The Islamist Ideology

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.

“The Cipher Brief has become the most popular outlet for former intelligence officers; no media outlet is even a close second to The Cipher Brief in terms of the number of articles published by formers.” —Sept. 2018, Studies in Intelligence, Vol. 62

Access all of The Cipher Brief’s national security-focused expert insight by becoming a Cipher Brief Subscriber+ Member.

Subscriber+

Categorized as:InternationalTagged with:

Related Articles

How Safe Would We Be Without Section 702?

SUBSCRIBER+EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW — A provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that has generated controversy around fears of the potential for abuse has proven to be crucial […] More

Search

Close