Islamism and Western Political Religions
The political ideas of Islamism as they have been formulated by Hassan al-Banna and Sayyid Qutb share a number of striking similarities with Western political religions like Communism and National Socialism, in particular the radical dualist interpretation of history and the understanding of politic...
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| Tipo di documento: | Elettronico Articolo |
| Lingua: | Inglese |
| Verificare la disponibilità: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Pubblicazione: |
Wiley-Blackwell
2009
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| In: |
Religion compass
Anno: 2009, Volume: 3, Fascicolo: 6, Pagine: 1026-1041 |
| Accesso online: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Riepilogo: | The political ideas of Islamism as they have been formulated by Hassan al-Banna and Sayyid Qutb share a number of striking similarities with Western political religions like Communism and National Socialism, in particular the radical dualist interpretation of history and the understanding of politics as a struggle against evil. However, the concept of political religions as it has been elaborated by Voegelin and further developed by Gentile implies the deification of a secular entity. Thus, if political religions are defined as being based on secularism, this concept seems to be inappropriate for the analysis of Islamism. This paper investigates whether this interpretation is correct and whether the concept of ‘politicised religions’ should be considered more useful for the analysis of Islamism. It gives an overview of the concepts of political and politicised religions and of the political ideas of Islamism based on the writings of Hassan al-Banna and Sayyid Qutb. The theses are that (1) both ‘fundamentalism’ and ‘politicised religions’ are misleading concepts for a comparison of their political theories with Western political religions; and (2) the concept of political religions is indeed applicable to Islamism, if we arrive at the understanding that not secularism but the radicalisation of the friend-foe-distinction and the understanding of politics as a purge of evil from the world ought to be considered its central themes. |
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| ISSN: | 1749-8171 |
| Comprende: | Enthalten in: Religion compass
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-8171.2009.00179.x |