Islamic Fundamentalism

Essay by mustajab August 2006

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The words Islamic Fundamentalism have become so prevalent, by the western media. To actually understand fundamentalism we must first define it: A usually religious movement or point of view characterized by a return to fundamental principles, by rigid adherence to those principles, and often by intolerance of other views and opposition to secularism. There seems to being nothing in common with a return to the fundamental principles of Islam, but the rest can be applied to Islamic Fundamentalism. In the 1,400 years of Islam, this so called Islamic Fundamentalism has only begun in the last 150-200 years. Islamic Fundamentalism has nothing to do with Islam; it's just a means of using the name of Islam for their own agendas.

Islam has always been a peaceful religion pre-Islamic Fundamentalism. Unlike Christianity, Islam has never been a religion that converted with the sword. Once Islam had conquered some land, they would not force the people of that land to convert.

The inhabitants would simply, see the way they lived and decide to convert. That is the way of Muhammad, he did not believe in forcing someone. He would preach the religion and if they decided not to convert, he would leave them alone. Muhammad converted more people, by his actions more so then his words; and that is how the early Muslims spread Islam. The largest Muslim country in the world, Indonesia, wasn't even conquered by Muslims, but rather converted by a few traders. Whenever Muslims moved somewhere, they would move in a bubble of an environment, once people saw them and how they lived their lives, they too decided to convert.

To fully understand Islamic Fundamentalism we need to learn about its birth. The Whabbi movement started in the early 1800's with the teachings of Muhammad ibn Abd...