Islamism and Militant Democracy

• Author: Paul B. Cliteur and Adam D. Duncan
• Pages: 161-239

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Islamism and Militant

Democracy

Paul B. Cliteur and Adam D. Duncan

Islamism as a Security Risk

Tolerance for intolerance is cowardice and stupidity.

—Hamed Abdel-Samad1

Support for Islamism in France and the Netherlands

Let us now try to be more specific about the way political

Islam, fundamentalist Islam, or Islamism affects Islam as a

sociological reality. Successive generations of Islam schol-

ars have struggled with how to explain the success of radical

Islam in the most adequate manner. Islam scholar Abdelwahab

Meddeb (1946–2014) wrote the book La Maladie de l’Islam

1. Abel-Samad, Hame d, & Rath, Hans, Ein A raber und e in Deutscher müss en

reden, Rowohl Tasche nbuch Verlag, Reinbek bei Hambur g 2016, p. 77.

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Populist and Islamist Challenges for International Law

162

(2002).2 Meddeb believed that modern Islam is “sick.” He did

not reject Islam in general; he only rejected its contemporary

manifestations and qualified them as sick.3

A reform of Islam away from its contemporary manifes-

tations is also what is advocated by Canadian feminist Islam

scholar Irshad Manji (b. 1968). In The Trouble with Islam: A

Muslim’s Call for Reform in Her Faith (2003)4 and in Allah,

Liberty and Love: The Courage to Reconcile Faith and Free-

dom (2011),5 she argues that the “gates of ijtihad”6 have to be

broken open. Ijtihad is independent reasoning. This reasoning

was frustrated at a certain time in Islamic culture, and Manji’s

idea is that we have to go back to a phase where the develop-

ment of doctrine was possible.

Another courageous commentator on Islam, Islamism, and

Islamic culture is the Somalia-born Dutch-American public

intellectual Ayaan Hirsi Ali (b. 1969).7 She made her debut

in the tumultuous year 2001 with a widely discussed article

in the Dutch national newspaper Trouw, “Do not abandon

us,”8 referring to a need for enlightenment within the world

2. Meddeb, Abdelwahab , La Maladie de l’ Islam, Editions du S euil, Paris 2002.

3. Translated in Engl ish as Meddeb, Abdelwah ab, The Malady of I slam, Basic

Books, New York 2003.

4. Manji, Irshad, The Trouble wit h Islam: A Mus lim’s Call for Refo rm in Her

Faith, St. Martin’s Press , New York 2003.

5. Manji, Irshad, A llah, Liberty a nd Love: The Courage to R econcile Faith a nd

Freedom, Free Press, Ne w York 2011.

6. See Kelsay, John, Arguing t he Just War in Islam , Harvard Universit y Press,

Cambridge, M assachusetts, Lond on, England 2007, pp. 59, 60, 110; Sfeir, Antoine ,

Brève histo ire de l’islam à l’u sage de tous, Ch amps essais, nouve lle édition, Fla m-

marion, Par is 2015 (2012), p. 57.

7. We cal l her “courageous” because Hirsi A li is under threat by jihadi st move-

ments and indiv iduals. See Cliteur, Paul, “Mod ern Hostage-Taking: A Serio us Prob-

lem for Religious L iberty Today,” in Angus Menuge, e d., Religiou s Liberty an d

the Law, Routledge , pp. 175–90, forthcomin g; Cliteur, Paul, “Bibl ical Stories and

Religion as the Ro ot Cause of Terrorism,” in Mah moud Masaeli and Ric o Sneller,

eds., The Root Causes of Terrorism: A Religious Studies Perspective, Cambridge

Scholars Publ ishing, Cambridge 2017, pp. 1–27.

8. Hirsi Ali, Ayaan , “Laat ons niet in de steek ,” in Tro uw, November 24, 2 001.

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Islamism and Militant Democracy 163

of Islam.9 “We need a Voltaire,” she says, or “Grant us also the

privilege of a Voltaire.” This last suggestion refers to a com-

mon attitude among progressive Western intellectuals to laud

enlightenment at home10 but doubt its sanitizing work when it

comes to other parts of the world. In The Challenge of Dawa:

Political Islam as Ideology and Movement and How to Coun-

ter It (2017), she warns against the stealth march of politi-

cal Islam by dawa (preaching), while in Heretic (2015),11 she

explains that there are two strains within Islamic culture: the

Islam of Mecca (relatively tolerant) and that of Medina (more

tending toward political Islam). “Reforming Islam” would

mean having the Mecca Islam prevail over the Medina Islam.

Debate over these questions is extremely polarized, loaded

with emotions, physical danger for some (the more critical

voices on Islam become a target for terrorist movements and

individuals),12 and also endless confusion about the concepts

used. But, although very modest, there seems to be some prog-

ress, also because more and more empirical research becomes

available about the support radicals have within society at

large. The French liberal think tank Institut Montaigne pre-

sented some disconcerting figures. Among French Muslims in

general, 28 percent support fundamentalist Islam or Islamism.

Among youth, the percentage is even higher: 50 percent.13

9. More or les s the same messag e came from Rushdie , Salman, “Do We Have

to Fight the Batt le for the Enlight enment All Over A gain?,” in The Independent,

January 22 , 2005.

10. As exemplified in t he seminal work of the British h istorian Jonatha n Israel

that was published i n the same year as Hirsi A li entered the scene: Israel, Jo nathan

I., Ra dical Enlightenm ent: Philosophy a nd the Making of M odernit y 1650–1750,

Oxford Universit y Press, Oxford/ New York 2001.

11. Hi rsi Ali, Ayaan, He retic: Why Isl am Needs a Refor mation Now, Ha rper

Collins, N ew York 2015.

12. Cliteur, Paul, “G o Ghost,” in The Critique, January 7, 2016.

13. Giessen, Peter, “Denkta nk: helft Franse moslimjo ngeren is fundamentalis t-

isch,” in De Volkskrant, September 20 , 2016.

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