From this rhetoric, Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966) emerged and is considered to be the father of modern Sunni extremism (Armstrong, 2002). Originally, Qutb was considered somewhat moderate, but after being imprisoned for being in the Muslim Brotherhood, his ideas became radicalized. His belief that Muslims are “…bound to fight to the death” (Armstrong, 2002) set the foundation for the idea of Martyrdom operations as a noble tactic. Additionally, his belief that Muslims should “…separate themselves from mainstream society…and engage in a violent jihad” (Armstrong, 2002) because his beliefs were so extreme, the Egyptian government executed Qutb in 1966 making him an instant Martyr. (Armstrong, 2002) His ideology and words form the core intonation of
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It is not solely attributable to a holy war. In a holistic sense, it can by definition the struggle can be intellectual, religious, physical, spiritual, moral, economical, or psychological. The modern interpretation however has translated to militant extremists in black clothes, carrying black flags, screaming “Allah Akbar” while they perpetrate acts of terror. Extremist Imams (Islamic religious leader), wield their message of hate from the speakers of mosques every Friday, coercing the disenfranchised and simple-minded up the “staircase of terrorism” (Moghaddam, 2005) and the path of their fictitious Sixth Pillar- Jihad. With their message that “Islam is under attack” and that governments all over the world are exploiting Muslims. Islamic State imams, as well as al-Qaeda and other jihadi groups, justify their existence by identifying “enemies” who are “killing” Muslims (AJISS, 2016, p 162). They see their own terrorist attacks as acts of revenge, for they view their actions as justified on the grounds that Islam is not about peace, but about violence (Stevenson, …show more content…
Examining the causality of successful attempts to establish the “global-caliphate” it becomes clear that Islam simply provides a common language. The policies for extremism are given horsepower by the local politics and cultural differences. Fortunately, these differences also slow the epidemic spread of the extremist ideologies. Emboldening the cause, is the conflation of terrorism with Islam and ideology. It is critical for Western outsiders to understand the relationship between secularism in the Islamic world, Islamic fundamentalism, and radical jihadist movements. In every corner of the Muslim world, exists an undereducated, impoverished, ostracized, and/or irrational soul that is searching for salvation. With that said, the counter-extremist messages and actions must become organic to Islam. For counternarratives to be effective, they must have mainstream orthodox Sunni religious leaders taking the lead, quoting early and contemporary Islamic scholars influential in the regions, nations, and communities in which these counternarratives will be disseminated. (Stevenson, 2014) There must be a unanimous stand among these religious leaders to emphasize the deviance encapsulated in the Salafist ideologies. The violent tactics of extremist using jihad as a means to an end must be outlawed. The result of unimpeded religious extremism could result in an all-out
It is not solely attributable to a holy war. In a holistic sense, it can by definition the struggle can be intellectual, religious, physical, spiritual, moral, economical, or psychological. The modern interpretation however has translated to militant extremists in black clothes, carrying black flags, screaming “Allah Akbar” while they perpetrate acts of terror. Extremist Imams (Islamic religious leader), wield their message of hate from the speakers of mosques every Friday, coercing the disenfranchised and simple-minded up the “staircase of terrorism” (Moghaddam, 2005) and the path of their fictitious Sixth Pillar- Jihad. With their message that “Islam is under attack” and that governments all over the world are exploiting Muslims. Islamic State imams, as well as al-Qaeda and other jihadi groups, justify their existence by identifying “enemies” who are “killing” Muslims (AJISS, 2016, p 162). They see their own terrorist attacks as acts of revenge, for they view their actions as justified on the grounds that Islam is not about peace, but about violence (Stevenson, …show more content…
Examining the causality of successful attempts to establish the “global-caliphate” it becomes clear that Islam simply provides a common language. The policies for extremism are given horsepower by the local politics and cultural differences. Fortunately, these differences also slow the epidemic spread of the extremist ideologies. Emboldening the cause, is the conflation of terrorism with Islam and ideology. It is critical for Western outsiders to understand the relationship between secularism in the Islamic world, Islamic fundamentalism, and radical jihadist movements. In every corner of the Muslim world, exists an undereducated, impoverished, ostracized, and/or irrational soul that is searching for salvation. With that said, the counter-extremist messages and actions must become organic to Islam. For counternarratives to be effective, they must have mainstream orthodox Sunni religious leaders taking the lead, quoting early and contemporary Islamic scholars influential in the regions, nations, and communities in which these counternarratives will be disseminated. (Stevenson, 2014) There must be a unanimous stand among these religious leaders to emphasize the deviance encapsulated in the Salafist ideologies. The violent tactics of extremist using jihad as a means to an end must be outlawed. The result of unimpeded religious extremism could result in an all-out