However, the potential for a religion to be used for political purposes needs to be distinguished from its actual role in various societies at specific historical moments. Not unlike Christianity, Islam transformed in various ways to adapt to the needs of the societies in which it was practiced. A brief overview of the birth of Islam and the rise of revivalist movements reveals a simple point: political Islam is better understood as a contemporary phenomenon akin to the rise of Christian, Jewish, and Hindu fundamentalisms in the recent past rather than as the natural outgrowth of Islam.

XREF: Parallels the broader framing of religious fundamentalisms (Christian, Jewish, Hindu) as modern responses to sociopolitical conditions rather than inherent doctrines.

Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politi…, loc. 285