Daniel Pipes Explains 'Islamism'
Though neutral on Islam, I take a strong stand on Islamism, which I see as very different. Islam is the religion of the Qur'an and the Sunna; Islamism is the political path of Hasan al-Banna, Abu'l-A`la al-Mawdudi, and Ayatollah Khomeini. The former is (in the Muslim view) eternal or (in the non-Muslim view) fourteen centuries old; the latter is a twentieth-century phenomenon. The one is a faith, the other an ideology. Whereas the closest parallels to Islam are Judaism and Christianity, those closest to Islamism are other radical utopian "isms," namely fascism and Marxism-Leninism.
Islamism is a global affliction whose victims count peoples of all religions. Non-Muslims are losing their lives to it in such countries as Nigeria, Sudan, Egypt, and the Philippines. Muslims are the main casualties in Algeria, Turkey, Iran, and Afghanistan. Islamism is perhaps the most vibrant and coherent ideological movement in the world today; it threatens us all. Moderate Muslims and non-Muslims must cooperate to battle this scourge.
(a) American Islam has enormous positive potential. Since encountering modernity two centuries ago, Muslims have had a difficult time figuring out how to adapt their religion to it. Kemal Atatürk of Turkey represents one school of thought - exclude Islam from every aspect of public life. The Taliban in Afghanistan represent the opposite extreme - subject every aspect of life to what are believed to be Islamic injunctions. There are plenty of other viewpoints between these two, such as those represented by the Ba`th Party, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the Libyan Jamahariya. American Muslims, who live at the very heart of modernity, may be able to make the grand reconciliation of Islam with modernity that has eluded their coreligionists elsewhere. If they do succeed at this, they could have a vast and highly beneficial impact on Muslim life around the world.
(b) The Nation of Islam is disappearing. The Nation of Islam is not just the organization headed currently by Louis Farrakhan but a complex body of institutions that since 1913 have gone by many names (Moorish Science Temple of America, Allah's Temple of Islam, Five Percenters, etc.) and featured a number of outsized personalities (Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali). The historic role of this institution is to create a substantial body of African-American converts to Islam (at present, they number about one million). With the passage of time, the odd, folkloristic, and distinctly non-Islamic qualities of the NoI are fading. I predict that Farrakhan is its last leader with a national presence and that the organization is destined to disappear or to merge with real Islam.
(c) American Islam faces a crisis of extremism. This is the issue that has brought my work to the attention of American Muslims and caused organizations like CAIR to accuse me of being an "Islamophobe" who promotes "anti-Muslim hysteria."
CAIR and the others reacted to my articles that warn Americans (including Muslims) that the main organizations of American Islam are Islamist. I hold that this spells trouble for Muslims and for the general American population. Perhaps the most important area of conflict has to do with secularism: the Islamist agenda is overtly one of applying the Shari`a, even though this is in direct conflict with the Constitution of the United States. Other major problems concern the Islamists' anti-Christian and anti-Jewish sentiments, their support for radical groups abroad, and their readiness to intimidate and to use violence.
Fortunately, Islamists constitute only a minority of Muslims living in the United States. Unfortunately, they dominate the mosques, schools, publications, and national organizations in this country. Worse, whenever a non-Islamist leader speaks up about this undue influence, the Islamists try to delegitimate him or silence him through threats.
The Islamists' approach is deeply antithetical to the American way and so, I predict, that as they and their work became better known, major problems will follow, and these will first of all affect the American Muslim population. My urgent hope is that moderate Muslims get involved in communal affairs and take interest in these matters, and so to redeem the Muslim institutions from the extremists' control.
(Original Air Date: 11/15/07) Dr. Phil continues the story of a young woman who made international headlines when she ran away to Palestine to be with a man she met on the Internet when she was just 16. Katherine was stopped by the FBI and brought back home, but two years later and now an adult, she’s left the United States again to be with Abdullah, the man she says she loves and wants to marry. Katherine’s terrified family thinks she is being brainwashed, and may never be allowed to return home. They say they’ve witnessed Abdullah’s violent temper when he’s verbally abused her over the phone. Now, in an exclusive interview via satellite, Dr. Phil speaks with Katherine and Abdullah together. Is Abdullah lying about letting Katherine return home? Is this couple already married? Talk about the show here.
