Islamo-Fascism

The term Islamofascism is a controversial neologism which draws an analogy between the ideological characteristics of specific Islamist movements from the turn of the twenty-first century on, and a broad range of European fascist movements of the early twentieth century, neofascist movements, or totalitarianism.

The term "Islamofascism" is included in the New Oxford American Dictionary, which defines it as "a controversial term equating some modern Islamic movements with the European fascist movements of the early twentieth century". The term is used in this manner by writers like Stephen Schwartz and Christopher Hitchens, to describe Islamist extremists, including terrorist groups such as al Qaeda. William Safire makes particular note of Hitchens as a "popularizer" of the word, though Hitchens declines credit for coining it.

The origins of the term are uncertain. William Safire writes that the "first use [he] can find" comes from Malise Ruthven in 1990, when Ruthven wrote in The Independent that "authoritarian government, not to say Islamo-fascism, is the rule rather than the exception from Morocco to Pakistan." Albert Scardino writes that the term "seems to have appeared first" in a Washington Times piece, in which scholar Khalid Duran used it "as a criticism of hyper-traditionalist clerics." According to the Times, this piece appeared in July 2001.

THE MUSLIMS HAVE NO SHAME. THEY PLAY POLITICS LIKE THE ISLAMO-FACISTS CONDUCT WARFARE DIRTY, RUTHLESS AND RECKLESS, WITH NO DISCERNIBLE, WITH NO RULES, NO REGARD FOR FACTS AND NO COMPUNCTION ABOUT STABBING PEOPLE IN THE BACK.
--Oliver North--