The Centrality of Anti-Semitism in the Islamic State's Ideology and its Connection to Anti-Shiism (original) (raw)
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The rise of the Islamic State, and its antisemitic ideology, has led to violence against Jews in Europe and a genocide of Shia Muslims in Iraq. This thesis investigates the causes and origins of Islamist antisemitic violence from a social identity perspective. It is the first systematic study of Islamist antisemitism and anti-Shiism that accounts for its trajectory from its inception in the 1930s until 2018. The material consists of primary sources of Islamist literature. First, it studies antisemitic perpetrators of Islamist attacks in Europe. Second, it analyses antisemitism in Islamic State propaganda. Third, it studies Sayyid Qutb's antisemitism. Lastly, it studies the anti- Shiite legacy of the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Sahwa movement. The study does not situate the problem of Islamist violence within the religion itself or the Sunni or Shia branch of Islam but rather within how political actors use religion for political purposes. This thesis challenges the conventional view of the Islamic State's violence as originating from the theological interpretations of Salafism and argues that rather, it originates from the political ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood. Furthermore, it centers antisemitism and its interconnected anti-Shiism at the core of Islamist ideology and use of violence. The findings demonstrate that mainly two concepts are central to Islamist antisemitic violence: the war against Islam conspiracy and the imaginary victimized ummah. Additionally, it shows that antisemitism and anti-Shiism are interconnected since the Sahwa movement and ISIS transferred antisemitic notions onto Shiites. The study also shows that the war against Islam conspiracy is the main feature of ISIS antisemitism and that it was developed by Sayyid Qutb, who inspired the Sahwa movement. It also demonstrates that the Sahwa movement inspired ISIS in their politicized genocidal anti- Shiism. The findings can be divided into seven categories: 1) the war against Islam conspiracy; 2) a politicization of religious identities; 3) Muslim identity as either victimized or martial; 4) the imaginary victimized ummah; 5) violence in defense of the imaginary victimized ummah; 6) a transfer of antisemitic notions onto Shiites; and 7) antisemitic Islamist excommunication of Muslims. This thesis argues that antisemitic and anti-Shiite violence is the result of the politicization of religious identities within a war narrative. In addition, this thesis demonstrates how the Muslim Brotherhood combined Nazi antisemitism with politicized interpretations of Islamic scripture, inspiring the Islamic State's Islamist antisemitism and violence.
Islamic Antisemitism: Characteristics, Origins, and Current Effects
Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs, 2020
Muslims and non-Muslims generally use the same tropes to express aversion to Jews. In both cases we find the classic conspiracy myths; the blood libel, which is rooted in Christian sources; Holocaust denial; and vilification of Israel. There is, however, one variant of antisemitism that is specific to Muslim communities and that plays an important role in shaping opinions in the Middle East: Islamic antisemitism. This term is not meant as a general attack on Islam (whose holy texts include passages that cast Jews in a positive light), nor as a general accusation against Muslims, many of whom oppose antisemitism. Instead, it refers to a specific form of antisemitism that has distinct characteristics and consequences and therefore must be combated in a specific way-particularly within the Muslim world. In this article, I will first discuss the background and prominent features of Islamic antisemitism and what distinguishes it from other forms of antipathy to Jews. In the second half, I will focus on the role played by Nazi Germany in its development. I will conclude by addressing some current consequences of this phenomenon. A New Expression of Jew-Hatred Islamic antisemitism is a religiously motivated form of modern antisemitism and a specific expression of Jew-hatred that draws upon two very different sources: the 1
The Jewish Issue in Islamic Radicalism: Historicity, Impact and Evolutions
This article focuses on the long-term ideological vision of Jews and Israel in radical Islam. By examining, on the one hand, the animosity towards Judeo-Israelis in the spawning and bolstering of Islamist, Salafist and Jihadist movements, and on the other hand, the sociological composition of Jihadist elites related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, I show the centrality of the Judeophobic discourse in the world of radical Islam as well as the importance of Israel in its reinforcement. By trying to historicize this discourse, as well as political and strategic movements linked with the State of Israel, I also question the nature of the hostility towards Judaism, and more specifically the role of the Israeli issue in the development and evolution of the most radical and violent forms of Muslim identity over nearly a century. 1 | INTRODUCTION Research on Salafism and Jihadism is experiencing today an undeniable flourishing. The field of study that focuses on contemporary Islamic radicalism has already been developing strongly and renewed since the early 2000s. This evolution provides the opportunity to return to the fundamental ideological content and themes around which these radical Islamic movements, adopting an exclusivist and agonistic 1 grammar, have been organized for nearly a century. There are several ways of apprehending the different forms taken by the proposed model of society that is supposed to perpetuate the time of the Salaf Salih, 2 which are sources of paradigmatic imitation for numerous movements within Islam that wish to return to the 'princeps' of belief, religion and social relations (Haykel, 2009; Lauzière, 2015; Meijer, 2009). Purely islamological readings, which aim to examine the religious constructions that are reflected in these fundamentalist views, differ from sociological interpretations that insist, for instance, on the origins and trajectories of activists or theorists of Salafist and/or Jihadist movements. Numerous groundbreaking works have been published concerning the question of Salafism and Jihadism. The plurality of approaches used to analyze these phenomena (islamology, sociology of social movements and religious practices, anthropology, international relations, etc.) is combined with a large diversity of fields of study (extending from the Arab world to non-Arab Muslim majority countries and to western societies). We can also differentiate authors from the field of Islamic Studies and those primarily interested by Salafism as a religious and historical construction (Lauzière, 2015; Mouline, 2014; Wagemakers, 2016). This perspective is essentially islamological, meaning that it is oriented towards the
Ilahiyat Studies, 2019
The present academic literature hosts volumes of information on Muslim anti-Semitism, while Jewish anti-Islamism is hardly mentioned. With the aim of filling this scholarly gap, the article deals with contemporary Jewish anti-Islamism, principally focusing on Zionism’s role in such anti-Islamism, by delving into the existing literature, news media, and online sources. Since the very birth of Zionism, Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims and, finally, Islam itself have primarily been seen as “obstacles” to Zionist goals. The “chosenness,” “promised lands,” and “messianism” doctrines at the core of Zionism have led to the antagonization of the aforementioned. There appears to be a blatant overlap between anti-Islamism and Jewish voices in the media, the entertainment sector, popular bookshops, foundations, academia, think-tanks and the virtual world. Finally, pro-Israel influences in the West have catalyzed negativity about Islam and Muslims and propagated wars through lobbying activities. Jewish anti-Islamism is real and needs further scholarly investigation.
Islamic Radical Movements and Antisemitism: Between Old and New
Confronting Antisemitism in Modern Media, the Legal and Political Worlds
Islamist antisemitism in the past decades is exceptional in three major categories: It is morev irulent than anyo therp ublic expression of antisemitism in the world today. It is also the most openlyg enocidal form of existinga ntisemitism as the various Islamist spokesmen do not mince words about their aspirations regarding the intended fate of the Jews, which is totalannihilation. Finally, it is probablythe most widespread brand of antisemitism as it unifies numerous Islamists from ab road rangeo fc ountries and movements, both Sunnis and Shi'is, mainstream and radicals alike.
Roots of the Anti-Semitism in Islamic World
Anti-Semitism in the Islamic world is a controversial topic. While there has been no anti-Semitism in Islamic territory until 19th century, anti-Semitism was exported from West, and it found itself a base with Islamic references. Moreover, Palestinian-Israeli conflict-major factor of this tendencies- strengthened anti-Semitism in the Islamic world. This paper analyzes those roots of anti-Semitism in Islamic World by focusing on Koran and Islamic narratives, Islamic law, history of the Jewish-Muslim relations and Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
The Arabs as Nazis? Some Reflections on “Islamofascism” and Arab Anti-Semitism
Die Welt des Islams, 2012
One of the main constituents of the so-called Islamofascism is, in the eyes of those who subscribe to this conception, the close affinity of Arabs (and sometimes, Muslims) to Nazi ideology and possibly practice. To bolster this notion, its proponents do basically three things: first, they try to prove that a massive majority of Arabs took a pro-Nazi stand during the Third Reich and especially during World War II and that important Arab figures collaborated with Nazi Germany during the War. Secondly, they point to widespread—real and alleged—anti-Jewish beliefs among present-day Arabs. And thirdly, they claim that there is a personal, political and ideological continuity between both phenomena and that, thus, present-day Arab Judeophobia has the same character, scope and possible effect as the anti-Semitism of the Nazis. During the War, so the argument goes, Arab attitudes were part and parcel of Nazi ideology, and they largely retained this quality although, after the War, Nazism wa...
Antisemitic Anti-Zionism: Muslim Brotherhood, Iran, and Hezbollah
Confronting Antisemitism in Modern Media, the Legal and Political Worlds, 2021
As apreacher on Al Jazeera and head of the European Council for Fatwa and Research, Yusuf al-Qaradawi is one of Sunni Islam'sm ost influential intellectuals. Al-Qaradawi has gone beyond denying the Holocaust to presentingi ta sa ne xample to be followed: accordingt oh im, Hitler was the "ultimate punishment" for the Jews, inflicted on them by Allah for theirdepravity.I nt he future, he believes, the Muslims must take on the task. In 2009,hestated that, "God willing, the next time this punishment will be inflicted by the hand of the Faithful."¹ The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in which Al-Qaradawi has his roots shaped all the later currents of radical Islam,i ncludingt he Iranian regime and Hezbollah. While these latter are, of course, in some respects in competition with Brotherhood groups and parties, they can also cooperate with them, especiallyw hen it comes to fighting Israel and with respect to as hared hostility to the rulerso f Saudi Arabia,² considered by some supporters of the Iranian regimet ob ed escendants of Jews. The prototypical Islamist organization, the Muslim Brotherhood, was founded in 1928,inthe same period as the rise of the fascist mass organizations in Europe. It also drew inspiration from the writingso ft he Iranian Islamists of the nineteenth century. The Nazis activelysupported the establishment of the Brotherhood materially and ideologically. After 1945, it became the "biggest antisemitic organization in the world," with around amillion members.³ The rapid rise in its membership at the beginning of the 1930s-like the support for European fascism and Nazism but in ad ifferent religious context-resulted from am assive and delusional projective reaction to the crisis-ridden onslaught of capitalist modernity.T his reaction against the ambivalences and emancipatory potential of modernity wasalsoone of the main grounds for the mass support of Khomeini from the 1960s onwardsi nI ran.
Anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism in Iran
Anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism constitute two important ideological building blocks of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Yet, there is no existing research into the psychosocial motives underlying the manifestation of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism at the institutional level in Iran. Here it is argued that there is much heuristic and predictive value in applying tenets of identity process theory (IPT), a socio-psychological model of identity threat and action, to the primarily socio-historical literature on anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism in Iran. The paper provides a summary of anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism and ‘new anti-Semitism’ and IPT. The substantive section of the paper explores (i) how anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism may restore feelings of belonging in the Muslim world and beyond; (ii) the inter-relations between ingroup and outgroup self-efficacy; (iii) the psychosocial motivation to maintain Shiite ideology and Khomeini’s legacy; and (iv) the construction of Jews and Israel in terms of a threat to group continuity. It is suggested that insights into the motivational principles underlying anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism at the institutional level may inform empirical research into social representations of Jews and Israel in Iran. More broadly, this paper highlights the potential contribution of social psychology to existing work on anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism in the humanities.
How to Challenge Islamic Antisemitism?
Confronting Antisemitism in Modern Media, the Legal and Political Worlds, 2021
Although not restricted to Islamist movements, Islamic antisemitism is akey factor in the Islamists' war against the modern world. It lies behind Tehran'sdesire to destroy the "cancerous tumor" of Israel and inspires Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's threat that Israelis won'tbeable "to find atree to hide behind," aclear allusion to ahadith that demands the killing of Jews.¹ It causes Mahmoud Abbas to deny anyc onnection between Jerusalem and the Jews² and transforms the political conflict between Israel and the Arabs into ar eligious struggle between good and evil. Islamic antisemitism mobilizes the terrorists of the Islamic State to murder Jews in Europe, and it ensures thatn ot onlyi nA mman, but also in Berlin and Malmo, Arabst hreaten Jews with this particularw ar cry: Khaybar,K haybar, OJ ews; the armyo fM uhammad will return. Khaybar is the name of an oasis inhabited by Jews that Muhammad conquered in blood in 628. It is also the name of an assault rifle made in Iran and atype of rocket used by Hezbollahtofire at Israeli cities in 2006. In this paper,Iwill discuss four topics:(1) What distinguishes Islamic antisemitism from otherforms of Jew-hatred?(2) Whyand when did this ideologycome about?(3) Whyi si tp articularlyd ifficult to fight Islamic antisemitism?(4) How can we challengeI slamic antisemitism? What Does the Term "Islamic Antisemitism" Mean? This term is neither ag eneral attack on Islam,w hose texts also include Jewfriendlyp assages, nor ag eneral accusation against Muslims, quite af ew of whom are against antisemitism. Instead, it refers to as pecific kind of antisemi- A. Gruber, "Erdogans Erlösungsantisemitismus: 'Kein Baum wirddie Juden schützen'," menawatch, issued December 15,2 017, accessedM ay 3, 2018, https://www.mena-watch.com/menaanalysen-beitraege/erdogans-erloesungsantisemitismus-kein-baum-wird-die-juden-schuetzen/.