Religious fanaticism

Religious fanaticism(or the prefixultra-being used with a religious term (such asultra-Orthodox Judaism), or (especially whenviolenceis involved)religious extremism) is apejorativedesignation used to indicate uncriticalzealor obsessiveenthusiasmthat is related to one's own, or one's group's, devotion to areligion– a form of humanfanaticismthat could otherwise be expressed in one's other involvements and participation, including employment, role, and partisan affinities. Inpsychiatry,the termhyperreligiosityis used. Historically, the term was applied inChristian antiquityto denigrate non-Christian religions, and subsequently acquired its current usage with theAge of Enlightenment.^[1]

Features

Lloyd Steffen cites several features associated with religious fanaticism or extremism:

Spiritual needs:Human beings have a spiritual longing for understanding and meaning, and given the mystery ofexistence,that spiritual quest can only be fulfilled through some kind of relationship with ultimacy, whether or not that takes the form as a "transcendent other". Religion has power to meet this need for meaning and transcendent relationship.^[2]
Attractiveness:It presents itself in such a way that those who find their way into it come to express themselves in ways consistent with the particular vision of ultimacy at the heart of this religious form.^[3]
A 'live' option:It is present to the moral consciousness as a live option that addresses spiritual need and satisfies human longing for meaning, power, and belonging.^[4]

Examples of religious fanaticism

Members of theJansenistsect having convulsions and spasms as a result of religious fanaticism. Engraving byBernard Picart.

Christianity

Ever since Christianity was established, some of those in authority have sought to expand and control the church, often through the fanatical use of force. Grant Shafer says, "Jesus of Nazareth is best known as a preacher of nonviolence".^[5]

J. Harold Ellensstates that the start of Christian fanatic rule came with the Roman EmperorConstantine I,saying, "When Christianity came to power in the empire of Constantine, it proceeded to almost viciously repress all non-Christians and all Christians who did not line up with official Orthodox ideology, policy, and practice".^[6]An example of Christians who didn't line up with Orthodox ideology is theDonatists,who "refused to accept repentant clergy who had formerly given way to apostasy when persecuted".^[7] Fanatical Christian activity continued into theMiddle Ageswith theCrusades.Thesereligious warswere attempts by the Catholics, sanctioned by thePope,to conquer theHoly Landfrom theMuslims.However many Catholics see the crusades as ajust war.Charles Selengut, in his bookSacred Fury: Understanding Religious Violence,said:

The Crusades were very much holy wars waged to maintain Christianity's theological and social control. On their way to conquering the Holy Land from the Muslims by force of arms, the crusaders destroyed dozens of Jewish communities and killed thousands because the Jews would not accept the Christian faith. Jews had to be killed in the religious campaign because their very existence challenged the sole truth espoused by the Christian Church.^[8]

Shafer adds that, "When the crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099, they killed Muslims, Jews, and native Christians indiscriminately".^[9]Contrary to what Shafer alleges, however, no eyewitness source refers to Crusaders killing native Christians in Jerusalem, and early Eastern Christian sources (Matthew of Edessa, Anna Comnena, Michael the Syrian, etc.) make no such allegation about the Crusaders in Jerusalem. According to the Syriac Chronicle, all the Christians had already been expelled from Jerusalem before the Crusaders arrived. Presumably this would have been done by the Fatimid governor to prevent their possible collusion with the Crusaders.^{[citation needed]}

Another prominent form of fanaticism according to some came a few centuries later with theSpanish Inquisition.The Inquisition was the monarchy's way of making sure their people stayed within Catholic Christianity. Selengut said, "The inquisitions were attempts at self-protection and targeted primarily" internal enemies "of the church".^[10]The driving force of the Inquisition was the Inquisitors, who were responsible for spreading the truth of Christianity. Selengut continues, saying:

The inquisitors generally saw themselves as educators helping people maintain correct beliefs by pointing out errors in knowledge and judgment... Punishment and death came only to those who refused to admit their errors... during the Spanish Inquisitions of the fifteenth century, the clear distinction between confession and innocence and remaining in error became muddled.... The investigators had to invent all sorts of techniques, includingtorture,to ascertain whether... new converts' beliefs were genuine.^[10]

During theReformationChristian fanaticism increased betweenCatholicsand the recently formedProtestants.Many Christians were killed for having rival viewpoints. The Reformation set off a chain of sectarian wars between the Catholics and the sectarian Protestants, culminating in thewars of religion.

Islam

Islamic extremismdates back to theearly history of Islamwith the emergence of theKharijitesin the 7th century CE.^[11]The original schism betweenKharijites,Sunnīs,andShīʿasamongMuslimswas disputed over thepolitical and religious successionto the guidance of theMuslim community(Ummah) after the death of theIslamic prophet Muhammad.^[11]From their essentially political position, the Kharijites developed extreme doctrines that set them apart from both mainstream Sunnī and Shīʿa Muslims.^[11]Shīʿas believeʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālibis the true successor to Muhammad, while Sunnīs considerAbu Bakrto hold that position. The Kharijites broke away from both the Shīʿas and the Sunnīs during theFirst Fitna(the first Islamic Civil War);^[11]they were particularly noted for adopting a radical approach totakfīr(excommunication), whereby they declared both Sunnī and Shīʿa Muslims to be eitherinfidels(kuffār) orfalse Muslims(munāfiḳūn), and therefore deemed themworthy of deathfor their perceivedapostasy(ridda).^[11]^[12]^[13]

Osama bin LadenandAyman al-Zawahiriofal-Qaedahave promoted the overthrow of secular governments.^[14]^[15]^[16]

Sayyid Qutb,an Egyptian Islamist ideologue and prominent figurehead of theMuslim Brotherhoodin Egypt, was influential in promoting thePan-Islamist ideologyin the 1960s.^[17]When he was executed by theEgyptian governmentunder theregime of Gamal Abdel Nasser,Ayman al-Zawahiriformed the organizationEgyptian Islamic Jihadto replace the government with anIslamic statethat would reflect Qutb's ideas for theIslamic revivalthat he yearned for.^[18]TheQutbist ideologyhas been influential onjihadist movementsandIslamic terroriststhat seek to overthrow secular governments, most notablyOsama bin LadenandAyman al-Zawahiriofal-Qaeda,^[14]^[15]^[16]as well as theSalafi-jihaditerrorist groupISIL/ISIS/IS/Daesh.^[19]Moreover, Qutb's books have been frequently been cited by Osama bin Laden andAnwar al-Awlaki.^[20]^[21]^[22]^[23]^[24]^[25]

Since Osama bin Laden'sfatwain 1998,jihadhas increasingly become an internationally recognized term. Bin Laden's concept, though, is very different from the actual meaning of the term. In the religious context,jihadmost nearly means "working urgently for a certain godly objective, generally an imperialist one".^[26]The wordjihadin Arabic means 'struggle'. The struggle can be a struggle of implementing the Islamic values in daily activities, a struggle with others to counter arguments against Islam, or self-defense when physically attacked because of belief in Islam. According to Steffen, there are portions of the Quran where militaryjihadis used. As Steffen says, though, "Jihad in these uses is always defensive. Not only does 'jihad' not endorse acts of military aggression, but 'jihad' is invoked in Qur'anic passages to indicate how uses of force are always subject to restraint and qualification".^[27]This kind of jihad differs greatly from the kind most commonly discussed today.

Thomas Farr, in an essay titledIslam's Way to Freedom,states that "Even though most Muslims reject violence, the extremists' use of sacred texts lends their actions authenticity and recruiting power". (Freedom 24) He goes on to say, "The radicals insist that their central claim – God's desire for Islam's triumph – requires no interpretation. According to them, true Muslims will pursue it by any means necessary, including dissimulation, civilcoercion,and the killing of innocents ". (Freedom 24)

According to certain observers this disregard for others and rampant use of violence is markedly different from the peaceful message thatjihadis meant to employ. Although fanatic jihadists have committed many terroristic acts throughout the world, perhaps the best known is theSeptember 11 attacks.According to Ellens, the al-Qaeda members who took part in the terrorist attacks did so out of their belief that, by doing it, they would "enact a devastating blow against the evil of secularized and non-Muslim America. They were cleansing this world, God's temple".^[28]

Hinduism

Violence based oncommunalistic-ideologies are quite predominant in theIndian subcontinent,especially since theBritish Raj,even resulting in thepartition of British Indiabased on religious lines by demand of Muslims to burn the subcontinent if not given separate land.^[29]

Judaism

Bibliography

Teaching in a World of Violent Extremism. N.p., Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2021.

Citations

^Bernhardt, Reinhold (2007). "Fanaticism". Invon Stuckrad, Kocku(ed.).The Brill Dictionary of Religion.LeidenandBoston:Brill Publishers.doi:10.1163/1872-5287_bdr_SIM_00024.ISBN 9789004124332.S2CID 247529383.
^Steffen, Lloyd.p. 119.
^Steffen, Lloyd.p. 120.
^Steffen, Lloyd.p. 121.
^Shafer, Grant.p. 193.
^Ellens, J. Harold.pp. 42–43.
^Shafer, Grant.p. 236.
^Selengut, Charles. "Sacred Fury: Understanding Religious Violence."p. 22.
^Shafer, Grant.p. 239.
^^a ^bSelengut, Charles.p. 70.
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^eIzutsu, Toshihiko(2006) [1965]."The Infidel (Kāfir): The Khārijites and the origin of the problem ".The Concept of Belief in Islamic Theology: A Semantic Analysis of Imān and Islām.Tokyo:Keio Institute of Cultural and Linguistic Studies atKeio University.pp. 1–20.ISBN 983-9154-70-2.
^Khan, Sheema (12 May 2018)."Another battle with Islam's 'true believers'".The Globe and Mail.The Globe and Mail Opinion.Retrieved19 April2020.
^Hasan, Usama (2012)."The Balance of Islam in Challenging Extremism"(PDF).Quiliam Foundation.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2 August 2014.Retrieved2015-11-17.
^^a ^bGallagher, Eugene V.;Willsky-Ciollo, Lydia, eds. (2021)."Al-Qaeda".New Religions: Emerging Faiths and Religious Cultures in the Modern World.Vol. 1.Santa Barbara, California:ABC-CLIO.pp. 13–15.ISBN 978-1-4408-6235-9.
^^a ^bAydınlı, Ersel (2018) [2016]."The Jihadists pre-9/11".Violent Non-State Actors: From Anarchists to Jihadists.Routledge Studies on Challenges, Crises, and Dissent in World Politics (1st ed.).LondonandNew York:Routledge.pp. 65–109.ISBN 978-1-315-56139-4.LCCN 2015050373.
^^a ^bMoussalli, Ahmad S. (2012)."Sayyid Qutb: Founder of Radical Islamic Political Ideology".In Akbarzadeh, Shahram (ed.).Routledge Handbook of Political Islam(1st ed.).LondonandNew York:Routledge.pp. 9–26.ISBN 9781138577824.LCCN 2011025970.
^Polk, William R.(2018)."The Philosopher of the Muslim Revolt, Sayyid Qutb".Crusade and Jihad: The Thousand-Year War Between the Muslim World and the Global North.The Henry L. Stimson Lectures Series.New HavenandLondon:Yale University Press.pp. 370–380.doi:10.2307/j.ctv1bvnfdq.40.ISBN 978-0-300-22290-6.JSTOR j.ctv1bvnfdq.40.LCCN 2017942543.
^Lawrence Wright(2006). "2".The Looming Tower.Knopf.ISBN 0-375-41486-X.
^Baele, Stephane J. (October 2019). Giles, Howard (ed.)."Conspiratorial Narratives in Violent Political Actors' Language"(PDF).Journal of Language and Social Psychology.38(5–6).SAGE Publications:706–734.doi:10.1177/0261927X19868494.hdl:10871/37355.ISSN 1552-6526.S2CID 195448888.Retrieved3 January2022.
^Scott Shane; Souad Mekhennet & Robert F. Worth (8 May 2010)."Imam's Path From Condemning Terror to Preaching Jihad".The New York Times.Retrieved13 May2010.
^Robert Irwin, "Is this the man who inspired Bin Laden?"The Guardian(1 November 2001).
^Paul Berman, "The Philosopher of Islamic Terror",New York Times Magazine(23 March 2003).
^Out of the Shadows: Getting ahead of prisoner radicalization
^Trevor Stanley."The Evolution of Al-Qaeda: Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi".Retrieved26 February2015.
^Qutbism: An Ideology of Islamic-Fascism Archived2007-06-09 at theWayback Machineby Dale C. Eikmeier. FromParameters,Spring 2007, pp. 85–98.
^Ellens, J. Harold.p. 45.
^Steffen, Lloyd.p. 224.
^Ellens, J. Harold.p. 35.
^"BBC - History - British History in depth: The Hidden Story of Partition and its Legacies".bbc.co.uk.Retrieved2020-06-07.