The Fundamental and Applied Studies of the Islamic World

A Study of the Political and Social Contexts of the Emergence of Political Islam in Afghanistan

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Edriss Rasa 1
Morteza Manshadi 2
Seyyed Hossein , Athari 3
Vahid , Sinaee 3

1 PhD/ Political Science, Faculty of Law and Political, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

2 , Associate Professor, Faculty of Law and Political Science, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran

3 Associate Professor, Faculty of Law and Political Science, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran

10.22034/fasiw.2025.506401.1440
Abstract
This article examines the emergence of political Islam in Afghanistan. The country has been the scene of confrontation between various and conflicting ideologies over the past two centuries. Supporters of these ideologies have undertaken political struggles at various levels, from discursive confrontation to armed struggle, to achieve political power and implement their ideological goals. Meanwhile, political Islam, as an ideology, has faced the stability and sustainability of Afghanistan's political systems with many problems since the beginning.

Developments in Afghanistan over the past two centuries have paved the way for the emergence of political and intellectual ideologies, including political Islam. The country has been the focus of major, extra-regional, regional, and neighboring powers due to its geopolitical and geostrategic position, but the entry of the British, followed by the Russians and the West led by the United States over the past 200 years, has further highlighted the discussion of political Islam in Afghanistan. Political ideologies have taken shape in the context of political, social, economic, and cultural developments, influenced by the internal contradictions of the capitalist system. The collapse of the Ottoman Empire led to the emergence of the nation-state process, class contradictions, and religious and ethnic differences. Political Islam emerged as a political ideology in competition with ideologies such as nationalism, liberalism, socialism, and democracy. Political Islam was a response to the intellectual and political conditions of the 19th century and the expansion of Western ideas and political systems.

Afghanistan, like other Islamic and non-Islamic countries, has witnessed the emergence and growth of various movements and ideologies. Regarding the grounds for the emergence of political Islam, thinkers have mentioned various reasons: Fouad Ajami cites the failure of secular elites, Theda Skocpol cites the lack of political participation, Nikki Keddie and Gilles Kepel cite the crisis of the petite bourgeoisie, and Michael Fischer cites oil dollars and unequal development and the effects of cultural decline. Political Islam, with its approach to the Islamic state, is attributed to the first government of early Islam, but the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1920 is considered a turning point for the resurgence of Islamism after a period of decline. In essence, political Islam is considered the reconstruction of society based on Islamic rules, and this discourse, in opposition and contradiction to all traditional and modern discourses that prohibit the combination of religion and politics, has been considered. Political Islam is not only a struggle against modernism, but also a reaction against injustices, bullying, and inequalities in Islamic societies. Political Islam is understood as Islam that is justice-seeking, development-oriented, worldly, authoritarian, civilization-building, realistic, revolutionary and reformist, science and reason-based, progressive, fighting against domination, system-building, and pragmatic.

The main question of this research is to investigate the political and social contexts of the emergence of political Islam in Afghanistan. According to the data, it is hypothesized that the emergence of political Islam in Afghanistan is rooted in the ideas and thoughts of Sayyid Jamal al-Din. Furthermore, political Islam with different tendencies has been influenced by the views of Turkish political Islam by Mahmud Tarzi, Sufi political Islam by the Mujaddidi and Gailani families, and Deobandi political Islam by Indian teachers. However, in its modern sense, it entered Afghanistan with the return of Al-Azhar University of Egypt graduates with the intellectual line of the Muslim Brotherhood and the return of Qom seminary students from Iran with Shia views. The current research is exploratory and uses the historical sociology method with a descriptive and analytical approach. The present article, with a descriptive and analytical approach, falls into the category of theoretical and applied research. The documentary technique has been used for data collection. For data analysis, text analysis patterns in historical sociology have been used, drawing on the views of Charles Wright Mills. These topics are discussed in detail in the theoretical framework section. Historical sociology is a method that, by examining the past, seeks to understand how the formation and emergence of phenomena and transformations of societies occur over time. By analyzing macro political and social patterns, this method understands the complex processes that shape social structures.

The discussion of Islamic political movements began with Sayyid Jamal al-Din al-Asadabadi, born in 1838, coinciding with the first British invasion of Afghanistan. Subsequently, through the efforts of Muhammad Rashid Rida (1865–1935) and Muhammad Abduh (1849–1905) in Egypt, it gradually grew and expanded in the form of Islamic fundamentalism. Later, figures such as Hassan al-Banna and Muhammad Rashid Rida founded the Muslim Brotherhood movement in Egypt. Simultaneously, Maulana Maududi initiated his Islamic thought in British India, emphasizing the realization of an Islamic state in the form of Islamic Sharia, which ultimately led to the establishment of the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan party in 1941.

 

Keywords

Political Islam
Afghanistan
Political and social contexts of the emergence of political Islam
etc
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The Fundamental and Applied Studies of the Islamic World
Volume 7, Issue 3 - Serial Number 25
Autumn 2025
Pages 384-420

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