(DOWNLOAD) "Tribalism, Islamism, Leadership and the Assabiyyas (Essay)" by Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies * Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Tribalism, Islamism, Leadership and the Assabiyyas (Essay)
- Author : Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies
- Release Date : January 22, 2010
- Genre: Religion & Spirituality,Books,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 241 KB
Description
Islamism should not be equated with Islam, but equally, it is a blatant lie to deny that political Islam is a major stream within contemporary Islamic civilization. The Afghan Islamists' political failure to produce realistic agendas for change (1) is a widespread phenomenon in the Muslim world. It has been called many names, some unflattering; Olivier Roy for instance calling it 'the failure of political Islam.' Many analysts say that the evolution of this entity is due to the fact that Muslim societies seem to have been characterized in the twentieth century by two contradictory structures. The clan, tribe and ethnic group on one hand does not seem to exist in a peaceful equilibrium with the state and religion (2) on the other. Thus, it is usually the small group versus the larger faith, or the tribe versus the Ummah, or the religious clique against the state which has been the main focus of commitment, as opposed to tension against the state. This 'dualism', if you will, also manifests itself in the paradigms of Islam as opposed to Islamism. It is important to differentiate between the two; either all connections between them are cleanly severed, or they remain interconnected, in which case Islam gets paradigmatically linked to the latter. This dualism also manifests itself in the paradigms of Islam as opposed to Islamism, or what is more widely and inaccurately known as Islamic fundamentalism. (3) It is this duality due to which Islam as a religion of peace is being overshadowed by the Islam of politics, which vies against the state for expression of its grievances. This politicized religion is the religion of the Taliban, Al Qaeda, Ikhwan, clerical leaders etc. in the Islamic world. It is certainly not the idea of religion of the overwhelming majority of the citizens in the country they wish to bring under their version of Islam. This political variant is also the struggle of the small tribal cliques against the state which (they feel) has marginalized them. It is then a conjunction of traditional grievances, which have joined hands with the rebound phenomenon of radicalism 'coming home to roost' as it were, from neighboring and not so neighbouring ideologies. Thus, an insight into the tribal mindset is just as important as understanding the strains and roots of this religious indoctrination. For this, it is necessary to be introduced to the various strains of Assabiyya, which perhaps explains tribalism more comprehensively than any other hypothesis.