On the Dynamics of Radicalism in Islam

​​All of the world's main religions have had phases in their histories in which religious arguments were used to justify the use of violence against those of different faiths or heterodoxy. Due to the increasing number of Muslim terrorist attacks in recent years, the issue of "violence and religion" has become the focus of intense controversy between Muslims and those promoting the ideal of a pluralistic society.

Muslims tend to generally categorize the latter group as Christians, which is not only inappropriate, but also reveals a lack of knowledge concerning secularism and its consequences.

What's this thing called Jihad?

Let us nonetheless get involved in this controversy for a moment. There are many passages in the Koran where Mohammed or, according to the Muslim conception, Allah, justifies the use of violence against those with other beliefs, including death (e.g. Sura 47:4; 2:191; 4:89), subjugation (Sura 9:29), or expulsion and dispossession (Sura 59).

Numerous chapters of the works containing the Sunnah, the deeds, sayings, and approvals of Mohammed, are dedicated to a Jihad against non-Muslims. When confronted with these facts, Muslims usually refer to passages in the Old Testament that similarly recommend the use of force against those of different faiths (e.g. Exodus 22:17; Leviticus 20).

That there are also other passages (e.g. Leviticus 19:17 f.), from which Jesus in the New Testament develops the ideal of loving one's enemy (Luke 6:27), is often overlooked. Occasionally, it is asserted that Muslim violence against non-Muslims first arose in reaction to "Christian" colonialism – a claim, which despite having no historical basis, is willingly believed in a politically correct atmosphere propagating Europe's responsibility for problems in the Third World.

Denouncing and approving of violence

Beyond this polemic, it can be asserted that the Koran and Sunnah expressly support the use of force against those of different beliefs, especially when it serves the interests of "the best community ever raised among the people" (Sura 3:110).

Muslim legal scholarship unswervingly clings to this basic principle and, to name but one example, continues to approve of the killing of those who abandon Islam to convert to another religion. In the New Testament, by contrast, violence is denounced, especially when initiated from one's own side. Non-violence holds a place of prominence in the preaching of Jesus and it suffices to point to the Sermon on the Mount.

There are no similar normative texts in the Koran. The often-cited prohibition on killing found in Sura 5, Verse 32 applies only to the members of the unified Muslim community. Believers are only allowed to take the life of a fellow believer within the framework of a vendetta (cf. Sura 2:178 f.; 5:45; 25:68).

The core of the problem, however, is still not exposed merely by citations of authoritative words. It is first truly encountered when one thoroughly examines the relationship between the holy word and the real world.

Islamic ready-made patterns of how to behave

In an instruction booklet on the propagation of Islam among non-Muslims published in 1983 by the Islamic Center in Munich, the author stresses that according to the Christian faith, it is the duty of believers to conduct all their activities in accordance with a particular ethic. This means that in individual cases, Christians must decide for themselves the proper mode of conduct. Islam, on the contrary, provides its adherents with numerous specific instructions on how to act. These prescribe how to practice rituals and how to behave in everyday situations.

Simply put, Islam provides its followers with ready-made patterns of how to behave, which can be directly ascribed to Allah or Mohammed. These patterns, therefore, are immutable and valid for all times, independent of any point in history.

Employing reason – an act of disobedience?

Whereas Christians are required to examine the conditions under which they act and critically question their consciences, Muslims are required to realize Allah's law while ignoring prevailing worldly conditions and personal dictates.

The history of this peculiar Muslim strained relationship to the "world" is connected with a partial delegitimization of reason, which is to be found in the Koran.

Employing reason by one's own authority leads directly to disobedience against Allah (e.g. Sura 15:28-35). It was through Allah's will that Abraham realized the fleeting nature of this world and that he placed his faith in the existence of the One and Unchangeable. Yet, idolatry is not an error as a result of this realization; rather, Allah did not allow the reasoning process with any authority (Sura 6:74-81).

Reason is restricted to a field of activity authorized by Allah. This field is demarcated by the Koran and the Sunnah, which, according to the views of most Muslims, are to be interpreted literally. The result is a high degree of tension between the demands made by the Sharia and those of reality, and this tension mounts considerably when Muslims encounter and are exposed to an entirely divergently based Western civilization.

Reducing tension

Naturally, Muslims have attempted to relieve the aforementioned tension. Foreign technologies and practices have been adopted and the issue of the basic relation between the "world" and religious authority was suppressed for a time.

The reaction to this pragmatism could already be seen in the 19th century with an ever-increasing stress on the all-embracing character of the Koran's message, which also provided guidance in how to employ these foreign achievements in accordance with their divinely-ordained purpose, thereby ending their misuse as found under Christianity.

All varieties of Reformist Islam, having emerged to face the challenges posed by the West, share this conviction and correspondingly strive to plausibly anchor the modern world within Islamic tradition by directly turning to the Koran and Sunnah.

The "endogenous radicalism" of Islam

This approach may temporarily reduce tensions in a self-contained Muslim milieu, but hardly offers a solution to those who live or have lived their lives in constant contact with Western civilization. Such individuals experience recurring tension of a previously unknown intensity, as testified by the Muslim Brother Saijid Qutb, executed under Nasser and the author of a currently still popular Koran commentary.

His thought provides an exemplary expression of what the Moscow Islamic scholar Alexander Ignatenko, in a study published in 2000, called the "endogenous radicalism" of Islam. This form of radicalism can quite easily justify the use of violence against any given situation that does not conform to the norms Muslims regard as divinely given and ahistorical. One can read in recent press accounts that the murderer of Theo van Gogh acted according to such convictions.

Neutralizing radicalism by secular society?

The achievement of secular society consists in allowing all of its members to reflect upon societal norms and participate in decisions concerning these norms. It adheres to the inalienable principle of human dignity, yet not to resultant eternal individual norms. In the ideal case, this neutralizes all forms of endogenous radicalism, especially as secular society does not demand a partial delegitimization of reason.

"There shall be no compulsion in religion" is a passage from Sura 2, Verse 256 often cited by Muslims in order to prove that their religion is open towards the world. However, if one examines these words within the context of the Koran, the results could have the following interpretation: Whoever submits themselves to Islam thereby recognizes the delegitimization of reason. The religion, its rituals, and its laws then appear completely "natural," and everything else becomes "unnatural" and false.

This remains the case for the vast majority of Muslims to this day. However, towards the end of last year, an encouraging sign could be observed. The "Forum for a Progressive Islam," a group founded in Zurich, hopes to break down the restrictions set upon reason.

This is a difficult enterprise, but it could result in a withering of endogenous radicalism and the creative participation by Muslims in a common discourse within a secular society.

Tilman Nagel

© NZZ/Qantara.de 2005

This article has been previously published in the Swiss daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung.

Tilman Nagel is Professor for Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Göttingen and is the author of numerous books in this field.

Qantara.de

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