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A practitioner of violent political Islam is often referred to as an Islamist; ostensibly secular modern Muslim nations have another term -- Kharijite -- that may teach the West about Arab countries' internal struggle with Islam.

"It's used as a term, often in public discourse, to label those Muslims who are essentially relying on a kind of radicalized or extremist Islam that the majority thinks is inappropriate," according to Dr. Jeffrey Kenney, author of "Muslim Rebels: Kharijites and the Politics of Extremism in Egypt". "So it's an internal label, and it's used by Muslims against fellow Muslims."

Kenney teaches courses on religion in general and Islam in particular at DePauw University, in Indiana. He spoke to The Jewish State in a phone interview about the concept of a modern-day Kharijite, as well as what the West can learn from Kharijite history about Islamist groups like Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Kharijites were an early Islamic sect who split with mainstream Muslim society in the 7th century and became increasingly extreme. They advocated divinely inspired violence, and cloaked such action in Quranic directives. In modern times, especially in the latter half of the 20th century, Kenney said Muslims used the term to "anathematize" and attempt to marginalize extremist behavior.

"The label 'Kharijite' is a kind of term that's loaded in the sense that what it's meant to suggest is that when Muslims become so pious, so overly judgmental, that they begin to label fellow Muslims 'non-Muslims,' -- that they're apostates and therefore their lives are forfeit -- it's meant to address that as an inappropriate activity, and an inappropriate ideal within Islam," Kenney said.

Kharijism, then, is roundly condemned, he said, and the debate is centered on who exhibits Kharijite behavior. Kenney said that it is rare to see any Muslims today promote Kharijite behavior. Even those whose behavior resembles that of the Kharijites would still take offense at the characterization.

Kenney said the term is used today as part of a Muslim effort at self-policing. But, he added, groups like Hamas that exist outside the structure of a state tend to escape the ostracism that would normally come with the label.

"While there is a certain hierarchy of authority within Muslim communities, there is no one overarching one," Kenney said. "And so it's very difficult to enforce this, and in the modern period the only way that this really becomes enforced is through the state."

There is a lot of overlap, he said, between what Westerners would call a terrorist and what, for example, the Egyptian government would brand a Kharijite. One problem that arises, Kenney said, is that states like Egypt would use the term against Islamists who are not violent but that the state regards as radicals simply because they're challenging the government.

"And this gets into the problem of both who can label someone legitimately and what are the motives of those who are doing it?" he said.

In the book, Kenney writes: "Assured of their own religious purity, the Kharijites judged other Muslims -- those outside the Kharijite fold -- as unworthy of the name Muslim and set about creating, through violence, an ideal community of the saved."

Such behavior has been exhibited by warring Palestinian factions -- most notably Hamas -- in the battle for Palestinian leadership. Kenney said such conduct, as well as the term Kharijite, is part of the larger framework of the politicization of Islam.

"There is a lot in the way that Islam, period, is being brought into these debates," Kenney said. "It's the way people often express their moral views, and one might argue that with a lack of a stable state and stable politics, that what you rely on is a kind of traditional body of authority -- and for many people in this region of the world it becomes Islam. So Islam gets used to justify and legitimize just about everything, and it's very difficult to sort this out."

Kenney said that in this way, behavior is judged not just in terms of what it means to be a good Palestinian, but also what it means to be a good Muslim.

Many Arabs prefer not to participate in such a discussion, Kenney said, "but when politics fails, people resort to other things, and certainly Islam has entered that arena where when politics fails, more and more religion gets brought in to kind of sway opinion back and forth."

Kenney said that when the Arab-Israeli conflict appears to be so far from resolution, frustration tends to be expressed in more forceful terms. When you have a historical conflict with seemingly no agreed-upon solution, the debate gets ratcheted up on both sides, he said.

"I think it's the religious language that tends to set people off, because it seems to be so absolute," Kenney said. "It seems to allow very little leeway, because once God gets into it, the question is: Can anything be settled if people are claiming God is making certain pronouncements?"

Tangible changes on the ground, however, have a clear effect on the language, which "arises in a context," he added.

But Kenney noted that Egyptian and Israeli leaders have state power to back up their calls for moderation. Fatah, as the political leadership of the Palestinians, but who may not have even a plurality of support among its constituents, doesn't have the same political strength.

"Having the authority and having the ability are different things," Kenney said.

And although Fatah claims it would like to govern as a moderate government in opposition to the extremism of Hamas, their position as the voice of the Palestinian people is undermined when they equivocate on Israel-Hamas issues, such as the recent war in Gaza.

"When they seem to be allowing, or at least agreeing that Hamas needs to be destroyed, what they're really doing is they're saying fellow Palestinians need to be destroyed," he said. "And that doesn't play well with an electorate who sees Hamas in some cases as the only people who are willing to say 'we need a settlement that's going to bring dignity,' because they don't see Fatah doing that."

Still, Kenney said studying the Kharijites can help people understand how violence gets politicized, and how that takes place within a cultural context.

"It's not that people are for violence, but they're not just willing to condemn it out of hand when they also think there might be some legitimate reason to take up arms," he said. "You always have to understand why people become violent in a context too."

"Muslim Rebels" is available on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.