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The term "Islamofascism" is a controversial political epithet used to describe certain variants of Islamism alleged to have fascist or totalitarian aspects.

Origins of the term

Although the exact origins of the term are murky, it appears to have been coined either by Khalid Duran, Stephen Schwartz or Christopher Hitchens. The coining or popularisation of the term is frequently attributed to Christopher Hitchens based on his article in The Nation immediately following the 9/11 attacks, where he used the phrase "Islamic fascism". . Hitchens also used the phrases "Islamic fascism" and "theocratic fascism" to describe the fatwa declared against Salman Rushdie for writing The Satanic Verses. After the 9/11 attacks, the concept of "Islamic fascism", later shortened to "Islamofascism", spread from neoconservative schools of thought to the blogosphere.

Those who have attempted to flesh out the epithet often state that "Islamofascism" refers to strands of Wahhabi or Salafi Islam, which are claimed to display some of the signifiers of fascism or totalitarianism.

Application of the term

Among the allegations directed towards these Islamic sects and their followers are that they :

• Promote the establisment of a global unitary Islamic nation-state under the totalitarian control of Islamic religious authorities enforcing Sharia law.
• Propose the existance of an eternal violent conflict between muslims and infidels, that will end with the eventual victory of muslims over the infidels.
• Accept and promote terrorism and violence to further their goals.
• Are strongly and violently anti-Semitic, anti-Zionist, anti-American, and anti-western. These groups and nations are allegedly perceived by Islamofascists as implacable enemies of Islam that must be must be subjugated or destroyed.
• Do not accept normative western political concepts such as intrinsic human rights and democracy.
• Advocate a philosophy of trotskyist entryism to convert/subvert non-Islamic societies from within

Opponents of the term argue that "Islamofascism" is simply a derogatory epithet directed towards Islam as a whole, and not a real political concept or ideology. They claim that the term attempts to conflate the neutral concept of Islamism with the negatively perceived concept of Fascism.

Some applications of the term "Islamofascism" specifically refer to the Muslim Brotherhood and similar movements in Sunni Islam inspired by the writings of Sayyid Qutb, while others use it to refer to all highly politicized strains of Islam, including Shi'a radicalism as practised in Iran. A more common and less loaded term for these politicized strains of Islam, which seek to replace secular governments in Muslim countries with Sharia law, is Islamist. Note, however, that Islamism is a broad political category which covers also political movements such as Turkey's Justice and Development Party which do not seek to overthrow secular constitutions. (See also Islamic Democracy)

Some have argued that this use of the term is a misapplication, as the word "fascism" has been traditionally invoked to describe the merger of state and corporate power. Political commentators have argued that the fusion of Arab (particularly Saudi) and Iranian oil wealth and the totalitarian ideology of a theocratic movement with global ambitions, could be interpreted as a form of fascism.

Many muslims feel that comparing their religion to secular ideologies such as Nazism or other forms of fascism is very offensive.

Islamist/Axis Alliance during WWII

During WWII, Muslim leaders throught the arab world aligned themselves with nazi germany hoping that the Axis would liberate them from the British colonial rule and kill the jews in Palestine.

"To the Grand Mufti: The National Socialist movement of Greater Germany has, since its inception, inscribed upon its flag the fight against the world Jewry. It has therefore followed with particular sympathy the struggle of freedom-loving Arabs, especially in Palestine, against Jewish interlopers. In the recognition of this enemy and of the common struggle against it lies the firm foundation of the natural alliance that exists between ( Nazi )Germany and the freedom-loving Muslims of the whole world. In this spirit I am sending you on the anniversary of the infamous Balfour declaration my hearty greetings and wishes for the successful pursuit of your struggle until the final victory.

Signed: Reichsfuehrer S.S. Heinrich Himmler"

Quotes

• "Islamofascism is nothing but an empty propaganda term. And wartime propaganda is usually, if not always, crafted to produce hysteria, the destruction of any sense of proportion. Such words, undefined and unmeasured, are used by people more interested in making us lose our heads than in keeping their own." . Joseph Sobran, conservative Catholic commentator.
• "What we have to understand is ... this is not really a war against terrorism, this is not really a war against al Qaeda, this is a war against movements and ideologies that are jihadist, that are Islamofascists, that aim to destroy the Western world." Clifford May, president of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.
• "...the word ‘Fascism’ is almost entirely meaningless. In conversation, of course, it is used even more wildly than in print. I have heard it applied to farmers, shopkeepers, Social Credit, corporal punishment, fox-hunting, bull-fighting, the 1922 Committee, the 1941 Committee, Kipling, Gandhi, Chiang Kai-Shek, homosexuality, Priestley's broadcasts, Youth Hostels, astrology, women, dogs and I do not know what else." George Orwell, British essayist and novelist.
• "It is hard to see the difference between the bigotry of anti-Semitism as an evil and the bigotry that Medved displays toward Islam. It is more offensive than I can say for him to use the word "Islamo-fascist." Islam is a sacred term to 1.3 billion people in the world. It enshrines their highest ideals. To combine it with the word "fascist" in one phrase is a desecration and a form of hate speech. Are there Muslims who are fascists? Sure. But there is no Islamic fascism, since "Islam" has to do with the highest ideals of the religion. In the same way, there have been lots of Christian fascists, but to speak of Christo-Fascism is just offensive." Juan Cole, professor of modern Middle East and South Asian history at the University of Michigan.
• "The idea that there is some kind of autonomous "Islamofascism" that can be crushed, or that the west may defend itself against the terrorists who threaten it by cultivating that eagerness to kill militant Muslims which Hitchens urges upon us, is a dangerous delusion. The symptoms that have led some to apply the label of "Islamofascism" are not reasons to forget root causes. They are reasons for us to examine even more carefully what those root causes actually are." He adds "'Saddam, Arafat and the Saudis hate the Jews and want to see them destroyed' . . . or so says the right-wing writer Andrew Sullivan. And he has a point. Does the western left really grasp the extent of anti-Semitism in the Middle East? But does the right grasp the role of Europeans in creating such hatred?" Richard Webster, author of A Brief History of Blasphemy: liberalism, censorship and 'The Satanic Verses'writing in the New Statesman.

Related terms and concepts

Political Concepts

• Islamism — Islam as a political movement
• Islamophobia — irrational fear of Islam or Muslims
• Islam and anti-Semitism
• Arabs and anti-Semitism
• War on Terrorism
• Islamist_terrorism

Islamic Concepts

• Dhimmi
• Jihad
• Wahhabism
• Salafi

Academics and commentators on Islamofascism

• Daniel Pipes — U.S. political scientist
• Ibn Warraq — Muslim free-thinker and social critic.
• Oriana Fallaci — Italian journalist and author of The Rage and The Pride (La Rabbia e l'Orgoglio) and The Strength of Reason (La Forza della Ragione).
• Andrew Sullivan — U.S. journalist and noted blogger
• Victor Davis Hanson — U.S. historian and commentator on military affairs
• Christopher Hitchens — British journalist.
• Natan Sharansky Israeli politician and human rights activist. Author of The Case For Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror
• Dore Gold — Israeli political scientist. Author of Hatred's Kingdom: How Saudi Arabia Supports the New Global Terrorism.
• Richard Perle — U.S. neoconservative.
• Ayaan Hirsi Ali Dutch MP and friend of murdered Theo van Gogh (film director). Scriptwriter for Submission: a film about violence against women in Islamic societies.
• Bat Ye'or British academic. Author of many works on dhimmitude and contemparary European-Islamic relations.

Organizations and think tanks

• Middle East Media Research Institute
• Project for the New American Century
• Foundation for the Defense of Democracies

External links

• 'Why We Fight America': Al-Qa'ida Spokesman Explains September 11 and Declares Intentions to Kill 4 Million Americans with Weapons of Mass Destruction
• What is Jihad? by Daniel Pipes
• MEMRI: Jihad and Terrorism Study Project (Israeli site)

Critical of the concept of Islamofascism

• How the right played the fascism card against Islam — The Guardian (4 February, 2005)

• Articles which may be biased
• Islam