John Calvert (scholar)

Last updated
John Calvert
Nationality Canadian
Education
OccupationHenry W. Casper, SJ Associate Professorship in History at Creighton University
Notable work
Sayyid Qutb and the Origins of Radical Islamism
Theological work
Main interestsRadical Islam

John Calvert is the holder of the Henry W. Casper, SJ Associate Professorship in History at Creighton University. He is the author of several academic works on radical Islam, most notably one on the Islamist intellectual Sayyid Qutb entitled Sayyid Qutb and the Origins of Radical Islamism . [1] [2]

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Delhi Sultanate South Asian Islamic dynasties based in Delhi (1226–1526)

The Delhi Sultanate was an Islamic empire based in Delhi that stretched over large parts of South Asia for 320 years (1206–1526). Following the invasion of the subcontinent by the Ghurid Empire, five dynasties ruled over the Delhi Sultanate sequentially: the Mamluk dynasty (1206–1290), the Khalji dynasty (1290–1320), the Tughlaq dynasty (1320–1414), the Sayyid dynasty (1414–1451), and the Lodi dynasty (1451–1526). It covered large swathes of territory in modern-day India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh as well as some parts of southern Nepal.

War against Islam is a term used to describe a concerted effort to harm, weaken or annihilate the societal system of Islam, using military, economic, social and cultural means, or means invading and interfering in Islamic countries under the pretext of the war on terror, or using the media to create a negative stereotype about Islam. The perpetrators of the theory are thought to be non-Muslims, particularly the Western world and "false Muslims", allegedly in collusion with political actors in the Western world. While the contemporary narrative of the "War against Islam" mostly covers general issues of societal transformations in modernization and secularization as well as general issues of international power politics among modern states, the crusades are often narrated as its alleged starting point.

Political aspects of Islam are derived from the Quran, ḥadīth literature, and sunnah, the history of Islam, and elements of political movements outside Islam. Traditional political concepts in Islam include leadership by elected or selected successors to Muhammad, known as Caliphs in Sunnī Islam and Imams in Shīʿa Islam; the importance of following the Islamic law (sharīʿa); the duty of rulers to seek consultation (shūrā) from their subjects; and the importance of rebuking unjust rulers.

Qutbism is an Islamist ideology which was developed by Sayyid Qutb, a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood who was executed by the Egyptian government in 1966. It has been described as advancing the extremist, jihadist ideology of propagating "great jihad" – waging jihad in conquest – "armed jihad in the advance of Islam"

Pan-Islamism Political movement advocating the unity of Muslims under one Islamic state – often a caliphate – or an international organization with Islamic principles

Pan-Islamism is a political movement advocating the unity of Muslims under one Islamic country or state – often a caliphate – or an international organization with Islamic principles. Pan-Islamism was launched in Turkey at the end of the 19th century by Sultan Abdul-Hamid II for the purpose of combating the process of westernization and fostering the unification of Islam.

The age of ignorance is an Islamic concept referring to the period of time and state of affairs in Arabia before the advent of Islam in 610 CE. It is often translated as the "Age of Ignorance". The term jahiliyyah is derived from the verbal root jahala "to be ignorant or stupid, to act stupidly". In modern times various Islamic thinkers have used the term to criticize what they saw as the un-Islamic nature of public and private life in the Muslim world. For scholars of Islam Muhammad Rashid Rida, Abul A'la Maududi, etc Jahiliyyah refers to secular modernity and the modern Western culture. In his works, Maududi asserted that modernity is the “new jahiliyyah.” Sayyid Qutb viewed jahiliyyah as a state of domination of humans over humans, as opposed to their submission to God. Radical groups have justified armed struggle against secular regimes as a jihad against jahiliyyah.

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<i>Milestones</i> (book) Book by Sayyid Qutb

Maʿālim fī aṭ Ṭarīq, also Ma'alim fi'l-tareeq, or Milestones, first published in 1964, is a short book written by the influential Egyptian Islamist author Sayyid Qutb, in which he makes a call to action and lays out a plan to re-create the "extinct" Muslim world on strictly Quranic grounds, casting off what he calls Jahiliyyah.

Religious fanaticism is a pejorative designation used to indicate uncritical zeal or obsessive enthusiasm which is related to one's own, or one's group's, devotion to a religion – a form of human fanaticism which could otherwise be expressed in one's other involvements and participation, including employment, role, and partisan affinities. Historically, the term was applied in Christian antiquity to denigrate non-Christian religions, and subsequently acquired its current usage with the Age of Enlightenment.

Muhammad Qutb, was a Muslim author, scholar and teacher who is best known as the younger brother of the Egyptian Muslim thinker Sayyid Qutb. After his brother was executed by the Egyptian government, Muhammad moved to Saudi Arabia, where he promoted his brother's ideas.

Jihadism is a neologism which is used in reference to "militant Islamic movements that are perceived as existentially threatening to the West" and "rooted in political Islam." Appearing earlier in the Pakistani and Indian media, Western journalists adopted the term in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks of 2001. Since then, it has been applied to various insurgent Islamic extremist, militant Islamist, and terrorist individuals and organizations whose ideologies are based on the Islamic notion of jihad.

Abul Hasan Ali Hasani Nadwi Indian islamic scholar

Abul Hasan Ali Hasani Nadwi was an Indian Islamic scholar and author of over fifty books in various languages. He was the theorist of a revivalist movement. In particular he believed Islamic civilisation could be revived via a synthesis of western ideas and Islam. He served as the seventh chancellor of the Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama.

Islamic extremism Extreme or radical form of Islam

Islamic extremism, Islamist extremism, or radical Islam refer to extremist beliefs and behaviors associated with the Islamic religion. These are controversial terms with varying definitions, ranging from academic understandings to the idea that all ideologies other than Islam have failed and are inferior to Islam. This can also extend to other sects of Islam that do not share such beliefs. Political definitions include the one used by the government of the United Kingdom, which understands Islamic extremism as any form of Islam that opposes "democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs".

Rabīʿ bin Hādī ʿUmayr al Madkhalī, is a former head of the Sunnah Studies Department at the Islamic University of Madinah. He is a Salafi Muslim scholar and the founder of Madkhalism who is considered to be one of Salafism's prominent thinkers, and is known for his unrelenting criticism of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Salafi jihadism Transnational Sunni Islamist religious-political ideology

Salafi jihadism or jihadist-Salafism is a transnational, hybrid religious-political ideology based on the Sunni sect of Islamism, seeking to establish a global caliphate, characterized by the advocacy for "physical" (military) jihadist and Salafist concepts of returning to what adherents believe to be the "true Islam". The ideological foundation of the movement was laid out by a series of prison-writings of the Egyptian Sunni Islamist theoretician Sayyid Qutb during the 1960s.

Sayyid Qutb Egyptian author, educator, Islamic theorist, poet, and politician (1906–1966)

Sayyid 'Ibrāhīm Ḥusayn Quṭb, known popularly as Sayyid Qutb, was an Egyptian author, educator, Islamic scholar, theorist, revolutionary, poet, and a leading member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1966, he was convicted of plotting the assassination of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and was executed by hanging. He is considered as "the Father of Salafi jihadism", the religio-political doctrine that underpins the ideological roots of Global Jihadist organisations such as al-Qaeda and ISIL.

Muhammad abd-al-Salam Faraj Egyptian Islamist

Muhammad abd-al-Salam Faraj was an Egyptian radical Islamist and theorist. He led the Cairo branch of the Islamist group al-Jihad and made a significant contribution in elevating the role of jihad in radical Islam with his pamphlet The Neglected Obligation. He was executed in 1982 for his role in coordinating the assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat the previous year.

<i>Sahifat Dar al-Ulum</i> (magazine) Defunct educational magazine in Egypt (1934–1947)

Sahifat Dar al-Ulum was an Arabic journal published in Cairo from 1934 to 1947. It was founded by Sayyid Qutb (1905-1966), a well-known Egyptian writer, poet, and critic, who is considered to be one of the Muslim Brotherhoodʼs most important thought leaders, as well as Saʿd al-Labban and Muhammad Ibrahim Jabr. After training as a teacher, Qutb graduated from the Dār al-ʿUlūm University in Cairo during the founding year of the journal. In terms of content, the editors focused on the “latest pedagogical, social and linguistic theories” and pursued the goal to compete with the reputation of al-Azhar and the Egyptian University through their intellectual Islamic orientation and their high demands on the students. In addition to Saḥīfat Dār-al-ʿUlūm, Qutb also published his articles in other journals of various ideological orientations, including ar-Risala and aš-Šuʼūn al-iğtimāʿīya.

Islamist Shi'ism is a denomination of Twelver Shia Islam greatly inspired by the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood ideologies and mysticism of Ibn Arabi. It sees Islam as a political system and differs from the other mainstream Usuli and Akhbari groups in favoring the idea of formation of Islamist state in occultation of the twelfth Imam. Hadi Khosroshahi was the first person to identify himself as ikhwani (Islamist) Shia. Because of the concept of the hidden Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, Shia Islam is inherently secular in the age of occultation, so islamist Shi'ites had to borrow ideas from Sunni islamists and adjust them with Shi'i outlook.

References

  1. "Faculty Page". Creighton University Department of History. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
  2. Calvert, John (2009). Sayyid Qutb and the Origins of Radical Islamism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN   978-0-19-936526-5. OCLC   857365378.
  3. OCLC   145396710
  4. OCLC   320798884