ABSTRACT
In the post-Cold War era of “war on terror”, the term “extremism” has been used by journalists, political figures, and academics with much imprecision and invigilance. Extremism is often equated with violence. With the bombing of the twin towers in New York in September 2001, the subsequent bombings in Europe, the United Kingdom, and South East Asia, and the rise of ISIS in 2014, it has been alleged that the rise of extremist views and extremist organisations among the Muslim population has been exceptionally rampant. In any other less turbulent times, this ambiguity in the meaning of “extremism” might have been easily ignored, but given the consequences of its use which is producing horrendous Islamophobia and a greater division between Islam-West relations, this remains a serious problem. This chapter is a study of extremism as a non-violent phenomenon in the context of Islamist extremism. It problematises the construction of Islamist extremism as a violent phenomenon, and using Tabligh Jama’at as a case study, the chapter argues that Islamist extremism can be non-violent and often is. Islamist extremism is a non-violent Muslim reaction to the negative consequences or “crisis” of modernity. The chapter further explains that Islamist extremism is internally very diverse and is not anti-modernity or does not seek its destruction. Rather, in its many variant forms, Islamist extremism is generally a non-violent approach to social transformation as exemplified in the ideology and activities of the Tabligh Jama’at.
