Islam and Islamism of Daniel Pipes
Reader comment on item: Daniel Pipes Explains 'Islamism'

Submitted by Ibrahim Abu Bakar (Malaysia), Aug 4, 2008 at 07:53

Prof. Dr. Daniel Pipes differentiates between Islam and Islamism. For him, Islam is a faith or religion like Judaism and Christianity, and Islamism is an ideology like fascism and Marxism-Leninism.

The trouble in this kind of analogy is very clear since the advocates and exponents of fascism and Marxism-Leninism do not believe in God; they are atheists. Islamists who advocate Islamism are theists. Why and what make theses atheists and theists agree on? Do they have their common enemies?

Unfortunately Dr. Pipes does not explain why and what the diametrically opposite groups are analogizeable and comparable. They are probably comparable because both groups think and act different from ordinary human beings who have no idealism and activism. If that is the case the comparison between the atheists and theists lacks a strong rational ground and argument.

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Daniel Pipes replies:

I make this comparison not on the basis of their theism or atheism but on the basis of their being all-embracing, world-hegemonic ambitions.