What is religious extremism? Religious extremism is, in fact, a sign of decline. When a community enters a later stage of degeneration, this tendency, known as religious extremism, begins to emerge among them. Decline operates according to a law of nature, and no community is exempt from this process.
In the present age, the Muslim community is going through a period of decline, and, like other signs of decline, religious extremism has appeared among them. The term used in the Quran and the Hadith for religious extremism is ghulu. When decline sets in among the later generations of a community, a natural law comes into effect: the spirit of religion fades away from its members, and only its outward form remains. Religious extremism is, in reality, another name for a religion that is reduced to form alone.
When a community enters a period of decline, religion often turns into what may be called a form-based religion—that is, a religion concerned mainly with outward forms rather than inner spirit. As a result, outward appearances begin to be treated as important in every religious matter. At such a time, all importance is given to the correct pronunciation of the Quran’s words, while reflecting on their meaning is neglected. In matters of worship, the performance of rituals is taken as everything instead of inner humility and reverence before God. In matters of religious commandments, the entire discussion becomes focused on their technical aspects. The meaning of Islamic life comes to be reduced to adopting an external identity. ‘Islamic Outreach’ is reinterpreted as a struggle to dismantle and seize political power. The meaning of Islamic rule comes to be understood as forcibly imposing legal punishments on people. The meaning of Islamic interest comes to be understood as declaring all nations enemies of Islam and stirring up hatred and violence against them, and so on.
When a community enters a period of decline, its condition is like falling from a tall palm tree and getting stuck on a date palm below. At such a time, the community becomes like any ordinary nation, concerned mainly with material matters. However, because of its historical traditions, it is unable to completely break away from its religion. Religion becomes for it a matter of inherited tradition. It becomes its national identity. The history of religion becomes a source of pride for it. Its institutions and activities—all of them—are established in the name of religion. Religion no longer remains religion alone; instead, it becomes the sole symbol of the community’s worldly status.
When a community reaches this stage, a phenomenon known as religious extremism begins to spread within it. At such a time, this extremism does not appear in the spirit of religion but in its outward forms. Religion then comes to be expressed mainly in matters related to worldly or material concerns.
The question we must ask is: how can reform take place? In a declining community, reform must begin with individuals, not with collective action. If a collective institution, a government, or an organization is established in such a community, every such effort will ultimately fail. This is because the members of any collective institution formed in a declining community will themselves be in decline. For this reason, although, such a collective institution may look like a genuine institution because of its buildings and outward show, but in reality, it will be nothing more than a splendid graveyard—nothing beyond that. (Al-Risala, November 2014)
