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Ideologization in Present-Day Islam. An Exploration. From Islam: historical, social and political perspectives. Edited by Jacques Waardenberg. New York: de Gryter, 2002.

In the essay entitled "Ideologization in Present-Day Islam: An Exploration" the author embarks upon a two-fold purpose. First, he attempts to explain why Islam has become radicalized within the context of Islamic history, using a paradigm that is comprehensible to outsiders or individuals who are of not of the Islamic worldview. The religion, he writes, was transformed "into ideas that had social consequences" in a particular fashion, because of the legacy of colonialism that spurred movements of "renewal and reform" in the 19th and 20th centuries (316). These movements used religious language to react against Western and secular forces. Also, some of these fundamentalist religious groups used Islam as a way of defining themselves against totalitarian, native but secular regimes that were even more oppressive than the original colonial tyranny these dictators had replaced.

But this, he stresses, is not a particular fault of Islam. Rather the ideologization of a religion is something that can be found in all religious faiths. Ideologization often results in the essentializing of religion, a religion that began as a complex and multifaceted series of moral debates, that is then reduced to a series of precepts that are used in response to world and societal events to shape those events "in a particular direction, with a particular vision of the future" (319). Ideologization, or creating an ideal of a pure past to create social change is very likely not done consciously by the adherents during the historical moment in time when it is accomplished, but a historian of religion must step back and view how religion can be used in a fashion that is "malleable" to perform not merely the "limited number of practical applications of ritual" but can be ideologically deployed with practical and economic social interests that are very far from the original purpose of the religion (318). One such an example of this may be "socialist" Islam, which purports to be a kind of Islamic essentialism yet grafts Islam to an economic ideology very far removed from Islam's original context.

Ideologized Islam exists very far away from scholarly, text-bound constructs of Islam, and originated with radical political purposes. This was not the Islam of the elites. Ideologized voices reflect "a struggle for survival between various Muslim groups and interests" often the haves and the have-nots of a particular society, hence the frequent concern with economic injustice in the language of these radicalized groups in their articulation of the real, 'true' Islam. Oppositionist groups frame themselves against "secularist" forces, even within their own country, against fellow Islamic nationals (321-322). Secularism is not merely associated with colonialism and the West, it is also associated with Muslims who study abroad, who come from more affluent and politically powerful social groups, or who are simply enfranchised when the ideologized advocates or not.

Islam was particularly prone to this type of ideologization because of the high hopes raised by the end of colonialism, that the new Islamic world would be one of freedom and justice. When these Western ideals did not fulfill their promise, and the "standard of life improved for the new middle classes" but the poor merely became poorer and thus turned to older religious discourses, fundamentalism had greater appeal (324). Totalitarian regimes fueled the fires, causing groups to look back with nostalgia upon an Islamic, powerful state of the far past as a better ideal (326)

This concept of ideologization, which can be seen in other religious traditions in history, locates current Islamic fundamentalism as a historical artifact. It shows that, contrary to the idea of Islam as a uniquely 'brutal' religion as erroneously depicted the Western media, the current ideology of many activists is the product of modern forces. It disturbs the fundamentalist worldview that their vision has roots in the far past, but also provides a balanced perspective to the idea that such fundamentalist interpretations arise only from the religion's precepts itself and not from social pressures. This current ideologization of Islam has international roots, roots in colonialism, in the Marxist ideology of some of the post-colonial leaders, and also resistance to the state of Israel and the perceived domination of the world by the European powers

Chapter 8 -- Human Rights, Human Dignity and Islam. An Exploration. From Islam: historical, social and political perspectives. Edited by Jacques Waardenberg. New York: de Gryter, 2002.

Although no state can be forced to sign the 1948 United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which specify a variety of basic human rights, from children's rights to the rights of workers, there is considerable political pressure for most nations that seek to be recognized as legitimate political entities to do so (163). However, although many Islamic countries seek national legitimacy, there is also often the tendency in the international community to perceive Islam as antithetical to human rights. Within the Islamic community of nations itself, there is also resistance to conforming to any internationally prescribed ideals for fear of Westernizing their principles of Islam. Some nations, such as Saudi Arabia, resisted the Declaration, stating that unlike the principles of God, the principles laid down by an international organization as a moral formula could not last for all time (167). Islamic nations also resisted declarations that threatened polygamy and the prescription against states forbidding individuals to change their religion (168). It should be noted, however, in the Quran, religion under compulsion is strictly forbidden (179). Regardless, falling in line with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and a number of other Islamic states also showed resistance to the UN Declaration's guarantees of equality for women and other matters (169).

Islam was not the only religion whose leaders showed reluctance to endorse the doctrine. The Roman Catholic Church hesitated, perhaps fearing that some of the declarations might run against its social teachings, although the Jewish community was largely positive in its reception of the Universal Declaration, given the history of the Jewish people when they existed as a minority in many nations. Regardless, the Islamic Council of Europe did seek to delineate a list of human rights, not to rival those of Islam, but to provide political as well as religious guidelines for Islamic nations to protect human rights in keeping with the principles of Islam.