Transcript Who Are the Radical Islamists?

“Who Are the Radical Islamists?”
Charles Kurzman
Radical Islamists
Radical Islamists versus Islamic Liberalism(84)
There are several Islamists movements in the Middle East. They include
Radical Islamists versus Islamic Liberalism.
Similarities: Radical Islamists versus Islamic Liberalism
They both seek to modernize society and politics, and believe that
modernity is not limited to western world.
They want to “recast tradition in modern molds…”
Radical Islamists
Radical Islamists versus Islamic Liberalism (84)
The key difference between is strategic: Radical Islamist seek terrorism and
violence as the more reliable means of facilitating an Islamic state,
Liberals see elections as the route to power. (Strategic Dilemma:
Islamists are unpopular.)
Radical Islamists versus Traditionalists
Unlike Radical Islamists, Traditionalists:
1) Draw on the less educated
2) Believe in mystical, personal authority
3) Skeptical of modern organizational forms
4) Leadership Not Educated
Radical Islamists
Radical Islamists versus Traditionalists
By contrast, Radical Islamists
1) Draw on the highly educated, middle-class
2) Incorporate many modern ideas, themes
3) Are bureaucratically organized, have a budget
4) Leadership is Educated
Example: Al Qaeda
It operates in many ways like a modern (criminal) organization
1) Has a bureaucracy
2) Uses modern Technology (media, weapons)
Radical Islamists
Traditionalist Example: Taliban (85)
The Taliban was largely created by the Pakistani Intelligence Service (ISI) as
way for Pakistan to influence Afghan politics.
Taliban leaders: Mullah Muhammad Omar
Suspicious of modern technology: refused to be photographed.
Radical Islamists
Radical Islamists: Rooted in Secular Education (84)
Most Radical Islamists leaders have a modern education. They have
university degrees, and were not educated in religious schools or
seminars.
Example: Bin Laden: Trained as a Civil Engineer
The same is true for much of the rank and file.
9/11 Hijackers: Educated and Middle-Class
Radical Islamists
Radical Islamists: Rooted in Secular Education (85)
Rise of Islamists movements corresponds with the development of nonseminary based, national education system in the Middle East. Such a
system developed along side the existing religious educational system.
Religion Among the Educated: “DIY” Approach
Lacking the formal religious education, through educated in the state
schools and universities actively reinterpreted classic religious texts. The
outcome was often a more liberal reading.
Examples:
Feminist interpretations of the Koran
Scientific interpretations of the Koran
Radical Islamists
Modern Goals, Modern Methods (86)
Just as the social roots of radical Islam are modern, so are many of its goals.
Islamist Political Reforms: Modern Goals:
1) Abolish Monarchies
2) Egalitarian Meritocracy
3) Opposed to social Hierarchies
4) Oppose Slavery
5) Invoke a language of rights
Goal: Islamicize Modernity: Create an alternative Modernity
Radical Islamists
Modern Goals, Modern Methods (86)
Compare Iran (Islamic State) to Afghanistan under the Taliban
Iran:
Written constitution
Full adult suffrage
Parliamentary elections
Modern state apparatus
Highly Educated
Women’s Rights
Afghanistan:
Weak state apparatus
More personal leadership
Less educated
Barred women from educ.
Taliban reintroduced tradition, Iran reinvented it.
Radical Islamists
Radical Minority
As the strategic debates about how best to promote radical Islam highlight:
a major problem for such groups is that they are unpopular.
Public Opinion:
1986: West Bank: 27% supported Shari’a law.
1994: 23 % support Hamas
1999: 21% of those polled in Turkey supported Shari’a law.
2001: 15% in nine Muslim countries supported 9/11 attack
Consequently, radical Islamists rarely do well in elections.
But is this changing? Hamas in 2006?
Radical Islamists
Role of the West
The west has tended to supported traditional political structures in the
Middle East.
Examples:
Shah in Iran (against Democratically elected government):
2) Absolute Monarchy in Saudi Arabia
3) Monarchy in Kuwait
4) Mujahideen in Afghanistan.