ISLAM AND

POLITICS IN THE
MIDDLE EAST
 What is Islam?
A monotheistic religion. A believer is called a Muslim,
literally, "one who submits to God." Muslims believe
that Allah (Arabic for God) gave revelations through the
angel Gabriel to the Prophet Mohammed the city of
Mecca.
Muslims understand Islam to be the religion of Abraham.
The biblical figure of Abraham is mentioned by name in
the Qur’an 69 times.

[Source: Library of Congress]

Prophet Abraham

Abraham is called Ibrahim by Muslims. They see him

as the father of the Arab people as well as
the Jewish people through his two sons, Isaac and
Ishmael (Isma'il in Arabic).
Foundation of the Islamic faith is the belief that:
"There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is
his prophet.
 Origins of Islam
 began with the ministry of the Prophet Mohammed (570-632),
who belonged to a merchant family in the trading town of Mecca in
Arabia. In his middle age, Mohammed received visions in which
the Archangel Gabriel revealed the word of God to him,
denouncing the polytheism of his fellow Arabs.
 The lack of acceptance by Meccans of Mohammed's preaching
caused him and his followers in A.D. 622 to migrate to Medina.
 Muhammad arrived in Medina as the new leader. With his
community established, Muhammad began raiding caravans
bound for Mecca. These kinds of raids were not uncommon at
the time, and they provided sustenance for the Muslims. This
angered the Meccans, and a series of battles followed.
 By 630 CE, Islam was the dominant religion in Mecca.
Muhammad then set out to conquer the Arabian
Peninsula. Some tribes were easily converted while
others were met by force. The crusade was successful,
and Islam spread to the Arabian Sea to as far north as
Syria.
 In 632 CE, Muhammad made his last pilgrimage to Mecca.
First, he ordered that only Muslims could worship at the
Kaaba. Then, he delivered his last sermon, asking for
Islamic unity. He ended with his final revelation from God:

"The unbelievers have this day abandoned all hope of

vanquishing your religion. Have no fear of them: fear Me.

This day I have perfected your religion for you and completed

My favor to you. I have chosen Islam to be your faith."

(Koran 5.3)
5 PILLARS OF ISLAM

Witness (Shahada)
Worship (Salat)
Fasting (Sawm)
Tithing (Zakat)
Pilgrimage (Hajj)
 Witness (Shahada)

The first duty wherein “Muslim” must

declare as a form of testimony that there is
no god but God and that Muhammad is
God’s messenger. Anyone who says these
words—and really means them—is a
Muslim.
 Worship (Salat)

Worship, or ritual prayer—a set sequence

of motions and prostrations, performed
facing in the direction of the Kaaba in
Mecca and accompanied by brief Quranic
recitation.
 Fasting (Sawm)

Muslims must fast during the month of Ramadan.

From daybreak until sunset they refrain from
eating, drinking, smoking, and sexual intercourse.
 Pilgrimage (Hajj)

The fifth duty is the hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca

during the twelfth month of the Muslim year. All
adult Muslims should perform the hajj at least
once in their lives, if they are well enough and can
afford to make the journey.
Constitution of Medina (622 BC)

 Also called as “The Treaty” which constituted a formal

agreement between Muhammad and all of the significant tribes
and families of Yathrib (later known as Medina), including
Muslims, Jews, and pagans leading to the creation of a new
ummah, or community, not long after his arrival at Medina.
 mainly deals with tribal matters such as the organization and
leadership of the participating tribal groups, warfare, blood-wit,
the ransoming of captives, and war expenditure.
Spread of Islam after Muhammad’s
death
Caliphate

 Caliph' is the English form of the Arabic word 'Khalifa,' which is

short for Khalifatu Rasulil-lah. means Successor to the
Messenger of God.
 As successor to the Prophet, the Caliph was the head of the
Muslim community and his primary responsibility was to
continue in the path of the Prophet.
 The Caliph was to make all laws in accordance with the Qur'an
and the Sunnah.
The Rightly-Guided Caliphs (Al-
Khulafa-ur-Rashidun)

First four Caliphs: Abu Bakr, 'Umar, Uthman

and Ali. All four were among the earliest and
closest Companions of the Prophet.
CALIPHATE CONTRIBUTION TO ISLAM AND POLITICS
Abu Bakar (632-634 A.C.) strengthen and consolidate his community
and the state (Islamic state of Medina), and
to secure the Muslims against the perils
which had threatened their existence.
Umar (634-644 A.C.) vast expansion of Islam. Apart from Arabia,
Egypt, Iraq, Palestine and Iran also came
under the protection of the Islamic
government. Government as an
administrative structure was given.
Departments of treasury, army and public
revenues were established. Regular salaries
were set up for soldiers
CALIPHATE CONTRIBUTION TO ISLAM AND POLITICS
Uthman (644-656 A.C.) impartial justice for all, mild and humane
policies, striving in the path of God, and the
expansion of Islam – continued.
The navy was organized, administrative
divisions of the state were revised, and
many public projects were expanded and
completed.
Ali (656-661 A.C.) introduced a number of reforms,
particularly in the levying and collecting of
revenues.
Umayyad Caliphate
(661-700BCE)
 The Umayyad family took control of the Muslim Empire after
Ali's death. They moved the capital city to Damascus, which
enabled the caliph to watch over conquered territories easier.
The biggest way the Umayyad Caliphs contributed to the
spread of Islam was by conquering land for the Muslim
Empire. By the end of the Umayyad dynasty, the Empire
stretched 6,000 miles.
Abbassid Caliphate

One of the earliest, and most important, changes the

Abbasids made was to move the capital of the Islamic
empire from the old Umayyad power base of Damascus
to a new city—Baghdad.
Abbasids became champions of Sunni orthodoxy,
upholding the authority of their family over that of Ali,
and continuing the subjugation of the Shiites.
2 Main sub-groups within Islam

SUNNI SHIA
 Sunni
 in Arabic comes from a word meaning "one who follows the
traditions of the Prophet.“ and is considered to the be the
orthodox branch of Islam.
 The new leader should be elected from among those capable of
the job.
 SHIA
 Leadership should have stayed within the Prophet's own family,
among those specifically appointed by him, or among Imams
appointed by God Himself.
 Shia Muslims believe that following the Prophet Muhammad's
death, leadership should have passed directly to his cousin, Ali
bin Abu Talib.
NATIONALISM

 Drawing on the Western historical experience,

we define nationalism as the desire of a large
group of people to create or maintain a
common statehood, to have their own rulers,
laws, and other governmental
institutions.
 Islam and Nationalism are two different poles.
 Nationalism Islam

The goal of nationalism is to create Goal of Islam is universal unity.

national units,
what matters the most is loyalty and What matters most is God and religion.
attachment to the homeland,

Gives authenticity to geographical Islam negates them.

boundaries and racial distinctions,

Inclines to limitation and race Islam assumes a universal outlook.

attaches value only to the historical Islam's vision goes beyond the frontier,
traditions, culture, civilization, ideas race, tribe and nation.
and historical figures of its own nation,
 During the last forty years before World War I, the peoples of the
Arab world, Turkey, and Persia began to develop nationalist
feelings. As this was the high-water mark of European
imperialism, we can see rising nationalism as a natural reaction
to Western power.
 Arab nationalism at its start included Christians and even Jews,
but its clearest expressions since World War II have been
opposition to Christian control in Lebanon and to Jewish
colonization in Palestine.
 The rise of nationalism has meant substituting collective self-
love for the love of God, enhancing life on this earth instead of
preparing for what is to come after death, and promoting the
community’s welfare instead of obeying God’s revealed laws.
 In the 1970’s these liberal and nationalist ideas became current
among many educated young Muslims of the Middle East,
especially in the capital cities. While they faced the frustrations
of these years and those that followed, their ideas crystallized
into nationalist movements.
 Eg. Pan-Arabism
A combinations of factors—among them are
the: 1967 Arab-Israeli conflict, and the 1978-
79 Iranian Revolution which all promoted the
increasing rise of Islamism and the
ongoing Islamic revival so called “Political
Islam” (Tajdid).
What is Political Islam?

 It denotes “Islam used to a political end”.

 phrase used to denote a wide range of individuals and
associations dedicated to the transformation of state and society
so as to make them "Islamic."
 The general problem with the term political Islam is that it tends
to imply “an illegitimate extension of the Islamic tradition outside
of the properly religious domain it has historically occupied”
(Hirschkind 1997).
 Another problem with the term political Islam is that Islam fuses
religion and politics (din wa dawla), which is not captured by the
term political Islam.
 MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD
 Founded in 1928 by the charismatic Hassan al-Banna and had within
a few years, become a significant religious and political force.

 The reason for the movement’s rapid ascent and popular support can
be found in its promotion of Islam as a complete system that offered
an alternative to the Westernization, secularization and materialism
that now threatened Muslim societies.

 To counter these negative influences, al-Banna advocated a return to

the roots of religion.
 The principal aims of al-Banna and the MB was initially not political
but religious. To spread the faith, the organization founded an
expanding number of religious, welfare and educational institutions
and facilities.

 After al-Banna’s death, Sayyid Qutb became the movement’s new chief
ideologist.

 While Banna promoted a gradualist agenda that sought to reform and

ultimately purify society through educating the public, Qutb advanced
a more proactive agenda that aimed to overthrow un-Islamic
governments and rulers.
 The movement’s appeal also extended beyond Egypt and led to
the formation of offshoots in countries such as Jordan, Syria and
Palestine.

 Qutb’s revolutionary agenda made him a threat to the Egyptian

regime and he was consequently imprisoned for more than a
decade until his execution in 1966.
In this book Qutb introduced the distinction between
al-nizam al-jahili (a decadent or ignorant order) and
al-nizam alIslami (Islamic order) and argued that
ending the former and promoting the latter was only
possible through a “holy war” (jihad).
The Muslim Brotherhood became one of the
first movements to actively promote
anticolonial “jihad” against non-Muslims.
It’s extremist ideology – Qutbian politicization
of religion is widely considered to be the root of
all contemporary jihad-related terrorism in the
Middle East.
Jihad
“struggle in the way of God.”
The Quran calls on Muslims to “Fight in the way of God.. against
those.. who start a fight against you, but do not aggress against
them by initiating the fighting; God does not love the
aggressors.”
“Fight against those who do not believe in
God or the Judgment Day, who permit what God and His
messenger have forbidden, and who refuse allegiance to the
true faith from those who have received scriptures, until they
humbly pay tribute.”
Jihad
 The revolutionary ideology of Sayyid Qutb tied the concept to
the struggle to overcome jahiliyya, a Quranic term referring to
the pre-Islamic condition combining ignorance and savagery.
Qutb and the Islamists following in his footsteps argued that
current Muslim societies had reverted to jahiliyya, a social
condition that must be defeated through a jihad in order to
re-establish divine rule (hakimiyya).
Jihad
 Qutb had redefined jihad from an external fight against
Islam’s enemies to an internal quest for control of the
state. As Khan (2001) points out, this gave the Islamists
a “powerful moral weapon: the modern jihad, the just
rebellion”.
Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)

 A militant Salafist Sunni Islamic group that has taken control of

parts of Iraq and Syria over the years. ISIS is an acronym that
stands for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The group is
alternately known as ISIL, which is an acronym for the Islamic
State in Iraq and the Levant.
 Salafist Sunni Islam is a small ideological minority within the
Muslim world that hopes to return Islam to a starkly traditional,
pre-modern form of Islam modeled after the behavior of the
Prophet Muhammad and his companions. Salafist Islam was first
theorized in 1928 by the Muslim Brotherhood.
Overview

 In 2003, the United States, under the leadership of George W. Bush

and his administration, invaded Iraq. The purpose of the invasion
was to topple the Ba'athist regime of Saddam Hussein.
 During that time, the aim of al Qaeda in Iraq was to remove
Western occupation and replace it with a Sunni Islamist regime.
 When Zarqawi was killed during a U.S. airstrike in 2006, Egyptian
Abu Ayyub al-Masri became the new leader and renamed the group
“ISI,” which stood for “Islamic State of Iraq.”
 When the civil war in Syria started, ISI fought against Syrian forces
and gained ground throughout the region. In 2013, the group
officially renamed themselves “ISIS,” which stands for “Islamic
State of Iraq and Syria,” because they had expanded into Syria.
The group focused on creating an Islamic state and
implementing sharia law—a strict religious code based
on traditional Islamic rules and practices.
Women in politics

Islam (like most religions that grew up in the agrarian

age) is patriarchal and hence gives certain rights and
responsibilities to men that it denies to women.
Men are supposed to govern states, wage war, and
support their families; women to bear and rear
children, manage their households, and obey their
husbands.
Consequences of Islam in the politics
of Middle East
Jihad has been used as justification in the perpetrating
of religious-sanctioned acts of war and revolution.
Throughout Islamic history, the religion of Islam has
been used to legitimize political assassinations,
hostage taking, suicide bombing, invasion, violent
revolution, and even as justification of “legitimate”
unconditional warfare against unbelievers or for
expansionist or radical goals.