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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: FaultLine who wrote (120989)	12/5/2003 7:52:18 PM
From: skinowski	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

A reasonable estimate might find 10 percent of Muslims following the Islamist approach. Instead, the power that Islamists wield reflects their status as a highly dedicated, capable and well-organized minority. A little bit like cadres of the Communist Party, they make up for numbers with activism and purpose. 10% of world's Muslims are actual - or potential (and often professional) - members of a global revolutionary movement? That sure sounds pretty serious. Interesting article, but I think that Mr. Pipes more or less creates an impression that Islamism is a relatively recent phenomenon. It seems that the opposite is true. It appears that violent extremist ideological currents were always present in Islam, going all the way back to the assassination of the 4th Caliph and the Prophet's Son-in-Law, Ali. During the Mongol invasion, many Muslims became followers of a thinker by the name ibn Taymyyia: (http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ip/rep/H039.htm). He is still an (reportedly) inexhaustible source of ideas for the modern day terrorists. Later arrived the Wahhabists, Qutb'ists... all of them superb at explaining all the good reasons as to why anyone who thinks differently from them must die. IMHO, it is basically futile to try dealing with the current conflict without first doing some homework on the history of extremist interpretations of Islam. I found this book to be well worth the effort: amazon.com