Your complimentary articles

You’ve read all of your complimentary articles for this month. To have complete access to the thousands of philosophy articles on this site, please

If you are a subscriber please sign in to your account.

To buy or renew a subscription please visit the Shop.

If you are a print subscriber you can contact us to create an online account.

Heresy

Fundamentals, Islamists and the West

Imadaldin Al-Jubouri considers how some Muslim fundamentalists justify their aggressiveness – by misreading the Qur’an, among other things.

Since September 11 2001, the West has faced a series of attacks, from New York and Washington to Madrid and London. Why did this confrontation reach the big cities of the West? Who authorised al-Qaeda to act in the name of Islam? Why do Islamic fundamentalists take such a narrow view of the concept of ‘jihad’, limiting it to ‘fighting’ only? Is it just political frustration with the West? How can we put an end to this conflict? And ‘who is to blame?’ as the Economist asked in the early days. To find some answers, as well as considering Western involvement in the Muslim world, we have to examine the roots of Islamist thought.

According to fundamentalist Islamist thinking, there are three essential fundamentals and four important rules of which Muslims must be aware. The three fundamentals are common to most Muslims.

…