Islamic Fundamentalism and Islamism

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Islamic Fundamentalism and Islamism
OP - April 21, 2012, 12:41 PM

I thought those two terms "Islamic Fundamentalism" and "Islamism" are the same and interchangeable but it doesnt seem so. Can someone help explain the differences between them and what they actually mean?

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Re: Islamic Fundamentalism and Islamism
Reply #1 - April 21, 2012, 01:18 PM

Islamism = political Islam, any political party (no matter how liberal or strict) that has its views based on Islam.

Islamic fundamentalism = Puritans not always interested in politics (Saudi) but want a strict society. You could say Islamic fundamentalism is like the sufi version of Islamism, in that you ignore the politics and focus on prayers, hijab etc.

I try not to use either terms because well they're a part of Islam, using such terms implies that they're different to mainstream Islam and it serves the interests of some politicians by saying there's a difference between Islam and Islamism (political Islam) coz that kinda makes it 'ok' to have allies like the Saudis
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Re: Islamic Fundamentalism and Islamism
Reply #2 - April 21, 2012, 01:54 PM

I see, which means the likes of Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas are considered as Islamist,while Fundamentalism are the likes of Salafists.

I noticed the christian fundamentalists are the fond of using that word "Islamism" for Islamic fundamentalism. Thats interesting.

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Re: Islamic Fundamentalism and Islamism
Reply #3 - April 21, 2012, 01:55 PM

No, Christian fundies use Islamism to talk about any Muslim, and probably an ex-Muslim who doesn't buy into their dogma too.

Saudi is an odd one, salafism used to be exclusvely fundamentalist (I would say a good example is the Chechen leadership, or the Taliban perhaps) but are now have a much wider political goal which makes them Islamist as well.

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Re: Islamic Fundamentalism and Islamism
Reply #4 - April 21, 2012, 02:12 PM

Islamism can also include the ayatollahs in Iran.
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Re: Islamic Fundamentalism and Islamism
Reply #5 - April 21, 2012, 02:32 PM

Quote from: Cato on April 21, 2012, 01:54 PM
I see, which means the likes of Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas are considered as Islamist,while Fundamentalism are the likes of Salafists.

I noticed the christian fundamentalists are the fond of using that word "Islamism" for Islamic fundamentalism. Thats interesting.

It depends on what type of Salafi you're talking about, if its the sheikhs loyal the saud monarch then yes they're more fundamentalist than Islamist. If its Salafi jihadists (Al-Qaeda and co.) then they're more Islamist than fundamentalist.

As for Christian fundies, Sprout is right, they're like ALL right wingers or like the obama/sarkozy/cameron trinity-oppose their policy's and you'll get called all sorts. They don't mind how fundamentalist you are (Saudi, Karzai regime etc) as long as you're not political, its why the past pariahs of the middle east weren't religious at all they were secular socialists (Nasser's Egypt, the PLO etc.) but were political thus a problem. Today, the biggest political threat happens to come from Islamists, they're the ones rejecting IMF loans to Egypt and blowing up tanks in Afghanistan, that's why we're told 24/7 that they're "evil" and "terrorists" lulz.

Quote from: Sprout on April 21, 2012, 01:55 PM
No, Christian fundies use Islamism to talk about any Muslim, and probably an ex-Muslim who doesn't buy into their dogma too.

Saudi is an odd one, salafism used to be exclusvely fundamentalist (I would say a good example is the Chechen leadership, or the Taliban perhaps) but are now have a much wider political goal which makes them Islamist as well.

I think the only aspect of Saudi that is secular is its foreign policy, but even then they use sectarianism when it helps to achieve their policy's. Yup, you're right about the Taliban, prior to 2001, they weren't into international politics at all, now they release statements in an Al-Qaeda type manner, the statement after the Gaza aid flotilla piracy attack is a good example. Foreign jihadis have helped transform their ideology and have actually made them more modern.
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Re: Islamic Fundamentalism and Islamism
Reply #6 - April 21, 2012, 02:37 PM

A lot of Muslims, in the UK at least - well it appears that way, anyway - seem to be 'Islamists'; that is to believe in 'Sharia' as opposed to secularism, it should be noted that the application can only be valid in Muslim countries according to these Theocracts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBUc_kATGgg
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Re: Islamic Fundamentalism and Islamism
Reply #7 - April 21, 2012, 02:40 PM

Depends on their upbringing and what crowd they fall into I guess, I have female cousins all of whom are under 25, they drink and do drugs yet say "May Allah protect him" in arabic every time Mullah Omar is mentioned
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Re: Islamic Fundamentalism and Islamism
Reply #8 - April 21, 2012, 02:46 PM

I know, many of them don't realise what they're actually supporting or advocating. Perhaps they feel compelled to support these Islamists due to loyalty to their faith - identity politics.

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Re: Islamic Fundamentalism and Islamism
Reply #9 - April 21, 2012, 03:13 PM

Its wonderful how you learn about things that you arent aware of and makes you see the things in gray shades.

Its somehow sad how most muslims keep sticking to identity politics without distinguishing the differeces e.g. I realized taliban are more of an ethnic militants than religious though there is fundamentalist element in it.

I think Islamism emerge as a reactionary ideology in the middle east due to Secularism and Monarchy that has spread around the region in the early 20th century.

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Re: Islamic Fundamentalism and Islamism
Reply #10 - April 21, 2012, 03:18 PM

Islamists and Islamic fundamentalists don't recognise these terms - they think their beliefs are the practise of Islam and the practical enactment of Islam.

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Re: Islamic Fundamentalism and Islamism
Reply #11 - April 21, 2012, 03:32 PM

^ That's because it usually is, even 9/11 can be justified using the Quran and hadith. Not the typical "strike terror into the hearts of the enemy" verse but hadith regarding the caravan raids (financial targets) Mohammed seeming to imply civilians killed as "collateral damage" being ok etc.

Quote from: Cato on April 21, 2012, 03:13 PM
Its somehow sad how most muslims keep sticking to identity politics without distinguishing the differeces e.g. I realized taliban are more of an ethnic militants than religious though there is fundamentalist element in it.

The footsoldiers might be driven by some form of patriotism but the Taliban leadership is more religious than ethnic. They'd have no problem blowing up pashtuns they deem unislamic.
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Re: Islamic Fundamentalism and Islamism
Reply #12 - April 21, 2012, 03:37 PM

Just like the rising Boko Haram but the soldiers are neither patriotic nor tribalist.

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Islamic Fundamentalism and Islamism
Reply #13 - September 15, 2014, 04:20 PM

http://infidelsareus.com/2014/09/14/the-islamism-neologism-is-a-misnomer/

came across this blog on the use of "islamism"
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