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IN the world as constituted today, Islam and fundamentalism are perceived as a threat to peace and security in the world. Islam is also seen as a manifestation and nursery of fanaticism, obscurantism and violence. To many, Islam and jehad have become synonymous. The Muslims constitute a billion people and are a majority in 60 countries. A general view projected in the literature produced and published on Islam is that Islam is prone to violence, and throughout its history, animated by fanatical zeal, has embarked on aggression on non-Islamic countries. To reinforce this charge, time and again reference is made to the epic struggle that had culminated in the deliverance of Holy Jerusalem from the "bloody" Muslim lands into Christian custodianship. Islamic preachers and activists parrot the myth of the West against the armies of Islam". In the book, Beverley Milton-Edwards, Reader in Political and International Studies in the School of Politics at Queens University, Belfast, traces the origin and growth of Islamic fundamentalism and its impact on global politics. Adopting a broad survey of Islam and its history and using both its chronological and theoretic approach, the author shows that Islamic fundamentalism is the product of both externa1 and internal factors that operate in Muslim societies. The themes dealt with in this study are: The effects of colonialisation on Islam, Islamic reaction, Islam and violence, globalisation and transnational Islamic movements and Islam in the wake of 9/11. Milton-Edwards is the author of several studies on Islam and the Middle East. The first chapter gives a synoptic view of the rise and fall of Muslim power in international politics. The author emphasies that Muslim rulers inspired by vaulting ambition established extensive empires, but the period of conquest and dominion was short-lived. The European states thwarted the Muslim plan of political and cultural domination of the world. Due to their scientific and technological superiority, the European assault on Muslim domination succeeded in Spain, the Middle East and Africa. This humiliating experience of losing their phenomenal power created among the Muslims a strong resentment against the West and stirred a passionate zeal to unite and consolidate themselves and carve out a separate identity to meet the Western challenge. The Muslims realised that the only way to regain their lost political, social and economic authority was to adhere and rediscover their lost political system and make it relevant to the contemporary world. In other words, the Muslim goal in view was to revive, renew and reform Islam, which could only be realised by launching a worldwide crusade for Islamic renaissance and reformation. Miltan-Edwards draws the conclusion that Muslim fundamentalism is a modern phenomenon and a "reaction to the crushing impact of the modernist project in Muslim countries". According to the author, the Wahabi movement, which advanced a militant political philosophy, had produced a decisive impact, first in Saudi Arabia, where the ruling family adopted and propagated its teaching. For any reactionary movement, the author regards "Vanguardism" an essential element, which leads the revolution. She maintains that the primary plan to mobilise the Muslim masses belongs to Maulana Mawadudi, who "symbolises the transition from pre-fundamentalist to fundamentalist thinking", though Hassan-al-Banna, in many respects, remains unquestionably "the founding father of Islamic fundamentalism". Milton-Edwards asks why is it that the Muslim countries failed to adopt secularism as their state policy. She shows how several countries adopted democratic constitutions, but misrule by way of autocratic functioning, corruption and nepotism destroyed their system of governance. Thus, secularism began to be perceived as nothing more than Western colonialism in disguise. The author states that the
Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union altered the dynamics of
politics. The withdrawal of the Soviet Union from Afghanistan triggered
off terrorist activities. The concluding chapter examines the al-Qaeda
attack on America and its repercussions on international politics.
Written in a lucid style, this work offers a good introduction to
Islamic fundamentalism. |
