Criticism of Islamism


The ideas and practices of the leaders, preachers, and movements of the Islamic revival movement known as Islamism (also referred to as Political Islam) have been criticized by non-Muslims and Muslims (often Islamic modernists and liberals).

Among those authors, scholars and leaders who have criticized Islamism, or some element of it, are Maajid Nawaz, Reza Aslan,[1] Abdelwahab Meddeb,[2] Muhammad Sa'id al-'Ashmawi,[3] Khaled Abu al-Fadl,[4] Gilles Kepel,[5] Matthias Küntzel,[6] Joseph E. B. Lumbard, Olivier Roy,[7] and Indonesian Islamic group Nahdlatul Ulama.[8]

Tenets of the Islamist movement that have come under criticism include: restrictions on freedom of expression to prevent apostasy from and insults to Islam;[9] that Islam is not only a religion but a governing system;[10] that historical Sharia, or Islamic law, is one, universal system of law, accessible to humanity, and necessary to enforcement for Islam to be truly practiced.[11]

  1. ^ Aslan, Reza, No God but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, Random House, 2005. ISBN 1400062136
  2. ^ Meddeb, Abelwahab (2003). The Malady of Islam. Basic Books
  3. ^ Fluehr-Lobban, Carolyn ed., Against Islamic Extremism: The Writings of Muhammad Sa'id al-Ashmawy, Gainesville: University Press of Florida, (1998)
  4. ^ Abou El Fadl, Great Theft, 2005
  5. ^ Kepel, Jihad, 2002
  6. ^ "Jihad and Jew Hatred." Voices on Antisemitism. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 17 July 2008. Web. 19 August 2013. Transcript.
  7. ^ Roy, Failure of Political Islam, 1994
  8. ^ Said Ali, As'ad (25 March 2015). "The Role of Nahdlatul Ulama in Combating (Islamic) Radicalism (in Indonesian)"..
  9. ^ Fuller, The Future of Political Islam, 2003: p. 39
  10. ^ Halliday, 100 Myths, 2005: p. 85
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference AEFGT2005:82 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).