Mawdudi's Curse: Islamism in Pakistan and the concept of global, permanent jihad

[Reason]

Today few Pakistanis and even fewer Muslims outside of Pakistan know who Maulana Mawdudi was and his violent totalitarian ideology. This ignorance has dangerous consequences; it is impossible to defeat an enemy you do not understand. Mawdudi, along with Egypt’s Sayid Qutb and Hassan Al-Banna and Iran’s Khomeni, are the founders of Islamism. They are to Islamism what Marx, Lenin, Mao, and Engels were to Communism. Since Mawdudi was the only subcontinent resident of the group and since he founded an Islamist political party (Jamaat Islami) in Pakistan it is his shadow which looms the largest over Pakistan.

Islamism was created in the 1920’s by Mawdudi and al-Banna, just as the concept of Communism was promulgated by Marx and Engels in the 19th century. Qutb was al-Banna’s disciple. We–meaning the entire civilized world–need to understand what they believed, their impact, and the meaning of it for the civilized world’s present and future. Fortunately, like Nazism’s Hitler who put his ideology on paper with Mein Kamp, you can read their books for yourself to determine what they believe. You don’t have to rely on any interlocutor. If you believe Islamists are simply misunderstood nice guys interested in peace; if you believe they simply are spiritual yogis interested in “inner struggle”; if you believe they are simply interested defense read their own words. In this post I will focus on Mawdudi and Qutb. They are the two most influential Islamist ideologues and they are the two men most responsible for jihadism in Pakistan. Qutb is the chief influence on Arab jihadists, Mawdudi on South Asian jihadists although there was plenty of cross-pollination between the two during the embryonic stages of Islamism. Qutb, for instance, was an avid reader of Mawdudi.
**
Mawdudi**

It must now be obvious that the objective of the Islamic jihad is to eliminate the rule of an un-Islamic system, and establish in its place an Islamic system of state rule. Islam does not intend to confine his rule to a single state or a hand full of countries. The aim of Islam is to bring about a universal revolution. Although in the initial stages, it is incumbent upon members of the party of Islam to carry out a revolution in the state system of the countries to which they belong; their ultimate objective is none other than world revolution
(Jihad Fi Sabillilah: Jihad in Islam by Sayyid Abul Ala Mawdudi “– Chapter 3, Pg 10)

Human relations are so integrated that no state can have complete freedom of action under its principles unless the same principles are not in force in a neighbouring country. Therefore, a, ‘Muslim Party’ will not be content with the establishment of Islam in just one area alone –both for its own safety and for general reform. It should try and expand in all directions. On one hand it will spread its ideology; on the other it will invite people of all nations to accept its creed, for salvation lies only therein. If this Islamic state has power and resources it will fight and destroy non-Islamic governments and establish Islamic states in their place.
(Maulana Mawdudi, Haqiqat-i-Jihad ,Pg 64, Taj Company Ltd, Lahore, Pakistan 1964)

Again, Mawdudi:

“A time will come when Communism will fear for its survival in Moscow, Capitalistic democracy will tremble for its safety in Washington and New York. … The objective of Islamic Jihad is to put an end to the dominance of the un-Islamic systems of government and replace them with Islamic rule, Islam intends to bring about this revolution not in one country or in a few countries but in the entire world.”

In the 2000’s Mawdudi’s disciples terrorized all three of these cities.

“Islam wishes to **destroy all States and Governments anywhere on the face of the earth **which are opposed to the ideology and programme of Islam regardless of the country or the Nation which rules it. The purpose of Islam is to **set up a State on the basis of its own ideology and programme, regardless of which Nation assumes the role of the standard bearer of Islam or the rule of which nation is undermined in the process **of the establishment of an ideological Islamic State.”
–Mawdudi, Jihad in Islam p9

---

Qutb***

Qutb also believed in a permanent, global jihad to spread shariah throughout the world via imperialism and violence. A significant part of his role in jihadism is his declaration that any Muslim leader or government that does not implement shariah is an apostate state. Given the long-standing Islamic doctrine of executing apostates, this is invoked by Al-Qaeda and its ilk to “justify” violence against Muslim governments. He expands the jihad to non-Muslim countries by reviving the division of the world into two parts: dar-al-Islam, the House of Islam (Islamic nations), and dar-al-Harab, the House of War (all non-Muslim nations who had to be fought until they were conquered into dar-al-Islam). This division was used for centuries to “justify” so-called jihad against non-Muslim nations by imperialists.

Qutb’s doctrine of jihad is firmly based on an all pervading critique of western culture. Western society, according to Qutb, was paralyzed by al-fisam al-nakid, “the hideous schizophrenia”, the separation of religion from the rest of life. Qutb criticized what he called “the rubbish heap of the West”.(9) For Qutb American society, if not western society generally, was characterized by jahiliyyah, “the ignorant ways of thinking which prevail in our world”.(10) He defined jahiliyyah as “a psychological state which rejects the guidance of God”.(

“The whole world”, proclaimed Qutb, “is steeped in jahiliyyah”, a “jahiliyyah . . . based on rebellion against God’s hakimiyyah [sovereignty] on earth”.(13) All societies, including those claiming to be Muslim, were regarded by Qutb as mujtama’at jahiliyyah (pagan societies). In Milestones (1964), and elsewhere, he argued that this global jahiliyyah “denotes rejection of the divinity of God and the adulation of mortals”.

“All sovereignty belongs to God alone”, declares Qutb, “there is no law other than God”s law; all authority belongs to God”.(15) “Islam”, he maintained, “cannot accept any compromise with jahiliyyah, either in its concept or in its modes of living derived from this concept”. As such “either Islam will remain, or jahiliyyah; Islam cannot accept or agree to a situation which is half-Islam and half-jahiliyyah. In this respect”, continues Qutb, “Islam’s stand is very clear. It says that truth is one and cannot be divided; if it is not the truth, than it must be falsehood. The Sharia’h of Allah will prevail, or else people’s desires”.(16) As such argues Qutb, “man is at the crossroads and that is the choice: Islam or jahiliyyah”.(17)

For Allah to take his rightful place as hakim in society, and for Sharia’h to be implemented, there is therefore, according to Qutb, the need to remove all “jahili influences”.

In his commentary on the Quran, Qutb stated that “the whole world in the eyes of Islam is divided into two, the first is darul-Islam, and the second is darul-harb”.(20) This, as one recent writer remarked, “is the prism through which Qutb viewed the political systems of the world, dividing them into Islam and jahiliyyah”.(21) Darul-Islam is where Sharia’h law prevails. Darul-harb is “any land where the Kufr law is dominant even if everybody in the land is Muslim”.(22) In contrast to darul-harb, (depraved societies usurping the sovereignty of God), Qutb concluded that a true Islamic society is “a superior haven of moral values and clean, healthy relationships”.(23) Islam therefore is regarded as the ultimate panacea for all social, economic and political problems.

Qutb, in Milestones, taught that Muslims and Muslim rulers who fail to implement God’s laws are takfir [apostate], they live in a state of jahiliyya [ignorance] and must be opposed.

[QUOTE]
“Setting up the kingdom of God on earth”, suggests Qutb, “and eliminating the kingdom of man, means taking power from the hands of its human usurpers and restoring it to God alone . . . . and creating the supremacy of the Sharia’h alone and the repeal of all man-made laws”./QUOTE]

What is jihad?

Qutb, rejecting the notion of jihad merely as a defensive mechanism and the idea of jihad as merely an inner struggle for self righteouseness as argued by many Muslim scholars, affirmed the developmental idea of jihad in the Quran, the idea put forward by Ibn Ishaq, that Muhammad received revelations on jihad in three stages: tolerance, defensive and aggressive. *Offensive warfare *was now the divine fiat so as to establish the hegemony of Sharia’h law. Qutb argued that such jihad is mandatory on all Muslims. According to the Qutbian system Jihad (either violent or non-violent) is the means by which “’all Satanic forces’ are abolished and God’s hakimiyyah is established on earth”.(26).

Qutb, like other Islamic militants, found considerable support in the Quran to support his jihadi views. Apparently ignoring the context and exegesis of the passage, frequent reference is made by Qutb to the sword verse of surah nine and the command for Muslims to “fight and slay the pagans wherever you find them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem of war”.(27) Adopting a similar hermeneutical approach to the Quranic text, using texts from surah three, Qutb argued that kufr could not be trusted as they are “ignorant pagans” who “tell a lie against Allah”.(28) Quoting from surah eight Qutb states that Muslims are under a duty to warn kufr to “desist (from unbelief)”, but if they persist the believer should “fight them on until there is no more tumult or oppression and there prevails justice and faith in Allah altogether and everywhere”. The merits of personal sacrifice were, in Qutb’s opinion, enjoined by the words of surah 9:111 which states how “Allah hath brought from the believers their lives and their wealth because the Garden will be theirs: they shall fight in the way of Allah and shall slay and be slain”. He encourages his co-religionists by reminding them “be sure that Allah is your protector. He is best to protect and the best to help”.(29) Regarding such Quranic texts as a “clear” mandate for jihad, Qutb maintains that “’taking the initiative” in such matters is of the “very nature of Islam”.

In order to start the task of reviving Islam **Qutb advocated the idea of the tali’a, or vanguard. “We are the ummah of the believers, living within a jahili society”, announced Qutb. “Nothing relates us to state or society and we owe no allegiance to either. As a community of believers we should see ourselves in a state of war with the state and the society. The territory we dwell in is darul-harb”. **Qutb, influenced by the Marxist concept of the vanguard preparing for the revolution when the proletariat would rise up against the bourgeoisie, put forward the idea of the tali’a or “usbah, the faithful remnant which would work within society to establish the divine hakimiyyah.

References
(1) F. Burgat, (2003) Face to face with political Islam: I. B. Taurus, London, p. 54.
(2) J. Raban, (2001) “Truly, Madly, Deeply devout”, article first appeared in the New Yorker, republished in The Guardian, Saturday Review, 2 March 2002.
(3) Burgat, op.cit., p. 55.
(4) L. Wright (2006) The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda’s road to 9/11, London, Penguin, p. 332.
(5) See Qutb’s Letters from America in al-Risala, Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Nov/December 1971.
(6) A quote taken from Milestones which clearly refers to his experience in America.
(7) For information on Qutb see E. Van Donzel, B. Lewis & C. Pellat (1978) eds. Encyclopeadia of Islam, Leiden: E. J. Brill, vol. VI, sv “Qutb”. For in-depth biographical details of Qutb see the objective account provided by A. A. Musallam, (2005) From secularism to Jihad: Sayyid Qutb and the foundations of Radical Islamism, Westport, Connecticut, Praeger; and the more hagiographical study by S. B. Hassan, (1980) Sayed Qutb Shaheed, n.p., Karachi. An account of Qutb’s childhood is found in his autobiographical piece (1946), translated by J. Calvert & W. Shepherd, (2004) A Child from the village, by Sayyid Qutb, New York, Syracuse University.
(8) A. Musallam, (2005) From secularism to Jihad cit., p. 156.
(9) See Milestones, op.cit., p 139.
(10) Qutb, Fi Zilal al Quran, In the shade of the Quran, rev ed. 6 vols., Dar-ul Sharuq, Beirut and Cairo, 1981, vol. 1.,op.cit., pp. 510-11.
(11) Qutb, Milestones, op.cit., p. 11.
(12) Qutb, ibid., pp. 510-11.
(13) Ibid., pp. 510-11.
(14) Ibid., p. 511.
(15) Milestones, ibid., p. 14.
(16) Milestones, op.cit., pp. 101-102, 112.
(17) Qutb, In the shade of the Quran, see comment on sura 5:44-48.
(18) See In the Shade of the Quran, ibid., 37-8, Al-Anam.
(19) Qutb ibid., 37-8, Al-Anam.
(20) Qutb, In the Shade of the Qur’an, op.cit vol. 2 p. 874.
(21) S. Khatab, “Hakimiyyah and Jahiliyyah in the thought of Sayyid Qutb”, op.cit., p. 147.
(22) Qutb, In the Shade of the Quran, op.cit vol. 2 p. 875.
(23) Qutb cited by Choueiri, Islamic Fundamentalism, op.cit., p. 127.
(24) See Al-’Adalah al-Ijtima’iyyah fi al-Islam (Social justice in Islam); Ma’arakat al-Islam wa-l- Ra’smaliyyah (“The struggle between Islam and Capitalism” 1951) and Al-salam al-’ASlami wa -l Islam (World peace and Islam, 1951) passim.
(25) Milestones, op.cit. For a concise evaluation of Qutb’s political views see C. Tripp, “Sayyid Qutb: the political vision”, chapter seven in A. Rahnema, Pioneers in Islamic Revival,Studies in Islamic society, London: Zed Books, 2005, pp. 154-83.
(26) Milestones, ibid.
(27)Quran 9:5. Milestones, ibid., pp. 125-27.
(28) Quran 3:74-6, ibid., 126.
(29) Quran 8:38-40.
(30) Milestones, op.,cit., p. 133.
(31) In (1955) Islam and the problems of civilization, np; also see In the shade of the Quran, op.cit., vol., 4., pp 114f.
(32) Milestones, op.cit., p. 39.

Sayyid Qutb: Terrorism and the Origins of Militant Islam | Relijournal

This is an excellent article written by a non-Muslim. Inevitably, Islamists will declare his article invalid because he is “kufr.” Fortunately, as I stated at the beginning of this thread, Islamist ideologues wrote books. The author of the Qutb article has provided numerous citations from Qutb’s works and if you think he is lying about Qutb look up the cited pages yourself.

[PyariCgudia]

Re: Mawdudi's Curse: Islamism in Pakistan and the concept of global, permanent jihad

Scary. Thanks for sharing.

[CM]

Re: Mawdudi's Curse: Islamism in Pakistan and the concept of global, permanent jihad

As always factually incorrect at most points and the rest is selective reading based on personal biases.

We shall start with the concept of the nation state in Islam. Sovereignty is solely with Allah. Thus from a religious point of view a muslim swears his loyalty and servitude to Allah. Nothing else. No nation state. The concept of the Ummah is another manifestation of how the nation state is not a valid concept for the Islamic world. Hell the Europeans have proven very well that the nation state system is dead.

[hanibal]

Re: Mawdudi's Curse: Islamism in Pakistan and the concept of global, permanent jihad

@ Reason,

Do you really read these articles before posting or you just go through the titles and paste them here?

[dhj786]

As always factually incorrect at most points and the rest is selective reading based on personal biases.

We shall start with the concept of the nation state in Islam. Sovereignty is solely with Allah. Thus from a religious point of view a muslim swears his loyalty and servitude to Allah. Nothing else. No nation state. The concept of the Ummah is another manifestation of how the nation state is not a valid concept for the Islamic world. Hell the Europeans have proven very well that the nation state system is dead.

Then how do you explain the hadith that explicitly states that "Love of your country is part of the faith" then?

What you're saying is that for Muslims living in the West, they don't have to express loyalty, hence why you have extremist groups who use your similar reasoning to suicide bomb commuter trains in London and Madrid and fly planes into buildings in NYC. You are effectively giving the impression that Muslims in Western countries are not to be trusted and thus giving Islamophobes an excuse to restrain Muslim immigration.

Can you blame them?

BTW, the whole khalifa non-sense is dead. There's a reason why it collapsed, but you're too obsessed with trying to profess that you're upholding the message of the Almighty, just like the Taliban did.

[CM]

Re: Mawdudi's Curse: Islamism in Pakistan and the concept of global, permanent jihad

Love of your country is not part of the nation state concept. Its part of Nationalism. Two very different notions.

[happyheart]

Re: Mawdudi's Curse: Islamism in Pakistan and the concept of global, permanent jihad

someone who does not even consider himself a Pakistani nor a Muslim i find it very amusing
the interest you show in Islam (copy-paste) and u know so much about it.
Funny thing is i totally do not agree with Maudoodi becauase its not my kinda man because of his Wahabi thoughts. Lekin what you are trying to prove here? You are trying to warn us poor innocent Pakistani's who most of us are living abroad (like yourself) about the dangers of Wahabis?

I rather wish you would call Wahabism then Islamists and very often you generalise and you say MUSLIMS. I am fascinated by your drive to malign Islam and Muslims and your obsession with Islam and Muslims.

I don't have problem if you have something agaings Wahabism (other may have but i don't)
but for someone who has left his religion i don't think you should malign that religion.

Whatever happens in someones life is because of people who misuse it and misinterpret the religon. Go to them talk to them don't attack Islam please because you are hurting so many people here. If you have any grudges then do something about it you live in the USA they have good quailty people who can help you honestly i know myself someone (a Pakistani) who may help u solve your problem.

[Reason]

As always factually incorrect at most points and the rest is selective reading based on personal biases.

We shall start with the concept of the nation state in Islam. Sovereignty is solely with Allah. Thus from a religious point of view a muslim swears his loyalty and servitude to Allah. Nothing else. No nation state. The concept of the Ummah is another manifestation of how the nation state is not a valid concept for the Islamic world. Hell the Europeans have proven very well that the nation state system is dead.

Relevance? No one is talking about your interpretation of Islam. This thread concerns the Islamist interpretation of Islam. Care to comment on Mawdudi and Qutb's words?

[QUOTE]
Do you really read these articles before posting or you just go through the titles and paste them here?

[/QUOTE]
Click on the link. I didn't post the whole article.

[QUOTE]
Then how do you explain the hadith that explicitly states that "Love of your country is part of the faith" then?
[/QUOTE]
CM's game is now clear. He deliberately seeks to obfuscate what Islamists believe. This is a consistent Islamist tactic. They know if people find out what they believe and what they intend to do very few people will support them.

Islamist's say "sovereignty belongs to god." How is that enforced? In their view, through an Islamic state. There is no contradiction between the Islamist ideological belief in divine sovereignty in theory and theocratic rule in practice.

[QUOTE]
Hell the Europeans have proven very well that the nation state system is dead.
[/QUOTE]
Europe is in the midst of an experiment and it is unclear how it will end. One strain seeks to creating a supranational state similar to the United States and the other strain of Europeans is nationalistic. This is why you see the upsurge in things like instituting policies to increase indigenous European birth rates.

[QUOTE]
BTW, the whole khalifa non-sense is dead. There's a reason why it collapsed, but you're too obsessed with trying to profess that you're upholding the message of the Almighty, just like the Taliban did.

[/QUOTE]
Yup. Powerful religious states belong to the ash heap of history. It is no coincidence that every advanced country in the world and rising, projected soon to be superpowers China and India are secular.

Islamism has failed everywhere it has been implemented, just as Communism failed (compared to its states goals). Yet these people still want to impose that failed system on the world!

[QUOTE]
someone who does not even consider himself a Pakistani nor a Muslim i find it very amusing
the interest you show in Islam (copy-paste) and u know so much about it.
[/QUOTE]

I have never lived in Pakistan so why would I consider myself a Pakistani? I am not a Muslim out of choice. I live in a free country. Under shariah I would be executed as a "murtid", simply because my parents happened to be Muslim.

You act as if I never had exposure to Islam. I was taken to the local mosque every week for 10+ years, know some hypocritical Islamists in my family. My uncle was the leader of the Jamaat Islami chapter at his college during the 80's, several of my cousins are Islamists (one even wears a burka and moved to Saudi Arabia to live under shariah--at least she is not a hypocrite), and I listened to two Wahabbi imams and an Islamist from Egypt who probably was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood when he was in Egypt. All this hypocrites are voluntarily living in a "kuffar" country and they fantasize about replacing the Constitution with 9th century Arab/Roman law. I will fight the ideological war against them forever.

[QUOTE]
Funny thing is i totally do not agree with Maudoodi becauase its not my kinda man because of his Wahabi thoughts. Lekin what you are trying to prove here?
[/QUOTE]

It doesn't matter if you agree with him. The terrorists who attack the Pak army HQ, the terrorists who attacked the UN food office, the terrorists who blew up the bazaar in Peshawar, the terrorists who declared a "jihad" against China this week, etc. all believe in Mawdudi, Qutb, and co.

[QUOTE]
You are trying to warn us poor innocent Pakistani's who most of us are living abroad (like yourself) about the dangers of Wahabis?
[/QUOTE]

Did you read the post? This is a global threat. There are Islamists in Holland, the US and throughout the globe. Most of them are peaceful but some of them are jihadists. They all share the same goals although some seek to do it through peaceful means, such as outbreeding the "kuffar." Few Muslims know what these fascists believe and the post is intended to help improve knowledge of this evil ideology.

[QUOTE]
I rather wish you would call Wahabism then Islamists
[/QUOTE]

Islamism is beyond Wahabbism. Wahabbism is only one wing of Islamism. There are other branches, i.e. Deobandism, Khomenism.

[QUOTE]
for someone who has left his religion i don't think you should malign that religion.

[/QUOTE]

I never left; I was never a Muslim. I never voluntarily prayed, for instance.

I am not maligning Islam. I couldn't care less about the doctrines of Islam or for that matter Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, etc. There is no such thing as "real Islam" or "true Christianity." A religion can be interpreted a million different ways. What I am interested in is how fascist Islamists interpret Islam.

[QUOTE]
Whatever happens in someones life is because of people who misuse it and misinterpret the religon. Go to them talk
[/QUOTE]

I would love to but fascists do not believe in open debate. There is a reason for this: they cannot win the war of ideas on merit.

Note that no one is refuting Mawdudi or Qutb's words. This is what they believed and Islamists agreed with it. No one is pointing out what Mawdudi or Qutb "really believed" because the OP is an accurate reflection of their murderous ideology.

[happyheart]

Re: Mawdudi's Curse: Islamism in Pakistan and the concept of global, permanent jihad

Well good
1 1/2 billion Muslims waise bhee bohat zyaada hain.

[Reason]

Re: Mawdudi's Curse: Islamism in Pakistan and the concept of global, permanent jihad

So what? The number of Islamists is much smaller and the number of Islamists who practice jihadism to achieve Islamist goals is even smaller.

[happyheart]

@Reason

So what? The number of Islamists is much smaller and the number of Islamists who practice jihadism to achieve Islamist goals is even smaller.

Well finally we agree on something that what you always are nagging about in your posts
is caused by a small nr. of hardliners who have their own agenda and ideology.

Again it astouns me that u believe that Extremism only exists in Islam and not in other religions.

[Reason]

Re: Mawdudi's Curse: Islamism in Pakistan and the concept of global, permanent jihad

It exists in all religions. The difference is in their agendas and the degree of their danger. The only entities in the past 100 years who are comparable to Islamists are Nazis and Communists.

[happyheart]

Re: Mawdudi's Curse: Islamism in Pakistan and the concept of global, permanent jihad

Sir Reason
If you remember i did ask you something not very long ago.
You still did not anwser me do you remember?

I asked you if you count DEATH people who were the result of Islamist
Nazi's, Communists or USA involvement in the world to what result you would come???

Can you help me out here please without trying to avoid my question??

I am asking you a simple question since you put alot of work into replying your post and u do lot of reasearch i am sure you are willing to help me out with that!!!

[CM]

Re: Mawdudi's Curse: Islamism in Pakistan and the concept of global, permanent jihad

Lets start off with something simple so we can get this discussion rolling. Define what is Islamism or an Islamist.

[Med911]

@Reason

So what? The number of Islamists is much smaller and the number of Islamists who practice jihadism to achieve Islamist goals is even smaller.

What exactly are the Islamist goals? World domination?!?!
Come on man, its almost cartoonish!
Is OBL the real world equilvalent of Cobra Commander?

You seem to labor under the misunderstanding that "Islamists" are all one monolithic groups with one stated agenda.

Last I checked, thats not the case. There is no global conspiracy. Each group is individual, and each has its own agenda.

The Taliban themselves recently put out a statement that said their only intrest is in evicting the Americans from Afghansitan, and that they are not a threat to Europe, or any other country not directly involved in Afghanistan.
This was later contradicted by OBL who apparently claimed to want to attack Europe aswell.

And its fairly certain that while the Taliban gave Al Qaeda people sanctuary, they were not directly involved in the attack on the US.
So basically, to say there is a Pan Islamist agenda is stretching it. There may be some with overlapping intrests, but ultimately, there is no single agenda.

[Reason]

[QUOTE]
The Taliban themselves recently put out a statement that said their only intrest is in evicting the Americans from Afghansitan, and that they are not a threat to Europe, or any other country not directly involved in Afghanistan.

[/QUOTE]
What do you expect? They want NATO to withdraw so of course they are going to say that now.

The Taliban are not interested in a global agenda yet they harbored global Jihad, Inc. for years despite numerous efforts to get them to cease doing so? That does not compute.

[QUOTE]
Each group is individual, and each has its own agenda
[/QUOTE]
To an extent this is true. However, while a specific group may have a local focus in the near term, the ultimate goal for these groups is the same. Just read the statements of their ideologues. Moreover, look at the overlap between them. What were Arab jihadists doing in Chechnya? Why did the Kashmir-based jihadists relocate to Afghanistan and Pakistan (its erstwhile ally)? Why do Islamists in Iran and Islamists in Saudi Arabia finance the spread of Islamism globally? What was Qazi Hussein doing in America speaking to a Muslim convention (guess what this "local" Islamist with a "local" agenda said there? Hint: this was before 9/11)? There is a reason why there is so much cross-pollination between Islamists.

Remember Communism? Communists in Angola, Cuba, Korea, Russia, etc. all were local wings of a global ideological movement. The same is the case with Islamism.

You live in Pakistan, right? Surely then you know some Jamaat Islami members. Ask them their views on restoring the caliphate...

[QUOTE]
Define what is Islamism or an Islamist.

[/QUOTE]
Usually they define themselves openly as Islamist, i.e. "Jamaat Islami" or "Part of Allah". A rule of thumb is whether someone believes in shariah, since implementing it is the overarching goal of Islamists.

Jihadists are the violent offshoot of Islamism. Not all Islamists support jihadism but the vast majority do, look at Jamaat Islami again as an example of an Islamist party supporting global jihadists in every way it can short of directly funding it.

[CM]

Re: Mawdudi's Curse: Islamism in Pakistan and the concept of global, permanent jihad

Nope. You use the term actively. So define it how you use it. The reason I ask is that the term Islamist is one created in the west by people such as yourself who have a limited understanding of Islam and have never set foot in a Muslim country their entire life.

So Define Islamism and an Islamist.

[Reason]

@CM

Nope. You use the term actively. So define it how you use it.

I did. What is your definition of “Communist”?

people such as yourself who have a limited understanding of Islam and have never set foot in a Muslim country their entire life.

Islamism is a word for political Islam. You should know. Your Jamaat Islami proudly stands as a conservative Islamic political party. A common theme among Islamist groups/parties, aside from in Turkey, is a fetish for shariah and all that entails (i.e. inferior rights for women and religious minorities).

I’ve been to Pakistan twice as well as Saudi Arabia (yes, my “murtid kafir” self slipped into Mecca and Medina in violation of Saudi apartheid ). I went to the mosque weekly for 10+ years, know a few Islamists (my uncle was the leader of a college chapter of Jamaat Islami), I’ve read more than one book, etc…I am not a random Westerner with no personal knowledge of Islam, Muslims. That is why I don’t fall for BS such as the myth that jihad means “inner struggle” like so many Westerners, including Western leaders, do.