The Prospects of Islamic Fundamentalism in the Post–Gulf War Period
| Author | Mahmud A. Faksh |
| Published date | 01 June 1994 |
| Date | 01 June 1994 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070209404900201 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
MAHMUD
A.
FAKSH
The
prospects
of
Islamic
fundamentalism
in the
post-
Gulf
War
period
Speculation
about
the
short-
and
long-term
consequences
of
the
Gulf
crisis
of
199o-1
has
been
rife.
As
the
crisis
developed,
a
number
of
observers suggested
that
the
potential
for
an
Islamic
explosion
in the
Middle
East
had
increased.
It
was
presumed
by
some
that
an avalanche
of
Islamic
fundamentalism
would
sweep
away
the
Arab
status
quo,
already
torn
by
the
'Arabquake,'
and
usher
in
an
Islamic
state
system
in
the
region. It
is
true
that
Islamism
has
experienced
an
upsurge and
is
speaking
with
a
newfound
stridency
in
the
wake
of
the
Gulf
crisis,
but
its
suc-
cesses
have
fallen
far
short of
expectations
and
it
is
now
being
thwarted
on
many
fronts.'
The
current
wave
of
Islamic
fundamentalism
is
not of
course
something
altogether
new;
only
its
form and
expression
are
new.
Associate
Professor
of
Political
Science,
University
of Southern
Maine,
Port-
land, and
a
visiting
professor
of
political
science
at
Duke
University,
Durham,
North
Carolina.
i
The
terms
'Islamic
fundamentalism'
and
'Islamism'
are used
interchangeably
in this
article
to
refer
to
Islamic
movements
or
groups
that
want
to use
Islam
as
a
political
force to
mobilize
the
public,
gain
control, and
reform
society
and
state
in
accordance
with
their doctrinal
religious
agenda.
They
are
not
seeking
to
reform
Islam
or
to
bring
about
Islamic
reformation
in
a
theologi-
cal
sense.
In
fact,
many
of
the
fundamentalist
leaders
have
only
a
slim
under-
standing
of
Islamic
theology.
Of
course,
in
the Protestant
sense
of
the term,
every
Muslim
is
a
'fundamentalist'
because
a
central
tenet
of
the
faith
is
the
cardinal
belief
that
the
Qur'an
is
the literal
word
of
God
transmitted through
the
Prophet
Muhammad.
However,
today's
Muslim
ftndamentalists
are
not
tradition-bound
or
passive
with
regard
to
interpretation
of
Islamic
scripture
-
the
Qur'an
and
the
sunna (traditions)
of
the
Prophet.
They
claim
the
right
of
fresh
interpretation
and
application
of
Islamic
dogma
on
the
basis
of
the
fundamental
sources
of that
dogma.
Often,
this
activism
is
manifested
in
mili-
tancy
or
political aggressiveness within
and
sometimes
outside
the
existing
political
structures
of
a
country.
International
Journal
XLIX
SPRING
1994
184
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
Historically,
the
Islamic
cause
has
gone through
periods
of
expansion
and
vibrancy
followed
by
times
of
contraction
and
dor-
mancy. Over
the
past
century,
three
periods
of
Islamic
revival
were
associated
with
the
failure
to
deal
with
an
accumulation
of
internal
and
external
crises
stemming
from
sociopolitical and
economic
decay
and
foreign
hegemony.
The
first,
in
the
latter
part
of
the
nineteenth.
century,
was
championed
by-
such
move-
ments
as
the
Wahhabis
of
Arabia,
the
Mahdis
in
Sudan,
the
Sanu-
sis
in
North
Africa
(Libya),
and
the
Islamic
reform
in
Egypt.
The
second
period reached
its
peak
in
the
1940S
with
the ascendancy
of
two
major
fundamentalist
movements:
al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun
(the
Muslim
Brotherhood)
in
Egypt
and
Jamadat-i
Islami
(the
Muslim
Society)
on
the
Indian
subcontinent.
The
third and
longest
period
of
Islamic
resurgence
began
in
the
aftermath
of
the
Arab
defeat
in
the
war
of
1967
and
continued
throughout
the
197os
amid
severe
economic
dislo-
cations,
class
disparities,
and
authoritarian
state
structures.
It
became
a
formidable
force
after
the
Islamic
revolution
of
1978-
9
in
Iran,
sweeping
across
the
Muslim
heartland
from
North
Africa
to
the
Persian Gulf. This
is
Islam
as
a
political
force,
or
political
Islam,
challenging
established regimes,
shaking
Arab
political
life
to
its
foundations,
and
calling
for
a
revival
of
the
early
Islamic
ethos
of
governance.
The
Islamic
tide
reached
its
height
in
the
immediate
post-
Gulf
War
period
as
more
and
more countries
seemed
about
to
be
swept
under.
Some
Islamists even
declared
its
triumph
to
be
inevitable.
Hasan al-Turabi,
a
leading
Islamist
theoretician
and
head
of
the
military-backed
ruling
National
Islamic
Front
in
Sudan
since
1989,
exuded
confidence
in
describing
the
Gulf
War
as
'a
blessing
in
disguise'
because
it
had
popularized
and
radicalized the
various
Islamic
movements
and
undermined
many
governments
which
'must
go
popular
or
perish.'2
The
2
'Islam,
democracy,
the
state
and
the
West'
(summary
of
a
lecture and
round-
table
discussion
with
Hasan
Turabi,
prepared
by
Louis
J.
Cantori
and
Arthur
Lowrie), Middle
East
Policy
i
(no
3,
1992),
55.
THE
PROSPECTS
OF
ISLAMIC
FUNDAMENTALISM
185
growing
challenge posed
by
Muslim
militants
throughout
the
Middle
East
is
obvious.
Countries
such
as
Egypt,
Algeria,
Tuni-
siaJordan,
and
Israel,
as
well
as
the
Palestine
Liberation Organ-
ization,
have
battled
fundamentalist
forces
in
their
midst
in
a
struggle
that
has
caused
hundreds
of
deaths
and
led
to
innu-
merable arrests.
Even
traditionally
conservative Saudi Arabia
has
not
escaped
the
Islamic
activists.
This
wave
of
Islamism
is
still
dynamic
and
will
probably con-
tinue
to
probe
and
challenge
existing regimes
in
the
near
term.
Still,
faced
with
a
coalition
of
conservative
and
secular
national
states
that
are
willing
and
able
to
respond
with
strong
counter-
measures,
its
future
is
not
as
promising
as
it
might
seem.
Indeed,
the
various
responses
of
its
opponents,
ranging
from
confron-
tation
and repression
to
accommodation
and
co-option,
have
been
impressive.
The
nature of
the
challenge
and
the
reactions
to
it
are
likely
to
determine
the fate
of
Islamic
fundamentalism
in
different
contexts,
as
this
study
will
try
to
show.
A
further
limitation
on
the
future
of
fundamentalism
is
its
radical
agenda
regarding
state
and
society
and
regional
issues,
an
agenda that
does
not
really
respond
to
the
objective
realities
and
changing
circumstances
of
the
Middle
East.
THE
APPEAL
OF
ISLAMIC
FUNDAMENTALISM
The
mass
appeal
of
Islamism
has
its
roots
in
secular circum-
stances
but
has
been
given
religious expression.
It
is
basically
an
ideology
founded
in
protest
against
the
deteriorating
cultural
and
material
conditions
of
Arab
Muslim
societies
and
the
per-
ceived
hegemony
of
the
West.
In
the
world
of
Islam,
where
pub-
lic
and
religious
life
are
closely
intertwined,
sociopolitical
discontent
is
often manifested
in
religious
terms.
Historically,
Islam
has
always
served
as
a
vehicle
for expressing
sociopolitical
and
economic dissent,
especially
in
times
of
crisis.
Its
idealistic
and
egalitarian
nature
has
provided the
impetus
for
protest
and
even
rebellion.
Moreover,
during
the
time
that
many
modern
ideologies
have
been
tried
and
found
wanting,
Islam
has
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