tion, to establish its goals. Fundamentalist beliefs have been used to justify
martyrdom operations e.g. shaheeden(suicide bombings)as a tactic.^3
Part I Critical Theory as Enlightenment
A comprehensive sociological understanding of Islam from a Critical per-
spective should attempt to understand how and why it emerged as a world
religion. How and why has Islam taken particular forms in different cultural
and historical contexts? The present essay interrogates fundamentalism as a
powerful social and political force. It will be argued that understanding the
rise of Islamic fundamentalism must go beyond mainstreams of the sociol-
ogy of religion for two reasons. Firstly,one must have an interdisciplinary
perspective that starts with historically specific economic conditions and
then further considers political, cultural and social-psychological factors.
Furthermore, to understand most societies, especially Islamic societies, we
must also consider geo-political factors from without, as well as local class-
based structures of power and belief. I will argue that the Frankfurt School
of Critical Theory provides a comprehensive multi-perspectival, multi-dimen-
sional critique of domination in which intertwined economic, political, cul-
tural (historical) and social psychological perspectives become illuminated
(Kellner 1989). Moreover, considerations of the depth psychology of charac-
ter and desire, first sketched by Nietzsche, provide a richness of explanation
lacking in other perspectives. Secondly,the dominant position of “value neu-
trality” of mainstream sociology makes it not only difficult to critique dom-
ination, but thwarts envisioning possibilities of emancipation based on
immanent critique of existing conditions.
It will be argued that early Islam’s theocratic-based domination enabled
the rise of a vast and powerful civilization from the Andalus to China. But
at a later time, internal contradictions would not only stifle continued growth,
but foster stagnation, demise and military weakness. Certain aspects of cul-
tural traditions that privileged family, clan and tribe, as well as the nature of
Islamic theology and law, acted as barriers to the influx of modernist thought
From the Caliphate to the Shaheedim• 289(^3) It will be argued that Islamic theology is notthe cause of martyrdom, but rather
certain social conditions have fostered “martyrdom” as a military tactic, a “weapons
of the weak” and an instrument of terror are employed against dominant powers.
They are not promoted by religious doctrines, rather, religious doctrines have been
created to legitimate and valorize what are basically political or military acts.