Islamic Identity: Myth, Menace, or Mobilizer?

From the Iranian Revolution in 1978 to Osama bin Laden today, the spread of Islam globally has been a major concern in the West. ¹ Increasingly, this fear has been expressed as an impending civilizational clash ² and the consequent need for protection against Islamic rogues and radicals who threaten the security and values of liberal democracy and global capitalism. At the core of such arguments is the notion that the spread of Islam as a religion entails a growing transnational Islamic identity that can mobilize the Islamic world against a number of "others": the West, secularism, liberal democracy, and modernity in general. At first glance, the evidence seems startling. The Iranian revolution, Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) activities in Algeria, the Islamic Resistance Movement's (HAMAS) mobilization against Israeli occupation, Mohammed Zia ul-Haq's regime in Pakistan, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the opposition of Muslims worldwide (including in Great Britain) ³ to Salmon Rushdie's The Satanic Verses, the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden's militant following--all clearly indicate a growing political trend.

But do these events suggest that a transnational Islamic identity is uniting Muslims across vast distances in a common struggle? All religions possess a mobilizing capacity in their shared norms and practices, but is religious identity per se behind the political mobilization of Islamic groups in very different social and political contexts? What does the mobilization of Islamic identity mean for non-Muslim societies? To answer these questions, I first look at notions of identity in general and what the formation of an Islamic identity in particular might entail. Then I examine a few cases in which an Islamic identity may have some explanatory power for understanding political mobilization. Finally, I ask whether a common Islamic identity--as part of the undeniable spread of the Islamic faith globally--is really behind Islamic political mobilization on both regional and global scales.

Forming Identity

Much of the scholarly literature on "identity" is conceptually murky, leaving the term entirely undefined or treating it as synonymous with other elements of culture, such as beliefs, ideas, norms, and practices. ⁴ Studies on Islamic identity, while valuable for presenting non-monolithic views of Islam, have often followed this trend, citing "identity" as a mobilizing political force without providing any definition at all. ⁵ What is identity?

At the simplest level, identity is how individuals and groups define themselves and their relations to others. Many definitions begin with so-called "objective" factors given at birth, such as race, ethnicity, and sex. In this view, women will always identify as women, Kurds will always identify as Kurds, and so on. Though outdated, this notion of identity as predominantly ascriptive and primordial remains in use, particularly among some of those studying protracted ethnic conflict. ⁶ A variation argues that while ascriptive identities are powerful, identities manifested in routine practices trump identities determined at birth. Religion is a prime example, with weekly or even daily practices effectively placing one's faith at the core of identity. The renowned Orientalist scholar Bernard Lewis presents just such a view. For him, social and economic conflicts do affect the development of identities, but "primary identities are acquired at birth." Yet primary identities are not solely ascriptive:

These are of three kinds. The first is blood, that is to say, in ascending order, the family, the clan, the tribe, developing into the ethnic nation. The second is by place....This may mean the village or neighborhood, district or quarter, province or city....The third...is the religious community....For many, religion is the only loyalty that transcends local and immediate bonds. ⁷

Although Lewis includes religion as a "primary" identity acquired at birth, he nonetheless acknowledges (though not in so many words) that practice is key to identity formation. Muslims everywhere are united at the very least in their belief in the sanctity of the Quran and their practice of the Five Pillars of Islam: the profession of faith...