Islam and Fundamentalism

[Scott]

I am reading Bernard Lewis' The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror , which is surprisingly good. One point he makes is that calling radical muslims "fundamentalists" is misleading (his word). The similarities between "fundamentalist" muslims and others center mostly around the interpretation of the term jihad. He expressly notes that there are not the kind of foundational differences that exist between fundamentalist Christians (in the broad sense, of Christians who accept the fundamentals) and non-fundamentalist Christians.

I think this is an important point given the way the media discuss religion (something for the most part its members have a hard time understanding). The media often indiscriminately lump people (especially ones they don't like)of different religions into the broad category of "fundamentalist."

 

[Scott]

Lewis later clarifies in the book and I think this is helpful. He notes that "fundamentalism" was originally developed in a protestant Christian context to distnguish between liberalism and other forms of Christianity. Liberalism was characterized by higher criticism and other things. Lewis says that nothing like this of any significance exists in Islam. There is no liberal/conservative divide between Muslims in terms of their view of the Koran. Virtually all Muslims see the Koran as directly inspired by God and eternal. He notes that there may be doubters but they pose no serious challenge. He also notes that there may have been liberals (meaning ones that challenge the authenticity of scripture) in the past but there are virtually no contemporary Islamic liberals today. Again, that exposes how misleading it is to use a blanket term like "fundamentalist" to describe Christians as well as Muslims.

[Edited on 5-18-2006 by Scott]

 

[Semper Fidelis]

I bristle at the term as well because it is such a dumb comparison. To be a fundamentalist, as the term was coined, is to be a Protestant who believes in the fundamentals and opposed to the modernists and theological liberalism.

 

[Scott]

Right. That is a point that Lewis makes. And it is why it is so misleading.