9781422281116

D EFINING I SLAMIC F UNDAMENTALISM

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Islamic fundamentalism arose in part as a reaction against Western political and cultural domi- nance. Today ambivalence toward Western—and, in particular, U.S.—influences pervades many Arab societies.

moral systems (particularly from the West) are unjust and bank- rupt and that they erode Islamic institutions and the Muslim way of life. Islamic fundamentalists want to rid their religion of all such corruption, both among Muslims themselves and from external influences. In theory, they see any innovation in Islam beyond the practices set forth by Muhammad and his earliest followers in the seventh century, as well as all non-Muslim practices, as a potential threat to their faith. Fundamentalists propose Islam as a compre- hensive system that governs all of life, and many of them support the idea of national government based on the Sharia (Islamic law). Since the mid-1900s, and particularly since the 1960s, these fun- damentalist views have had enormous effects on Muslims them- selves and on political and social realities in countries around the world. But while fundamentalists decry reformist and modernist Muslims’ openness to the West, their own approaches have some- times themselves been shaped by Western ideals. This is perhaps nowhere more evident than in contemporary attitudes toward the