- News reports and politicians don't always distinguish between groups of Muslims who are seeking to violently seize power of a particular country, those who seek power by democratic means, those who use violence in the quest for global dominance and those whose ideas about religion seem archaic, but who have little interest in politics or violence. These groups can be completely opposed to each other's aims, and conflating them makes it harder to fight those who are a true threat. Recognizing that the groups who plan attacks on American or British airplanes are not the same as those who are religiously conservative is key to working towards global security.
- Islamists are those who seek political power to create a theocratic state. This may be done by force, like the Taliban, by influencing public opinion, like the international Hizb ut-Tahrir, or by democratic means, like Hamas in Gaza. Their aims are usually focused on one country. Islamists believe that a theocratic government can resolve the social and economic problems their countries face. They believe that Islam will help them create the ideal society. Reza Aslan believes that this makes these groups a more manageable concern, as he explains in his "How to Win a Cosmic War" that groups like Hezbollah want political control of a definable area, which is much easier to negotiate with than the aims of al-Qaida, which is classified as a jihadist group.
- Jihadism is a term derived from the word jihad, which means to strive. It has never been interpreted by traditional Islamic scholars to mean a war of aggression. Al-Qaida blindsided traditional Islamic scholars by taking the term jihad for their acts of aggression. They claim greater authenticity than traditional Islamic scholars. While Anwar al-Awlaki is formally trained in religion and was a mainstream Islamic scholar, jihadism is the brainchild of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, neither of whom received religious training beyond the elementary level.
Jihadism bills itself as the purest form of Islam. However, jihadism is an ideology of opportunism. Islamic source texts forbid suicide, attacking non-combatants and initiating violence against Muslims. These condemnations are circumvented by claiming a need that overrides these prohibitions.
Jihadists are engaged in a cosmic battle -- a battle between the ideas of good and evil itself. The former, to them, consists of those who agree with them; the latter consists of those who disagree with them, no matter their faith. - Fundamentalism is a religious view that sees the past as better than the present, and promotes the idea that a way of life is under attack by the modern world. Groups like the Salafiyyah and Tablighi Jamaat are seek to return to a purer time, and may adopt a strict dress code. They encourage women to be homemakers and limit contact with men, and are vigilant about worship and imitating the Prophet Muhammad and his contemporaries. While they sometimes have sympathy for jihadists or Islamists, their participation in any quest for political power is low. They may shun the idea of seizing power in a way they don't feel is Islamically correct or simply have little interest in political engagement.
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