Editing Islamism (section)

==Influence==
[[File:Tahar Djaout 1980.jpg|thumb|Algerian [[secularism|secularist]] journalist [[Tahar Djaout]] was assassinated in 1993 by the [[Armed Islamic Group of Algeria|Armed Islamic Group]]]]
Few observers contest the immense influence of Islamism within the [[Muslim world]].<ref name="murphy-160">Murphy, Caryle, ''Passion for Islam'', (c. 2002), p. 160</ref><ref name="cook">Cook, Michael, ''The Koran: A Very Short Introduction'', Oxford University Press, (2000)</ref><ref name="murphy-161">Murphy, Caryle, ''Passion for Islam: Shaping the Modern Middle East: the Egyptian Experience'', Scribner, (c. 2002), p. 161</ref> Following the [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union|collapse of the Soviet Union]], political movements based on the liberal ideology of free expression and democratic rule have led the opposition in other parts of the world such as Latin America, Eastern Europe and many parts of Asia; however "the simple fact is that political Islam currently reigns [circa 2002-3] as the most powerful ideological force across the Muslim world today".<ref>Fuller, ''The Future of Political Islam'', (2003), p. 67</ref><ref>Referring to the success of radical transnational Islamism and specifically the party [[Hizb ut-Tahrir]], [[Zeyno Baran]] writes that "all religions have radicals, but in contemporary Islam the radicals have become the mainstream, and the moderates are pushed to the sides of the debate." (source: {{cite web |last1=Baran |first1=Zeyno |url=http://www.bits.de/public/documents/US_Terrorist_Attacks/Hizbut-ahrirIslam'sPoliticalInsurgency.pdf |title=Hizb ut-Tahrir: Islam's Political Insurgency |publisher=Nixon Center |date=December 2004 |access-date=30 March 2016 |page=13 |ref=ZBHTIPI2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151210214407/http://www.bits.de/public/documents/US_Terrorist_Attacks/Hizbut-ahrirIslam%27sPoliticalInsurgency.pdf |archive-date=10 December 2015 |url-status=dead }})</ref>

The strength of Islamism also draws from the strength of [[religiosity]] in general in the Muslim world. Compared to other societies around the globe, "[w]hat is striking about the Islamic world is that ... it seems to have been the least penetrated by [[irreligion]]".<ref name="cook-43"/> Where other peoples may look to the physical or social sciences for answers in areas which their ancestors regarded as best left to scripture, in the Muslim world, religion has become more encompassing, not less, as "in the last few decades, it has been the fundamentalists who have increasingly represented the cutting edge" of Muslim culture.<ref name="cook-43">Cook, Michael, ''The Koran: A Very Short Introduction'', Oxford University Press, (2000), p.42-3</ref>

Writing in 2009, German journalist Sonja Zekri described Islamists in Egypt and other Muslim countries as "extremely influential. ... They determine how one dresses, what one eats. In these areas, they are incredibly successful. ... Even if the Islamists never come to power, they have transformed their countries."<ref name="qantara">{{cite web |url=http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php/_c-476/_nr-924/i.html |title=The Islamism Debate: God's Counterculture |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080403133042/http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php/_c-476/_nr-924/i.html |archive-date=3 April 2008 |author=Sonja Zekri |author-link=Sonja Zekri |work=Süddeutsche Zeitung |date=2008 |translator=Phyllis Anderson}}</ref> Political Islamists were described as "competing in the democratic public square in places like [[Turkey]], [[Tunisia]], [[Malaysia]] and [[Indonesia]]".<ref>Farr, Thomas F. "Islam's Way to Freedom", ''First Things'', November 2008, pp. 24–28 [26]</ref>