"Islamofascism" in its Historical Context

Here's a link to an excellent article by Imam Zaid Shakir in which he puts the term "Islamofascism" in its historical context:

Who are the Fascists?
By Imam Zaid Shakir

There's no doubt that Islamofascism is a loaded term that is intended to instill fear in the hearts of the misinformed. Although it was allegedly first used as far back as 1980, in the post-9/11 world where Islamphobia is very much in vogue, it has now gained widespread popular usage. While there's also no doubt that militant Islamic extremism is a problem that needs to be dealt with (and by that I mean harshly AND intelligently—both in the military and intellectual arenas), to claim that this nascent movement has the capability to threaten, much less destroy, all of Western civilization is clearly ludicrous—as Imam Zaid clearly demonstrates in the article.

Whether this word was first used as part of a deceitful attempt at "Big Lie" propaganda, as Imam Zaid surmises, or whether those who coined it were simply suffering from paranoid delusions and an imbalanced view of history, the term is clearly inappropriate. Not only does it exaggerate the threat of the various (and far from unified) militant "Jihadi" groups, but it conflates differing ideologies—thus being typical of the inaccuracies regularly produced by Islamophobes. More seriously, however, it devalues the horrific actions of real fascists, especially the Nazis and their systematic attempt at eliminating European Jewry.

On that note, please read Holocaust Denial Undermines Islam, by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, and take its message to heart since it contains advice that many Muslims seemingly need to hear. As I regularly tell people, if you're willing to accept sloppy and ideologically-driven revisionist history which allegedly proves that the Holocaust didn't happen, well then you should (if you want to remain intellectually consistent) also accept the revisionist histories that present organized "evidence" showing that, amongst other things, there were almost no Arabs living in Palestine when the Zionists first arrived and that the Qur'an was originally written by Jewish and Christian authors a couple of centuries after Muslims claim their religion was founded...and other such poorly contrived nonsense. So let's not raise our noses and eyebrows too high at the hate-based antics of the Islamophobes, since there are some troubling intellectual trends within the Dar al-Islam begging for widespread correction as well.

Also, those interested in the ideological pedigree of so-called "Politcal Islam" and neo-Salafism, the article How Marx turned Muslim, by John Gray, is a good place to start. While some forms of militant and political Islam no doubt share their totalitarian traits with certain fascist ideologies, their actual intellectual roots, like it or not, are firmly wrapped around the Leftist totalitarian creeds which manifested themselves in the previous century.

Deen on...