The Gauntlet Has Been Thrown

Osama bin Laden, who has said that all American citizens are legitimate targets of holy warriors, represents a pernicious development in the world not only of Islam but also of Islamic fundamentalism. Its a departure from anything recognizable as Islamic.

What it betokens is a crisis of authority in Islam. Across the late modern world, the emergence of secularism, advanced by capitalist markets, has been accompanied by the dissemination of worldviews that are inimical to traditional religions. This situation has created crises for all these religions.

Across the board--in Islam as well as in Catholicism, Judaism, and Hinduism--the foundations for a coherent expression of religious authority beyond a very privatized realm have been undermined. Traditional religious leaders see their space becoming narrowed. Part of the fundamentalist reaction to this is that traditional authorities--in Islam, both the religious scholars and the political leaders--are discredited and accused of not being sufficiently orthodox or vigilant

It was interesting that when Osama bin Laden issued the fatwa that called for death to all Americans, he referred to himself as a sheikh.

But he's not a sheikh, and he really has no authority to issue a fatwa. He hasn't had religious training; he's a "layperson." He is thus representative of the kind of fundamentalist free agents who do not feel bound by the traditional schools of Islamic law.

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