[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by blankall

I'd argue that the Fundamentalist streams of Islam being practiced today have more in common with political movements than religious ones. They advocate systems of government, codes of conduct, tax systems, etc... and actually ignore large parts of Islam and many of the religious philosophies.

You could argue that all religion has some form of social control, and thereby takes on a government like structure. However, the fundamentalists are definitely pushing more towards the political than the philosophical.

This is the so-called Wahhabi put in a very, very narrow nutshell. It's extreme orthodoxy, if you would. It's sort of an extreme orthodoxy that historically has not been shared by a majority of Muslims, particularly nobody outside of the Arabian Peninsula.
The way in which Saudi Arabia has influence in these madrassas is influencing particular teachings one step at a time. In other words, if you had a comparable situation in Christian with one church would begin to dictate to other churches what they should say about abortion first, then about fundamental issues in Christianity, then you know, one tenet at the time, because it had the power of the purse over them. You wouldn't have an outright conversion of one denomination or church to another. What you would have is a growing influence where those who are receiving money would begin to reflect the ideas of the fundgiver.

[quote]

Is there a connection between the fundamentalism of the Taliban and the fundamentalism of the Wahhabi?
The connection has been growing very, very strong in the past 20 years, and particularly in the past ten years. The dominant school of Islam with which the Taliban associate -- which is known as the Deobandi school -- is very prominent in Afghanistan and also in wide areas of Pakistan. Northern India has increasingly gravitated toward Wahhabi teaching, and has very, very strong organizational ties with various Wahhabi religious leaders.[\quote]


http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontl...iews/nasr.html


I linked the article earlier. Spells out your point of fundamentalist versions and their linkage to the political ie Taliban. What is interesting is that it was written in Oct 2001. The author describes this petro islam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petro-Islam that ultimately has proved correct and had profound consequences. It's an interesting read.