Protestant fundamentalism is not the same as Protestant orthodoxy or traditionalism. Protestant fundamentalism arose at the beginning of the 20th century, not before. Fundamentalism in Protestant, Islamic, and Jewish contexts is a modern backlash against the themes of the Enlightenment and secular modernity.
According to Jamal Malik:
"There is no doubt that what is called Islamic fundamentalism is one among many facets of the Islamic world which in itself represents a public phenomenon with many divergences. Just like colonialism and folk religion, this religious fundamentalism does not represent a monolithic system of cultural expression. Rather it is an outcome of colonial encroachment, as well as a negation or rejection of both folk-religious tradition and colonialism. This recent Muslim self-concept goes back to the evolution of an Islamic ideology that was only developed in the 1930s and arose out of the need to distance and distinguish its adherents from the politically dominant colonial sector as well as from the handed-down Muslim tradition. " http://www.isim.nl/newsletter/1/research/01AD30.html.
And from my article in The Public Eye:
In Islam there was a series of reformations in the 1700s, similar to Martin Luther's reformation of Catholicism into Protestantism, but the decentralized nature of Islam was an issue, and there were several separate reform movements. One was led by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703-92), that became the Wahhabi movement-the theology behind the Saudi government. Think of the Wahhabist Saudi government as similar to the theocratic government created by John Calvin in Geneva. Both are based on the idea of the sovereignty of God administered by righteous men.
Now there is a second reformation going on within Islam that is more global-theocratic Islamic fundamentalism. It has its roots in the theological/political theories of Abul Ala Mawdudi (1903-79) and Sayyid Qutb (1906-66) and the emergence of a theological outlook called Salafism that is complimentary to Wahhabism.
Fundamentalism
There is much confusion and disagreement surrounding the use of the term fundamentalism, to the point of even questioning its use to describe movements outside of Christianity. The original use of the term fundamentalism referred to a populist protest movement that arose in the early 20th century. It was a reaction against mainline Protestant denominations in the United States such as the Presbyterians and Baptists, and to a lesser extent Methodists, Episcopalians, and others. Leaders of these major denominations were accused of selling out the Protestant faith by forging a compromise with the ideas of the Enlightenment and modernism. In the early 1900s conservative critics of this leadership developed voluminous lists of what they considered the fundamental beliefs required for people to consider themselves Christian-thus the term fundamentalism. Anthony F.C. Wallace says similar revitalization movements exist across many spiritual and religious traditions.1 But not all revitalization movements even within Christianity are fundamentalist.
The term fundamentalism is now used to describe similar but not identical religious revitalization movements in other religious traditions, including Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Fundamentalism is often confused with orthodoxy and traditionalism. Fundamentalists claim to be restoring the "true" religion by returning to "traditional" beliefs and enforcing orthodox beliefs-the set of theological doctrines approved of as sound and correct by a faith's religious leaders. In fact, while fundamentalist movements claim to be restoring tradition and orthodoxy, they actually create a new version of an existing religion based on a mythic and romanticized past. This thesis was a central argument in Karen Armstrong's The Battle for God, a comparative study of fundamentalism in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.2
So, while fundamentalism is a reaction against the Enlightenment and modernity, it is ironically a distinctly modern phenomenon. Jamal Malik, who studies Muslim identity, explains that with Islamic fundamentalism "Islamic tradition is modernized, since the imagined Islamic society is to compete and correspond with Western achievements. This would only be possible in a centralized Islamic state over which they would wield control as the agents of God's sovereignty on earth. . . ."3
This explanation of Islamic fundamentalism describes a form of theocracy-a system where the only appropriate political leaders are persons who see themselves as devoted to carrying out the will of God as interpreted by a common religion. Some scholars, however, argue that not all forms of fundamentalism are necessarily theocratic, at least in practice. In the most extreme case, however, theocratic Islamic fundamentalism could potentially be a form of neofascism.
http://www.publiceye.org/frontpage/911/clerical-911.htm
-Chip Berlet
-Chip Berlet
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
> [mailto:owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com]On Behalf Of Luke Weiger
> Sent: Wednesday, May 01, 2002 2:03 AM
> To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
> Subject: Re: The Clash of Fundamentalisms
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Justin Schwartz" <jkschw at hotmail.com>
> To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 30, 2002 7:23 PM
> Subject: Re: The Clash of Fundamentalisms
>
>
> > You are mistaken. Islamic fundamentalism is a child of the
> 1970s. It was
> > given a big boost by the Iranian revolution.
>
> Mea culpa. However, your statements are in need of some
> qualification.
> Radical Islamic governments are a recent phenomenon. I doubt
> the religious
> fundamentalism that supports them could arise in the span of a single
> decade. Argument from analogy: although the Religious Right wasn't a
> visible electoral force until quite recently, Christian
> fundamentalism of
> one sort (from Puritanism to evangelism ) or another has been
> present in the
> US for some time.
>
> -- Luke
>
> > Basically it is a reaction to
> > the failure of pan-Arabism, a secular "socialist" doctrine
> associated
> > variously with Nasr in Egypt and Baathism in Syria and Iraq.
> > jks
> >
> >
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