Fasad in the context of "Maslaha"

Islah or Al-Islah (الإصلاح ,إصلاح, al-ʾIṣlāḥ) is an Arabic word, usually translated as "reform", in the sense of "to improve, to better, to put something into a better position, correction, correcting something and removing vice, reworking, emendation, reparation, restoration, rectitude, probability, reconciliation." It is an important term in Islam. The Islamic concept of "Islah" advocates for moral advancement through a reformation based on the rudimental standards of the Qur'an and the Sunnah. Islah is characterised by an attitude of bypassing classical legal works in preference to literature from the early Muslim generations (Salaf al-Salih). Islahi ulema oppose taqlid, strongly argue for the necessity of ijtihad and are often referred to as salafis.

The word is opposite to the word Ifsad, another important Islamic term meaning "corruption". It is also used in politics (including as a name for political parties), and is also used as a personal and place name.

Muhammad Umar Mujahid (1959 – 23 April 2013), commonly known as Mullah Omar or Muhammad Omar, was an Afghan militant leader who served as the first supreme leader of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. He founded the Taliban in 1994 and served as its first supreme leader until his death in 2013. During the Third Afghan Civil War, the Taliban fought the Northern Alliance and took control of most of the country, establishing its First Islamic Emirate. Shortly after al-Qaeda carried out the September 11 attacks, the Taliban government was toppled by an American invasion of Afghanistan, prompting Omar to go into hiding; he successfully evaded capture by the American-led coalition before dying in 2013 from tuberculosis.

Born into a religious family in Kandahar, Omar was educated at local madrasas in Afghanistan. After Afghanistan was invaded by the Soviet Union in 1979, he joined the Afghan mujahideen to fight in the Soviet–Afghan War and he was trained by Amir Sultan Tarar. He served as an important rebel commander during several skirmishes, losing his right eye in an explosion. The Soviets eventually withdrew from the country in 1989 and Afghanistan's Soviet-backed Democratic Republic was toppled in 1992, triggering the Second Afghan Civil War. While initially remaining quiet and focused on continuing his studies, Omar became increasingly discontent with what he perceived as fasād in the country, ultimately prompting him to return to fighting in the Civil War.

Islamic fundamentalism has been defined as a revivalist and reform movement of Muslims who aim to return to the founding scriptures of Islam. The term has been used interchangeably with similar terms such as Islamism, Islamic revivalism, Qutbism, Islamic activism, and has been criticized as pejorative.

Some of the beliefs attributed to Islamic fundamentalists are that the primary sources of Islam (the Quran, Hadith, and Sunnah), should be interpreted in a literal and originalist way; that corrupting non-Islamic influences should be eliminated from every part of Muslims' lives; and that the societies, economies, and governance of Muslim-majority countries should return to the fundamentals of Islam, the system of Islam, and become Islamic states.