Islamism and the Left: A Doomed Alliance

The Strange Alliance Between Islamism and the Western Left

Few unions are stranger — or more dangerous — than the alliance between Islamism and the Western left. At first glance, the two could not be more opposed. Islamism is a political project rooted in religious orthodoxy, seeking to impose sharia law and remake society according to strict Islamic codes. The radical left, meanwhile, is a secular revolutionary force seeking to destroy capitalism, abolish tradition, and impose communism.

And yet, despite these glaring contradictions, they are marching side by side. Why? Because for now, they share the same enemy: The West.

A Shared Goal: The Dismantling of the West

For Islamists, the West is a decadent, secular, godless civilization standing in the way of a Caliphate or, at the very least, the spread of Islamic law and cultural dominance. For the far left, the West is the embodiment of capitalism, colonialism, racism, patriarchy, and “white supremacy.”

Both look at Western civilization and see something to be torn down. The Islamist dreams of minarets towering over once-Christian capitals. The leftist dreams of red flags and collectivist utopias. They despise each other’s end goals, but both are happy to use each other as wrecking balls against the liberal order they loathe.

The Fatal Irony

The irony is that if either side ever achieved its goal, the other would become its first victim.

If Islamists triumphed, society would be remade under sharia law. That means no abortion, no gay rights, no women’s liberation. Women would be compelled to obey, comply, and cover up. Individual liberty — the very foundation of Western leftist identity politics — would be crushed beneath theocracy. Feminists and LGBTQ activists who today excuse Islamist groups would be the first dragged before morality police tomorrow.

If, on the other hand, the revolutionary left seized power and imposed communism, religion itself would be incompatible. Marx was clear: religion is “the opium of the people.” Under communism, mosques would be shuttered, clerics imprisoned, and the Islamists’ dream extinguished.

This is not an alliance of shared values. It is an alliance of mutual convenience and delusion. Each imagines the other is a useful tool to help destroy the West — without realizing that if the tool succeeds, it will turn against them.

Islamists Are Conservatives — But Not Allies of Conservatives

Here lies another irony. Islamism is, in fact, profoundly conservative. It upholds patriarchal family structures, rejects sexual freedom, bans abortion, and insists upon strict gender roles. These are not “progressive” values.

Yet Islamists never ally with Western conservatives. Why? Because conservatism in the West is bound up with Christianity and the legacy of Christendom. That cultural heritage stands as a rival to Islamism’s ambitions. Western conservatives want to preserve their own traditions, not surrender them to Islamic law. Thus, Islamists turn to the left, which — in its obsession with multiculturalism — is eager to accommodate them.

Exploiting the Left’s Blind Spot

And so, Islamists exploit the left’s greatest weakness: its moral vanity. The modern left thrives on narratives of oppression and victimhood. To its activists, Muslims are cast as the “ideal victims” — people of color, marginalized, oppressed by imperialism. Under this lens, Islamist movements are recast as freedom fighters, their illiberal agendas excused or ignored.

This is how we arrive at the absurd spectacle of feminists marching alongside men who believe women should be veiled and submissive. LGBTQ activists ally with groups whose utopia would see them imprisoned or worse. Human-rights campaigners defend movements that openly reject human rights. The contradictions are staggering — but blinded by moral self-righteousness, the left does not see them.

Lenin had a phrase for such people: “useful idiots.”

The Iranian Revolution: A Warning Ignored

History has already taught us how these alliances end. In 1979, Iranian leftists joined forces with Ayatollah Khomeini to topple the Shah. To them, it was an anti-imperialist revolution, a blow against Western-backed tyranny. They believed they were building a new, just society.

And for a brief moment, they were celebrated allies. But once Khomeini consolidated power, the leftists’ usefulness expired. Within months, they were silenced, exiled, or executed. The very people who had helped Islamists seize power were devoured by the revolution they had enabled.

This should serve as a flashing red warning for today’s Western left. But history, it seems, is a teacher they refuse to heed.

Lessons From Hitler and Stalin

The cynicism of the Islamist–left pact is not unique. In 1939, Hitler and Stalin shocked the world by signing a non-aggression pact. The two most ideologically opposed regimes of the era — Nazism and Communism — agreed to carve up Eastern Europe. Each thought it had bought time. Each imagined it could out manoeuvre the other. And within two years, Hitler invaded the Soviet Union, unleashing one of the bloodiest conflicts in history.

The lesson is simple: when enemies unite only out of hatred for a common foe, betrayal is inevitable.

Contemporary Examples

We see echoes of this alliance today. In Britain, Labour under Jeremy Corbyn became notorious for its flirtations with Islamist groups and rhetoric sympathetic to Hamas and Hezbollah. Candidates have openly courted Islamist-leaning constituencies, calculating that bloc votes matter more than ideological consistency.

In France, the term islamo-gauchisme has entered the mainstream. The French state has launched inquiries into the phenomenon, warning that segments of the academic and activist left are effectively enabling Islamist separatism under the guise of “anti-racism.”

In the United States, members of Congress have echoed Islamist talking points about Israel and Middle Eastern conflicts, often aligning with organizations that would strip away the very rights progressives claim to champion. On the streets, anti-Israel rallies fuse progressive slogans with Islamist chants, as if rainbow flags and jihadist banners belong in the same parade.

Everywhere, the pattern repeats: Islamists gain legitimacy and political cover. Leftists gain the illusion of moral superiority. Both are willing to sacrifice principle for power.

A Fragile and Dangerous Truce

This truce is fragile, cynical, and unsustainable. It is glued together only by a shared hatred of the West. But when the dust settles, one side must destroy the other.

History suggests it will be the left that loses. Islamists know exactly what they want and are willing to play the long game to get it. The left, blinded by its own moral preening, has no such discipline. It is already surrendering principles it claims to hold dear — women’s rights, gay rights, free speech — simply to maintain this “alliance.”

The tragedy is that in the process, liberal democracy itself is weakened. The West is caught between two forces that despise it, yet for now, prop each other up.

The lesson should be obvious: those who ally with forces bent on destroying freedom will never inherit that freedom. They will be its first victims.