Ammar Ali Hasan, Novelist and researcher in political sociology
There is no political, social, intellectual, or religious movement that has known so much proliferation and fragmentation as that which claims to represent the “true Islam”, not only in modern times, but throughout Islamic history.
The difference over the interpretation of the Qur’anic and prophetic texts — as well as the conflicting interests, predominance of whims, rivalry of understandings, and the accumulation of allegations — led, over the course of fourteen centuries, to the establishment of partisan groups, which emerged in waves of injustice, rejection, and rebellion against the existing powers-that-be, as well as against the mainstream of Islam and/or other minority factions claiming to represent Islam. The disputes over who had the right to speak in the name of Islam were also squabbles for prestige and influence.
Many of these organizations had a temporary ability to circumvent the authorities and endure in a form capable of engaging in armed fighting, which kept them active on the social scene for some time. But they were usually torn apart or disintegrated, often quite quickly.
Anyone who reads Dr. Abdel Moneim El-Hefny’s “The Encyclopedia of Islamic Organizations, Groups, Sects, Parties and Movements” will be certain that conflict and fragmentation, appearance and disappearance, are key features governing the history of the “Islamic movement”, whether political or dawa (preaching), moderate or radical. This has affected every movement, contemporary or historical, even the Muslim Brotherhood — founded by Hassan al-Banna in 1928 in Egypt, and spread by now into more than sixty countries, called by its followers “the largest Islamic movement in the modern era”. The Brotherhood is certainly very large, but it has been afflicted by this phenomenon of disintegration, between its mother branch in Egypt and the foreign branches, and within the Egyptian wing itself.
Al-Hefny attributes this recurring fact of fragmentation within Islamic movements to two main factors:
- The differing views of these groups in interpreting texts, daily matters, and how to deal with “the Other”; and
- The entry of many different nations and races into Islam — during the early conquests — who brought with them different cultures and civilizations, leading to various doctrinal approaches and even innovations that disrupted the unity of Islam.
Still, Al-Hefny ignores the most important reason behind the fragmentation of organizations claiming to be the authentic Islam: the struggle over political power and social status — and, relatedly, a sharp disagreement over how to deal with the authorities that have ruled over the Muslim world from the Fitna (great sedition) to the end of the Ottoman caliphate in 1924. Perhaps this is because the book focuses mainly on the intellectual aspects of these groups, trying to move away from the political and historical aspects. The author describes his encyclopedia as “not a book of history, but of thought, piecing this thought together, and then renewing it”.
Although the writer did not make the effort he promises on the issue of renewal, by keeping track of the thought of about 800 groups, sects, parties, and organizations, he showed that this issue of renewal is not easy. He finds himself confronted with accumulated, floundering, and conflicting ideas made over the course of more than 1,400 years ago. Some of these ideas did not die and are not only recorded in the history of ideas; they are still live, interactive, and able to influence people who live among us, who can adopt them as “the straight path”.
One can reach the aforementioned conclusion by reading this encyclopedia because in its content and structure it serves as a “doctrinal record of all Islamic ideological and political organizations of Sunnis and Shi’ites across Asia, Africa, and various Arab, Islamic, and non-Islamic countries … from the first group to the present time”.
What helps in coming to this conclusion, without ignoring the truth or unfairly denigrating these groups, is that the encyclopedia did not arrange them in chronological order. Rather, it arranged them alphabetically, beginning with a group that the author calls Al-Muhammad, apparently in reference to the broad current of believers in the message of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) throughout the social history of Islam and Muslims, followed by a group called Al-Amiriyah, a Shi’a sect affiliated with the Prophet’s daughter Fatima, who claim their right to rule the Muslims because of this lineage. They are followers of Abu al-Qassem Ahmad ibn al-Mustansir (1074-1101), better known as Al-Musta’li, the ninth Fatmid caliph, whose accession to power split the Isma’ili sect, creating the offshoot that called itself the Nizaris (and became known in the West as “The Assassins”). Again, a theological division was at root a power struggle.
The encyclopedia ends with another group called Al-Yonisia, a group of fanatics belong to the Murji’ah, named after Younis bin Aoun al-Nimeiri or Al-Shammri. This group believes that faith is merely knowledge of Allah and submission to him, loving him with the heart, the recognition of his Oneness, the belief in what the prophets have said; and that faith in the heart and tongue, does not increase or decrease, and is not affected by sins; that the believer enters paradise with his sincerity and love not by his works and obedience; that it suffices to know that the prophets have brought of faith, with no need for detailed knowledge of the contents. However, it requires that these qualities be available in one person for his faith to be complete. Thus, anyone who leaves one of them is considered, in its view, to have committed an act of apostasy.
The non-linear presentation of the book, time-wise, means that the book moves from older groups to newer ones, then back again, and in so doing allows the reader to see the way the ideas of older groups overlap with those of the present and, perhaps more interestingly, the way some of the ideas seem to be making progress towards understanding reality, only to strongly regress. This cycle might be the strongest factor that prevented the renewal of Islamic thought and jurisprudence, especially in recent centuries.
In being influenced by the old tradition, and even adopting it, these groups were not limited to ideas and perceptions, but to names and terms. The encyclopedia shows that some of these groups took similar names, despite the different times and places, with the following list showing the repetitions:
- Abrahamism, which has five sub-groups: Imamiyyah Abrahamism, Shia Abrahamism, Ibadi Abrahamism, al-Mushabaha Abrahamism, and al-Ghalya Abrahamism.
- Ahmadiyya, which has three sub-groups: Bedouin Ahmadiyya, Qadianiyyah Ahmadiyya and Imamiyyah Ahmadiyya.
- Ishaqiyah, which has five sub-groups: Ishaqiyah al-Ghulah, Turkish Ishaqiyah, Ishaqiyah Al Mujasamah (Anthropomorphic), Ishaqiyah al-Heluliya, and Shia Ishaqiyah.
- Isma’ilism, which has six sub-groups: Aghakhaniyah Isma’ilism, al-Taaliymyyah Isma’ilism, al-Khalisah Isma’ilism, al-Mustailyah Isma’ilism, al-Tatariyah Isma’ilism, and al-waqifa Isma’ilism.
- Ashab (companions), which has 20 sub-groups, such Ashab al-Ijma, Ashab ar-ra’y, Ashab alsuwal, Ashab alrajeat, Ashab altebaaye, Ashab almaeani, Ashab al-hadith, Ashab altafsir, etc.
- Ahl (people), which has 25 divisions, ranging from Ahl Alhaq and Ahl al’ithbat, and from Ahl alsuffa to Ahl al’ahwa and Ahl al’ihmal, Ahl al-Ridda, then Ahl al-hall wal-aqd, Ahl al-thawq, Ahl al-rajeat, Ahl al-felasafa, Ahl al-kalam … etc.
- Oulu (men of), which has three groups: Oulu al-Albab, Oulu al-Azm, and Oulu al-elem.
- Al-Jama’a (group), this name attracted many groups and organizations, reaching 31 groups, the most prominent of them is Al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya, a local group in Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan, and Tablighi Jama’at, which was founded in India and spread throughout the Muslim world, and Al-Nahda, in Algeria.
- Gameia (association), which has seven groups such as the World Muslim Youth Association, the Islamic Society of Writers and Sunnis, Ansar al-Sunna Muhammadiyah Association in Egypt, the Association of Islamic Dawa People, the Association of Muslim Scholars in Algeria, the Youth Association Islamic in Morocco, and the Association for the Preservation of the Holy Quran in Tunisia.
- Harakah (movement): there are 15 organizations, most notably: Taliban Movement in Afghanistan, Al-Ahbash Movement, the Islamic Tawhid Movement, Amal Movement in Lebanon, the Islamic Youth Movement in Malaysia, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine, the Islamic Revolutionary Movement in Morocco, the Justice Movement in Uzbekistan, and the Islamic Society Movement in Algeria.
- Hezb (party): there are 16 organizations, notably Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hizb ut-Tahrir which has branches in several countries, the Islamic Party in Turkestan, the Islamic Party of Alash in Kazakhstan, the Islamic Party and the Islamic Union party in Afghanistan, the Islamic Dawa Party in Iraq, the Islamic Action Party in Yemen, and the Islamic Ennahda Party in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
- Tanzim (organization): there are 6 organizations: The Organization of the Islamic Revolution in the Arabian Peninsula, the Shiite Organization of Dawa, the Organization of Islamic Action, the Faith Brigades Organization, Word of God Organization, and the Mujahideen Organization in Morocco.
- Al-Waqifite (Shia sect), there are 4 groups under this name: Waqifite Al-mutakallimun, Waqifite Kharijites, Imamiyyah Waqifite, and Ibadi Waqifite.
Those who look closely at these classifications of Islamic groups and organizations, which claim to represent Islam in its entirety, can deduce ten important observations:
First, these groups, whose names are repeated, are either attributed to people, whether they are preachers, religious scholars or political leaders who wear the mantle of religion, or believe that Islam should be a path to political power; or attributed to exclusive qualities: when it is said Ahl or Ashab, they wish to make Islam or faith exclusive preserve to the followers of a certain group.
Second, there is a habit of referring to rivals by derogatory names related to their qualities. These groups will call themselves Ahl al-Haq (“people of truth”) and call the others Ahl al-Ahwa (“people of whims”). This is a simple manifestation of a trend that has prevailed and gained momentum in the history of Islamic groups and Islamdom generally, of ostracism and mutual antagonism that in some cases amounts to an accusation of blasphemy.
Third, these groups and organizations are not necessarily in conflict and rivalry with each other all the time. Sometimes even hostile groups will collaborate, albeit unintentionally. For example, groups and associations whose role is limited to producing and promoting traditional religious knowledge that fills the public sphere with ideas and perceptions, can pave the way for politicized religious groups, or those seeking political power, sparing them the effort and time spent in the process of persuasion and recruitment, under the pretext of continuing to support religion, while what these groups are putting forward is in fact a political project. Sometimes these politicized groups can infiltrate the ranks of advocacy and educational organizations or schools, and then use them to serve their own goals.
Fourth, these groups and organizations are divided among the two main doctrines in the history of Islam, namely Sunnism and Shi’ism. Both doctrines have produced many different groups over the centuries, and the antagonism between them is at various times and in various places framed more as an intra-family or tribal struggle for leadership, and at other times as a distinct doctrinal and intellectual war.
Fifth, throughout the history of the Muslims, a pattern repeats: groups that appear weak will gain strength, ideologically (i.e. in terms of the number of followers) and materially, and once it comes to dominate, it begins to decline, especially after the death of its founder and the circle around him. This is usually followed by civil war — sometimes several — and once the group is defeated, its followers disperse, and the victorious authorities launch a kind of media blackout on its ideas until its influence fades.
Sixth, there has been no age, era, or epoch in the history of the Muslims without fringe groups rising and falling in their attempts to challenge the mainstream of Islam. Most of the time these extremists do not achieve their goals and are a mere nuisance to the rest of the Muslims; sometimes they prevail.
Seventh, the extremist and radical organizations are in conflict with one-another, while they simultaneously wage war against the society and political power-holders they believe to be illegitimate.
Eighth, not all these associations and groups were politicized, extremist, or radical. Some of them played their part in advocating spiritual fullness, moral transcendence, and the public interest of society; and some of them opened space for the study of religious sciences. These entities are often more viable than those which engage in power struggle.
Ninth, some of these organizations and groups, politicized or dawa, were not far from the political power in the history of Muslims, and this was true with the Umayyads as it was right down to the end with the Ottomans. The Islamic authorities would manipulate these groups — sponsoring them at various stages in their life-cycle, for example — or simply create such groups, depending on what served their interests. Sometimes groups emerged in response to conflicting claims to authority, or as a result of the conflict between Arabs and Mawlis in the Second Abbasid era, or between Turks and Arabs in Ottoman times.
Finally, there is nothing to prevent future dissent and cracks in already established groups, organizations, parties and movements, as well as the emergence of new groups in the Muslim world from Ghana to Fergana. It is not expected that there will come an era or an epoch in the life of the Muslims without the presence of such religious and political entities and formations. If one were to make a medical analogy, they are like diabetes: there is no cure, but there are means of control to reduce the most serious and negative effects.
In conclusion, reading and examining this encyclopedia will undoubtedly help us understand and analyze the perceptions, objectives, and measures of these groups and organizations, whether political or religious, in our time. Current groups and organizations are not entirely disconnected from their predecessors and in some cases are simply rebrands of old organisations and ideas that are trying to cultivate themselves in a different social and political contexts.