The Origins of Islamism: The Theocratic Temptation Revisited by Le Monde des religions

Le Monde des religions, a supplement to the daily newspaper Le Monde, published on September 13 an article devoted to the historical roots of Islamism and what the text describes as the temptation to "govern in the name of God." According to this article, this aspiration to impose Islamic law and restore Muslim unity under the aegis of a caliphate runs through, in various forms, the history of fundamentalist movements since the Middle Ages.

The article draws connections between very different currents and organizations in their methods and their time periods, notably citing the Muslim Brotherhood, a movement founded in Egypt in the twentieth century, and the Islamic State organization, which proclaimed a caliphate in the Middle East in the 2010s. According to the text, these movements share, in one way or another, the same theocratic fantasy—that of political power based on a religious interpretation of law.

Le Monde des religions places this analysis within a long-term historical perspective, tracing the article's origins back to the Middle Ages to situate the source of this temptation. The publication does not detail, in the available excerpt, the precise stages of this genealogy or the academic authors or sources used to establish it.

This article is part of a broader editorial project by Le Monde des religions devoted to the history of religions and their interactions with politics, though the excerpt provided does not clarify whether it is a special report, a series, or a standalone article.