Islamic terrorism

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Islamic extremist terrorism refers to acts of terrorism claimed by its supporters and practitioners to be in furtherance of the goals of Islam. The validity of an Islamic justification for these acts is contested by other Muslims.

Where such violent and terrorist activity aims to establish a pan-Islamic theocracy and impose religious law (Sharia), it is sometimes termed Islamist terrorism. The term Islamic terrorism is more widely used, while governments often refer to it as Islamic extremism. There is much debate about whether commentary on the subject unfairly caricatures Muslims, and Arab Muslims in particular (see the Muhammad cartoons controversy for example).

According to statistics of the National Counterterrorism Center, Islamic extremism was responsible for approximately 57% of terrorist fatalities and 61% of woundings in 2004 and early 2005, where a terrorist perpetrator type could be specified [1]. Extremist acts have included airline hijacking, kidnapping, assassination, and suicide bombing. Terrorist threats have included fatwas and death threats. Children have been used in the administration and perpetration of these attacks. Both Muslims and non-Muslims have been among the targets and victims.

Islamic extremist violence is not synonymous with all terrorist activities committed by Muslims. Nationalist, separatist, and occasionally Marxist-Leninist organizations in the Muslim world often derive inspiration from secular ideologies. These are not well described as either Islamic extremist or Islamist.

Organizations

Al-Qaeda is defined by most Western nations as an Islamic extremist group. Formed in the aftermath of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, it is accused of committing terrorism in a number of countries in Africa, the Middle East, Europe. and Indonesia. It is also accused of orchestrating the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States. The group, under its leader Osama bin Laden, is opposed to the monarchy in Saudi Arabia, which it sees as insufficiently Islamic and too closely tied to America. Al-Qaeda claims it is engaged in a struggle against Zionism, Christianity, and the secular West.

The charter of Hamas calls for the destruction of Israel, and its "military wing" has claimed responsibility for numerous attacks in Israel. Hamas justifies these attacks as necessary in fighting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory. Although the wider movement also serves as a charity organization and provides services to Palestinians, Hamas has been designated as a terrorist group by the European Union, Canada, the United States, Israel, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and Human Rights Watch.

The United States, Israel, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Canada, and Australia designate the Lebanese Shia Islamist organization Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. The European Union designates Hezbollah's External Security Organization wing as "terrorist" and the United Nations has called for its disbandment. Hezbollah is also a political party and an organization that provides social services in Lebanon, where it is not generally seen as a terrorist organization. [2][3]

Some Islamist groups, notably Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad in Palestine and Al-Qaeda have used suicide bombers against civilians, soldiers, and government officials of the regimes that they oppose. Their use of suicide bombers is seen by many Muslims as contradictory to Islam's teachings. Groups who support suicide bombings often refer to such attacks as "martyrdom operations" and the suicide-bombers who commit them as "martyrs" (Arabic: shuhada, plural of "shahid"). The bombers, and their sympathisers often believe that suicide bombers, as martyrs to the cause of jihad against the enemy, will receive the rewards of paradise for their actions.

Ideology and theology

Islamist extremists sometimes claim they are defending Islam and the Ummah (that is, the Muslim community), or that they are acting in retaliation for what they see as aggression against Muslims by Israel and by various western countries such as the United States.

The members of some groups are more likely to see themselves as freedom fighters rather than terrorists, as the political origins of such groups in Israel/Palestine, Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation, Chechnya and most recently post-Saddam Iraq are often connected to demands for statehood and nationalist self-determination.

In an interview with The American Conservative magazine, Robert Pape, author of the book Dying to Win, said "The central fact is that overwhelmingly suicide-terrorist attacks are not driven by religion as much as they are by a clear strategic objective: to compel modern democracies to withdraw military forces from the territory that the terrorists view as their homeland. From Lebanon to Sri Lanka to Chechnya to Kashmir to the West Bank, every major suicide-terrorist campaign — over 95 percent of all the incidents — has had as its central objective to compel a democratic state to withdraw." [4]

Some supporters of Palestinian political violence have claimed that citizens of Israel are legitimate military targets because Jewish adolescents are required by law to serve in the country's military. Other writers have cited Islamic scriptures as justification for killing Jews and Christians. [5] This justification does not address the killing of innocent Muslims in the same attacks.

Islamist ideology

[citation needed]

Islamist ideology, specifically of the militant breed, often positions itself in opposition to Western society. The United States, specifically, is greatly opposed by most Islamist Jihadis, scholars, and leaders. In addition to criticizing the United States for what they see as immoral secularism, many Islamists claim that Western society is actively anti-Islamic. The cultural products of western societies, and specifically of the United States, are often criticized by Islamists for the same reasons.

The lack of authoritarian restrictions on free speech is a common Islamist criticism of western democracies. Islamists have claimed that such unrestricted free speech has led to the proliferation of pornography, immorality, secularism, homosexuality, feminism, and many other ideas that Islamists often oppose.

Islamists are often opposed to the (practitioners of) Christianity and Judaism. Some Islamists identify what they see as a historical struggle between Christianity and Islam, dating back as far as the Crusades, among other historical conflicts between practitioners of the two respective religions. Many of the existent Islamic extremist violence groups have as their central cause a Jihad (holy war) against Christians and Jews. An example is Bin Laden's Al-Qaeda, which is also known as 'International Islamic Front for Jihad Against the Jews and Crusaders'. Most militant Islamists oppose Israel's policies, and often its existence.

For a discussion as to whether or not there are elements of neo-fascist ideology in certain militant Islamic groups, see the discussion at Neofascism and religion.

Interpretations of the Qur'an

It's been suggested that the Qur'an, Islam's sacred text, denounces the killing of any Muslim person who is not guilty of at least one of two crimes:

"On that account: We ordained for the Children of Israel that if any one slew a person - unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people. Then although there came to them Our messengers with clear signs, yet, even after that, many of them continued to commit excesses in the land." ([Quran 5:32])
"And there are those who put up a mosque by way of mischief and infidelity - to disunite the Believers - and in preparation for one who warred against Allah and His Messenger aforetime. They will indeed swear that their intention is nothing but good; But Allah doth declare that they are certainly liars." ([Quran 9:107])

Militant Islamists sometimes justify terrorism against fellow Muslims, in particular against regimes they consider non-Islamic, on the basis that their enemies are apostates[citation needed]. Islamic law traditionally designated death as the penalty for apostasy from Islam. Opinions within the Muslim community vary as to the grounds on which an individual may be declared to have apostacised. The most common view among Muslim scholars is that a declaration of takfir (designation of a Muslim as an apostate) can only be made by an established religious authority. Mainstream Muslim scholars usually oppose recourse to takfir, except in rare instances. Takfir was used as justification for the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.

Another relevant Qur'anic verse reads:

"Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you, but do not transgress limits; for Allah loveth not transgressors. And slay them wherever ye catch them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out; for tumult and oppression are worse than slaughter; but fight them not at the Sacred Mosque, unless they (first) fight you there; but if they fight you, slay them. Such is the reward of those who suppress faith." ([Quran 2:190])

This verse is interpreted by Islamic scholar Ibn Kathir as forbidding attacks on non-combatants.

Muslim attitudes towards terrorism

In parliamentary election of January 2006, 57% of Palestinians voted for Hamas[6], which is designated as a terrorist organization by Israel, United States, Canada, and the European Union and responsible for a number of attacks against Israeli civilians. Observers are divided over whether the election results represent support for the organization's tactics, support for the organization's social programs, or dissatisfaction with the previous government which was widely seen as corrupt and incompetent. A public opinion survey released following the election, indicated that nearly three quarters of Palestinians believe that Hamas should change its policy regarding the destruction of Israel and 84% of Palestinians support a peace agreement with Israel. Among Hamas voters, 73% of respondents supported a peace agreement with Israel. However Hamas has ruled out removing the clause in its constitution which demands the destruction of Israel. [7]

A 2005 Pew Research study that involved 17,000 people in 17 countries showed support for terrorism was declining in the Muslim world along with a growing belief that Islamic extremism represents a threat to those countries. [8] A Daily Telegraph survey[9] showed that 6% of British Muslims fully supported the July 2005 bombings in the London Underground.

A 2004 Pew survey revealed that Osama bin Laden is viewed favorably by large percentages in Pakistan (65%), Jordan (55%) and Morocco (45%). In Turkey as many as 31% say that suicide attacks against Americans and other Westerners in Iraq are justifiable.[10] [11].

The Free Muslims Coalition[12] rallied against terror, stating that they wanted to send "a message to radical Muslims and supporters of terrorism that we reject them and that we will defeat them."

Abdel Rahman al-Rashed, a Muslim and the general manager of Arab news channel, Al-Arabiya has said: "It is a certain fact that not all Muslims are terrorists, but it is equally certain, and exceptionally painful, that almost all terrorists are Muslims." Statistics compiled by the United States government's Counterterrorism Center present a more complicated picture: of known and specified terrorist incidents from the beginning of 2004 through the first quarter of 2005, slightly more than half of the fatalities were attributed to Islamic extremists but a majority of over-all incidents were considered of either "unknown/unspecified" or a secular political nature [13]. The vast majority of the "unknown/unspecified" terrorism fatalities did however happen in Islamic regions such as Iraq and Afghanistan, or in regions where Islam is otherwise involved in conflicts such as the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, southern Thailand and Kashmir. [14] The methodology employed by the Center is sometimes disputed [15].

Iranian Ayatollah Ozma Seyyed Yousef Sanei issued a fatwa (ruling) that suicide attacks against civilians are legitimate only in the context of war.[16] The ruling did not say whether other types of attacks against civilians are justified outside of the context of war, nor whether Jihad is included in Sanei's definition of war.

Examples of attacks

U.S. State Department list

United States Department of State

See also

Islamic terms & concepts

Commonly used techniques

Books

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