Recent decades have seen a “return of the religious,” as fundamentalist creeds have become an increasingly prominent element of the geopolitical landscape. Not only has the worldwide spread of neoliberal capitalism failed to spread secular notions of science and progress, but the shocks produced by its crises have helped feed sectarian responses based on religious identity.

Going beyond mere condemnation of religious dogma, Marxists have long analyzed religion as a social phenomenon which can take many different forms. Karl Marx famously highlighted religion’s dual character as both an illusion and a comfort to the oppressed, and many socialist movements have deployed religious iconography (and, for the Christian left, the example of Jesus) in their cause.

Several movements in Muslim-majority societies offer hints of an Islamic left analogous to the liberation theology seen in Catholic countries. Yet such initiatives lag behind the success of fundamentalist movements who advance a literalist and backward-looking understanding of Islam. In a period of global crises, these latter have been better able to present themselves as an alternative value system.