Islamic terrorism
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Islamist terrorism, sometimes called "Islamic terrorism", is terrorism that is carried out to further the political and religious ambitions of a small segment of the Muslim community.
"Islamic terrorism" is a contentious term; many Muslims, particularly those supporting liberal movements within Islam do not accept that attacks on civilians can ever be justified by religion. From this perspective, describing terrorism as "Islamic" is seen as a slur on Islam. Although "Islamic terrorism" is commonly used by Western media to describe the activity of a wide variety of groups, "Islamist terrorism" is a more accurate term and would respect the sensitivities of Muslims.
The members of such groups are more likely to see themselves as freedom fighters rather than terrorists, as the political origins of such groups in Israel/Palestine, Soviet-occupied Afghanistan, Chechnya and most recently post-Saddam Iraq are often rooted in political demands for statehood and nationalist self-determination.
The most international of these groups, Al-Qaida also has its origins in a particular nationalist struggle; namely, rebellion against the royal family of Saudi Arabia. The Saudi regime is perceived as being too closely associated with American foreign policy, particularly through its support of the US liberation of Kuwait during the first Gulf War. Al-Qaida's ideology is an extreme form of Islam as a political movement, and among its ideals are pan-Islamic unity. So thereafter, the Saudi regime was seen as insufficiently Islamic. Such a view may seem bewildering to Westerners, who often cannot imagine anything more 'Islamic' than the country's Wahhabi brand of Islamic law. But to Al-Qaida in particular, the world is viewed as a struggle between their extreme Islamist ideology versus a secular Western ideology. These view of the world has ironically been strengthened by the War on Terror.
In the view of the terrorists involved, they are supporting or spreading Islam. Modern Islamic terrorist groups are often inspired by the Muslim Brotherhood. Some Islamist terrorist groups have employed suicide bombers, in spite of the comdemnation of suicide by Muslim religious authorities. These groups refer to suicide bomber attacks as martyrdom operations and the suicides are characterized as shohada (plural of "shahid"). The nature, extent and support for Islamist terrorism among the general Muslim population is subject to considerable debate and disagreement among Westerners.
A medieval precedent of modern Islamist terrorism may have been the Hashshashin, an Islamic (Nizari) group from the Middle Ages that sent assassins against Crusader and Islamic rulers opposing them. Their lair was the Alamut fortress.
Islamist terrorist groups
- Abu Sayyaf, Philippines
- al-Qaeda, Worldwide
- Armed Islamic Group (GIA), Algeria
- AZF, France
- Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Egypt
- Great Eastern Islamic Raiders' Front (IBDA-C), Turkey
- Hamas, Gaza Strip and West Bank
- Harkat-ul Mujahideen al-Alami, Pakistan
- Hizballah, Lebanon
- Hizb ut-Tahrir
- Islamic Movement of Central Asia, Central Asia
- Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Uzbekistan
- Jemaah Islamiyah, Indonesia
- Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Philippines
- Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, Morocco and Europe
- Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Gaza Strip and West Bank