Islamic fundamentalism and previous attempts at reform

(To Antonio Vecchio)
19/07/16

Islamic fundamentalism is, in order of time, the last attempt to reform the Muslim construction based on the Koran. The Sacred Text is first of all a normative source, a political theology whose main object is law. From the original Islam formed around the writings on the life of the Prophet, a sort of "legal doctrine" derived from his sayings ("madith") and actions is affirmed over the centuries, aimed at providing the whole community with believers rules of daily life. It was thus that, in a short time, the Koran and the Madiths became the bases of the "Fiqh", the Islamic jurisprudence, which to the figure of the "ulama", a real legal consultant, recognizes a role of great centrality. From this gradual process came the peculiar "social" character of the Islamic religion, mainly aimed at affirming within the "umma" (the community of believers) a political model consistent with the teachings of the Prophet and the word of God.

This aspect should always be kept in mind when dealing with the theme of confrontation with Christianity, a religion in which, at least from a theological point of view, the separation between the spiritual sphere and the political field is marked. If the aforementioned teachings and sayings, up to the 900 DC, have been the subject of continuous interpretation by the numerous Islamic communities, then we have witnessed the crystallization of their ultimate meaning, which ended up being guarded with a strict and rigorous observance of the rules "Social" outlets. Fundamentalism stems precisely from the attempt to call into question the rigid Islamic doctrinal codification, through a critical revision inspired by two fundamental guidelines:

- the idea that there is a core of inviolable truths;

- the duty to recreate on earth the "umma", as a community of faithful who share the indicated political and juridical system of the Prophet.

Fundamentalism, found fertile ground in the failure of the states created by the European colonial powers, immediately joined the net refusal of secularism, judged to be complete for the entire Muslim construction, the rejection of local political hierarchies, considered subservient to the interests of the West. In doing so, it was grafted onto the path of critical revision already begun in the Muslim world by two endogenous movements, known as "awakening" and "reformism".

The awakening, affirmed in the XVIIIth and XIXth centuries in India, Nigeria, Arabia, Africa and Southeast Asia as a reaction to the contraction of markets and caravan routes deriving from commercial relations with the West, was inspired by two main ideas: the Hiyra, or migration, and Jihad, the battle on the path of God. To them, moreover, he added the aspiration to return to the original Islam, also the geographical separation from the infidels, announcing the return of a Mahdi, a Savior, who would restore true Islam.

Reformism, which arose in the nineteenth century as a reaction to European political supremacy, unlike the previous one, started from a radical critique of the institutions of Islamic countries, considered backward compared to European ones, observing how the clear separation in Europe between religion and political, had favored the strong development of the economy and social organization. He advocated the need for a leader who would reconcile Islam with modern civilization and carry out a comprehensive reform of the social and political system through the adoption of Western models such as constitutionalism, freedom of the press, public consultation, based on norms Koranic appropriately adapted. The Salafis in Algeria and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt (destined to abandon, all, the reformist vision for the fundamentalist one) were the most representative expressions of the movement, which spread mainly in Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, Iran Iraq.

The Islamic fundamentalism, as we have sadly learned to know, is therefore - last in succession - in the wake of the "revisionist" of the two movements that preceded it: expression of an internal tension in the Muslim world that has existed for more than three centuries, founded now on the opposition to Western political and cultural dominance, now on the aspiration for an urgent reform from within the pre-existing regimes. It quickly asserts itself in state realities such as Egypt, Syria and Iraq - (without forgetting the Iran of the Ayatollahs) - in the process of progressive industrialization and urbanization, in which socialist and nationalist movements were already present, characterized by a close State control over religious practices.

Great merit of its ideologist and inspirer, Sayyid Qutb, was precisely that of intuiting that no Islamic ideology could have been successful if not confronted with nationalism, socialism and the state monopoly of political power. Qutb thought that the crisis of contemporary society, with the failure of liberalism, socialism and democratic institutions, was a sign that the era of Western man had come to an end, and that Islam, with its moral scaffolding, ethics, politics and religion, was the only possible answer: an unrepeatable opportunity entrusted to true believers. Therefore, starting from the ideal heritage of Islamic reformism and inspired by Marxism, he outlined a new conception of society inspired by the original teachings of the Prophet, convinced that the task of believers was to finally create a community of the faithful on Earth according to the precepts of Mohammed. A universal community, because the revealed message is universal; not addressed to rigid territorial boundaries, since God's message must refer to the entire Creation. The first obligation of man is therefore to represent God on Earth: to carry out His Project through the realization of a (Islamic) society based mainly on the family, characterized by a division of roles among women - to whom motherhood and education are entrusted. of children - and men, who have the main task of fighting Jihad. A society in which every Muslim has entrusted the task of following the dictates of the last Revelation, that of Mohammed: the definitive one, after those of Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Joseph and Jesus. And in supporting, for believers, not only the 'importance of faith in God, but above all that of the affirmation of His Authority in all fields, Qutb has re-proposed the centrality of a political vision of Islam whose field of action, even before the spiritual sphere, is necessarily the public domain , without geographical limits.

Faithful to its precepts, Qutb's message has reached our days. Fearsome for the terror that emanates and for the ability to intercept huge masses of the excluded in countries of origin and in Europe, using a language that is both religious and political. A narrative that identifies in the West and in its modernity, the root cause of the discomfort and the conditions of poverty in which millions of "brothers", who do not participate in the "dividends" of globalization, find themselves. To these subjects - those in Europe, by now second and third generation, immersed in a liquid, relativist society, perceived as a stranger - it delivers a precise identity response, firmly located in Islam. To them he suggests who to be, how to be, and in doing so he "redeems" their existence; it matters little if at the expense of individual liberties, viewed with suspicion. Because it is the group that prevails over the individual, the transcendent over the immanent. No one is Alone. Everyone is part of the Design. And those who hinder him must be eliminated.

(photo: web)