Islamism is one more totalist movement,,,,
.. The most interesting aspect is not Qutb’s program, wonderful and deeply Muslim, but how it fits the pattern of 20th century Europe’s totalitarian movements. Each of them, also, had a grand vision of modern civilization and of desperate predicaments and utopian destinies. Each expressed the vision by telling of the ur-myth, the myth of Armageddon. So did Qutb.
a. There was a people of God, the Muslims., who had come under insidious attack from within their own society, and from cosmic enemies from abroad, the Crusaders and Jews. The jahili barbarians were out to bring about the extermination of Islam. He used the Islamic term ‘jahili,’ which refers to the heathen ignorance that prevailed in Arabia before Muhammad, to modern liberal society. He saw liberal attitudes toward sex and morality as pagan.
b. There will be a terrible war, led by the Muslim vanguard, such groups as the Muslim Brotherhood. Victory, of course, was guaranteed. Viewed form this aspect, the movement is but another cult of death.
c. The reign of shariah, of God, would create a perfect society, the usual in totalitarian mythology. And, as always, another totalitarian movement that rose up in rebellion against the liberal values of the West.
d. Of course, if his vision became fact, the vanguard of believers was going to have to take stern action to bring about a fuller observance of shariah, the reality would be, as usual, a police state, even if it were a police state claiming to be enforcing ‘freedom.’ Every totalitarian movement proposed a total renovation of life, and each created a total renovation in death.
The above based on the thesis of Paul Berman, in "Terror and Liberalism"
