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Concept
Islamic fundamentalism
Summary
Islamic fundamentalism has been defined as a puritanical, revivalist, and reform movement of Muslims who aim to return to the founding scriptures of Islam. The term has been used interchangeably with similar terms such as Islamism, Islamic revivalism, Qutbism, Islamic extremism, Islamic activism, but also criticized as pejorative, a term used by outsiders who instead ought to be using Islamic activism, Islamic revivalism, or one of the other terms given above.
Some of the beliefs attributed to Islamic fundamentalists are that Muslim-majority countries should return to the fundamentals of an Islamic state that truly shows the essence of the system of Islam, in terms of its socio-politico-economic system, that the primary sources of Islam (the Quran, Hadith, and Sunnah) should be interpreted in a literal and originalist way, and that corrupting non-Islamic influences should be eliminated from every part of a Muslims' life.
The term fundamentalism has been deemed misleading by those who suggest that all mainstream Muslims believe in the literal divine origin and perfection of the Quran and are therefore "fundamentalists", and others who believe it is a term that is used by outsiders in order to describe perceived trends within Islam. A professor of religious studies at Georgetown University, John L. Esposito, criticized the term "Islamic Fundamentalism" due to its ambiguous nature due to its usage being heavily influenced through a Western lens of Christian presuppositions. According to him, the more appropriate terms would be "Islamic revivalism" and "Islamic activism", since the traditions of Tajdid (revival) and Islah (reform) are rooted within the Islamic religious history, from the early Islamic centuries to the contemporary times. During the 1990s, the post-Soviet states used "Islamic fundamentalism" as a synonym for "Wahhabism".
Some 20th century preachers and writers sometimes dubbed Islamic fundamentalist include Sayyid Qutb, Ibn Saud, Abul Ala Mawdudi, and Israr Ahmed.
Official source
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