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that religion was like a powerful steam engine requiring highly-skilled operators. In the hands of unworthy people it can cause a terrible disaster. To our great misfortune, today religion has fallen into the hands of fasiqs, who have turned it into its opposite. And now it is not clear where we are going to.
References
1. This article is based on the results of the project "Russian Policy in the Middle East: Opportunities and Limits of Cooperation with Countries of the Region."
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3. Z. Levin. Islam and Nationalism in Eastern Countries: Ideological Aspect. Moscow. Nauka Publishers, 1988, p. 67.
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7. M. Desai. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad: A Biographical Memoir. Agra: Shiva Lal Agarwala, 1946, p. 83. See more at: http://www.nlobooks.ru/node/5957 - sthash. SFOSArKw. dpuf
"Neprikosnovenny zapas, " Moscow, 2015, No 1(99), pp. 241-251.
V. Kim,
Ph. D. (Philosophy), Assistant professor, Amur Humanitarian-pedagogical State University EXTREMIST POTENTIALITIES OF RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISM: FROM ITS SOURCES TO OUR DAYS
Fundamentalism as an ideological current has spread in the modern world practically in all religions and also in the spheres of
public life, which are directly connected with religion. Religious fundamentalism has the most extremist potentialities which are often realized in politics and accompanied with destructive processes in society What then is fundamentalism and how is it connected with fanaticism (the latter is frequently identified with the former)?
Islamic fundamentalism is the most widespread type of religious fanaticism by the number of adherents and its influence on domestic-policy and foreign-policy processes in many countries of the world. However, fundamentalist tendencies are observed not only in Judaism, Islam and Protestantism (where the history of fundamentalism begins); representatives of other religions have been unable to avoid them. All fundamentalist currents are subdivided into two types: the first is based on Abrahamic religions, the second is nationalistic variants of Hinduism and Buddhism.
Despite this variety and difference in doctrines there is much in common between them. Fundamentalism is defined as a movement for returning to the foundations, it has a "reactive" nature, being a reaction to processes taking place in any sphere of society. A broad interpretation of fundamentalism is based on two premises: the presence of undisputed postulates and aggressive opposition to innovations under the pretext of the protection of traditions from innovations. It is connected with conservatism insisting on gradualism of changes taking place in society, with due account of the existing values and traditions and traditionalism representing the direction of public consciousness to the past, and opposing it to the present.
The Russian philosopher Sergei Averintsev calls fundamentalism "false traditionalism" which has modernistic features, inasmuch as it is closely connected with modern tendencies, including secularist ones. In the consciousness of rank-and-file people fundamentalism is closely connected with religion, primarily, Islam and terrorism.
Fundamentalism is frequently identified with fanaticism. The causes of the emergence and spreading of fundamentalism in the world are not only in the sphere of religion. They can be divided into three big groups.
1. Changes within religion: the action of two tendencies -modernistic (reformist) and fundamentalist (conservative).
2. Group of reasons connected with cultural processes caused by the development of society itself (as "opposition to the growing difficulties of life and its renovation" and universal action of secularist tendencies.
3. Group of reasons connected with the emergence and spreading of globalization in the modern world and actions of the so-called globalization pressure and antiglobalist (protective) reaction.
Some experts maintain that the roots of fundamentalism should be sought in culture, which, just like society creating it, has gone through definite changes.
Inasmuch as culture has turned into the "central category of the vital world," people observe rites and rituals out of respect for society and its traditions. Thus, faith represents only a tribute to tradition, part of culture, and this definition of faith and culture becomes all-embracing. If faith is only a tribute to tradition and culture, this evokes hidden apprehensions among some believers. These feelings may later be embodied in fundamentalism, which does not wish to be part of culture, as it happened with faith, but wants to be both in order to replace everything necessary for man.
Islamic fundamentalists are fanatics who are intolerant toward any non-Muslim. Fundamentalism is a product of the modern epoch, a new form of faith. It is sometimes called a "modernist experiment."
The reasons for the emerging fundamentalist reactions and the creation of such religious organizations were not only internal religious
processes, but also numerous socio-economic and political upheavals which called for adequate reaction on the part of the government and society in building a new world.
The instinctive reaction of the fundamentalists to the claims of modern society demanding separation of the state from religion, proclamation of freedom of conscience, tolerance, etc., was often an attempt to create an enclave of "pure faith" and form a culture capable to oppose the modern spirit.
Fundamentalism emerged for the first time in Protestantism in the United States at the beginning of the 20th century. Its founders demanded that the content of the Holy Writ be taken as the foundation of faith, and there should be no attempts to interpret it in any form. In 1910-1912 anonymous pamphlets began to be distributed free of charge in the country under the title "The Fundamentals: A testimony of the truth." It was a reflection of the spiritual crisis of the beginning of the 20th century. Fundamentalism with its striving to return to the foundations was a specific reaction to this crisis.
Among the extreme manifestations of fundamentalism is a totalitarian sect (spiritual leader is most often a charismatic person who produces or uses ideological postulates, for instance, about spiritual true calling, chosenness, etc.).
At the end of the 20th century and the beginning of this century the logic of development of social, economic and political relations expressed, among other things, in superproduction and superconsumption brought forth a deadlock situation which was not provided for by the possibilities of humankind. Man is forced to adapt himself to the realities of post industrialism, and fundamentalists came to the fore as a result.
The trends of fundamentalism are distinguished by radical, sometimes extremist, views and active social realization. The
fundamentalists are extremely intolerant toward representatives of other faiths. Organizationally, they resemble sects with their claim to the one an only truth.
Fundamentalism appeals to tradition and at the same time offers a new social and religious ideal. It gives new orientation points to society and therefore is realized as ideology, it has a social base, puts forward principles - dogmas, and proposes steps for achieving the ideal. This ideal is return to the "golden age," to the time when people felt calm and confident, to the initial truth, etc. This connects fundamentalism with a myth and mythological consciousness.
The social activity of radical fundamentalists, which is based on violence, gives their opponents and critics grounds to accuse them of fanaticism. If fundamentalism is ideology, then fanaticism is its socio-psychological basis, the "subjective foundation of fundamentalism."
Among the reasons for the emergence and development of modern fanatical fundamentalism are:
1. Socio-economic gap between the poorest and the richest, which is widening all the time; the existence of sharp social contrasts leads the population of certain countries to hatred and aggression; for example, two-thirds of Palestinians live beyond the poverty line, and Afghanistan (a center of fundamentalists) is one of the poorest countries of the world.
2. Unresolved problems: religious trends of fundamentalism originate from the national-liberation movement, to be more exact, in the attempts to overcome the consequences of colonial policy (backwardness of colonies and superiority of metropolitan countries).
3. Political problems as the causes of latent and real conflicts, many of which began in the distant past (for example, conflicts in Rwanda, Palestine, and elsewhere).
4. Institutionalization of religion, its "mixing" with the state (formation of theocratic states), non-separation of the church from the state, which is a breeding ground for fundamentalism.
5. Emotional causes (first and foremost, loneliness), which narrow down the emotional sphere and evoke polarization of views and the feeling of hatred toward the enemy.
6. Globalization, the development of technologies and the domination of market relations, sometimes in personal relations, too.
7. Education (there is a direct connection between the low level of society's education and the presence of radical fundamentalism in it; for instance, in Afghanistan about 70 percent of the population are illiterate.
8. Reaction of the country's population to the possible loss of cultural heritage and social injustice.
9. Adherence to tradition in contrast to scientific progress.
10. Return to the traditional values of the Holy Writ.
11. Multitude of psychological problems which force people to look for protection.
12. Problems connected with media-politics, the role of the mass media, turning to primitive requirements and emotions of people, which make it possible for religions to call on people to pay more attention to eternal spiritual values and make them more attractive.
Fundamentalism reveals itself in the sphere of politics, too. One of the tendencies of the modern world is the politicization of religion. Religion is included in political life, and political conflicts become sacral.
When religious fundamentalism becomes the ideology of political extremism and terrorism, one can talk of political fundamentalism. This concerns, primarily, Islamic fundamentalism, which became the ideological basis of terrorism.
One of the main reasons for the emergence of Islamic fundamentalism is an anti-globalist reaction. Many leaders of fundamentalists position themselves as fighters for true faith, in contrast to the western (primarily, American) godless and immoral world.
The growing globalized pressure of the western world, its economic and technological preponderance (which the BRICS countries are trying to overcome), the striving of the United States and the leading European countries (Germany, France and Britain) to force their values and democratic ideas and practices, the use of military force in this process, etc. evoke rejection reaction not only among many states of the world, but also among the Islamic fundamentalist organizations which have proclaimed "jihad" against the West. For many Islamic states the struggle against the West has become a diversion allowing their authorities to turn people's attention from economic problems to the outside enemy. With this aim in view the image of the West is all the more demonized.
A great role in the formation of fundamentalism in Islam has been played by the concept of pan-Islamism (prior to it there was pan-Turkism and pan-Arabism), that is the ideology of non-national and non-class unity of all Muslims, which became the ideological foundation of the movement of Islamic solidarity in the epoch of the collapse of the colonial system and the attainment of national independence by the Middle East countries. It is based not only on the uniform religious foundation, but also on demographic changes connected with the demographic strategy of Islam which encourages childbirth considering it the will of Allah, which results in the growth of the population in all Muslim countries and, consequently, to the spreading of Islam all over the world (in 2013 one-quarter of the globe's population believed in Islam, Muslims form a majority
in 39 countries. The "demographic" revolution is regarded one of the causes of the "Arab spring."
Islamic young people have become an active force and their rapidly growing number is a powerful political factor in the Arab world. Radicalization of Islamic fundamentalism is connected with the release of enormous socio-psychological energy. Pan-Islamism has become a slogan of certain radical fundamentalists (for example the "Muslim Brothers" organization which has been banned). Thus, the formation of radical fundamentalism in Islam is connected with the existence of many reasons (historical, socio-economic, political and religious).
The ideological foundations of Islamic fundamentalism are postulates evolved by Islamic leaders Ibn Abd al-Wahhab in Arabia, Mohammed ibn Ali as-Senusi in the eastern part of Sahara, and Mohammed Ahmed ibn Abdallah (Mahdi) in Sudan in the 18th century. They called on all Muslims to return to true Islam as religion of one God and, consequently, to cleanse it from heathen customs and foreign innovations, as well as "survivals" of the past, especially the cult of the saints, magic rites, and alliances with the infidels.
Islamic fundamentalism is not homogeneous. There are several trends in it:
Theoretical trend which deals with humanitarian questions of searching for truth.
Fundamentalism of Salaphites (Sunna trend of Islam) which calls for return to the faith of the "righteous ancestors" (as-salaf as-salihun). They appeal to the social order, but not to the foundation, are regarded radical and their active struggle in Europe for purity of faith gives ground for the law-enforcement agencies to accuse them of religious extremism. In France there is the "Alliance of Muslim organizations of France" which criticizes the country's policy toward Muslims and demands special rights which would single out the Salaphite
community and submit it to an autonomous law (amalwi) whose members are radically-minded and supported by Muslim suburbs of big cities.
Fundamentalism of Sunni terrorist groups whose aim is to create an Islamic world with the help of violence (for example, the terrorist Sunni group "Islamic state" in Iraq (in the summer of 2014) murdered all non-Muslims if they do not adopt Islam; their typical representatives are the Wahhabi Muslims (Wahhabism is official ideology of Saudi Arabia).
Shia fundamentalism (a vivid page of its history was the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979 and the coming to power of Ayatollah Khomeini); the great role in it is played by theological scholars -spiritual leaders; the suicide-bombers who commit terrorist acts in Palestine, Lebanon and other countries come from their midst.
The "Taliban" organization in Afghanistan and Pakistan is an ultraconservative Islamic movement formed in 1994 of madrasah graduates. It has been financed by Pakistan, the United States and Saudi Arabia. Its am is the creation of a truly Islamic state, its leader is mullah Mohammad Omar. The Talibs have formed the Islamic Emirate on the greater part of Afghanistan where they have introduced the Sharia laws in their extreme interpretation and pursued a policy of destroying everything "non-Islamic." Although the Taliban government is no more, the activity of the "Taliban" movement continues.
Back in 2006 M. Khabash, the head of the Center of Islamic Studies in Damascus (Syria) published figures, according to which 80 percent of the Islamic population were conservatively-minded, 20 percent considered themselves "reformists on the basic problems," and only one percent were radicals. This figure correlates with figures of investigations in other countries where the share of radically-minded extremists and terrorists amounts to three - five per cent of the
population. The main danger lies in the fact that these people are the most active part of the population prone to violence and aggression; after acquainting himself with extremist ideology and with able manipulation a radically-minded person become fanatic-extremist. This is especially true of socially-troubled regions where there are reasons (religious, political and economic) for conflicts. Another factor contributing to the development of Islamic jihad was lavish financing (the very emergence of Islamic groupings in the Middle East has been connected with the bipolar system of the world and the financing of religious extremists by the leading world powers). For example, in Afghanistan the United States financed the Islamists who were fighting the Soviet troops deployed there. To date in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Libya, and other countries there are many camps for training terrorists who carry out their operations in different countries of the world. One of the present-day trends is participation of European and American jihadists in terrorist acts and military conflicts in the Middle East (in Syria and Iraq, according to the data of August 2014, about 500 British subjects, 700 French citizens and 500 Belgians took part in military operations).
A great role in jihadism is played by training suicide bombers regarded as the most rational and effective system of measures of struggle against the better armed enemy. (The term "suicidal terrorism" has now become widely used.)
The aim of Muslim fundamentalists is the construction of a pan-Islamic world, seizure of power in the major Muslim states - Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan and Jordan (the latter is very important because it borders on Palestine, the arena of struggle for the destruction of Israel), and the establishment of control over the nucleus of the Islamic world, which will save the world from pernicious penetration of western civilization, in their view.
Thus, Islamic fundamentalism contains several characteristics potentially contributing to the formation of extremism and fanaticism: jihad against the infidels, unswerving following the Koran, opposition to the infidels, attitude to western values and those of moderate Islam as threats to pure faith, exploitation of radical ideology by extremist groups prone to violence, preparation of fanatics who become suicide-bombers, drive to establish authoritarian ideology and form authoritarian thinking.
Fundamentalism, which is an ideological trend striving for return to the foundations, is an objective reaction to the innovations of the modern epoch. The reasons for turning to fundamentalism are not only internal attempts to cleanse religious truths from subsequent buildups, but also objective cultural changes (rationalization of thinking, scientific discoveries, secularization). To boot, there are factors connected with globalization.
Religious fundamentalism is also subject to evolution as a reaction to a new search for spiritual truths, the emergence and active use of the mass media and the Internet.
Fundamentalists carry on active missionary work, which can sometimes take a violent form, thus becoming the ideological foundation of terrorism and extremism.
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I. Fedorovskaya,
Senior research associate (IMEMO)
AZERBAIJAN AND THE EUROPEAN UNION:
ZIGZAG IN RELATIONS
The development of relations between Azerbaijan and the European Union (EU) is of rather ambiguous character. These relations are based on the partnership agreement concluded in 1996 in Luxembourg and entered into force in 1999. In 2009, Azerbaijan was also included in the EU program "Eastern Partnership", the purpose of which was rapprochement with Ukraine, Armenia, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Belarus without adopting them into the EU.
However, at the Vilnius summit in 2013, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev refused to sign the association agreement with the European Union and expressed his country's readiness to cooperate with the EU in the implementation of projects under the Eastern Partnership program. He said that the level of relations between Azerbaijan and the European Union requires a higher form of cooperation than the association. The term "association" is not entirely appropriate, since Azerbaijan is a self-sufficient country both politically and economically. Any integration process involves obtaining
