Islam and Anarchism

international | religion | feature

Wednesday July 20, 2005 19:58

by Anarkismo Editorial Group - Anarkismo

One of the better known stock anarchist phrases is 'No Gods, No Masters' but despite this there have been various attempts to invent religous forms of anarchist thought. In recent years there have been various attempts to blend Islam and anarchism - we are aware of examples from South Africa, the USA and Britain. The more traditional anarchist communist approach has been to extend the hostile analysis of other state religions like Christanity and Confucianism to Islam.

Here we present a range of anarchist communist writings on Islam as well as writings by Islamic 'anarchists' and background writings by socialists and others on Islam.

Islam and Anarchism

Here we present a range of anarchist communist writings on Islam as well as writings by Islamic 'anarchists' and background writings by socialists and others on Islam.

The basics

Diversity in Islam for Absolute Beginners
Roughly 1 in 5 of the world's population is muslim - that's over a billion people. Yet for all the talk about a global society with the telecommunication revolution bringing knowledge to the masses, what most westerners from christian backgrounds know about Islam can be written on the back of a small postage stamp

The trouble with Islam
Over 130 years ago the anarchist Micheal Bakunin wrote "I reverse the phrase of Voltaire, and say that, if God really existed, it would be necessary to abolish him." Writing of the Christian churches in Europe, he said "In talking to us of God they propose, they desire, to elevate us, emancipate us, ennoble us, and, on the contrary, they crush and degrade us. With the name of God they imagine that they can establish fraternity among men, and, on the contrary, they create pride, contempt; they sow discord, hatred, war; they establish slavery." These words today are applicable to Islam.

Turkish anarchist writings

Neither secular not theocratic state dictatorship!
In a free society without the state, neither the secular nor the religious ideology can govern. Because the people have destroyed the armed state and began to govern themselves. In this society believers live according to their beliefs and non-believers live as they want to

Fundamentalism, nationalism and Militarism in Turkey
Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938) had founded the Republic of Turkey in 1923 upon six principles: republicanism, laicism , reformism, nationalism, populism, and statism. Under the Kemalist regime the State was set free from the dominance of religion and religion was put under the control of the State. Especially the ideas of Republicanism, Laicism, and Reformism were made good use of by the Kemalist élite to oppress people of Islamic faith. The relationship between the oppressor and the oppressed generally involves both oppression and resistance. But the relationship between Kemalists and Islamists in Turkey, as we will see, does not only consists in that: they also tend to exploit each other to achieve their ends.

The French Debate

Hijab: lifting the veil
Standing up to religious oppression or state racism?
Ultimately we believe that people should have the freedom to dress whatever way they like. This means freedom from state interference and freedom from religious interference in how one should dress. Anarchist reflections on the debate around the banning of the veil in French schools.

Detailed analysis

The modern schizophrenia of Islamic integralism
To understand the ideology of Islam it is critical to understand that the prophet-merchant Muhammad was beyond anything else the founding father of worldly empires. A Preface to 'Why the Reversion to Islamic Archaism?'

Why the Reversion to Islamic Archaism?
A Middle Eastern analysis from 1981
}We reproduce a key 1981 essay on Islamic fundamentalism by the Middle Eastern radical writer Lafif Lakhdar. This is a detailed materialist history of the development of Islamic archaism up to the Iranian revolution.