Islam Rediscovered
12. Islamic Fundamentalism
~ 195 ~
The core of these doctrines was the literal inerrancy
of every word of the Bible. Those who supported
these beliefs during the debate of the 1920s came to
be called fundamentalists.
The term “fundamentalism” began to be applied to
Islamic resurgence by the final quarter of the
twentieth century. However this term was not used
for Muslims in exactly the same sense as it was
applied to Christians. There is also some difference
of opinion on this point among scholars. However,
without going into the details of this, I would like to
say that the term Islamic fundamentalism is applied
to two different kinds of movements. One is like
that of the Muslim Brotherhood (
Ikhwanul
Muslimun
) which rose to bring about a political
revolution. The other is the type which advocates a
return to the pristine fundamentals of the faith, for
instance, those defined by Ibn Taimiya in the
fourteenth century. This latter aim is still the
driving force behind the Salafia and Wahabiya
movements.
Now the aim of the second form of the Islamic
fundamentalism, that of Ibn Taimya is to put an end
