Principles of Islam
12. Fundamentalism
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Again the conservative Muslims opposed such a
move. These Muslim conservatives came to be
known as fundamentalists.
For instance, according to the traditional concept,
the Qur’an was a book of God. The modernist
Muslims attempted to give this concept a new
interpretation. They said that the Qur’an came into
being through divine inspiration received by the
Prophet and that the Prophet in his own words
expressed this inspiration. Thus although the
Qur’an is a revelation of God, it is in the words of
Muhammad, may peace be upon him. Now the
conservatives among the Muslims refused to accept
this interpretation. They insisted that the Qur’an
was the book of God both in word and meaning.
This resulted in a controversy between the two
groups of Muslims. One group came to be known
as modernists and the other group as
fundamentalists.
Nowadays fundamentalism has two meanings. To
me one meaning is right, the other meaning is
wrong.
