Is There a Difference Between Islam and Islamism? These Experts Say ‘No’

OXON HILL, Md.—Americans must understand the true nature of Islam to diagnose its challenge to Western societies, scholars said Thursday.

At The Heritage Foundation’s conference The Forum, a pair of scholars highlighted the often-false distinction made between Islam and “Islamism” that causes confusion. 

Florence Beregeaud-Blackler, an anthropologist and research fellow at the National Centre for Scientific Research, discussed how her experience studying a local mosque in her home country of France—which she said turned out to be connected to the Muslim Brotherhood—led her to believe there is no sharp difference between Islam and Islamism. 

Beregeaud-Blackler said she was discouraged from highlighting the connection between the mosque and the Islamist group because of the fear of appearing racist and “Islamophobic.”

“By staying silent, I believe we are doing exactly what we say we want to avoid,” she said. “We create confusion.” 

Raymond Ibrahim, visiting fellow at the Danube Institute, said that many Westerners tried to understand Islam following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but many drew a false distinction between “Islam” and “Islamism.” 

“Islam,” for many, meant “good Muslims who are compatible with the West,” and Islamism, “this weird thing that some Muslims do, politically, engaging in terrorism, subversion, etc., etc.” 

However, Ibrahim said, that dichotomy was “one of the most artificial distinctions that’s ever been made.” The sides of Islam that many in the West find troublesome are baked directly into the religion, Ibrahim said, but many would like to deny them and call them “Islamism.” 

Much of what’s in the two textual sources of Islam, the Koran and the Hadith, is seen as benign or positive, such as the command to pray five times a day, he said.

However, he added that the same mechanism that tells Muslims to carry out these acts makes the “problematic” parts of the religion “actually Islamic.” These include killing apostates, enforcing blasphemy laws, and enslaving non-Muslims, he said. 

Beregeaud-Blackler said that studying the roots of the more radical Islamic beliefs, which are psychologically if not physically violent, can bring clarity to what the issue really is. 

“Most Muslims are able to adapt and submit their practices to the common rules, and Islamists don’t because they do not want to,” Beregeaud-Blackler said. “They have a project and will not stop unless we stop them.” 

She said that the key is not to distinguish between Islamists and Islam, but between Islamists and Muslims. Islamism is merely a form of Islam even if it isn’t all of Islam, she said, and while one can be a Muslim without being an Islamist it’s “getting more and more difficult.”

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