I think Islam has had a major problem since sunnism made the doctrine they developed basically unchangeable in the 13th-century. That dead-lock on rationalism, adaption and interpretation has imho led to the downfall of the islamic world as an intellectual, cultural, economic and spiritual showpiece of mankind.
That orthodoxy is still strong in the islamic world and instituted in the four legal schools of sunnism. Sure, eventually they adpated to the new realities after the islamic world got colonialised, and "allowed" many things that were necessary for functioning in the modern world, but at the core they were still adhering to the same doctrine and merely suspended "sharia-law" without critically analysing the sharia-law and its dubious roots, and also without updating it to fit to the modern world.
That's where islamic fundamentalism, better known as Islamism, or ultra-orthodoxy,comes into play, that calls for the reinstituting of sharia-law and calling the non-fundamentalist-orthodoxy hypocrites if not worse. The movement of islamic fundamentalism seeks to convert the islamic societies to its creed and then to overthrow the regimes that the orthodoxy is supporting.
I think the upcoming of Islamism, or ultra-Orthodoxy is good and long overdue, as it forces the orthodoxy to finally discuss its doctrine, its theological views and its stance regarding the modern world, and the general people in the islamic world get to finally reflect upon their religion, instead of blindly following the orthodoxy as it did for the last few centuries.
There are of course risks, that the general people after reflecting upon religion will come to the conclusion that Islamism, ultraorthodoxy is the right way to go, which is even more intolerant, but "hope, there is another one":
At about the same time as Islamism came up, there was also another intellectual development, which is called liberal Islam or modernistic Islam, that similar to the Islamists criticized orthodoxy but this time for its lack of historic analysis and its sticking to the hadith-collections, that are provingly not reliable and most likely nearly completely fabricated, and its unwillingness to interpret the Quran.
Both, Islamism/ultraorthodoxy and liberal Islam/modernistic Islam, are trying to pull the general mass in the islamic world, that is still under control of the orthodoxy, to their side.
Often people are saying that Islam should reform, and I agree wholeheartily, but only a handful of people realize that Islam right now and for the last three decades, was and still is in its phase of reformation, of the same magnitude as the christian reformation when Martin Luther brought it on its way in the christian world. And just like back then, technology and modernity plays an important role, back then it was the book-printing with moving letters, and the movement of peasants into cities, that gave way to reformation, to fundamentalism, puritanism... today, it's the same in the islamic world, peasants are moving to cities, education and book-printing, TV, radio, cassettes, CD's, DVD's and internet, fundamentalism and liberalism are pushing the reformation.
Unfortunately, just like in Europe during reformation and the 30-year-war, the differences in the islamic world have built up to eruption in the form of violence, first in Afghanistan between North and South, until 9/11 drew the US and the international community into Afghanistan, and then in Iraq, and nearly in Palestine, where the agressiveness of Israel though postponed and overshadowed the conflict.
It's definitely one of the most fascinating and exciting times for Islam, as well as a phase of violence and bloodletting.
Taliesin
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