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Religious Fundamentalism: Causes and Remedies
Rasheed Arshad*
Introduction
the
modern use of the term is not confined to terrorism or
extremism but as we shall see later it is used in a very
broad sense. Replying to the question “Does
fundamentalism inevitably cause violence” Karen
Armstrong said:
No, it does not. Fundamentalism is most likely to tip over
into violence in a society at war or in conflict. The Middle
East, which has seen violent conflict for many years, is an
obvious example. But even some Muslim fundamentalists have
confined themselves to welfare campaigns. They have opened
clinics, taught the people about labor laws, built their own
factories where workers have better conditions, and offered
free education. Their aim has been to bring some of the
benefits of modernity to the people in an Islamic context
that makes sense to them. 1
The perspective of Lt. Gen. Anthony Zinni, deputy commander
of U.S. Central Command, clarified the
"fundamentalist--extremist" distinction in a recent Army
Times interview.
"We’re
very careful to separate fundamentalism from
extremism...Some people relate fundamentalism and
extremism as being the same. We don’t. There are
fundamentalists that are not violent, that are not
hostile; they just have a very conservative approach to
their religion. But there’s a small group of extremists
and then a small group of countries, like Iran, that
encourage extremism.”
(18 Nov 96, p. 10.)
Fundamentalism is not an Islamic term, there are Muslim
leaders who say that yes we are fundamentalists but in my
view Muslims should reject the usage of this expression for
them exactly as they did not accept the term "Muhammadanism"
for Islam. In recent years the movements for Islamic revival
are projected, fitted with the term abusively, whereas these
movements have their own appropriate names better reflecting
their characteristics.
If the
westerners are using the term in the sense that they adhere
to the fundamentals or basic principles (usool), to
what Allaah and His Messenger said, then this is praise, not
condemnation. Following the fundamentals, the Book of Allaah
and the Sunnah of His Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him), is commendable and cannot be condemned. What
is to be condemned is when people overdo things or fall
short, when they go to extremes or are harsh or do not do
what they have to do – this is what is to be condemned.
There
are some problems in using this term. The first major
problem is that the term carries unpopular and negative
connotations. Fundamentalism has now associated with such
notions as being intolerant, extremist, fanatic, rigid,
literalist, narrow-minded, reactionary, militant, and the
like. As Esposito mentions: Our understanding and
perceptions of fundamentalism are heavily influenced by
American Protestantism. Literalist biblical position and
thus are regarded as static, retrogressive and extremist…..
"Fundamentalism" is often equated with political activism,
extremism, fanaticism, terrorism, and anti-Americanism .2
The
second major problem is that as we know the term has a
certain Christian background when the term is applied to
other religions, we find that there is no suitable
corresponding term for ‘fundamentalism’ in that culture’s
language. This becomes evident when examining Arabic or any
other of the Islamic languages. Armstrong noticed that, a
literal translation of "fundamentalism" into Arabic gives
us usuliyyah, word that refers to the study of the sources
of the various rules and principles of Islamic law.' Most of
the activists who are dubbed "fundamentalists" in the West
are not engaged in this Islamic science, but have quite
different concerns. The use of the term "fundamentalism" is,
therefore, misleading. 3
No
suitable word exists, or is about to be adopted by the
language to describe this western concept. This leads to the
issue of outside application. The term’s application to
other religions has usually come from outside that religion,
and has often been made by western observers
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