fundamentalism, Islamic

fundamentalism, Islamic

Conservative religious movement that seeks a return to Islamic values and Islamic law (see Sharia) in the face of Western modernism, which is seen as corrupt and atheistic. Though popularly associated in the West with Middle Eastern terrorists, only a few Islamic fundamentalists are terrorists, and not all Arab terrorists are fundamentalists. The Iranian revolution of 1979 established an Islamic fundamentalist state, and the Taliban has established its version of the same in much of Afghanistan. Islamic fundamentalist movements have varying degrees of support in North Africa, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Muslim S.East Asia, but Islamic fundamentalism represents a minority viewpoint in the context of world Islam.