Islamic Fundamentalism and Political Islam

Abstract

Political Islam is a movement that began in the late 1920s, after secular governments failed to secure economic independence, prosperity and good governance in the Muslim world. Convinced that a return to the sovereignty of Islamic law would be the only hope for progress in the Muslim world, Islamists – proponents of 'political Islam', what Western commentators often inaccurately call 'fundamentalism'– began to agitate for new, Islamic governments. This article surveys the range of interpretations of this central issue, including traditionalists – those who believe that the law to be reintroduced into society is contained in traditional Islamic legal codes; progressives – those who believe that Islamic codes must be updated through the standard hermeneutic known as ijtihad; those who advocate a peaceful approach to sociopolitical transformation through preaching; and the jihadists – those who believe that only violent revolution will achieve the desired goal.