Free Content: Copy and Paste
Include embedded author and www.virtualcitizens.com
Feel free to translate into other languages
Radical Islam and Iran
Andrew Bosworth, Ph.D.
www.virtualcitizens.com
07/17/06
Are the fundamentalist movements of Hamas (in Gaza) or Hezbollah (in Lebanon) really tied to Iran?
Radical Islam emerged in the 1930s, in Cairo, with the Muslim Brotherhood, which has recently gained political influence in Egypt. Similar fundamentalist groups emerged around the Mideast for local reasons, and they were further stimulated and radicalized by the Iranian Revolution of 1979.
Mainstream Islam is compatible with modernism, science, and the steady empowerment of women – witness Turkey, for example, or Tunisia. But in places where western colonialism, class conflict or civil war was pronounced, people often adopted militant interpretations of the Koran.
Samuel P. Huntington, author of The Coming Clash of Civilizations, once said something interesting about Islamic fundamentalism: that it was not an effort to modernize Islam but rather to Islamicize modernity. Radical Islam, therefore, became a vehicle of cultural resistance, even of preservation. The lower and middle classes thus moved towards radical Islam not only as a defense against the West but as a defense against the secularization of their societies by local elites – witness Egypt, for example.
Even more room for the growth of fundamentalist Islam was provided by the failures of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). The PLO’s declarations in the 1970s, interestingly enough, contain no references to Islamic fundamentalism. Yasser Arafat did not make appeals to Islam; nor did he wage any holy war, or jihad. How odd, to look back on Arafat’s speeches and declarations, entirely nationalistic in tone, for they stand in sharp contrast to much of what is heard today.
It is possible to distinguish between the beliefs of radical Shia (Hezbollah) and radical Sunni (Hamas). Shiite radicals, for example, tend to be more common in Iran, southern Iraq and Lebanon. Sunni radicals tend to be more common in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and elsewhere, and the Sunni are by no means united among themselves.
Hezbollah (the “Party of God”) emerged in Lebanon because in the late 1970s, during the civil war, because there was no effective government. It then grew in strength in response to the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
Hamas (“Islamic Resistance Movement”) emerged in the Occupied Territories and currently forms the elected government of the Palestinian people. It emerged not only in the wake of PLO failures but also in response to Israeli settlements in the West Bank and in Gaza.
Why is all this important? Because the Bush administration exaggerates the links between Hezbollah and Hamas on the one hand and states it would like to place in the cross-hairs on the other: Syria and Iran. While there are areas of cooperation with Iran, Hezbollah is nobody’s tool, and neither is Hamas.
The direct cause-and-effect propaganda coming from the Bush administration overlooks the fact that Hezbollah and Hamas grew independently over decades because of local politics – not because of Iranian agitprop.
Finally, for the simple interest of the reader, this column closes with some excerpts from the 1988 Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).
HAMAS:
Article Seven:
…
Article Nine:
“The Islamic Resistance Movement found itself at a time when Islam has disappeared from life. Thus rules shook, concepts were upset, values changed and evil people took control, oppression and darkness prevailed, cowards became like tigers: homelands were usurped, people were scattered and were caused to wander all over the world, the state of justice disappeared and the state of falsehood replaced it. Nothing remained in its right place. Thus, when Islam is absent from the arena, everything changes. From this state of affairs the incentives are drawn.”
Article Fourteen:
“The question of the liberation of Palestine is bound to three circles: the Palestinian circle, the Arab circle and the Islamic circle. Each of these circles has its role in the struggle against Zionism. Each has its duties, and it is a horrible mistake and a sign of deep ignorance to overlook any of these circles. Palestine is an Islamic land which has the first of the two kiblahs (direction to which Moslems turn in praying), the third of the holy (Islamic) sanctuaries, and the point of departure for Mohamed's midnight journey to the seven heavens (i.e. Jerusalem).”
Article Fifteen:
“The day that enemies usurp part of Moslem land, Jihad becomes the individual duty of every Moslem. In face of the Jews' usurpation of Palestine, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised. To do this requires the diffusion of Islamic consciousness among the masses, both on the regional, Arab and Islamic levels. It is necessary to instill the spirit of Jihad in the heart of the nation so that they would confront the enemies and join the ranks of the fighters.” |
Andrew Bosworth
www.virtualcitizens.com
FEEDBACK
In the interest of intelligent debate and diversity of perspective, Virtual Citizens will publish well reasoned letters of agreement or dissent.
Include the name of this article in your message. If you would not like to see your email published in our Feedback section or want any information expuded (name or email), please specifically state so in your message.
Free Content: Copy and Paste
Include embedded author and www.virtualcitizens.com
Feel free to translate into other languages |
