Diversity in Islam
for Absolute Beginners
Roughly 1 in 5 of the world's population is muslim - that's over a
billion people. Yet for all the talk about a global society with the
telecommunication revolution bringing knowledge to the masses, what
most westerners from christian backgrounds know about Islam can be
written on the back of a small postage stamp
The trouble with
Islam
The September 11 attacks, the Afghan war that followed from it and
the ongoing war in Israel/Palestine have once again raised the issue
of Islam in the minds of many anarchists in Ireland and Britain. Not
just because of the role Islam has in shaping those conflicts but
also because militant Islam has become a far more noticeable presence
on solidarity demonstrations.
Hijab: lifting the
veil
Standing up to religious oppression or state racism? Ultimately we
believe that people should have the freedom to dress whatever way
they like. This means freedom from state interference and freedom
from religious interference in how one should dress.
The
modern schizophrenia of Islamic integralism
To understand the ideology of Islam it is critical to understand that
the prophet-merchant Muhammad was beyond anything else the founding
father of worldly empires
Why the
Reversion to Islamic Archaism?
We reproduce a key 1981 essay on Islamic fundamentalism by the Middle
Eastern radical writer Lafif Lakhdar. This is a detailed
materialist history of the development of Islamic archaism up to the
Iranian revolution.
|
A Call to the Muslims of the World from
a Group of Freethinkers and Humanists of Muslim
Origins Statements on the connections between
Islam and the WTC attacks Testimonies:Why I Left Islam |
Iranian secular
society
The Iranian secular society has been formed to publicise the
destructive effects of the Islamic government in Iran and contribute
to bring about a secular society
The
Misery of Islam - Al-Djouhall
The challenge of our times -for us proletarians who live in countries
where Islam is part and parcel of the status quo-, is to criticize
this "religion of the desert
"We come to bury
the Turkish Republic, not to praise it"
Fundamentalism, nationalism and Militarism in Turkey, an article by
Turkish anarchists
On the Necessity of the
Struggle Against Political Islam.
Resolution of Worker Communist Party of Iraq
Anti-war Coalitions:
Lost Causes and Self-defeated Movements
Iran communist criticises those who defend political Islam as part of
opposing war, also see
The Antiwar Movement
Legitimises Political Islam
New Internationalist issue on Fundamentalism
(issue 210)
This issue on fundamentalism tries to go beyond simply 'rounding up
the usual suspects'
Fundamentalist Resurgence: Causes and
Prospects
A rather dogmatic trotskyist article from 1994 but with some useful
information as he is in Pakistan
The Menace of Islamic Fundamentalism and the
Hypocrisy of Imperialism
Another essay by the same author from the same flawed perspective but
useful as its from 2000 and has some more recent information
Medea (European Commmision's European/Middle East Research) on
Islamic Fundamentalism
Starts with some basic definitions
University College of St Martins's (UK)
part of a page of links to information on various religions including
Islam
The Myth of Islamic Fundamentalism
"it is the Western rendition of Islam, and not an expression which
Muslims have anything to do with. Apparently, it seems to imply that
there is what you may call fundamentalist Islam as distinct from
non-fundamentalist Islam"
Why some Britons have joined the jihad against
the West
" The same motives that drove some young men from the Middle East to
become suicide bombers have also driven young British Muslims to join
the jihad."
The
Taliban Phenomenon
The theological roots of the Taliban