Islamic Fundamentalism
Islamic Fundamentalism
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What made matters worse—as a direct result of this
negative psychology—was the emergence of certain
Muslim leaders in the first half of the twentieth
century, who expounded their own political
interpretation of Islam, according to which Islam
was a complete system of State and Muslims had
been appointed by God to fulfill the mission of
establishing this Islamic state throughout the world.
Some well-known names associated with this
interpretation are the following: Syed Qutub in
Egypt, Ayatullah Khomeini in Iran and Syed Abul
Ala Maududi in Pakistan.
This political view of Islam, in spite of being a grave
misinterpretation, spread rapidly among Muslims.
The only reason for this was that Muslims, owing to
their defeatist mentality, saw nothing incongruous
in its negativity. Given the circumstances of their
past history, this political interpretation was in total
consonance with their psychological condition.
Thus, due to their negative mindset and not due to
Islamic reasoning, this false interpretation soon
gained currency among them, and the activities
which were an offshoot from this—paradoxical as
this may seem—were backed by funding from
