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The Islamist Ideology

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Posted: May 5th, 2016

By Thomas Quiggin

Thomas Quiggin is a court qualified expert on terrorism and is also a court expert on the reliability of intelligence as evidence. He has more than 30 years of practical experience in a variety of intelligence fields. He has worked in Canada, Singapore, the Netherlands and the former Yugoslavia on matters related to extremism, terrorism, war crimes and national security. 

Is ISIS Islamic?  Probably not.  Is it Islamist?  Definitely. 

An Islamist is one who believes in a version of Islam which would impose a politicized interpretation of the faith over all of society by law. The concept is modernist and overturns more than a millennium of Islamic jurisprudence. Historically, Islam has had an ongoing debate over what powers should go to the Caliphs (political) and the Mullahs (religious).  For many, that debate has ended, and they believe Islam (or an Islamist view) should dominate all forms of social order.   The founding of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928 represents a turning point in this argument.

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