p. 3.</ref> A 2013 study by Wissenschaftszentrums Berlin für Sozialforschung finds that Islamic fundamentalism is [[Islamic fundamentalism in Europe|widespread among European Muslims]] with the majority saying religious rules are more important than civil laws and three quarters rejecting religious pluralism within Islam.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wzb.eu/en/press-release/islamic-fundamentalism-is-widely-spread|title=Islamic fundamentalism is widely spread|date=9 December 2013|publisher=Wissenschaftszentrums Berlin für Sozialforschung}}</ref> A recent study shows that some European Muslims perceive Western governments as inherently hostile towards Islam as a source of identity. This perception, however, declined significantly after the emergence of ISIS, especially among young and educated European Muslims.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Hekmatpour|first1=Peyman|last2=Burns|first2=Thomas J.|title=Perception of Western governments' hostility to Islam among European Muslims before and after ISIS: the important roles of residential segregation and education|journal=The British Journal of Sociology|language=en|pages=2133–2165|doi=10.1111/1468-4446.12673|pmid=31004347|issn=1468-4446|year=2019|volume=70|issue=5|s2cid=125038730 }}</ref>