Nowadays we witness the development of an ever-growing anti-Islamic trend. This enemy image is mostly based on the theory of "the clash of civilizations", which is formulated by the American zionist and neoconservative Samuel Phillips Huntington. Huntington suggested that after the Cold war a new contradiction would arise; namely one between different cultures and in particular between the Islam and the Western civilization. In this idea the Islam represents the face of barbarism, which does not wish to accept the so called "progress" and "liberties" the Western civilization has to offer. Within these neoconservative retorics "civilization" is defined in the sense of Western liberal values such as "universal liberty" and "democracy". After the fall of Communism it kept the paradigm of the Western civilization against the rest of the world intact. Therefore the theory of Huntington is of a purely ideological nature and wants to portray the Western liberal-capitalist system as the only possible form of "civilization" which has some kind of universal legitimicy and to which all people on earth should submit themselves too.
The so-called "war on terrorism" which serves the purpose of a public justification for the imperialist agenda of the Western powers, uses this simplistic enemy idea to its advantage. The attack on the WTC towers in New York on 9/11, as a retaliation for the US agression in the Islamic world, was quickly abused by the US gorvernment under President Bush as so-called "evidence" to support Huntington's theory, so that the US imperialists supported by the public opinion were able to live up to their imperialist ambitions in the Middle East. This provided a breeding ground for some of the most radical forms of Islamphobia as well as a broad smear campaign against Muslims in general and against "Islamism" (better known as political Islam).
Within the nationalist movement, which is by now becoming one of the biggest executors of this anti-Islamic smear, a lot of confusion can be found. The "clash of civilizations" retorics made sure many nationalists let themselves be seduced by neoconservative rightwing-populism in exchange for legitimicy. By that they knowingly or unknowingly are doing the dirty work of the imperialist and zionist camp. In this article we will try to explain our position on Islam and Islamism from a national-revolutionary point of view.
The Islam
No holy book is able to inspire people for many centuries, if it doesn't contains different messages that are open for individual interpretations and which can be applied under different circumstances. This is also the case with the Quran. In this sense the Islam does not differ from the other big monotheist world religions (such as Christianity). Just like other religions Islam adresses the poor and opressed as well as the rich and the opressors. Just like Christianity, Islam lends itself as a desire for a better life, but also as a tool to protect the priviledged position of the powerfull. Therefore religion is not a historic force on its own, because although religious institutions and ideas played an important role in world history, this role cannot be seen apart from the material reality it is in. People were always able to give their own interpretations to the religious ideas they had. Usually these interpretations relied on their particular material situation, their relations with other people and the conflicts in which they found themselves.
In this context Islam arose in the Arabic society of the 7th century, which was mainly organized along tribal lines. The founder was the Prophet Muhammed, he belonged to the clan of the Quraysh, the Hashemite, who lived on the Arabic peninsula. The first revelations of the Quran took place in 610 on mount Hira near the city Mecca. The first Islamic document was the "treaty of Medina" in which the Profet secured the rights and duties that were drafted for the Umma (the Islamic community). With that the first Islamic state was born. But Islam only really florished after the development of several consecutive imperia (known as Caliphates). The survival of this religion was, just as with Christianity, mainly dependend on its ability to adapt to the different interests of the different classes. The Islam offered a balance between a certain degree of protection for the opressed and some protection for the opressing classes against an uprise of the opressed classes.
Just like most other religions, Islam doesn't represent a homogenous system of ideas. After the Islam spread across large parts of the Eurasian continent and Africa, many of the peoples who became part of the Islamic society introduced their own old religious traditions, which led to the development of new tendencies and variations within the Islam. We can draw the conclusion that the Islam is not fundamentally different compared to its sister-religions (Christianity and Judaism). On the contrary it knows huge resemblances. Therefore as national-revolutionaries we do not grant the Islam another status with respect to other religions.
The Political Islam
In the 20th century an Islamic revival took place. This revival happened as a reaction to the imperialist expansion of the West, who used their military supremacy to conquer, oppress and exploit the Middle East. This was accompanied by a lot of bloodshed and the disastrous consequenses can be feld up till this day. Even now the natural recourses and oil supplies of the Middle East are being exploited in favor of several multinationals at the expence of the local peoples. The Arabic leaders squandered the interests of their people, who were forced to live in utter poverty. In this situation Islamism, also known as political Islam, developed itself. According to the Islamists the situation in the Middle East was the result of a corruption of the Islamic values. Only a return to the "true Islam" could lead towards a recovery of the Islamic community. In the post-colonial era, during the economic crisis of the ´80s, the attraction of Islamism grew even more under the influence of the ever-growing contradictions between the poor masses and the rich elites. The rich elites who owned most of the wealth had a decadent westernized style of living and soon became accused of "un-Islamic" behaviour by the poor masses.
One of the founders of political Islam was Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966), who after experiencing the decadent Western lifestyle in the USA for two and a half years , returned to his fatherland Egypt to join the Muslimbrotherhood. In his works he critized the decadency of the modern "Western" culture. In his vision the Islamic world was ruled by corrupt and westernized dictators and princes, their spiritually careless and ignorant policy could only be compared with that of the Jahili Arabs (= the pagan Arabs before the revelation of the Islam). Sayyid pled to overthrow these corrupt regimes to reinstate the "true Islam". He mostly based his ideas on the works of the Hanbalist* jurist and purist Ibn Taymiyyah (1268-1328). Sayyib his concept of political Islam must be seen in the context of an ideology which is aimed to unite the opressed of the Islamic world in their conquest for social-, economic- and political justice.
By this, Islamism distincts itself as a tendency because it doesn't want to maintain the old order in a conservative manner, but wants to change modern society based on Islamic values. The strive for resurrecting a mythical past, does not mean keeping the current society in tact, nor a return to the Middle ages, but a radical transformation of the modern society. The renewal promoted by Islamists must be seen as a struggle against the state and against the political domination of imperialism. It developed itself in societies which cried for resistance as a result of the drastic consequences of capitalism. Thus, Islamism is the political expression of people who grew up in these societies with respect for the Islamic ideas and values, and who apply these ideas and values in an attempt to fight injustice. The biggest support of the Islamists is found among the poor peasants on the countryside and those who migrated to the big cities in a desperate search for work. However the most important element that maintains Islamism is the new middle class (the petit-bourgeoisie) that developed as a result of the modernization of the Arab world. They form the indispensable cadre of Islamists, who spread the teachings of political Islam among the poor masses. Many of these Islamic intellectuals are well educated and form a bridge towards the poor masses in the slums and on the countryside. They are convinced that Islam can achieve a huge social change and social justice.
Final Conclusion
Because political Islam is carried by the middle class it has a petit-bourgeois class character which can be compared with that of the classic corporatist movements. Just like classic corporatism (Peronism, etc.) the political Islam was born in the streets as a petit-bourgeois movement, which was able to mobilize the poor masses. Just like classic corporatism Islamism knows a contradictory character which contains both reactionary and revolutionary elements. The problem with the petit-bourgeoisie is that, as a class, it's not able to find an independent and consistent direction. On the one hand the petit-bourgeoisie hopes to take advantage of a radical change, while on the other hand the security of conservatism continues to beckon. So - just like classic corporatism - political Islam fails to name the material exploitation, because it limits itself to cultural imperialism (westernization) as the source of all evil. Although the political Islam is perfectly able to mobilize the bitterness of the population, it paralyzes it at the same time because it is not able to provide a true anticapitalist solution. The project to change society on the basis of the Islamic values that were preached by the Profet Muhammed during the 7th century, is nothing more than an utopia that originates from the impoverished part of the petit-bourgeoisie and which gives hope to the opressed people in the Islamic world.
Let us be clear; the political Islam as a petit-bourgeois movement is not our real enemy! The Islamists are not to blame for the globalist-capitalist system. They are not to blame for the subjection of peoples in a strive for more and more profit, and neither are they to blame for the imperialist wars of agression which are fought worldwide! In fact Islamism has a destabilizing effect on the interests of the monopoly capital in the Middle East and they are an important obstacle for the colonial enterprises of Zionism. Although Islamists are representatives of a petit-bourgeois class that tries to influence the proletariat, thus not making them allies, we can also not take an aloof position about them. In their Islamic communities they are the vanguard of huge social groups that suffer from neo-liberal and imperialist exploitation. Their spirit of revolt can be used to serve revolutionary goals as long as the upcoming workersstruggle can play a determining role. The political Islam is the product of a deep social crisis, but it's not capable of offering a real solution because they don't proviode an anticapitalist alternative. Although we disagree with Islamists on several very important issues, we will in many cases stand on the same side with the Islamists in the worldwide struggle against imperialism and zionism. Therefore their resistance deserves our critical solidarity on the basis of the right on national selfdetermination!
*The Hanbali school (madhhab) is one the schools of Fiqh or religious law within Sunni Islam. The jurisprudence school traces back to Ahmad ibn Hanbal (855) but was institutionalized by his students.
Source: Free Nationalists North Brabant / Network National Socialists
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