Islamic terrorists are estimated to comprise approximately 10% of the Muslim population, which is equivalent to 160 million out of 1.6 billion people. A terrorist is defined as a person who engages in violence and the infliction of fear in order to gain something either for themselves or for their people. Most Muslims are not terrorists. It is stereotypical to deduce that all Islamic people are involved terrorist groups, however, there are many people who are involved in these groups. Islamic terrorist groups use religion to justify their violent movement by claiming that their religion is the only just religion, strictly following religious leaders and sacred texts, and preserving their aboriginal religious beliefs.
Many terrorists believe that their religion is the only true religion, and they use it to justify violence (“Islamic Terrorism”). Most Muslim terrorists follow Jihad. Jihad is an Islamic perception that the way to integrate their religion is by massive force (“Of True Muslims and Terrorists”). Jihad is considered the “sixth pillar” of faith in Islam because it is the constant fight towards good. It is the idea of focusing on God and turning away from those that oppose God (David E. Long, 91). The terrorists believe that their religion is what everyone should follow, so they would naturally require personnel in power in Muslim states to either convert to their religion or resign from their terms. They will first threaten a leader that if they do not change, the terrorists will use violence. Sometimes, violent acts come about without any warning or previous threats (“Of True Muslims and Terrorists”). Islam is a proselytizing religion, which means it uses violence to convert people to its faith. This is because, in the ...
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"Introduction to Religious Terrorism." Terrorism: Essential Primary Sources. Ed. K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner. Detroit: Gale, 2006. 187. World History in Context. Web. 15 Jan. 2014. http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/whic/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=WHIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Reference&limiter=&u=nysl_li_schhs&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&source=&search_within_results=&p=WHIC%3AUHIC&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CCX3456600089 Long, David E.. The anatomy of terrorism. New York: Free Press ;, 1990. Print.
When we think of terrorist, we might think of radical Islamic individuals or groups who would take pride in killing anyone who is not Muslim. Even more, there are antagonistically people who want nothing more but to destroy the lives of innocence people because of their belief system. Take an individual like Theodore Kaczynski for instance; he was a former University of California at Berkeley math professor. Otherwise known as the “Unabomber,” he was indeed a terrorist because he used explosives that killed three people and wounded eighteen others in a span of almost two decades. Even more, his brother David Kaczynski was responsible for his capture.
The concept of Jihad was not widely known in the western world before the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. Since then, the word has been woven into what our media and government feed us along with notions of Terrorism, Suicide Bombings, Hamas, Al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden, and now, Jihad. Our society hears exhortations resounding from the Middle East calling the people to rise up in Jihad and beat back the imperialist Americans. Yet, if we try to peel back all of these complex layers of information we can we attempt to find out what Jihad really means. Webster’s Dictionary defines Jihad as “a holy war waged on behalf of Islam as a religious duty or a crusade for a principle or belief” (1). Often, media depicts Jihad in the same manner—as a vicious clash between two very different peoples, each of whom believes that righteousness, and in many cases God, is on their side. From this interpretation and our daily media intake, one may reasonably assume that Jihad refers to nothing more than violent acts, or “holy wars.”
Religious terrorism is usually carried out based on motivations, goals, and beliefs of a certain religious influence. The religion that seems to be the most radical and has the most terrorist activity is Islam. A very small group of Muslims are the cause for nearly all religious terrorist attacks. An example of one of the most radical, dangerous, and most powerful religious terrorist groups would be Al Qaeda.
...mbers have used the same words before they committed their suicidal actions. The connections between terrorism and Islam are pointed out clearly when the extremists say that they are waging a “holy war” against their enemies. Extremists have used Islam as a justification to attack churches, Hindu and Buddhist temples. Due to the fact that the terrorist who carried out such criminal and inhumane acts associate himself or herself with Muslim religion, the public comes to view Islam as a severe risk. In reality, only 15% of the 1 billion Muslims are extremists and out of that 15%, only a few engage in terrorist activities. However, most news stories do not focus on the places where things are going right, but on the places where things are going wrong. Due to all this, it is clear that the extremists play a large role in pinning the scarlet letter on Muslims in the US.
Sedgwick, M. (2004). Al-Qaeda and the nature of religious terrorism. Terrorism and Policical Violence, 16(4), 795-814.
Chapter seven of the textbook Essentials of Terrorism Concepts and Controversies, by Gus Martin, the author discusses Religious Terrorism as well as all of its elements in excellent detail. Religious terrorism can be defined as “terrorism motivated by an absolute belief that an otherworldly power has sanctioned and commanded the application of terrorist violence for the greater glory of the faith” (Martin, 2017, p. 9). For example, religiously motivated terrorist will violently attack other groups, or nations, whose religious views and values are divergent. It is easy to assume that religious terrorism could have been the first form of terrorism humankind has seen. However, in today’s modern society when most people think of a religious
Terrorism is used around the world to create fear and influence the public on political views (Siegel, 489). There are four views of terrorism including the psychological view, socialization view, ideological view, and the alienation view. A religious terrorist would most likely fit under the ideological view. In this view the terrorist feels the need to change a wrong opinion and believes that, because they are sacrificing themselves for something they believe so strongly in, it justifies the damage and harm done to innocent people (Siegel, 490). They use terror to create fear in anyone who opposes them and attract followers to their religion. In short, terrorism is widely used for political reasons but religion has been linked to the violence as well.
With the use of the word Jihad by men such as Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden, many people believe that Jihad highlights the violent nature of Muslim people. However, in its pure form, Islam is not at all violent. Muslims are taught to fulfill Jihad through four methods: the heart, the tongue, the hand, and the sword (Jihad 2). The first is the internal struggle to cleanse oneself of internal evil. Fulfilling Jihad through heart and hand are directed more toward supporting what is right and correcting which is wrong. Raising the sword in defense of Islam is only prescribed when all other methods have failed and Muslims have come under attack. A passage in the Quran, the holy book of Islam, states, "Fight for the sake of God those that fight against you, but do not attack them first. God does not love the aggressors"(Van Voorst 311). However, there ...
Terrorism did for the sake of the faith has for some time been an element of human undertakings. The histories of individuals, civic establishments, countries, and realms are packed with illustrations of radical genuine devotees who take part in brutality to advance their conviction framework. A few religious terrorists are propelled by protective thought processes, others look to guarantee the transcendence of their faith, and others are inspired by a forceful amalgam of these propensities. Religious terrorism can be mutual, genocidal, agnostic, or progressive. It can be submitted by solitary wolves, covert cells, expansive dissenter developments, or governments. Also, contingent upon one 's point of view, there is regularly discuss about whether the culprits ought to be named terrorists or religious opportunity contenders.
Terrorism helps terrorist to justify the violence they commit. This gives them collective meaning. It gives them some type of power. Terrorist come from every walk of life some with long criminal records or histories of juvenile
A lot of people believe that Muslims, Islam, and/or the Holy Quran encourages killing, fighting, and terrorism. Events such as the 9/11 attack in the United States, the Boston Marathon Bombing, and conflicts in the Middle East causes the media to label Muslims as terrorists. When a specific group of people cause violence to another group it is categorized as ‘hate crime’, but if a Muslim does the same act, the media immediately labels it as ‘terrorism’ (Frater, 2009). As a matter of fact, regarding to the attacks of the mosques in Israel, the media did not use the acts to victimize or stereotype Judaism. Moreover, some extremist groups use Islam as a tactic to gain followers even though a lot of their practices go against the teachings of the Quran. A person would not be considered a Muslim if they spread fear or terrorize others. The Quran clearly states, “You shall not take life, which God has made sacred, except by way of justice and law.” (Quran, 6:151). Islam is against any force or violence towards another person. Often the word ‘Jihad’ is taken out of context by violent militants; it means to strive or struggle for the sake of ones’ self improvement with respect to their spirituality. Religious and political groups use Jihad to justify ...
Firstly, According to article (Religious extremism: The good, the bad, and the deadly) because of their similarities to each other, there are confusions between religious extremism and terrorism. The differences between the two are the values they hold and the intention of the act. “Religious extremists are willing to murder because they embrace theologies that sanction violence in the service of God. They have no sympathy for their victims, because they view those victims as enemies of God.” (Iannaccone, L. R., & Berman, E. 2006) Religious sects are organized by internal scholarships which strongly contribute to the forming of their values.
Nelson, Jack. Is religion killing us?violence in the Bible and the Quran / Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer.. 2003 Print.
Cook, David. “The Greater Jihad and the Lesser Jihad.” Understanding Jihad. Berkeley and Los Angeles: The Regents of the University of California, 2005. 35-39. Print.
Ellens, J. Harold. The Destructive Power of Religion. Violence in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Volume 2. Connecticut, 2004