This feature article acknowledges the fact that neither Islam, understood as the umma community, nor the modern civic European nations, are ethnic identities. Why then are both related to the notion of 'ethnicity' in the present article? Why does the analysis of the Muslim diaspora in Europe prompt an alert of an 'ethnicity of fear'? In order to answer these questions the analysis departs from the supposition of an ongoing ethnicization process that results in an ethnic conflict. The question and the supposition furnish the subject matter of the present study. Preliminary Remark: Knowledge, Interest and IdentityThis article deals with religion and ethnicity in the diasporic culture of an emerging segment of the universal umma community that is based in Europe.
This article highlights aspects of Islamism ignored in much conventional political science by applying to it a composite conceptual framework made up of Hannah Arendt's concept of totalitarianism as an ideology, movement and system of rule; political religion conceptualised both as a cultural system and as an ideology; the growing 'culturation' and 'religionisation' of politics; and the politicisation of Islam. When applied to Islamism this approach highlights the fact that its use of terrorism is one aspect of a much broader reaction to the threat of Islam society's radical secularisation under the impact of the universalisation of western values. At its core lies an imagined umma communitypostulated as an alternative model of civilisation to one offered by 'the West' -that claims global hegemony for its values. The analysis stresses that Islamism is not to be equated with Islam, or treated as a monolith, but rather as a religiously and culturally diversified phenomenon whose common denominator is adherence to din-wa-daula, i.e. the unity of Islamic religious principles as the legitimation of a totalitarian government. As a transnational force waging an irregular war fuelled by a fundamentalist interpretation of religion, it is resistant to attack by conventional military or security measures.In contemporary Islamism -to be distinguished from Islam -one finds two features united: a totalitarian movement combined with a political religion. It is unfortunate that only few people understand the phenomenon well. Why? It is the preoccupation with 'terrorism' 1 that has been prevalent since 9/11. One observes a mushrooming of unbalanced literature, whose authors mostly turn a blind eye to the roots of this phenomenon. Some ignore the need to investigate the historical factors that breed political violence, whereas those who do acknowledge the root causes often do little more than confirm the stereotype that world poverty and globalisation are the underlying causes of terrorism. Further, many of these authors leave us in the dark about the phenomenon and its social and ideological dynamics. One of the few intelligent pieces published in the western press was a commentary in the International Herald Tribune, published after the death of the Jordanian jihadist leader Musab al-Zarqawi, which acknowledged: 'The most important lesson of his reign of terror was the mirror it held up to our misunderstandings of the jihadist threat'. 2 As the authors of this commentary went on to note, the least understood issue is the fact that 'the jihadists comprise a social movement, not just a cluster of terrorist organisations'. Downloaded by [New York University] at 16:46 11 April 2015 36 B. TibiThis article sets out to expand on and substantiate this insight by presenting Islamism as a transnational movement that is based on a political religion. As such, it represents the most recent variant of totalitarianism. Its strength lies in its ability to draw on an ideology rooted not only in a real religious faith but also that has assumed a...
No abstract
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.