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Permalink Denial is not a river in MisrBy Sabir Promoted to frontpage The recent thwarted by authorities in the UK should give Muslims occasion to reflect on the prevalence of extremism in the Muslim community. The incidents in London and Glasgow are merely the latest in a long string of terrorist plots that doesn't seem to have abated. Whether in Afghanistan, Iraq, , , , , , , , , , or , the frequency with which terrorist attacks occur should prompt some deep soul-searching on the part of traditional Muslims. It's time for the traditionalists among us to admit that we have a problem.
Of course, the overwhelming majority of Muslims are not terrorists, nor are all terrorists Muslim. But we'd be kidding ourselves if we claimed that a disproportionate number of terrorists aren't Muslim or that the most destructive and deadly terrorist attacks aren't perpetrated by Muslims fighting under the banner of Islam. Furthermore, terrorism is but an extreme manifestation of a rejectionist mentality that is all too common amongst Muslims. Though few Muslims attempt to justify terrorist attacks, many steadfastly deny that Muslims were ultimately responsible, attributing them to elaborate conspiracy theories in which the Muslim hijackers/bombers were unwitting pawns in a grand plot directed by America/Israel/India/Freemasons. Even if such views are to be taken at face value, their advocates seem disturbingly unconcerned about the propensity of Muslims to be brainwashed and unwittingly recruited into shadowy non-Muslim conspiracies. Even many Muslims who do not share the conspiratorial mindset cannot accept the idea that Islamic extremism is any more prevalent or dangerous than extremist movements in other communities. They illustrate their denial by drawing superficially relevant paralells between al-Qaeda and abortion clinic bombers or the Irish Liberation Army. But such comparisons miss the mark; no other community has extremists that have sought to wage a decentralized war on an entire civilization and indiscriminately turn major urban centers into battlegrounds. As much as we'd like to believe that terrorist attacks are the work of a tiny minority of locally-oriented fringe extremists, this tiny minority is active and vocal, their ambitions are global, and they don't seem to be starved for recruits. Their websites are on the Internet for all to see. Their message boards attract posters from around the world who wish destruction on the West and preach hatred of non-Muslims (and Shi'ites). Their rhetoric advocates the imposition of Islamic hegemony through perpetual conflict with "Dar al-Harb". Who knows how many adherents to such views frequent mainstream masajid; I can remember a few Muslims in the masjid I grew up in who were disturbingly indifferent to the horrors of 9/11. That's a few too many. Unlike right-wing pundits, I do not believe that Muslims haven't done enought to condemn terrorism, nor do I think that mainstream Islamic organizations are complicit in jihadi violence. Indeed, most Muslim leaders and institutions the world over issue condemnation after condemnation every time jihadists perpetrate a headline-grabbing attack, especially on Western soil. However, the condemnations do not rise to the level of awareness that there seems to be a genuine problem of violent extremism in the Muslim community. Rather, such statements usually consist entirely of banal proclamations about the peaceful nature of Islam and citations to pleasant-sounding Quranic verses that jihadists are undoubtedly aware of. Muslim organizations' work on the issue of violent extremism seems aimed only at responding to criticism from non-Muslims and mitigating public relations damage. The political discourse of the Islamic legal tradition on its face contains nothing to encourage or prohibit such attacks, simply because the great fuqaha of the past didn't foresee the modern realities that would enable asymmetric warfare and devastating pinpoint attacks in urban centers by non-traditional combatants. Extremists have seized upon this ambiguity to frame their campaign as a revival of the Muslim tradition of jihad. Mainstream Muslim scholars and institutions need to counter this strain of thought by launching coordinated efforts to develop coherent arguments refuting jihadi ideology based on the same body of classical Islamic jurisprudence that jihadists have appropriated. Such endeavors would inevitably lead to the development of an Islamic political narrative that proactively seeks to build the power of the Muslim World through legitimate means as a productive member of the international community, thereby marginalizing any extremist elements who persist in their rejectionism. The fact that some terrorists are drawn from mainstream communities in the West (or worse, are Western born and bred, such as the 7/7 London bombers) should be cause for alarm. Outlets of traditional Islamic education such as , the , and the need to make space in their curricula for combating extremist ideology. If such outlets have the resources for multi-part seminars on , There is no reason why they shouldn't devote entire courses to repudiating violent extremism. Imams need to devote khutbahs to attacking and refuting extremism instead of ranting about the ills of American foreign policy; preaching to the choir may be easy, but it doesn't accomplish much. Masajid in at-risk regions (such as certain areas of the UK) need to set up task forces aimed at curbing violent extremism and ensuring that impressionable youth are not taken in by extremist movements. Umbrella organizations (such as in North America or the in the UK) need to form committees to encourage anti-extremism efforts and provide local communities with tools and resources. It is imperative that traditionalists take the lead in this fight. Although newfangled "Progressive" Muslim movements have been vocal on the issue of extremism, they lack the grassroots credibility in Muslim communities needed to have a meaningful impact. Extremists' claims to find support for their views in traditional Islamic law and the continued silence of mainstream traditionalists is not just lending ammunition to who argue that Islam is inherently violent, it's placing Muslim nations and communities in danger. Only by aggressively confronting extremists in the marketplace of ideas can the fitna of extremism be effectively defeated.
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Tags: Extremism, al-Qaeda, Terrorism (all tags) Denial is not a river in Misr | 10 comments (10 topical, 0 hidden) Denial is not a river in Misr | 10 comments (10 topical, 0 hidden)
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