Aisha Ali
Fascism is here. Its global rise has been extensively documented, yet the shock persists only in the minds of those in the imperial core. However, the ebbs and flows of Western totalitarianism are nothing new. The fangs of Western colonialism and imperialism inevitably sink back into those who had benefited initially from the exportation of pain to the global south. Each time, instead of creating alternatives to systems that destroy our homelands and restrict our lives in the core, we retreat to fundamentalism and anti-intellectualism – particularly in the approach to religion.
Over the past decade, online Islamic spaces have witnessed a surge in content creators producing “dawah” material despite lacking religious training. These creators amass significant followings through short reminders and widely palatable presentations of “Islamic knowledge.” This is largely accomplished through the employment of historical theological concepts applied to contemporary issues. Man-made laws and systems are often instantly dismissed as “ṭughyān,” idolatry, and “non-Shari-a compliant,” existing in opposition to Allah’s hakimiyah, or dominion, ie “contemporary, anti-imperialist, feminist, etc. social justice movements are acts of shirk or in opposition to major tenants of the Islamic faith.” These ideas, once widely viewed as extremist, are mainstream, often attached to the Western fantasy of “hijrah” to Islamic nations – nations built on capitalist greed, slave labour and ties to the very same Western nations these online communities seek to flee from.
The first wave of right-wing Islamic ideologies emerged in response to Western colonial interventions in the global south. They operated on the utopian belief that they would return to the “golden age of Islam” (a colonial term itself, as the term ‘Golden Age’ was created by 19th-century Western academia as part of the Orientalist movement) free from secularism and ungodly interference. This belief was a crucial selling point, appealing to many, but largely unsubstantiated. While the concept of a “Golden Age” is intriguing, it raises more questions than answers. For instance, how can a unified community be established, one that transcends the divisions that have plagued it for long? Even if such a unified front were possible, how would it mount a challenge to the powers that be – the dominant forces that have shaped the world for centuries? These are the kinds of questions that seem to have been left hanging, without a resolution or even a hint of one.
Right-wing understandings of Islam are (and always were) a response to subjugation, rooted in colonized people’s search for control and autonomy under the boot of the imperial core. What present-day followers of these movements fail to realize, is that the conditions which breed their popularity remain the same. The Somali reactionary who took up arms following the devastation caused by “Peacekeeping” missions exists in the same vein as the “Salafi” content creator who feels trapped by the contemporary implications of Western fascism. As western Muslims, our presence in the imperial core does not rid us of the desire to be free from its oppression. This search for control, which manifests as widespread Islamic authoritarianism, is no different from other right-wing reactionary movements: both prey on vulnerable populations’ lack of community, connection and sense of self in the face of oppression.
Contemporary right-wing Islam or Neo-Salafism builds upon the stepping stones of its predecessors. This modified modern version of as-Salafīyā manifests itself through a religio-political discourse that frequently implicates ideologizing certain theological themes, dictating specific interpretations of religious scriptures, and propagating doctrinal tenets that ultimately serve an exclusionary agenda and incite enmity towards perceived ‘others’. This emerging wave of Neo-Salafism (as-Salafīyā al-Muʿāṣirā) is primarily characterized by discursive strategies aimed at indoctrinating vulnerable recipients to turn them into guardians of specific religiously inspired ideological messages. (Abdulmajid 2023)
Preachers frequently employ language intended to strategically marginalise those who disagree, while maintaining their own image of piety. Sentiment is often in defiance of secular academic spaces, social justice movements and the general tendency to name those that oppose them as non-muslim or participating in shirk.
The most significant issue with this contemporary resurgence of right-wing Islam is the opposition to the complex, scientific nature of Islamic theology. People have a longing for the connection brought about through religious spaces, but no desire for the academic rigour they require. These spaces serve purely as an alternative to Western secularism but lack substance as a result. Sustained by influencers, Q&As, “advising” comments and takfirs, these online communities create a bubble separating western Muslims from those around them. They rely mainly on the internet’s ease of information and appeal to ostracization to gain followers via “us vs them” rhetoric.
The parallels between contemporary, Western Islam and historical responses to colonialism are no different. As an ummah, we will not find our salvation in an Islam that encourages us to forgo research and contemporary social issues for a perceived sense of ideological purity that only causes division and fragmentation. The imperial boomerang has inevitably turned back towards us. Moving forward, will our choices continue to keep us stagnant or truly liberate us from the global devastation that colonialism has caused?
Aisha Ali is a high school English/ESL teacher and graduate student from southern Ontario. Aisha’s pedagogy is focused on the intersection of anti-capitalist, decolonial theory and liberatory education, primarily centered on using the arts as applications of critical thought.
