Islamism has become a common and widespread word, often thrown around by media and individuals within society alike. The universally accepted definition is that Islamism is the adoption of Islam as a political ideology, and thus the ism, very much along the lines of Capitalism, Socialism, Communism et cetera.
The question which has been on my mind for some time now is “Can one be a non-Islamist Muslim?”
First, allow me to raise some reservations about the term Islamism; in the words of some thinkers, a term that simultaneously defines the Taliban and the AK party in Turkey is by default a meaningless one!
The question is then, what is Islamism?
If Islamism is the embracement of political Islam and enforcing it on the populace, then surely many Muslims are not Islamists. Fundamentally, “there is no coercion in religion” and thus no human has a right to coerce another or others to follow his/her own interpretation of Islam.
On the other side of the spectrum, if Islamism means the desire to apply the laws of Islam, i.e. the Shari‘ah, then how can a Muslim claim to be a non-Islamist? Surely, one of the axiomatic requisites of embracing Islam is that you accept the laws it sets out.
A noticeable dilemma faced by Muslims these days is that certain groups within societies claim to be the sole holders of the Truth, they are the only ones who can interoperate Islam’s laws properly and thus they are the Islamists!
In my humble opinion, all Muslims are, or must be Islamists. In order to achieve such definition we must not allow the monopolisation of the “what is Islamic” realm. A so-called secular Muslim (another terminology which causes a lot of contention) may possess a better understanding of Islam’s laws then that of a self-professed “Islamist”.
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