Political aspects of Islam 321175 225851251 2008-07-15T18:18:00Z BoogaLouie 3094203 correction {{cleanup-rewrite}} {{Refimprove|date=November 2007}} {{Islam|right}} {{Seealso|Modern Islamic philosophy|Islamism|Islamic terrorism}} '''Political aspects of Islam''' are derived from the [[Quran]], the [[Sunna]], Muslim history and sometimes elements of [[political movement]]s outside Islam. Traditional political concepts in Islam include leadership by successors to the Prophet known as [[Caliph]]s, ([[Imamate]] for [[Shia]]); the importance of following Islamic law or [[Sharia]]; the duty of rulers to seek [[Shura]] or consultation from their subjects; and the importance of rebuking unjust rulers but not encouraging rebellion against them.<ref>[[Abu Hamid al-Ghazali]] quoted in Mortimer, Edward, ''Faith and Power: The Politics of Islam,'' Vintage Books, 1982, p.37</ref> In the 19th and 20th century a common theme has been resistance to Western [[imperialism]], particularly the [[British Empire]], and sometimes the [[racist]] policies that discriminated against some Muslims. The defeat of Arab armies in the [[Six Day War]], the collapse of the [[Soviet Union]] and the end of [[communism]] as a viable alternative with the end of the [[Soviet Union]] and the [[Cold War]] has increased the appeal of [[Islamism]] and [[Islamic fundamentalist]] movements, especially in the context of undemocratic and corrupt regimes all across the Muslim world. == The political character of Islam == {{Fiqh-Pol}}Islam is a religion which has existed for over fourteen centuries in many different countries. As such, diverse political movements in many different contexts have used the banner of Islam to lend legitimacy to their causes. Not surprisingly, practically every aspect of Islamic politics is subject to much disagreement and contention between conservative [[Islamist]]s and [[liberal movements within Islam]]. [[Islamist]] or [[Islamic parties]] exist in almost every [[democracy]] with a Muslim majority. This term has many different meanings which this article will explore, along with links to other political trends. The provocative term [[Neofascism and religion#Islam|Islamofascism]] has also been coined by some non-[[Muslim]]s to describe the political and religious philosophies of some [[militant Islamic groups]]. Both terms lump together a large variety of groups with varying histories and contexts. The articles on [[militant Islamic groups]], [[Islamic parties]] and [[modern Islamic philosophy]] explain some of their actual views in detail. ===Muhammad, the Medinan state and Islamic political ideals=== [[Islamists]] claim that the origins of Islam as a political movement are to be found in the life and times of Islam's prophet, [[Muhammad]] and his successors, the [[Caliphs]] (for Sunnis), or the Imams (for Shia). In 622 CE, in recognition of his claims to prophethood, Muhammad was invited to rule the city of [[Medina]]. At the time the local Arab tribes of [[Aus]] and [[Khazraj]] dominated the city, and were in constant conflict. Medinans saw in Muhammad an impartial outsider who could resolve the conflict. Muhammad and his followers thus moved to Medina, where Muhammad drafted the [[Medina|Medina Charter]]. This document made [[Muhammad]] the ruler, and recognized him as the Prophet of [[Allah]]. During his rule, Muhammad instituted the laws of the [[Qur'an]], considered by Muslims to be divine revelation. Medina thus became a state based on [[Sharia|Islamic law]], which is still a basic demand of most Islamic movements. Muhammad gained a widespread following and an army, and his rule expanded first to the city of [[Mecca]] and then spread through the [[Arabian peninsula]] through a combination of diplomacy and military conquest. This approach and thinking continued with the policies of succeeding Caliphs and by the jurists generally, until the advent of [[European colonialism]] and the demise of the [[Ottoman Caliphate]]. However, the applicability of Muhammad's rule in Medina as a model for a modern state is questioned by [[Islamic modernists]] and [[Islamic secularists]] commencing in the nineteenth century with writers lie Afghani, Abduh and Ridda. They claim that the laws of the Qur'an were revealed to meet the needs of Muhammad's community, and are not necessarily applicable outside it. Regarding jihad, liberals point to the work of historians such as [[Montgomery Watt]], which shows that Muhammad's military conquest had its origins in the pre-Islamic, [[Bedouin]] [[Arab]] practice of [[ghazw]] (usually translated as "tribal raiding"; covering armed attacks for conquest, plunder or the capture of slaves). Liberals use such historical arguments to claim that Muhammad's religious warfare was dictated by his Arab tribal context, and is not necessarily applicable to modern societies. ===The early Caliphate and Islamic political ideals=== After death of Muhammad, his community needed to appoint a new leader (giving rise to the title [[Caliph]], meaning "successor"). Thus the subsequent Islamic empires were known as [[Caliphate]]s. Alongside the growth of the [[Umayyad]] empire, the major political development within Islam in this period was the '''sectarian split between [[Sunni]] and [[Shi'ite]] Muslims'''; this had its roots in a dispute over the succession of the Caliphate. Sunni Muslims believed the caliphate was elective, and any member of the Prophet's tribe, Quraysh, might serve as one. Shi'ites, on the other hand, believed the caliphate should be hereditary in the line of the Prophet, and thus all the caliphs, with the exception of only [[Ali]] and of his son [[Hasan ibn Ali|Hasan]], were usurpers.<ref>Lewis, Bernard, ''The Middle East : a Brief History of the last 2000 Years,'' Touchstone, (1995), p.139</ref> However, the Sunni sect emerged as triumphant in most of the Muslim world, and thus most modern Islamic political movements (with the exception of [[Iran]]) are founded in Sunni thought. Muhammad's closest companions, the four "rightly guided" Caliphs who succeeded him, continued to expand the state to encompass [[Jerusalem]], [[Ctesiphon]], and [[Damascus]], and sending armies as far as the [[Sindh]] [http://alcor.concordia.ca/~shannon/201Lec02images_files/image004.jpg]. The [[Islamic empire]] stretched from [[Al-Andalus]] (Muslim Spain) to [[Persian Empire|Persia]] under the reign of the Umayyad dynasty. The conquering Arab armies took the system of [[Sharia]] laws and courts to their new military camps and cities, and built [[mosque]]s for Friday [[jam'at]] (community prayers) as well as [[Madrasah]]s to educate local Muslim youth. These institutions resulted in the development of a class of [[ulema]] (classical Islamic scholars) who could serve as [[qadi]]s (Sharia-court judges), [[imam]]s of mosques and madrasah teachers. These classical scholars and jurists all owed their livelihood to the expansionary Islamic empire. Not surprisingly, these ulema gave legal and religious sanction to militarist interpretations of jihad. The political terminology of the Islamic state was all the product of this period. Thus, medieval legal terms such as [[khalifa]], [[sharia]], [[fiqh]], [[maddhab]], [[jizya]], and [[dhimmi]] all remain part of modern Islamic vocabulary. Since the scholarly and legal traditions of the ulema were well-established by the time of the [[Abbasid]]s, the later Middle Eastern empires and kingdoms (including the [[Ayyubid]], [[Seljuk Turks|Seljuk]], [[Fatimid]], [[Mamluk]] and [[Mongol]]) had little impact on modern Islamist political ideals. One Islamic concept concerning the structure of ruling is [[shura]], or consultation, which is the duty of rulers mentioned in two verses in the [[Quran]], 3:153, and 42:36, and contrasted by Muslims with arbitrary personal rule. It is mentioned by Islamic traditionalists, commentators, and contemporary writers but is not commanded by Islamic law only recommended.<ref>Lewis, Bernard, ''The Middle East : a Brief History of the last 2000 Years,'' Touchstone, (1995), p.143</ref> One type of ruler not part of the Islamic ideal was the [[king]], which was disparaged in [[Quran]]'s mentions of the [[Pharaoh]], "the prototye of the unjust and tyrannical ruler" (18:70, 79) and elsewhere. (28:34)<ref>Lewis, Bernard, ''The Middle East : a Brief History of the last 2000 Years,'' Touchstone, (1995), p.141</ref> == Reaction to European colonialism == The first Muslim reaction to European encroachment came in the 19th century with the retreat of the Ottoman Empire, the arrival of the French in Algeria (1830), the disappearance of the Moghul Empire in India (1857), the Russian incursions into the Caucasus (1857) and Central Asia. It was of "peasant and religious", not urban origin. "Charismatic leaders", generally members of the [[ulama]] or leaders of religious orders, launched the call for jihad and formed tribal coalitions. [[Sharia]] in defiance of local common law was imposed to unify tribes. Examples include [[Abd al-Qadir]] in Algeria, the [[Muhammad Ahmad|Mahdi in Sudan]], [[Imam Shamil|Shamil in the Caucasus]], the [[Senussi]] in Libya and in Chad, Mullah-i Lang in Afghanistan, the [[Akhund of Swat]] in India, and later, Abd al-Karim in [[Morocco]]. All these movements eventually failed "despite spectacular victories such as the [[Massacre of Elphinstone's army|destruction]] of the British army in Afghanistan in 1842 and the taking of [[Muhammad Ahmad#Khartoum|Kharoum]] in 1885. <ref>Roy, Olivier, ''The Failure of Political Islam'' by Olivier Roy, translated by Carol Volk, Harvard University Press, 1994, p.32</ref> The second reaction to European encroachment was in Westerniznig of by members of the urban, Westernized elite, with [[Egypt]], [[Iran]], and [[Turkey]] being examples. === The modern political ideal of the Islamic state === In addition to the legitimacy given by medieval scholarly opinion, nostalgia for the days of successful Islamic empire simmered under later Western colonialism. This nostalgia played a major role in the Islamist political ideal of Islamic state, which primarily means a state which enforces traditional Islamic laws. The Islamist political program is generally to be accomplished by re-shaping the governments of existing Muslim nation-states; but the means of doing this varies greatly across movements and circumstances. Many Islamist movements, such as the [[Jamaat-e-Islami]] in Bangladesh, have found that they can use the democratic process to their advantage, and so focus on votes and coalition-building with other political parties. Other more radical movements such as [[Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh]] embrace [[militant Islam]]ic ideology, and may even resort to [[Islamist terrorism]]. In the face of the tremendous poverty, corruption and disillusionment with conventional politics, the political ideal of the Islamic state has been criticized by many espousing [[liberal movements within Islam]] as being [[utopia]]n and not offering real solutions, for example by [[Ziauddin Sardar]]. == Islam as a political movement in the 20th century == Following [[World War I]] and the dissolution of the [[Ottoman Empire]], and the subsequent dissolution of the [[Caliphate]] by [[Mustafa Kemal Atatürk]] (founder of [[Turkey]]), many Muslims perceived that the political power of their religion was in retreat. There was also concern that Western ideas and influence were spreading throughout Muslim societies. This led to considerable resentment of the influence of the European powers. Resentment of all foreign forces in Arab lands was exacerbated when [[Hitler]] indirectly gained control of [[Syria]] via [[Vichy France]] in 1940. The [[Baath Party]] was created in Syria and in [[Iraq]] as a movement to resist and harry the British, using some elements of Nazi, Islamic, socialist doctrines, and anti-Semitic propaganda. === After the Second World War === After the war, this party shifted to the [[Soviet Union]]'s sphere of influence. [[Stalin]] had by then become an opponent of [[Zionism]], having like the Arabs initially found it compatible, and then rejected it as bourgeois, racist, and colonial. Any Arab tendency to [[anti-Semitism]] was drastically magnified after [[World War II]] when [[Israel]] was created, at literally the crossroads of all traditional Arab lands. The fact that the promise made to Arabs had been broken, while that to Jews had been kept, was often ascribed to [[racism]]. A religious focus for rhetoric became more common, and more mullahs became involved in politics. The [[Palestinian Diaspora]] stressed social structures in Arab states, which expelled many Jews. [[Zionism]] was identified as the opponent, and some argued a coherent '''Islamism''' was required as a response. However, Islam was still not the dominant trend in resisting colonialism or even Zionism. During the 1960s, the predominant ideology within the Arab world was [[pan-Arabism]] which deemphasized religion and emphasized the creation of socialist, secular states based on [[Arab nationalism]] rather than [[Islam]]. However, governments based on [[Arab nationalism]] have found themselves facing economic stagnation and disorder. Increasingly, the borders of these states were seen as artificial colonial creations - which they were, having literally been drawn on a map by European colonial powers. Now <blockquote>from Cairo to Tehran, the crowds that in the 1950s demonstrated under the red or national flag now march beneath the green banner. The targets are the same: foreign banks, nightclubs, local governments accused of complacency toward the West. The continuity is apparent not only in these targets but also the participants: the same individuals who followed Nasser or Marx in the 1960s are Islamists today.<ref>''The Failure of Political Islam'' by Olivier Roy, translated by Carol Volk, Harvard University Press, 1994, p.4</ref></blockquote> ===Contemporary movements=== Some common political currents in Islam include *Traditionalist fundamentalism, which accepts traditional commentaries on the Quran and Sunna and "takes as its basic principle imitation (taqlid), that is, refusal to innovate", and follows one of the five maddhah legal schools or [[Madh'hab]] (Shafiism, Malikism, Hanafism, Hanbalism) and, may include Sufism. An example of Sufi traditionalism is the [[Barelvi]] school in Pakistan.<ref>Roy, ''Failure of Political Islam'', (1994) p.30-31</ref> *Reformist fundamentalism, which "criticizes the tradition, the commentaries, popular religious practices (maraboutism, the cult of saints)", deviations, and superstitions; it aims to return to the founding texts. This reformism generally developed in response to an external threat (the influence of Hinduism on Islam, for example. 18th-century examples are [[Shah Wali Allah]] in India and [[Abd al-Wahhab]] (who founded [[Wahhabism]]) in the Arabian Peninsula. <ref>Roy, ''Failure of Political Islam'', (1994) p.31</ref> A modern example may be [[Salafism]] (''Salafiyya''). *[[Islamism]] or political Islam, both follows and departs from reformist fundamentalism, embracing a return to the [[sharia]], but adopting western terminology such as [[revolution]] and [[ideology]] and taking a more liberal attitude towards women's rights.<ref>Roy, ''Failure of Political Islam''. (1994) p.35-7</ref> Contemporary examples include the [[Muslim Brotherhood]] and the [[Iranian Revolution|Iranian Islamic Revolution]]. *[[Liberal movements within Islam]] generally define themselves in opposition to Islamic political movements, but often embrace many of its anti-imperialist elements. == Modern debates == Once the common opposition to [[colonialism]], [[political corruption|corruption]] and [[racism]] was established as a focus, debates on political Islam became generally focused on several core questions through the 1970s: * The status of women and integration of priorities of [[feminism]] into a renewed [[fiqh]] *[[Islamic economics]] and the role of [[debt]] in oppression and stagnation of Muslim states *[[Zionism]] and the response to the formation of the state of Israel and the question ofstatehood * Self governance in Muslims nations or in nations with significant Muslim minorities * Control of oil revenues in the Middle East [[United Nations]] cooperation was pivotal in this view - as was cooperation with secular forces and allies. The agenda of secular and Islamist movements during this period was all but indistinguishable. However, some rural movements were finding progress made here to be symbolic and unsatisfactory. In 1979 the political situation drastically changed, with [[Egypt]] making peace with [[Israel]], the [[Iranian Revolution]], and the Soviet invasion of [[Afghanistan]] - all three events had wide-ranging effects on how Islam was perceived as a political phenomenon. To understand this, consider the variety of attitudes Muslims with a fervent belief in [[Islam]] as a universal solution to political problems, took to the events of the 1980s and the 1990s: === Perception of persecution === Some Muslims place the blame for all flaws in Muslim societies on the influx of "foreign" ideas including debt-based [[capitalism]], [[communism]], and even [[feminism]]; a return to the principles of Islam is seen as the natural cure. This is however interpreted in very many ways: [[socialism]] and [[Marxism]] as a guide to adapting Islam to the modern world was in decline by the 1980s as the [[Soviet Union|USSR]] invaded [[Afghanistan]] and polarized attitudes against [[Communism]] and other secular variants of socialism. [[Capitalism]] was often discredited by plain corruption. One persistent theme that both proponents and opponents of Islam as a political movement note is that Muslims are actively persecuted by the West and other foreigners. This view is of course not distinguishable from a critique of [[imperialism]] including [[oil imperialism]], since many Muslim nations are sitting on relatively vast [[oil reserves]]. [[Colonialism]] is often identified as the force which is 'against Islam', and seems to neatly encompass [[British Empire]] experiences as well as those of modern times - the long Ottoman domination being more or less forgotten. === Reactive Islam === It was largely through reactive measures that the movement that is labeled Islamist came to be visible to the West, where it was labeled as being a distinct movement from [[Islam]], [[pan-Arabism]] and resistance to [[colonization]]. The legitimacy of this kind of distinction is very much in doubt. [[Olivier Roy]] holds that the primary motive of all of this activity is resistance to colonialism and control of the [[Islamic World]] by outsiders. In this view, the movement called Islamist is wholly reactive and incidental, just a convenient rationale used to justify what is in fact resistance of a cultural and economic sort. However, there are many overt similarities. Those militants who follow a version of [[sharia]] based on the classical [[fiqh]] ("[[jurisprudence]]") as interpreted by local [[ulema]] ("[[jurist]]s"), were the most prominent of several competing trends in [[modern Islamic philosophy]] in the 1970s and 1980s. It was at this time that they became visible - and a concern - to the West, as they challenged the modernist dictators that the West had generally put trust in. See [[militant Islam]] for a detailed review of some modern movements that are often labeled Islamist by their opponents. This article is only about the reactive definition of the West, leading to the label. Trends which led to this are summarized by [[Ziauddin Sardar]]. === Cold War exploitation === But such cross-cultural exchanges, polite activism and moderate views were very often suppressed by the funders of more militant strains who sought to exploit them against the [[Soviet Union]]. The [[United States]], for instance, in the 1980s supplied university-authored textbooks to the [[mujahedeen]] of [[Afghanistan]] that encouraged militant attitudes and even taught [[arithmetic]] using examples involving hand grenades and "dead [[infidel]]s". There was also pressure against secular [[socialism]] in the [[Islamic World]], and especially in [[Iraq]], [[Syria]] and [[Iran]], until the [[Iranian Revolution]] of 1979 proved it could well be counter-productive and lead to a backlash that put regimes in place that would be hostile to the Western, secular, world. === Role in terrorism === Some militant Islamist forces have been implicated in [[terrorism]] and have become targets in a series of military initiatives justified by the US rhetoric of "[[War on Terrorism]]", which has been adopted by [[Russia]], [[Israel]] and other countries. This has led Muslims and the opponents of these initiatives (in the [[peace movement]]) to characterize it sometimes as actually a [[War on Islam]]. As part of this war, they claim, literally every political interpretation of Islam, from classical fiqh to [[Marxist]] to such moderate views as those of Dr. Shakir, are [[subject-object problem|all being classified as part of one "enemy" movement]]. === Movements described as 'Islamist' === {{main|Islamism}} What these groups have in common tends to be opposition to the [[United States]] and [[Israel]]. They vary widely in terms of the form of [[Islamic Law]] they prefer: Hamas for instance is close to secular in tone. Some include [[Saudi Arabia]]'s dominant ideology, [[Wahhabism]], on this list, but, interestingly, not the nominally Islamic governments of [[Pakistan]] or [[Turkey]]. This appears to be largely motivated by [[geopolitics]], and a purely Western idea of "who we can work with, and who not." Another profound bias of such classifications is that it is quite rare to include nominally Christian or Jewish or Buddhist guerillas in any analysis of those faiths' views of politics, but quite common if it is Islam under discussion&mdash;and likely being criticized. === Globalization === Along with many other cultural phenomena, Islamic political thought has undergone its own globalization as adherents of many different strains have come together. Even in such strictly controlled, secretive groups as [[Al-Qaida]], there were believing Muslims of drastically varying backgrounds coming together, some of whom accepted the tactics and priorities of the group, and some not. While violent fanatics deployed by cynical leaders make highly visible attacks on Western interests and even on 'homelands', this is thought by many to be no more than backlash for an entire 20th century full of cynical attempts by German, British, and American Empires to deploy Islamic idealists as a mere tactic. When [[Russia]] joined the [[Council of the Islamic Conference]] in 2003, it emphasized that it had a long history of successful co-existence with Muslims, and a large integrated population of Muslims (few of which are in any sense Islamist). President [[Vladimir Putin]], despite a long and bloody confrontation with rebels in [[Chechnya]], offered to act as a bridge or neutral broker in dealings between Muslims and [[NATO]], the [[EU]] and [[USA]]. This was a quite different rhetoric, a more pragmatic one likely reflecting the reality that the ex-Soviet republics of [[Uzbekistan]], [[Kazakhstan]], [[Turkmenistan]], [[Azerbaijan]] had substantial Islamic political movements - similar to those in [[Turkey]] and [[Pakistan]], relatively modern in tone and willing to participate in the US [[War on Terrorism]] to some degree, although not as direct combatants. Some analysts believe that the old Cold War battlelines have been redrawn, with Russia choosing new allies - those with a record of success in forcing US withdrawals from strategic territories ([[Beirut]], [[Somalia]] and - depending on interpretation - [[Afghanistan]] and [[Iraq]]) with Muslim populations. In this view, the old Marxist alliance against colonialism is the dominant rhetoric. Others accept the Russian pledge as sincere, and believe that Islamist movements of all stripes will eventually come to accommodation with domestic secular forces, and Islam as a global anti-corruption, anti-colonialism, and anti-racism movement, less focused on [[Zionism]] and Palestine. [[George W. Bush]] for instance has noted the real need as economic development in Muslim countries, to break the [[cycle of poverty]] that tends to feed into extremist movements. In [[Afghanistan]], [[Pakistan]], [[Turkey]] and [[Iraq]], the Bush administration has worked closely with nominally Islamic forces and ruling political parties in government. It denies intensely that it is involved in a [[War on Islam]]. However, polls of Muslim nations indicate these denials are not trusted. Any accommodation will not be quick in coming. ==See also== * [[Islamic Peace]] * [[Islamism]] * [[Hizb ut-Tahrir]] Islamic political party * [[Tanzeem-e-Islami]] Islamic revolutionary party working for establishing khilafah. * [[Ayatollah Mohamed Hossein Kazemini Borujerdi]] Islamic activist for separation of politics from Islam == References == {{reflist|2}} == Sources == The following sources generally prescribe to the theory that there is a distinct 20th century movement called Islamism that exists independently of Jewish/Christian observers and motivations: * "Children of Abraham: An Introduction to Islam for Jews" Khalid Duran with Abdelwahab Hechiche, The American Jewish Committee and Ktav, 2001 * "The Islamism Debate" [[Martin Kramer]], 1997, which includes the chapter [http://www.geocities.com/martinkramerorg/Mismeasure.htm The Mismeasure of Political Islam] * "Liberal Islam: A Sourcebook" Charles Kurzman, Oxford University Press, 1998 * "The Challenge of Fundamentalism: Political Islam and the New World Disorder" Bassam Tibi, Univ. of California Press, 1998 However, the following sources very strongly challenge that assertion: *[[Edward Said]], ''[[Orientalism (book)|Orientalism]]'' *[[Merryl Wyn Davies]], ''[[Beyond Frontiers: Islam and Contemporary Needs]]'' *[[G. H. Jansen]], ''[[Militant Islam (book)|Militant Islam]]'', 1980 *[[Hamid Enyat]], ''[[Modern Islamic Political Thought]]'' These authors in general locate the issues of Islamic political intolerance and fanaticism not in Islam, but in the generally low level of awareness of Islam's own mechanisms for dealing with these, among modern believers, in part a result of Islam being suppressed prior to modern times. ===Further reading=== Democracy in the Middle East, the role of Islamist political parties, and the war on terrorism: *Marina Ottoway, et al., [http://www.ceip.org/files/publications/HTMLBriefs-WP/20_October_2002_Policy_Brief/20009536v01.html Democratic Mirage in the Middle East], Carnegie Endowment for Ethics and International Peace, Policy Brief 20, ([[October 20]] [[2002]]). *Marina Ottoway and Thomas Carothers, [http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=2705&print=1 Think Again: Middle East Democracy], ''Foreign Policy'' (Nov./Dec. 2004). *Steven Wright, ''The United States and Persian Gulf Security: The Foundations of the War on Terror'', Ithaca Press, 2007 ISBN 978-0863723216 *Chris Zambelis, [http://www.carlisle.army.mil/usawc/Parameters/05autumn/zambelis.htm The Strategic Implications of Political Liberalization and Democratization in the Middle East], ''Parameters'', (Autumn 2005). *Adnan M. Hayajneh, [http://www.alternativesjournal.net/volume3/number2/adnan.htm The U.S. Strategy: Democracy and Internal Stability in the Arab World], ''Alternatives'' (Volume 3, No. 2 & 3, Summer/Fall 2004). *Gary Gambill, [http://www.meib.org/articles/0407_me2.htm Jumpstarting Arab Reform: The Bush Administration's Greater Middle East Initiative], ''Middle East Intelligence Bulletin'' (Vol. 6, No. 6-7, June/July 2004). *Remarks by the President at the 20th Anniversary of the National Endowment for Democracy, United States Chamber of Commerce, Washington, D.C., [http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/11/20031106-2.html President Bush Discusses Freedom in Iraq and Middle East], [[6 November]] [[2003]]. *Robert Blecher, [http://www.merip.org/mero/interventions/blecher_interv.html Free People Will Set the Course of History: Intellectuals, Democracy and American Empire], ''Middle East Report'' (March 2003). *Robert Fisk, [http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9888.htm What Does Democracy Really Mean In The Middle East? Whatever The West Decides], ''[[The Independent]]'', [[8 August]], [[2005]]. *Fawaz Gergez, [http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=5622 Is Democracy in the Middle East a Pipedream?], ''Yale Global Online'', [[April 25]], [[2005]]. ==External links== *[http://www.pakislam.net/ Meanings of Islam] *[http://www.salafimanhaj.com/pdf/SalafiManhaj_Terrorism_In_KSA.pdf The Ideology of Terrorism and Violence in Saudi Arabia: Origins, Reasons and Solution] * [http://www.washington-report.org/backissues/0994/9409021.htm Evaluating the Islamist movement] - written by Greg Noakes, an American Muslim who works at the Washington Report * [http://www.washington-report.org/backissues/0695/9506017.htm Muslim scholars face down fanaticism] - written by Aicha Lemsine, an Algerian journalist and author. * [http://www.boutiquebrighton.info/mdp.html Muslims for Dawah through Peace - Islamic peace movement manifesto] === Opposing viewpoints === * [http://www.icapi.org International Coalition Against Political Islam] * [http://www.ntpi.org No to Political Islam] * [http://desicritics.org/2007/01/17/070633.php Islam: The Greatest Colonizer Of All Time] {{Islam topics|state=collapsed}} [[Category:Religion and politics]] [[fr:Islam politique]] [[ms:Politik Islam]]