What's the Truth about Islamic Terrorism?

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"What's the Truth about Islamic Terrorism?"

By Cky J. Carrigan, Ph.D. (Sep 24, 2001, rev.2-27-02)

The terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11th has raised many questions about Islam. Perhaps the chief question is whether Islam is a terrorist religion or not. Many media commentators and American Islamic leaders have answered that genuine Islamic teachings absolutely forbid the kind of terrorist act perpetrated in New York and Washington. They assert that true Islam is basically a peace loving religion and deny any involvement by true Islam in the airline suicide hijackings. On the other hand, a small segment of the American population blames every Muslim for the horrific deeds in question as if all Islam is a terrorizing Islam. But, what's the truth? Is Islam a violent, terrorizing religion . . . or not? The answer is not as simple as some have made it seem.

THE TRUTH IS that this question requires an understanding of the diversity that exists in modern Islam composed of one billion Muslims. There are several interpretations of what constitutes true Islam in the Islamic world. This fact is analogous to various interpretations of true Christianity in the Christian world or true Judaism in the Jewish world or true Hinduism in the Hindu world, etc.

THE TRUTH IS that a significant constituency of Muslims interpret Islam in a way that absolutely demands the kind of brutal violence we witnessed on September 11th in the name of fidelity to Islam and its Holy Places. We'll call this FUNDAMENTALIST ISLAM. Fundamentalist Islam is very similar to the kind of Islam practiced from A.D. 622 to c. 1500. America, known to the Islamic world as a Christian nation, supports Israel 's occupation of the third holiest place in Islam (Jerusalem). America stands in the way of recovering other Islamic lands as well. And America is an obstacle to worldwide Islamic expansion. Therefore American people, military and civilians alike, are the enemy of Islam and may be killed as long as they stand in the way of Islam. This kind of Islam is not a fringe movement as it has often been described. The number of Muslims in this camp may be as many as 300 million.* Fundamentalist Muslims may be found in significant numbers in many Islamic countries. The most notorious leaders of Fundamentalist Islam include Ayatollah Khomeini from Iran (deceased) and Osama bin Laden from Saudi Arabia.

THE TRUTH IS that there is also a constituency of the Islamic world that absolutely rejects Fundamentalist Islam in favor of a kind of Islam influenced more by Western sensibilities about religious toleration. We'll call this LIBERAL ISLAM. A majority of American Muslims and European Muslims fall in this camp. They would never consent to the killing of civilians in order to advance Islam, and they would only rarely consent to violence for the indirect defense of Islamic interests. The size of this constituency is probably significantly smaller than Fundamentalist Islam. The number of Muslims that embrace Liberal Islam is probably less than 100 million worldwide.

THE TRUTH IS that the largest constituency of the Islamic world has a very complicated view of the use of violence to defend and advance Islam that permits warlike activity in some cases but not in others. We'll call this MODERATE ISLAM. Moderate Islam is probably split about the justness of the violent action perpetrated on America by Fundamentalist Islam in New York and Washington. Moderate Islam navigates between early Islam practiced by Mohammed and the Caliphs from A.D. 622 to the late middle ages and Liberal Islam influenced heavily by the ideas of Western modernity. There may be as many as 600 million Muslims in the camp of Moderate Islam.

THEREFORE THE SUMMARY TRUTH IS...

1) A very large number of Fundamentalist Muslims in the world supports the kind of terrorism advanced upon America on September 11th.

2) Liberal Islam on the other hand abhors the attack of September 11th in the name of Islam. Liberal Islam is composed mostly of American and European Muslims.

3) Between the above two extreme positions lies Moderate Islam, which represents the vast majority of Islam. Moderate Muslims are conflicted about the attack on America. Some Moderate Islamic teachings can be interpreted to support the attack and some Moderate Islamic teachings can be interpreted to reject the attack. Moderate Islam often finds itself in the position of tacitly approving the violent conduct of Fundamentalist Islam by failing to stand against it because it is Islam.

4) American expressions of Islam are probably composed of an equal number of Liberal Muslims and Moderate Muslims together with a very small number of Fundamentalist Muslims.

5) If only 5% of Muslims in the world are Fundamentalist Muslims which support the kind of terrorist acts of Sepember 11th, then America has 60 million Muslim enemies in the world.

6) If only 5% of Muslims in America are Fundamentalist Muslims which support the kind of terrorist acts of Sepember 11th, then America has 300 thousand Muslim enemies living within its borders.

* The populations of the three groups of Muslims presented in this essay are not hard statistical numbers. They are very rough estimates designed to communicate two big ideas: the large numbers of Fundamentalist Muslims and the numbers of each group in relation to each other. *** In February 2002, however, Gallup Poll released the results of polling data that may yield a more scientific estimation of the size of Islamic Fundamentalism. About 10,000 adult Muslims in nine Islamic countries were polled. 15% of those polled said that the September 11th attacks on the WTC and the Pentagon were morally justified. If this percentage is found to be representative of the entire Muslim worldwide population, then it could be argued that there is statistical evidence to support the claim that there may be as many as 180 million adult Fundamentalist Muslims who believe that the September 11th attacks were morally justified. If an equal number of Muslim children agree with their adult counterparts, then it could also be argued that there may be as many as 360 million Fundamentalist Muslims who believe that the September 11th attacks were morally justified.

Recommended Resources

Websites:

Religion of Islam (by Saudi Arabian Embassy)

Free Quran (by Saudi Arabian Embassy)

Answering Islam (From Christian Perspective)

Books:

Braswell, Jr. George. Islam: Its Prophet, Peoples, Politics and Power. Broadman & Holman, 1996.

Braswell, Jr. George. What You Need to Know About Islam and Muslims. Broadman & Holman, 2000.

The Cambridge History of Islam, 2 vols. Cambridge Press.

Geisler, Norman L. and Abdul Saleeb. Answering Islam. Baker, 1993.

Netton, Ian Richard, A Popular Dictionary of Islam. Curzon, 1992.

Robinson, Francis. Atlas of the Islamic World Since 1500. Equinox, 1982.