From Ideological Flame to Rebellious Ashes: Analyzing the Emergence and Impact of Radical Ideology in the Arab World
Keywords:
Radicalism, Armed groups, Khawarij, Sayyid Qutb
Abstract
This study examines the historical and intellectual origins of radical thought in the Arab world and its evolution into organized armed movements. It investigates how ideas are selectively reinterpreted from one context to another: from Egyptian prisons where Takfir and Hijra were born to transnational jihadist organizations like Al-Qaeda and ISIS, to localized movements such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, synthesizing Qutbist categories with national liberation struggles under occupation. These results suggest that reducing radicalism to an issue of ideology is not feasible; instead, these legacies emanate from the interaction between doctrinal legacies and structural conditions, including authoritarian governance, foreign occupation, socio-economic marginalization, and the Arab state’s failure to manage diversity and uphold the rule of law. These conditions were so propitious that they facilitated both recruitment and legitimized radical discourse through framing violence as a religious duty and political necessity. By situating the emergence of radical thought within its historical context and examining its specific political and legal contexts, this research offers a more nuanced understanding of how universal ideological frameworks are established in diverse political and legal contexts. This study concludes that effective confrontation with radicalism must be an integrated approach, combining religious reform with the resolution of structural injustices that radical groups exploit in their mobilization efforts.
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http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt3fhwdj.10
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Skare, E. (2021). Hamas according to Hamas: A reading of its Document of General Principles. Cambridge University Press.
Skare, E. (2023). Palestinian Islamic Jihad: Islamist Writings on Resistance and Religion. I.B. Tauris.
Snow, D. A., & Cross, R. (2011). Radicalism within the Context of Social Movements: Processes and Types. Journal of Strategic Security, 4(4), 115–130. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26463914
The Charter of the Islamic Group for Preaching and Fighting: Summaries of Key Writings on Islamic Groups, Dubai, Al-Mesbar Studies and Research Center, 2011, p. 55.
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Al Mayadeen. (2021). The message of faith – The jurisprudence of revolutions. Retrieved Video from https://www.almayadeen.net/episodes/1459442
Al-Attar, M. (2021). Islamic Law and Governance in Gaza: Hamas’ Legal Order and the Quest for Legitimacy. Middle East Law and Governance, 13(3), 317–342. https://doi.org/10.1163/18763375-13030003
Al-Bukhari, Muhammad ibn Isma‘il. Sahih al-Bukhari. Book of Faith (Kitab al-Iman), Hadith no. 25.
Al-Dhahabi, S. (2014). Siyar A‘lam al-Nubala’ (edited by Shu‘ayb al-Arna’ut). Mu’assasat al-Risalah. Vol. 16.
Ali Mohammed Al-Sallabi, The Reality of Disagreement Among the Companions in the Battles of the Camel and Siffin and the Issue of Arbitration, Ibn Al-Jawzi Publishing House, Cairo, 2007.
Arab News. (2021, December 23). Deadly history of extremism narratives in Egypt. Arab News. https://www.arabnews.com/node/2045876/spa/aggregate
Arkoun, M. (2011). The struggle for humanism in Islamic contexts. Journal of Levantine Studies, 1(1), 153–170.
Barsoum, Nadia. “Book Reviews.” Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies 37, no. 4 (2014): 84–89.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.33428/jsoutasiamiddeas.37.4.0084.
Bartal, S. (2023). Palestinian Islamic Jihad: Between Nationalism and Religion. Islam and Salvation in Palestine, 161–168. https://doi.org/10.1080/21520844.2022.2146400
Bergen, Peter. “Al Qaeda, the Organization: A Five-Year Forecast.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 618 (2008): 14–30. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40375772.
Bötticher, A. (2017). Towards Academic Consensus Definitions of Radicalism and Extremism. Perspectives on Terrorism, 11(4), 73–77. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26297896
Christina Helmich, Al-Qaeda: The End of an Organization or the Rise of New Movements, translated by Fatima Nasr, Sutur Al-Jadidah, Cairo, 2011, pp. 33–32.
Cragin, R. Kim. “Early History of Al-Qa’ida.” The Historical Journal 51, no. 4 (2008): 1047–67. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20175214.
Doukhan, D., & Azani, E. (2021). Global Jihad in Africa: Danger and Challenges. International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT). http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep37744
Duman, T. (2024). The Muslim Brotherhood’s Path Between Political Ambition and Religious Ideology: Cases of Egypt, Hezbollah, and Hamas. Religions, 15(11), 1352. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15111352
El-Shahat, S. (2019, October 8). On October 8, 1981: The terrorists Asem and Alaa. Youm7. https://youtu.be/HM3-RZ7_U3E
Gaiser, A. R. (2010). What Do We Learn About the Early Khārijites and Ibāḍiyya from Their Coins? Journal of the American Oriental Society, 130(2), 167–187. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23044513
Gerges, F. A. (2023). The Arabs at War in Afghanistan. Hurst Publishers.
https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/the-arabs-at-war-in-afghanistan/
Gohel, S. M. (2017). Deciphering Ayman Al-Zawahiri and Al-Qaeda’s Strategic and Ideological Imperatives. Perspectives on Terrorism, 11(1), 54–67. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26297737
Hagemann, Hannah-Lena. “Narratives of Khārijite Origins.” In The Kharijites in Early Islamic Historical Tradition: Heroes and Villains, 135–64. Edinburgh University Press, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/j.ctv1vtz7tb.13.
Hamas. (1988). The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas). Retrieved from https://www.tutorhunt.com/resource/22045/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Hroub, K. (2000). Hamas: Political Thought and Practice. Institute for Palestine Studies.
https://doi.org/10.2307/3516223
Ibrahim bin Saleh Al-Ayed, Takfir Among Contemporary Violent Groups: Studies in the Islamic Case, Nama Center for Research and Studies, First Edition, Beirut, 2014, pp. 73–75.
Jason Burke. (2004). Al Qaeda. Foreign Policy, 142, 18–26. https://doi.org/10.2307/4147572
Jason Burke. “Al Qaeda.” Foreign Policy, no. 142 (2004): 18–26. https://doi.org/10.2307/4147572.
Joshua L. Gleis، “National Security Implications of Al-Takfir Wal-Hijra” ، Al Nakhlah: The Fletcher School Online Journal for Issues Related to Southwest Asia and Islamic Civilization، 2005،
https://ciaotest.cc.columbia.edu/olj/aln/aln_spring05/aln_spring05c.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Kfir, Isaac. “DAESH.” A Primer on the Ideological and Theological Drivers of AQ and Daesh: Al-Qaeda. Australian Strategic Policy Institute, 2018. http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep23115.9.
Mahmoud Al-Warwari, Saleh Sariya, Salem Rahal, and the Idea of Global Jihad, Al-Ain News, 2019. See the website:
Mishal, S., & Sela, A. (2000). The Palestinian Hamas: Vision, Violence, and Coexistence. Columbia University Press.
Mohammed Asim Al-Maqdisi, The Religion of Ibrahim and the Call of Prophets and Messengers, 2000, p. 84. See the website: https://bit.ly/3At5vwq
Munhanif, A., & Dahlan, M. (2018). Lineages of Islamic Extremism in Egypt. Al-Jāmi‘ah: Journal of Islamic Studies, 56(2), 455–476.
Newell, R. S. (1980). Soviet Intervention in Afghanistan. The World Today, 36(7), 250–258. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40395196
Rassler, Don. “Al-Qaida and the Pakistani Harakat Movement: Reflections and Questions about the Pre-2001 Period.” Perspectives on Terrorism 11, no. 6 (2017): 38–54. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26295955.
Salafist Jihadism in Brief, Al-Manar TV website, 2015: http://archive.almanar.com.lb/article.php?id=1145274
Saleh Sariya: Charisma and the Path of Armed Islamic Revolution, Islamist Movements Portal, 2016. See the website: https://www.islamist-movements.com/36514
Sayyid Qutb, Milestones, Sixth Edition, Dar Al-Shorouk, Beirut, 1979, pp. 8–10.
Sheikh Ali Abdel Raziq, Islam and the Foundations of Governance: A Study of the Caliphate and Government in Islam, Second Edition, Misr Press, 1925.
Sizgorich, T. (2009). “Do You Not Fear God?”: The Khāwarij in Early Islamic Society. In Violence and Belief in Late Antiquity: Militant Devotion in Christianity and Islam (pp. 196–230). University of Pennsylvania Press.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt3fhwdj.10
Skare, E. (2021). A History of Palestinian Islamic Jihad: Faith, Awareness, and Revolution in the Middle East. Cambridge University Press.
Skare, E. (2021). Controlling the state in the political theory of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Religions, 12(11), 1010. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12111010
Skare, E. (2021). Hamas according to Hamas: A reading of its Document of General Principles. Cambridge University Press.
Skare, E. (2023). Palestinian Islamic Jihad: Islamist Writings on Resistance and Religion. I.B. Tauris.
Snow, D. A., & Cross, R. (2011). Radicalism within the Context of Social Movements: Processes and Types. Journal of Strategic Security, 4(4), 115–130. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26463914
The Charter of the Islamic Group for Preaching and Fighting: Summaries of Key Writings on Islamic Groups, Dubai, Al-Mesbar Studies and Research Center, 2011, p. 55.
The Qur’an, Surah Al-Mumtahina, 60:8.
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA). (2022). Social protection reform in Arab States: Challenges and opportunities. United Nations. https://www.unescwa.org/publications/social-protection-reform-arab-states
Published
2025-12-15
How to Cite
Iyrot, I. (2025). From Ideological Flame to Rebellious Ashes: Analyzing the Emergence and Impact of Radical Ideology in the Arab World. Mazahib, 24(2), 282-308. https://doi.org/10.21093/mj.v24i2.10881
Section
Articles
Copyright (c) 2025 Issam Iyrot
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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