Jihad in Violent Islamist Paradigm

Abstract

Violent Islamism is a modern sociological phenomenon with origins in the crisis of society and the negative consequences of modernity. It sees the society and the modern world steeped in a quagmire with an obscene level of wealth and power in the hands of a few and a large section of society in perpetual strife and suffering. Apart from the West in various other parts of the world there is economic stagnation, many in the society are excluding from resources revenue, and the trade and social networks being disrupted and societies torn apart with the creation of new nation states. The society has huge urban agglomerations and people in millions, especially young men and women, are either unemployed or underemployed and many feel alienated from prosperous way of life enjoyed by the urban elite and uprooted from the social fabric of the society where sense of solidarity has been pilfered away. The crisis needs to be addressed and the imbalance corrected immediately. This paper posits that violent Islamism purports to have a solution which is to totally rearrange the social, economic, and political structures of the society, Islamise the knowledge and civil and economic institutions, and establishment the Caliphate with shari'ah as its constitution. Violent Islamists are only too willing and ready to remake the world and will use any means to achieve this goal even defensive and offensive jihad as a weapon of choice.