There is no greater quality than extremism in the cause of goodness

The word extremism is as great a misnomer as the phrase political Islam.
One has not to be a scholar of world repute to know that Islam cannot be Islam if it is not political. Islam has three -dimensional message. The first dimension is man’s total submission to one deity— one God— Allah. The other dimension is character-building— so necessary to become a productive unit of the society. And the third dimension is state-building.
It is this third dimension that dominated the life of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) after that epoch-making journey— away from Makkah to Madina— that changed the history of the world. The night, the Holy Prophet (PBUH) abandoned his ancestral home in pursuit of a power-base, Islam became political. As a consequence of this great political initiative the state of Madina was born from which was launched a monumental campaign that brought most citadels of other civilizations under Islam’s control.
As for the word extremism, if it means practicing a faith in letter and spirit, it is a positive attribute. Extremism in the cause of any form of goodness should have positive connotations.
Those whom we brand as extremists are actually those who have departed from the right course— and are aberrants. In the early history of Islam they were called Khawaraj— the outsiders.
There is no greater quality than extremism in the cause of goodness.