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'''Militant Islam''' is an approach to [[Islam]] that holds that the [[religion]] and its followers must be aggressively fought for on a political and religious level. Just as militant [[Muslim]]s are but a segment of Islam, so too are supporters of violence and [[terrorism]] only a segment of all militant Muslims. Designation of people as practitioners of militant Islam is often highly contentious. Critics of such designation often ascribe bias and/or prejudice to such use of the term.    

Groups advocating [[Islam as a political movement]] are invariably responding to complex political and historical situations, usually with deep roots in the local environment. For example, the rise of the conservative [[Jamaat-e-Islami]] party in [[Bangladesh]] would not have been possible without widespread public reaction against the corruption of the secular [[Awami League]] government in that country. But this complex local political history is completely lost in the simplistic reductionism of terms l(contracted; show full)ne of pan-Islamic nationalism and solidarity, the Saudi regime was thereafter seen as insufficiently Islamic; although such a view is bewildering to Westerners, who cannot imagine anything more 'Islamic' than the country's [[Wahhabi]] brand of Islamic law. To Al-Qaida in particular, the world is viewed as a struggle between their Islamic ideology and a secular Western ideology. Some observers suggest that this view of the world has, ironically, been strengthened by the [[War on Terror]].

==
  Militancy as the defining attribute  ==
===  No one doctrine  ===
As scholars of this movement have carefully outlined, in a very great variety of works up to and through the [[1970s]], there is little tactically in common in the various movements that seek to apply [[Islam]] as a solution, or use its terms to rationalize their solutions, to issues in the modern [[Islamic world]].     The only two objective things that can be said about all of militant Islam is:   (a) they are militant and employ force or violence directly, either in offense or defense (b) they justify this using the rhetoric of [[Islam]], e.g. that of [[jihad]].

This is a common and frequent phenomena in the history of Islam.  The [[tarika]], in addition to spreading Islam to [[Africa]] and adapting it to local conditions (the ''[[al-urf]]'' or custom of each region), had a role to play in resisting [[colonialism]] - this is the origin of Islam as a militant and "underdog" faith to motivate resistance to some ruling authority which is not Muslim or adhering to [[Islam]].  The [[Ottoman Empire]] was marked by such conflicts, and the [[British Empire]], as there were typically a number of Muslims in rebellion against either at any one time, using Islam to justify their actions.  

[[Olivier Roy]], a French policy advisor to President [[Jacques Chirac]], characterizes the goal of modern militant Islam as to re-establish a [[Caliphate]], or a single common government for Muslims all over the world.  This might resemble [[world government]] or the [[Roman Catholic]] hierarchy in certain respects, but since most Muslims are [[Sunni]] and reject the role of a formal clergy (unlike the [[Shia]] who embrace it) this seems to be unlikely.

===  More than "fundamentalism"===
[[Islamic fundamentalism]] is not, by definition, militant. In general, Islamic fundamentalists may have some degree of agreement or sympathy for Islamic militants, as there is likely to be some overlap of views between them. However, just an one may hold [[leftist]] views without advocating [[revolutionary]] [[Marxism]], there is a glaring difference between the two groups.

The use of the term [[fundamentalism]] to decry and disdain [[religion]] as a solution to problems of the modern secular world, and to describe an insensibly wide variety of movements which could be said easily to include [[Baptist]], [[Mennonite]], [[Quaker]], [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jewish]], [[Zionism|Zionist]], [[Wahhabism|Wahabist]], and many others, came into fashion in the [[1980s]].  It had then, and still has, no integrity as an academic term, as the fundamentals in play in each such movement are different:  all they have in common is resistance to a secular [[global political monoculture]] that seemed to be in ascendance at that time.

===  More than "radical"  ===
The use of the term [[Radicalism|radical]] came into use likewise, earlier, in the [[1960s]], to characterize anyone whose opinion was not in line with those reported in [[mass media]] or held by major [[political party]] leaders.  This too had little consistency and implied nothing about actions taken.

The term [[Islamist]] was at first used to describe those who took [[Islam]] to be, as it always was, a [[political philosophy]] - but was quickly co-opted by those who attached the above labels to invent the terms ''radical Islamist'', ''fundamentalist Islam'' and ''Islamofascist'', none of which have much merit other than making it clear that those who use it to defame the movement must  dislike extreme solutions, reference to old books, or strong central government with religious leanings, respectively.  In general these terms shed more heat than light.

==  20th century militant movements  ==
Given the variety of the movements, and their varying goals, it is almost always advisable when referring to a specific [[political movement]], to avoid generalizations and refer to it by its name.

(contracted; show full)trict interpretation to be heretics, and thus used violence against other Muslims. When King [[Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia|Abdul Aziz al-Saud]] founded [[Saudi Arabia]], he brought the Wahhabists into power with him. With Saud's rise to prominence, Wahhabism spread, especially following the [[1973 oil crisis|1973 oil embargo]] and the glut of oil wealth that resulted for Saudi Arabia. The Wahhabists were proseltyizers, and made use of their wealth to spread their interpretation of Islam far and wide.

==
  Current movements  ==
Modern Islam went through major political and philosophical developments in the early part of the twentieth century, but it was not until the [[1980s]] that it became powerfully militant in an international arena. The [[Khomeni]]st revolution in [[Iran]], though [[Shia]] in character, provided an inspiration to many radicals and served as an example that an Islamic state could be established, using violent and militant means.

(contracted; show full)

Osama bin Laden, at least, believes that this is of necessity due to historical conflict between Muslims and Jews, and considers there to be a Jewish/American alliance against Islam. This rhetoric has echoes of that of [[Militia#U.S. organized private "citizens militias"| American "militias"]] concern with a [[Zionist Occupation Government]] controlling the federal government of the USA.

==
  A cover story?  ==
Some of these movements do not practice much of [[Islam]], a few do.  [[Hamas]], for instance, has both a social organization in the Gaza Strip, and a militant wing that has been responsible for a great many [[suicide bombing]]s in [[Israel]].

There is some debate as to how influential the more militant movements remain. Some scholars assert that, as an intellectual movement, the simplistic interpretation of Islam as a non-democratic movement is a fringe that is dying, following the clear failures of nominally Islamic regimes like the regime in Sudan, the Wahhabist Saudi regime and the Deobandi Taliban to improve the lot of Muslims. 

However, others (e.g. [[Ahmed Rashid]]) feel that the stricter and more democratic Islamic parties still command considerable support, in part due to their [[honesty]], and cite the fact that Islamists in Pakistan and Egypt regularly poll 10 to 30 percent in electoral polls which many believe are rigged against them.

''Certain of these movements are often accused of being primarily motivated by [[terrorism]] as a tactic.  For discussion of this accusation see the article on the term [[Islamism]] which is employed by the accusers who reject the rationale of Islam itself.  We do not attempt to compile a neutral list here.''

==See also==
*  [[Islam as a political movement]]
*  [[List of Islamic terms in Arabic]]
*  [[Jihad]]
*  [[Qal3ah]], infamous for being the forums where announcements and discussions by Islamic extremists have taken place

[[Category:Islam]]

[[ja:イスラーム過激派]]