Revisiting Fanaticism in the Context of Wasaṭīyyah

Abstract

Fanaticism is derived from the Latin word fanum, which refers to sacred places of worship such as temples or other consecrated sites. The complete term fanaticus means “to be put into raging enthusiasm by a deity.”2 In the modern sense, a fanatic is simply an individual who goes to an extreme, is overly zealous or unreasonably enthusiastic regarding an issue, idea, opinion, or action. These ideations do not have to be of a strictly religious nature, but may also be in regard to a personal or private matter or a larger political, social, or economic issue. Despite the broadness of its contemporary application, it is most commonly used in its traditional sense of religious zealousness, intolerance, and violence. In today’s literature fanaticism stands not for the content of any particular religious position, but for a mentality and attitude that can attach an attitude of radicalism, rigor, and extremism to the content of any ideal or ideology. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, it refers to a person “holding extreme beliefs that may lead to unreasonable (actions) or violent behavior.”3 One feature of this mentality is the “religious assurance of the establishment of belief through dogmatic and moral legalism, often founded on a fundamentalist positivism in matters touching revelation.”4 “Fundamentalism” (uṣūlīyah), on the other hand, is originally a Protestant term developed in the early part of the twentieth century to refer to Christian groups that believed in the Bible’s inerrancy, as opposed to those who sought to make scriptural changes to accommodate the modern world.5 It is somewhat redundant in the Islamic context; however, some scholars have been trying to understand the connection between Islam and fundamentalism.6 Theoretically, the great majority of practicing Muslims are “fundamentalists” because they believe that the Qur’an remains unchanged from its initial revelation. Therefore, the following analysis will mainly focus on the concepts of fanaticism and wasaṭīyah from a comparative perspective that emphasizes their recent developments and connections to Islam ...