Islamism

Islamism encompasses political movements that seek to organize government or public life according to interpretations of Islam. Its goals and methods vary widely, from electoral participation to revolutionary action.

Islam: A monotheistic religion based on the Qur’an and the teachings of Muhammad. Islamism draws on Islamic beliefs and traditions but is a political phenomenon, not the religion itself.
Islamic revival: Renewed efforts to strengthen Islamic belief and practice in public and private life. Islamist politics developed within broader waves of revival, though revival is not always political.
Jamaat-e-Islami: A South Asian Islamist organization founded by Abul A'la Maududi in 1941. It illustrates a movement that combines ideological work, social organization, and electoral politics.
Jihadism: A militant ideology that treats armed jihad as a central means of political struggle. Some jihadists are Islamist, but most Islamist movements do not make armed violence their strategy.
Political Islam: An approach that brings Islamic ideas and actors into political life. This overlapping term highlights the political role Islamists assign to religion.
Jamal al-Din al-Afghani: A nineteenth-century Muslim intellectual who advocated political unity and renewal in response to European power. His calls for Muslim solidarity and reform anticipated themes later taken up by Islamist thinkers.
Islamic democracy: A political approach that seeks to reconcile democratic institutions with Islamic principles. Some Islamist parties participate in elections and defend Islamic grounds for democratic government.
Arab nationalism: A political movement seeking unity and self-determination for Arabic-speaking peoples. It offered a secular or non-Islamist basis for political unity that competed with Islamism.
Sharia: A broad body of Islamic moral and legal guidance derived from scripture and jurisprudence. Movements differ over what sharia means and how it should shape public law.
Rashid Rida: A Syrian-Egyptian Islamic reformer whose writings addressed religious renewal, governance, and the caliphate. His arguments about Islamic governance influenced twentieth-century political Islamic thought.

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