Logo image
Back
Review article: The Islamist challenge
Other

Review article: The Islamist challenge

A. Ali
Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, Vol.18(1), pp.190-192
Taylor and Francis
1998
url
Link to Published Version *Subscription may be requiredView

Abstract

Islamism, as a popular socio-economic and political movement which seeks to transform Muslim states and societies on the basis of the shariah, is a late twentieth century phenomenon. Although the history of reform movements in Islam dates back to the very early years of the Caliphate, the Islamist challenge of the present era is the product of the failures of post-independence political and economic establishments in many Muslim countries. While this failure and the search for a workable alternative is a common political destabiliser in most parts of The Third World, in the Muslim countries in particular the lure of an Islamic model which is thought to have been implemented in the Prophetic past is acting as a powerful rallying point to most dissidents of the status quo. This Islamism, which is generally and rather disparagingly described as `Islamic fundamentalism' in the West, is, at present, the only remaining ideological challenge confronting the liberal democratic world order after the collapse of Stalinist communism.

Details

Metrics

68 Record Views
Logo image