Islamismexperten Lorenzo Vidino ger i senaste
numret av Hudson Instititutes Current Trends
in Islamist Ideology en utmärkt analys av
Muslimska Brödraskapets strategi och taktik
i Europa.
***
"In 1990 Yusuf al-Qaradawi,
an influential Sunni scholar and
the unofficial theological leader
of the international Muslim Brotherhood
(al Ikhwan al Muslimoun),
published a book called Priorities
of the Islamic Movement in the Coming Phase. [1]
This 186-page treatise can be
considered the most recent manifesto
of the Islamist revivalist movement.
As Qaradawi explains in the
introduction, the “Islamic Movement”
is meant to be the “organized, collective work,
undertaken by the people, to restore
Islam to the leadership of society”
and to reinstate “the Islamic caliphate
system to the leadership anew as required by sharia.”
**
Qaradawi’s treatise introduces
Qaradawi’s treatise introduces
a new agenda and modus operandi
for the movement, signaling a clear break
with many salafi groups and even
with some past ideological elements o
f the Muslim Brotherhood.
While the book does not rule
out the use of violence to defend Muslim lands,
it generally advocates the use of dawa,
dialogue, and other peaceful means
to achieve the movement’s goals.
This doctrine is commonly referred to
as “wassatiyya,” a sort of “middle way”
between violent extremism and secularism,
and Qaradawi is one of its key proponents. [2]
**
After examining the situation
After examining the situation
of the “Islamic Movement” throughout
the Muslim world, the dissertation
devotes significant attention to the
situation of Muslims living in the West.
Qaradawi explains how Muslim
expatriates living in Europe, Australia
and North America “are no longer few in numbers,”
and that their presence is both
permanent and destined to grow with
new waves of immigration.
While Qaradawi says that their
presence is “necessary” for several reasons
—such as spreading the word of Allah
globally and defending the Muslim Nation “
against the antagonism and misinformation
of anti- Islamic forces and trends”—
it is also problematic.
Because the Muslim Nation, and therefore
Muslim minorities “scattered throughout t
he world,” do not have a centralized leadership,
“melting” poses a serious risk.
Qaradawi warns, in other words,
that a Muslim minority could lose
its Islamic identity and be absorbed
by the non-Muslim majority. "
