Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM • 299term meaning “Party of God,” or as being maktabi, meaning “thosewho adhere to the book.” While Dr. Behrooz Behbudi and Dr. WalidPhares have used the term Khomeinist to refer to Shi’ite revolutionaryfundamentalist Muslims, this term has not been used by suchfundamentalists. Reformist fundamentalists accept the notion of incrementalistreform of corrupt Muslim societies through educationalefforts and such political participation or agitation as is permitted bythe national Muslim government. Examples of such fundamentalistsare to be found in the various Muslim Brotherhood groups thathave operated as political parties and social welfare organizations inEgypt, Sudan, Syria, Algeria, and other Muslim lands. Revolutionaryfundamentalists reject such reformism as being a compromise withunbelief and insist instead on violent, revolutionary means to achievethe true Islamic state and society. An example of revolutionary Salafifundamentalists was the Sunni group that attacked and occupied theMasjid al Haram complex in Mecca on 20 November 1979. Nonetheless,even reformist fundamentalists have shown a willingness toresort to political violence and terrorism if they are frustrated in theirattempts to work peacefully within the political system. The MuslimBrotherhood in Egypt in the Nasser period, the Brotherhood in Syriaunder Hafiz al Asad, and, more recently, the Islamic SalvationFront in Algeria and Islamic Tendency Movement in Tunisia haveall resorted to political violence when denied the chance to reformthose countries through political channels.Most populist fundamentalists are hostile to the West, and tothe United States in particular, for three main reasons: the UnitedStates is perceived as the main backer of the State of Israel; theUnited States is viewed as the backer and supporter of those Muslimstates that populist fundamentalists regard as apostate regimes;and the United States is the source of an attractive materialistic andindividualistic culture that is incompatible with the traditional andcommunity-centered ethos of an integral Islamic moral order. Theseperceived antagonisms will continue to provoke violent reactions,including terrorist attacks or threats against American citizens andU.S. interests in, or near, the Muslim world for the foreseeable future.Apart from antagonism toward the United States and the West moregenerally, the incompatibility of Islamic fundamentalist aspirationswith the conscious secularism of many Muslim states, especially thePan-Arabist regimes, such as those of Muammar Qaddafi in Libya,