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Kel Richards'
Ozwords

Kel Richards' OzwordsKel Richards' OzwordsKel Richards' Ozwords

The Ozword of the Day: “Islamist Vs Muslim”

On Sky News Peta Credlin asked me to explain the difference between ‘Islamist’ and ‘Muslim.’ 

This was prompted by a letter from a viewer (Gordon) who asked why the followers of Islam used to be called ‘Muslims’ and now seem to be called ‘Islamists’—is there, he asked, a difference? 

The key to understanding this, I explained, is that unlike other world religions (unlike Christianity, Buddhism, Confucianism etc.) Islam is not one thing—it is two things. 

Islam is both (i) a religion and (ii) a political ideology. 

So, what is the difference? 

We can define the word ‘Muslim’ (a religious follower of Islam) as having five characteristics: 

(1) they say what is called the Shahada, ‘There is no God but Allah and Mohammad is his prophet; 

(2) they pray five times day; 

(3) they observe the fast of Ramadan; 

(4) they attempt a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once; 

and (5) they give alms to charity. 

These are benign religious activities. 

However, a follower of the political ideology of Islam (an ‘Islamist’) has three goals: 

(1) to struggle (the Arabic word is ‘jihad’)  for the establishment of a caliphate in which the Caliph is both a religious and political ruler who is seen as a successor to Mohammad; 

(2) to impose Shari’a law on society; 

(3) to offer infidels [non-Muslims] only three choices: (a) to convert to Islam, (b) to die, or (c) to come under what is called Dhimmitude—as second class citizens paying more tax and having fewer rights than Muslims.

This is clearly much less benign than religious Islam (‘Muslims’). 

These two different ‘faces’ of Islam faithfully reflect the founder of Islam. 

Because, unlike the founders of other major religions (unlike Jesus, Buddha, Confucius etc.) Muhammad had two roles not just one role: (A) he was a mystic, but (B) he was also a military leader. 

When we look at the definitions of ‘Muslim’ and ‘Islamist’ we can see that the word ‘Islamophobia’ also makes sense. 

The Oxford English Dictionary says that ‘Islamophobia’ means ‘fear of Islam as a political force’. 

And looking at how Islamists have been running the nation of Iran that just looks like common sense.


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THE AUSTRALIAN LANGUAGE

Kel Richards has been reporting on the Australian language for more than 30 years, and is the author of ten books about words and language. He has been described in one newspaper article as "the wordsmith to the nation." Kel is a veteran Australian author, journalist and broadcaster. In a long and distinguished career he has hosted ABC radio's flagship daily current affairs show "AM" and his own talkback shows on commercial radio. For 12 years Kel wrote and presented the popular daily feature "Word Watch" on ABC NewsRadio. For several years Kel was a member of the Standing Committee on Spoken English (SCOSE) at the ABC. Kel presents the weekly "Words Matter" segment on Peta Credlin's program on Sky News, he writes the "Language" column for The Spectator Australia and the "Ozwords" and "Placenames" columns for Australian Geographic. Kel joins John Stanley on 2GB, 4BC, 2CC and the Nine Radio Network each week for "The Word Clinic."

Ozwords appears in every issue of AUSTRALIAN GEOGRAPHIC.

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