Hasan Shakeel

The Astute Rise of Islamism

In his book titled The Great Heresies, the great British historian Hilaire Belloc, in reference to the 1683 siege of Vienna, stated that ‘’It has always seemed possible, or even probable, that there will be a resurrection of Islam, and that our sons and our grandsons would see the renewal of that tremendous struggle between Christian culture, and what has been for more than a thousand years, its greatest opponent in history. The suggestion that Islam may re-arise sounds fantastic- but only because men are most powerfully affected by the immediate past:- One might say that they are blinded by it… Less than a hundred years before the declaration of Independence, Vienna was almost taken (by The Caliphate) and only saved by the Christian Army under the command of the King of Poland, on a date that ought to be among the most famous in history. September 11, 1683” (Belloc,1683). Belloc’s statement was resuscitated if not substantialized, following the attacks on the World Trade Centre on September 11th, 2001, which was arguably the most convulsive tragedy of the 21st century, after which the western world suddenly found itself vanquished with trepidation. The rest of the world, although startled, the attacks did not seem to provoke any threats. Perhaps the reason behind this was the fact that the terrorists had made clear what, or more appropriately, who their targets were, and what their underlying motivation was for their cause. Their targets, which exclusively consisted of innocent people, were not condemned to be so on the merits of the land mass or the natural resources of their respective countries, but solely because of ideological differences and were deemed as merely infidels. Their aim was not necessarily to conquer vast lands and claim natural resources, but rather, to revive the Islamic Caliphate by abolishing the economic, political and judicial systems of all infidel nations, thereby establishing a unified Islamic State under the hegemony of ‘Sharia’, which is the canon law of Islam. The end that Al Qaeda proclaimed to be to be striving towards at the time of 9/11, is shared today by the Islamic State.