Islamism Explained

Writing for RealClearDefense, Matthew Bryza describes Islamism, and extreme Islamism, also called jihadism. Bryza compares Muslim extremists to Crusaders, a parallel COTTonLINE first drew five years ago.

Islamism shares similarities with medieval interpretations of Christianity, which justified the violent extremism of the Crusaders and the rigid political, economic, and social order of feudalism.

The core concept of Islamism is that a narrow interpretation of God's divine law, sharia, must be established everywhere to govern all aspects of life, including public and private law, ethics, politics, economics, business, and warfare. From the Islamist perspective, secular law, even if formulated democratically, is less legitimate than God’s own law. Thus, secular law must eventually yield to sharia until a single religious state, or Caliphate, replaces all the countries of today.

While Islamists all share these utopian goals, they differ significantly in terms of patience and tolerance. By far, most of the world’s Islamists are at peace with the present world and hold moderate views.

The least patient turn Islamism into fundamentalist extremism. They want the Caliphate immediately and are willing to use violence to pursue it.

Not clear from his discussion is how to disincentivize impatience among Islamists. Perhaps by treating those who preach violent Islamism with the same intolerance we show those who shout "FIRE" in crowded theaters. In other words, criminalizing the advocacy of criminal violence.