Jihadism

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The "black flag of jihad" as used by jihadist militants since ca. the late 1990s.

Jihadism (also jihadist movement or jihadi movement) refers to the renewed focus on armed jihad in Islamic fundamentalism since the later 20th century.

"Jihadism" in this sense covers both Mujahideen guerilla warfare and Islamic terrorism with an international scope as it arose from the 1980s, since the 1990s substantially represented by the al-Qaeda network. It has its roots in the late 19th and early 20th century ideological developments of Islamic revivalism, developed into Qutbism and related ideologies during the mid 20th century. The rise of jihadism was re-enforced by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, and has been propagated in various armed conflicts throughout the 1990s and 2000s. A specifically Salafist jihadism has been diagnosed within the modern Salafi movement by Gilles Kepel in the mid-1990s.

Jihadism with an international, Pan-Islamist scope in this sense is also known as Global Jihadism. Generally the term jihadism denotes Sunni Islamist armed struggle. Shiite and Sunni mutual sectarian tensions led to numerous forms of Sunni (Salafist and other Islamist) jihadism against Shia Muslims and Shia mosques.

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Terminology[edit]

Look up jihadism in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Although the adjective jihadist can be traced to the 1960s, and the abstract jihadism to ca. 1980, these terms did not see frequent use in popular media until after the 9/11 attacks of 2001. The equivalent terms of "jihadist movement" and "jihadi movement" date to the same period, entering use during the 1970s. The term "jihadism" translates or parallels Arabic jihādiyya جهادية. The alternative form jihadi for jihadist in English usage is a transliteration of the corresponding Arabic adjective jihādī جهادي.

According to Martin Kramer the term jihadism first became common in "the Indian and Pakistani media". "At present, jihadism is used to refer to the most violent persons and movements in contemporary Islam, including al-Qaeda." The term jihadism may also have been influenced by the term "jihadist-Salafism", put into "academic circulation" by "French academics".[1] Brachman in his Global jihadism (2008) concedes that the term is "clumsy and controversial".[2]

The term "Jihadist Globalism" is also often used in relation to Jihadism; according to Manfred Steger of RMIT University, the term "Jihadist Globalism" can apply to all extremely violent strains of religiously influenced ideologies that articulate the global imaginary into concrete political agendas and terrorist strategies. The term does not have to be specific to the Muslim society. Thus, the label could also apply to violent Christians in the West that strive to make a Christian Empire.[clarification needed][3]

Jihad fi sabilillah[edit]

A black flag reportedly used by Caucasian jihadists in 2002 displays the phrase al-jihad fi sabilillah above the takbir and two crossed swords.

In Islam, the phrase al-jihad fi sabilillah is the equivalent of the western notion of bellum justum or just war.[4] Such a "just war" or "war in the cause of Allah" has been propagated in modern fundamentalism beginning in the late 19th century, an ideology that arose in context of struggles against colonial powers in North Africa in the late 19th century, as in the Mahdist War in Sudan, and notably in the mid-20th century by Islamic revivalist authors such as Sayyid Qutb and Abul Ala Maududi.[5]

Based on this, the phrase is used in modern jihadism. Thus, "Fi Sabilillah" armbands were worn by rebels in Xinjiang when battling Soviet forces,[6] and the phrase has been spotted on flags used by jihadists in Caucasia in the 2000s.

History[edit]

[icon] This section requires expansion. (March 2013)
Praying Muhjahideen in Kunar Province, Afghanistan (1987).

When jihadism is specifically motivated by Pan-Islamism, i.e. the ultimate aim of spreading Islam worldwide under a restored Caliphate, it is often called "Global Jihadism". But jihadism can also be motivated regionally, in an attempt to establish an Islamic state in a specific homeland. Global Jihadism is usually involved with international Islamic terrorism, while regional jihadism takes the form of guerrilla warfare, possibly also paired with terrorist attacks. Historical and ongoing jihadist armed conflicts include:

Early Jihadist uprisings (before World War I):

Modern jihadism (1990–present)

References[edit]

  1. ^ Martin Kramer (Spring 2003). "Coming to Terms: Fundamentalists or Islamists?". Middle East Quarterly X (2): 65–77. 
  2. ^ Brachman 2008, p. 4: "Jihadism is a clumsy and controversial term."
  3. ^ Steger, Manfred B. Globalization: A Short Introduction. 2009. Oxford University Publishing
  4. ^ Rudolph Peters, Jihad in modern terms: a reader 2005, p. 120.
  5. ^ Rudolph Peters, Jihad in modern terms: a reader 2005, p. 107 and note p. 197. John Ralph Willis, "Jihad Fi Sabil Allah", in: In the path of Allah: the passion of al-Hajj ʻUmar : an essay into the nature of charisma in Islam, Routledge, 1989, ISBN 978-0-7146-3252-0, 29-57. "Gibb [Mohammedanism, 2nd ed. 1953] rightly could conclude that one effect of the renewed emphasis in the nineteenth century on the Qur'an and Sunna in Muslim fundamentalism was to restore to jihad fi sabilillah much of the prominence it held in the early days of Islam. Yet Gibb, for all his perception, did not consider jihad within the context of its alliance to ascetic and revivalist sentiments, nor from the perspectives which left it open to diverse interpretations." (p. 31)
  6. ^ Andrew D. W. Forbes (1986). Warlords and Muslims in Chinese Central Asia: a political history of Republican Sinkiang 1911-1949. Cambridge, England: CUP Archive. p. 144. ISBN 0-521-25514-7. Retrieved 2010-06-28. 

Literature[edit]

  • Abbas, Tahir (2007). Islamic Political Radicalism: A European Perspective. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-7486-2528-4. 
  • Akbarzadeh, Shahram (2010). Islam and Political Violence: Muslim Diaspora and Radicalism in the West. I B Tauris & Co Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84511-473-2. 
  • Al-Rasheed, Madawi (2009). Dying for Faith: Religiously Motivated Violence in the Contemporary World. I B Tauris & Co Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84511-687-3. 
  • Aslan, Reza (2010). Global Jihadism. ISBN 978-3-639-25006-0. 
  • Gilles Kepel, Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam (2000, 2002, 2006).
  • Brachman, Jarret (2008). Global jihadism: theory and practice. vol. 10 of Cass series on political violence, Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-415-45241-0. *The Devolution of Jihadism: From Al Qaeda to Wider Movement. Stratfor. 2010. ISBN 978-1-4537-4664-6. 
  • Coolsaet, Rik (2008). Jihadi Terrorism and the Radicalisation Challenge in Europe. Ashgate. ISBN 978-0-7546-7217-3. 
  • Hegghammer, Thomas (2010). Jihad in Saudi Arabia: Violence and Pan-Islamism since 1979. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-51858-1. 
  • Khosrokhavar, Farhad (2009). Inside Jihadism: Understanding Jihadi Movements Worldwide. Paradigm. ISBN 978-1-59451-616-0. 
  • Lahoud, Nelly (2010). The Jihadis' Path to Self-destruction. C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84904-062-4. 
  • Lohlker (ed.), Rüdiger (2012). New Approaches to the Analysis of Jihadism. Vienna University Press. ISBN 978-3-89971-900-0. 
  • Malik, S. K. (1986). The Quranic Concept of War. Himalayan Books. ISBN 81-7002-020-4. 
  • Pargeter, Alison (2008). The New Frontiers of Jihad: Radical Islam in Europe. I B Tauris & Co Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84511-391-9. 
  • Ranstorp, Magnus (2009). Understanding Violent Radicalisation. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-55630-9. 
  • Sageman, Marc (2008). Leaderless Jihad: Terror Networks in the Twenty-first Century. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-4065-8. 
  • Sanchez, James (2007). Who's Who in Al-Qaeda & Jihadi Movements in South and Southeast Asia 19,906 Key Individuals, Organizations, Incidents, and Linkages. Lulu. ISBN 978-1-4303-1473-8. 
  • Vertigans, Stephen (2007). Militant Islam: A Sociology of Characteristics, Causes and Consequences. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-41246-9. 

See also[edit]

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