Thoughts on Political Islam and its Manifestations without being Eurocentric: I though it would be useful to look at the issues across the Muslim countries and communities in reference to the various strands of political Islam instead of reducing an ongoing complex phenomenon to mere good or bad, as we sadly tend to see it so often. Given the rise of the Taliban, increase in sectarian conflicts and a painful rise in militancy and intolerance, one may be tempted to view this as the coming of a long-awaited Europe-style Reformation that Islam (and for that matter other religions except for Christianity) might be needing at least for a mundane redemption. Even the ongoing polarisation in Egypt is being innocuously presented as a kind of death of political Islam--a view that serves Khaki ascendance in that country and its unilateralism in the wake. Am afraid, developments across the Muslim world are more complex than a mere repeat of European style experience. Firstly, why any analysis has to use European experience as a touchstone since it only smacks of simplistic reductionism. Secondly, such a view is an arm chair premise lacking rigorous investigation on the ground. Thirdly, the European Reformation was often devoid of external geo-political interventions--certainly in German princely states. Here, in Muslim cases external interventions are often causing the backlash itself. Fourthly, the premise here is sadly spawned by debunking the Muslim Brotherhood by rehabilitating the khakis in Egypt so it becomes case specific and thus may not be totally valid in all cases. Fifthly, intra-Muslim differences permeate from day one but the role of clergy, except for Shia strands, is not so clear cut. The Sunni clergy including the Taliban phenomenon is totally unlike their Shia or Catholic counterparts. (Shia activism in the past was militaristic but then the quietest mode became more dominant until the 1970s). Sixthly, many forms of political Islam in our times have rural and small town roots including Sayyid Qutb, though Mawdudi and some others may be the exceptions. Even Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was from a small town in Punjab. Seventhly, intellectual Islam sometimes called Islamic Modernism of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Syed Ameer Ali, Aga Khan, Muhammad Iqbal was very urban and syncretic. {Without being Khaldunian, one may look at Al-Nahda in Tunisia and Alnadwa in Indonesia offering an interesting interplay of urban-rural trajectories} Political Islam, in other words, has diverse, complex and parallel manifestations---some of them are certainly violent-- and from the acquisition of political power to reforming the society, they adopt diverse strategies. Hope it makes sense!
Posted on: Sun, 26 Jan 2014 09:20:16 +0000
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