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⚫ '''"Islamofascism"''' is a controversial term used for ] groups that are "a form of (neo-)]" or, conversely, "a (neo)-Fascist version of Islamism". It has come to be used by some non-Muslim journalists, politicians and academics to refer to those ] movements that are perceived to have ] or ] characteristics, particularly groups of Islamic fundamentalists like the ], ], ], and ].


While some movements self-describe themselves as "Islamist", few today will refer to themselves publicly as "fascist", even if their views fit with the meaning of ] because of the associations with the term in modern times with groups such as the former ], ] and modern ].
⚫ '''"Islamofascism"''' is a controversial ]. It is a ] intended to mean "an ] form of (neo-)]" or, conversely, "a (neo)-Fascist version of Islamism". It has come to be used by some non-Muslim journalists, politicians and academics to refer to those ] movements that are perceived to have ] or ] characteristics. Critics view the term as ] and as profoundly ]ing to Muslims, because fascism is a word with negative connotations. Some argue that fascism is solely a feature of Italian history, and distinct from any modern-day political movements outside Italy. Others argue that there are contemporary ] movements. However, while some movements self-describe themselves as "Religion-based" or "Islamist", few today will refer to themselves publicly as "fascist".
<!--I'm partly reverting the huge chunk of text that ChaosFaery deleted. Edit rather than eradicate, ok? No single neutral word currently exists to describe this phenomenon, just a generic term and a slur.-->


==Application==
⚫ Some applications of the term "Islamofascism" specifically refer to the ] {{fact}} and similar movements in ] inspired by the writings of ], while others use it to refer to all highly politicized strains of Islam, including ] radicalism as practised in ].


A more common and less loaded term for these politicized strains of Islam, which seek to replace secular governments in Muslim countries with ] law, is ]. Note, however, that Islamism is a broad political category which covers also political movements such as ]'s ] {{fact}} which do not seek to overthrow secular constitutions.
⚫ ==Origins ==


Several other outspoken critics of Islam go further, and claim that ] itself is fascistic, arguing that Islam shares with fascism what they claim are its essential characteristics, such as ], leader worship, ], totalitarianism and glorification of violence. These critics do not generally discuss the philosophical bases of fascism, nor do they tend to cite fascist thinkers, but rather approach their understanding of Islamist philosophy by operating a checklist of perceived evils that they consider Islamism and fascism to share.{{fact}} On the other hand, ] equates only militant Islamism to fascism. Thus Pipes and most others critics say they refer to a small number of Islamism|Islamist zealots, including ] groups such as ].

==Concepts and terms==
Although the concept of clerical fascism is used widely in analyzing certain forms of fascism, is it fair to apply it to certain forms of theocratic Islamic fundamentalism? Some scholars say it is fair, including Walter Laqueur who discusses fascistic influences on militant Islam in his book ''Fascism: Past, Present, Future.''

Robert S. Wistrich has described Islamic fascism as adopting a totalitarian mind-set, a hatred of the West, fanatical extremism, repression of women, loathing of Jews, a firm belief in conspiracy theories, and dreams of global hegemony.

J Sakai, an analyst, has suggested that some middle class Islamists have formed groups that can be called fascist .

A number of academics, however, disagree with the use of the term fascism in this context. Roger Griffin believes it stretches the term fascist too far to apply the term 'fascism' to "so-called fundamentalist or terroristic forms of traditional religion (i.e. scripture or sacred text based with a strong sense of orthodoxy or orthodoxies rooted in traditional institutions and teachings)." He does, however, concede that the United States has seen the emergence of hybrids of political religion and fascism in such phenomena as the Nation of Islam and Christian Identity, and that bin Laden's al Qaeda network may represent such a hybrid. He is unhappy with the term 'clerical fascism,' though, since he says that "in this case we are rather dealing with a variety of 'fascistized clericalism.'"

Many dispute the accuracy of the term "Islamic fascism". They argue that political ideologies in the Middle East derived from fascism have usually been violently opposed to ]. (''see: ]''). Fascist-derived ideologies in the Middle East such as the ], the ], and the ] have been explicitly secular, and have drawn their strongest support from minority groups in the Arab world which feared the consequences of an Islamist government. The founders of the SSNP, the Baath, and the Kataeb were all Christians, and the movements have tended to have their strongest Muslim support from religious minorities like the Sunni Arabs of ] or the ]s of ].

Discussions of Islamic neofascism often point to strands of ] or ] Islam, which are claimed to display some of the signifiers of fascism or totalitarianism, , . Sometimes there are specific references to the ] and similar movements in ] inspired by the writings of ], while others use the term neofascism to describe all highly politicized strains of Islam, including ] radicalism as practised in Iran.

In ''The Battle For God'' (2001), Karen Armstrong discusses the case of ]:

<blockquote>Islam, he declared, was a revolutionary ideology that was similar to Fascism and Marxism, but there was an important difference. The Nazis and Marxists had enslaved other human beings, whereas Islam sought to free them from subjection to anything other than God…. An Islamic state, Mawdudi argued, would be totalitarian, because it subjugated everything to the rule of God; but how would that differ in practice from dictatorship, which, Mawdudi rightly insisted, was condemned by the Koran? (p.238)</blockquote>

Politicized strains of Islam, which seek to replace secular governments in Muslim countries with ] law, are sometimes called ], but this is a broad political category which covers political movements such as ]'s ] which do not seek to overthrow secular constitutions. The classification of this party as islamist is, however, disputed, precisely on those grounds. Others have proposed to classify it as a ] movement instead.

⚫ ==Origins ==
The origins of the term are unclear, but appear to date back to an article, "Construing Islam as a language", by ] that appeared on ], ] in '']'', where he wrote: The origins of the term are unclear, but appear to date back to an article, "Construing Islam as a language", by ] that appeared on ], ] in '']'', where he wrote:


<blockquote>Nevertheless there is what might be called a political problematic affecting the ] world. In contrast to the heirs of some other non-Western traditions, including ], ] and ], Islamic societies seem to have found it particularly hard to institutionalise divergences politically: authoritarian government, not to say Islamo-fascism, is the rule rather than the exception from ] to ].</blockquote> <blockquote>Nevertheless there is what might be called a political problematic affecting the ] world. In contrast to the heirs of some other non-Western traditions, including ], ] and ], Islamic societies seem to have found it particularly hard to institutionalise divergences politically: authoritarian government, not to say Islamo-fascism, is the rule rather than the exception from ] to ].</blockquote>

It should be noted that Ruthven is clearly talking about Islamic governments rather than Islamist groups and there can be seen an evolution of the term from a description of authoritarian governments, such as those in Pakistan, Morocco (at that time), Saudi Arabia and Iraq, into an epithet used by mostly right-wing journalists to describe Islamic enemies.{{fact}}

For a discussion on related issues prior to the end of World War Two, see ].


'']'' attributes the term to an article by Muslim scholar ] in the '']'', where he used it to describe the push by some Islamist clerics to "impose religious orthodoxy on the state and the citizenry". '']'' attributes the term to an article by Muslim scholar ] in the '']'', where he used it to describe the push by some Islamist clerics to "impose religious orthodoxy on the state and the citizenry".
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== Examples of use in public discourse == == Examples of use in public discourse ==

*"he bombers of Manhattan represent fascism with an Islamic face, and there's no point in any euphemism about it. What they abominate about "the West," to put it in a phrase, is not what Western liberals don't like and can't defend about their own system, but what they do like about it and must defend: its emancipated women, its scientific inquiry, its separation of religion from the state." &mdash; ] in '''', The Nation 2001. *"he bombers of Manhattan represent fascism with an Islamic face, and there's no point in any euphemism about it. What they abominate about "the West," to put it in a phrase, is not what Western liberals don't like and can't defend about their own system, but what they do like about it and must defend: its emancipated women, its scientific inquiry, its separation of religion from the state." &mdash; ] in '''', The Nation 2001.
<!-- Link is dead, so this should be re-sourced or deleted: "The idea that there is some kind of autonomous "Islamofascism" that can be crushed, or that the west may defend itself against the terrorists who threaten it by cultivating that eagerness to kill militant Muslims which ] urges upon us, is a dangerous delusion. The symptoms that have led some to apply the label of "Islamofascism" are not reasons to forget root causes. They are reasons for us to examine even more carefully what those root causes actually are." He adds "'Saddam, Arafat and the Saudis hate the Jews and want to see them destroyed' . . . or so says the right-wing writer ]. And he has a point. Does the western left really grasp the extent of anti-Semitism in the Middle East? But does the right grasp the role of Europeans in creating such hatred?" ], author of ''A Brief History of Blasphemy: liberalism, censorship and 'The Satanic Verses'''writing in the ].--> <!-- Link is dead, so this should be re-sourced or deleted: "The idea that there is some kind of autonomous "Islamofascism" that can be crushed, or that the west may defend itself against the terrorists who threaten it by cultivating that eagerness to kill militant Muslims which ] urges upon us, is a dangerous delusion. The symptoms that have led some to apply the label of "Islamofascism" are not reasons to forget root causes. They are reasons for us to examine even more carefully what those root causes actually are." He adds "'Saddam, Arafat and the Saudis hate the Jews and want to see them destroyed' . . . or so says the right-wing writer ]. And he has a point. Does the western left really grasp the extent of anti-Semitism in the Middle East? But does the right grasp the role of Europeans in creating such hatred?" ], author of ''A Brief History of Blasphemy: liberalism, censorship and 'The Satanic Verses'''writing in the ].-->
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==Criticism of the use of the term== ==Criticism of the use of the term==

Some commentators regard the term "Islamofascism" as offensive. "] is a sacred term to 1.3 billion people in the world ... To combine it with the word "fascist" in one phrase is a desecration and a form of ]," according to Professor ] of the ]. "Are there Muslims who are fascists? Sure. But there is no Islamic fascism, since "Islam" has to do with the highest ideals of the religion." Some commentators regard the term "Islamofascism" as offensive. "] is a sacred term to 1.3 billion people in the world ... To combine it with the word "fascist" in one phrase is a desecration and a form of ]," according to Professor ] of the ]. "Are there Muslims who are fascists? Sure. But there is no Islamic fascism, since "Islam" has to do with the highest ideals of the religion."


Others argue that movements characterized as "Islamofascist" are dissimilar to fascist movements of the past. According to Roxanne Euben, a professor of political science at ], "Fascism is nationalistic and Islamicism is hostile to nationalism. Fundamentalism is a transnational movement that is appealing to believers of all nations and races across national boundaries. There is no idea of racial purity as in Nazism. Islamicists have very little idea of the state. It is a religious movement, while Fascism in Europe was a secular movement. So if it's not what we really think of as nationalism, and if it's not really like what we think of as Fascist, why use these terms?" Others argue that movements characterized as "Islamofascist" are dissimilar to fascist movements of the past. According to Roxanne Euben, a professor of political science at ], "Fascism is nationalistic and Islamicism is hostile to nationalism. Fundamentalism is a transnational movement that is appealing to believers of all nations and races across national boundaries. There is no idea of racial purity as in Nazism. Islamicists have very little idea of the state. It is a religious movement, while Fascism in Europe was a secular movement. So if it's not what we really think of as nationalism, and if it's not really like what we think of as Fascist, why use these terms?"

Others argue that there are contemporary religious ] movements. While some movements self-describe themselves as "Islamist", few today will refer to themselves publicly as "fascist", even if their views fit with the meaning of ], because of the associations with it in modern times with groups such as the former ] and ].


Prime Minister of Italy ] has objected to the term "Islamofascism" as unfair to Italian fascists of the 1930s and 1940s, who Berlusconi described as "more benign" than those movements characterized as "Islamofascist." Prime Minister of Italy ] has objected to the term "Islamofascism" as unfair to Italian fascists of the 1930s and 1940s, who Berlusconi described as "more benign" than those movements characterized as "Islamofascist."


The use of the term "Islamofascist" by proponents of the ] has prompted some critics to argue that the term is a typical example of wartime propaganda. The ] ] ] ] wrote, "Islamofascism is nothing but an empty propaganda term. And wartime ] is usually, if not always, crafted to produce ], the destruction of any sense of ]. Such words, undefined and unmeasured, are used by people more interested in making us lose our heads than in keeping their own." The use of the term "Islamofascist" by proponents of the ] has prompted some critics to argue that the term is a typical example of wartime propaganda. The ] ] ] ] wrote, "Islamofascism is nothing but an empty propaganda term. And wartime ] is usually, if not always, crafted to produce ], the destruction of any sense of ]. Such words, undefined and unmeasured, are used by people more interested in making us lose our heads than in keeping their own."



⚫ <!-- Some applications of the term "Islamofascism" specifically refer to the ] {{fact}} and similar movements in ] inspired by the writings of ], while others use it to refer to all highly politicized strains of Islam, including ] radicalism as practised in Iran. A more common and less loaded term for these politicized strains of Islam, which seek to replace secular governments in Muslim countries with ] law, is ]. Note, however, that Islamism is a broad political category which covers also political movements such as ]'s ] {{fact}} which do not seek to overthrow secular constitutions. -->


==See also== ==See also==

*]
*] - ''applied to the former ] by ] ] during the 1980s.
*] - ''applied to the War on Terrorism
*] - ''applied to ], ], and ].
*] - ''applied to the ]
*] - ''applied to ]
*]
*] *]
*]
*]
*] *]
*]
*]
*]
*]
*]


==References== ==References==
*
*
* by Christopher Hitchens, ''The Nation'', September 4, 2001 * by Christopher Hitchens, ''The Nation'', September 4, 2001
* by Albert Scardino, ''The Guardian'', February 4, 2005 * by Albert Scardino, ''The Guardian'', February 4, 2005
Line 77: Line 92:
* by Johann Hari, ''The Independent'', September 23, 2004 * by Johann Hari, ''The Independent'', September 23, 2004
*, BBC, August 3, 2005, *, BBC, August 3, 2005,

==External links==
*
*
* &mdash; criticism of Hitchens by Dave Renton
*
*
* from ]
* by Deroy Murdock in ]
* &mdash; ] (], ])
* &mdash; ] (], ])

For serious studies of the theology of Osama bin Laden and its intersections with palingenetic millenarianism, see:

* Jean E. Rosenfeld, Ph.D., UCLA Center for the Study of Religion;
* Khaled Abou El Fadl, Omar and Azmeralda Alfi Distinguished Fellow in Islamic Law at the UCLA School of Law;
* Catherine Wessinger, Professor of Religious Studies, Loyola University New Orleans.


] ]
]
]

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Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page.

"Islamofascism" is a controversial term used for Islamist groups that are "a form of (neo-)Fascism" or, conversely, "a (neo)-Fascist version of Islamism". It has come to be used by some non-Muslim journalists, politicians and academics to refer to those Islamist movements that are perceived to have neofascist or totalitarian characteristics, particularly groups of Islamic fundamentalists like the Taliban, al Qaeda, Hamas, and Hezbollah.

While some movements self-describe themselves as "Islamist", few today will refer to themselves publicly as "fascist", even if their views fit with the meaning of neo-fascism because of the associations with the term in modern times with groups such as the former Nazi Party, Soviet Communism and modern Neo-Nazism.

Application

Some applications of the term "Islamofascism" specifically refer to the Muslim Brotherhood and similar movements in Sunni Islam inspired by the writings of Sayyid Qutb, while others use it to refer to all highly politicized strains of Islam, including Shi'a radicalism as practised in Iran.

A more common and less loaded term for these politicized strains of Islam, which seek to replace secular governments in Muslim countries with Sharia law, is Islamist. Note, however, that Islamism is a broad political category which covers also political movements such as Turkey's Justice and Development Party which do not seek to overthrow secular constitutions.

Several other outspoken critics of Islam go further, and claim that Islam itself is fascistic, arguing that Islam shares with fascism what they claim are its essential characteristics, such as supremacism, leader worship, exclusionism, totalitarianism and glorification of violence. These critics do not generally discuss the philosophical bases of fascism, nor do they tend to cite fascist thinkers, but rather approach their understanding of Islamist philosophy by operating a checklist of perceived evils that they consider Islamism and fascism to share. On the other hand, Daniel Pipes equates only militant Islamism to fascism. Thus Pipes and most others critics say they refer to a small number of Islamism|Islamist zealots, including terrorist groups such as al Qaeda.

Concepts and terms

Although the concept of clerical fascism is used widely in analyzing certain forms of fascism, is it fair to apply it to certain forms of theocratic Islamic fundamentalism? Some scholars say it is fair, including Walter Laqueur who discusses fascistic influences on militant Islam in his book Fascism: Past, Present, Future.

Robert S. Wistrich has described Islamic fascism as adopting a totalitarian mind-set, a hatred of the West, fanatical extremism, repression of women, loathing of Jews, a firm belief in conspiracy theories, and dreams of global hegemony.

J Sakai, an analyst, has suggested that some middle class Islamists have formed groups that can be called fascist .

A number of academics, however, disagree with the use of the term fascism in this context. Roger Griffin believes it stretches the term fascist too far to apply the term 'fascism' to "so-called fundamentalist or terroristic forms of traditional religion (i.e. scripture or sacred text based with a strong sense of orthodoxy or orthodoxies rooted in traditional institutions and teachings)." He does, however, concede that the United States has seen the emergence of hybrids of political religion and fascism in such phenomena as the Nation of Islam and Christian Identity, and that bin Laden's al Qaeda network may represent such a hybrid. He is unhappy with the term 'clerical fascism,' though, since he says that "in this case we are rather dealing with a variety of 'fascistized clericalism.'"

Many dispute the accuracy of the term "Islamic fascism". They argue that political ideologies in the Middle East derived from fascism have usually been violently opposed to Islamism. (see: The Hama Massacre). Fascist-derived ideologies in the Middle East such as the Kataeb Party, the Baath party, and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party have been explicitly secular, and have drawn their strongest support from minority groups in the Arab world which feared the consequences of an Islamist government. The founders of the SSNP, the Baath, and the Kataeb were all Christians, and the movements have tended to have their strongest Muslim support from religious minorities like the Sunni Arabs of Iraq or the Alawites of Syria.

Discussions of Islamic neofascism often point to strands of Wahhabi or Salafi Islam, which are claimed to display some of the signifiers of fascism or totalitarianism, , . Sometimes there are specific references to the Muslim Brotherhood and similar movements in Sunni Islam inspired by the writings of Sayyid Qutb, while others use the term neofascism to describe all highly politicized strains of Islam, including Shi'a radicalism as practised in Iran.

In The Battle For God (2001), Karen Armstrong discusses the case of Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi:

Islam, he declared, was a revolutionary ideology that was similar to Fascism and Marxism, but there was an important difference. The Nazis and Marxists had enslaved other human beings, whereas Islam sought to free them from subjection to anything other than God…. An Islamic state, Mawdudi argued, would be totalitarian, because it subjugated everything to the rule of God; but how would that differ in practice from dictatorship, which, Mawdudi rightly insisted, was condemned by the Koran? (p.238)

Politicized strains of Islam, which seek to replace secular governments in Muslim countries with Sharia law, are sometimes called Islamist, but this is a broad political category which covers political movements such as Turkey's Justice and Development Party which do not seek to overthrow secular constitutions. The classification of this party as islamist is, however, disputed, precisely on those grounds. Others have proposed to classify it as a Islamic Democracy movement instead.

Origins

The origins of the term are unclear, but appear to date back to an article, "Construing Islam as a language", by Malise Ruthven that appeared on September 8, 1990 in The Independent, where he wrote:

Nevertheless there is what might be called a political problematic affecting the Muslim world. In contrast to the heirs of some other non-Western traditions, including Hinduism, Shintoism and Buddhism, Islamic societies seem to have found it particularly hard to institutionalise divergences politically: authoritarian government, not to say Islamo-fascism, is the rule rather than the exception from Morocco to Pakistan.

It should be noted that Ruthven is clearly talking about Islamic governments rather than Islamist groups and there can be seen an evolution of the term from a description of authoritarian governments, such as those in Pakistan, Morocco (at that time), Saudi Arabia and Iraq, into an epithet used by mostly right-wing journalists to describe Islamic enemies.

For a discussion on related issues prior to the end of World War Two, see Amin al-Husayni.

The Guardian attributes the term to an article by Muslim scholar Khalid Duran in the Washington Times, where he used it to describe the push by some Islamist clerics to "impose religious orthodoxy on the state and the citizenry".

British journalist Christopher Hitchens used the term "Islamic fascism" or "theocratic fascism" to describe the fatwa declared on February 14, 1989 by Ayatollah Khomeini against Salman Rushdie over The Satanic Verses, an event that was pivotal in shaping the attitude toward Islamism of Hitchens and several other prominent journalists on the left. Hitchens also used the term "fascism with an Islamic face" in The Nation after the 9/11 attacks, when the phrase spread to the blogosphere, shortened to "Islamofascism." On October 6, 2005 President George W Bush used it in a speech to the National Endowment for Democracy.

Examples of use in public discourse

  • "he bombers of Manhattan represent fascism with an Islamic face, and there's no point in any euphemism about it. What they abominate about "the West," to put it in a phrase, is not what Western liberals don't like and can't defend about their own system, but what they do like about it and must defend: its emancipated women, its scientific inquiry, its separation of religion from the state." — Christopher Hitchens in Against Rationalisation, The Nation 2001.
  • "What we have to understand is ... this is not really a war against terrorism, this is not really a war against al Qaeda, this is a war against movements and ideologies that are jihadist, that are Islamofascists, that aim to destroy the Western world." Clifford May, president of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.
  • " attacks serve a clear and focused ideology, a set of beliefs and goals that are evil, but not insane. Some call this evil Islamic radicalism; others, militant Jihadism; still others, Islamo-fascism. Whatever it's called, this ideology is very different from the religion of Islam. This form of radicalism exploits Islam to serve a violent, political vision: the establishment, by terrorism and subversion and insurgency, of a totalitarian empire that denies all political and religious freedom." George W Bush, President of the United States speaking before the National Endowment for Democracy, October 6 2005
  • "Far too many people on the Left are inclined to make excuses for Islamic fundamentalism. They accept its misogyny so long as it doesn’t target Western women. They accept its fascism so long as it is anti-American fascism. We now have a Stop the War coalition led by Islamic fascists and Marxist-Leninists, and much of the Left is silent about it. Acknowledging the horrors of Islamic fundamentalism would sully their consciences, which they want to keep clean for the battle against America ... Much of the Stop the War coalition now actually supports a fascist resistance movement and ignores their Iraqi comrades entirely. You have to look back to the Hitler-Stalin pact for a historical parallel. The concept of fascism is being lost. It’s something you hear about on the history channels. But Islamic fascism is still fascism ... Islamofascism has been ripping through the Arab world, often supported by America, and it should be the Left’s worst nightmare. It’s everything the Left has resisted since the French revolution. To equivocate in the face of it would be an absolute abdication of intellectual responsibility ... " — Nick Cohen, The Observer.

Criticism of the use of the term

Some commentators regard the term "Islamofascism" as offensive. "Islam is a sacred term to 1.3 billion people in the world ... To combine it with the word "fascist" in one phrase is a desecration and a form of hate speech," according to Professor Juan Cole of the University of Michigan. "Are there Muslims who are fascists? Sure. But there is no Islamic fascism, since "Islam" has to do with the highest ideals of the religion."

Others argue that movements characterized as "Islamofascist" are dissimilar to fascist movements of the past. According to Roxanne Euben, a professor of political science at Wellesley College, "Fascism is nationalistic and Islamicism is hostile to nationalism. Fundamentalism is a transnational movement that is appealing to believers of all nations and races across national boundaries. There is no idea of racial purity as in Nazism. Islamicists have very little idea of the state. It is a religious movement, while Fascism in Europe was a secular movement. So if it's not what we really think of as nationalism, and if it's not really like what we think of as Fascist, why use these terms?"

Others argue that there are contemporary religious neo-fascist movements. While some movements self-describe themselves as "Islamist", few today will refer to themselves publicly as "fascist", even if their views fit with the meaning of fascism, because of the associations with it in modern times with groups such as the former Nazi Party and Soviet Communism.

Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi has objected to the term "Islamofascism" as unfair to Italian fascists of the 1930s and 1940s, who Berlusconi described as "more benign" than those movements characterized as "Islamofascist."

The use of the term "Islamofascist" by proponents of the War on Terror has prompted some critics to argue that the term is a typical example of wartime propaganda. The conservative Catholic journalist Joseph Sobran wrote, "Islamofascism is nothing but an empty propaganda term. And wartime propaganda is usually, if not always, crafted to produce hysteria, the destruction of any sense of proportion. Such words, undefined and unmeasured, are used by people more interested in making us lose our heads than in keeping their own."

See also

References

External links

For serious studies of the theology of Osama bin Laden and its intersections with palingenetic millenarianism, see:

Categories: