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{{Short description|Terrorist acts by groups of individuals who profess Islamic motivations or goals}}
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'''Islamic terrorism''' (also known as '''Islamist terrorism''' or '''radical Islamic terrorism''' or '''Jihadi terrorism''') refers to ] carried out by ] ] ] and ].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |author1-last=Norton |author1-first=Richard A. |author1-link=Augustus Richard Norton |author2-last=Kéchichian |author2-first=Joseph A. |author2-link=Joseph A. Kéchichian |title=Terrorism |encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World |editor-last=Esposito |editor-first=John L. |editor-link=John Esposito |location=] and ] |publisher=] |year=2009 |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195305135.001.0001/acref-9780195305135-e-0796 |isbn=978-0-19-530513-5}}{{subscription required}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |author=Thomas Hegghammer |title=Terrorism |editor1-last=Böwering |editor1-first=Gerhard |editor1-link=Gerhard Böwering |editor2-last=Crone |editor2-first=Patricia |editor2-link=Patricia Crone |encyclopedia=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought |location=Princeton, New Jersey |publisher=] |year=2013 |pages=545–547}}</ref><ref name="French 2020">{{cite book |last=French |first=Nathan S. |year=2020 |chapter=A Jihadi-Salafi Legal Tradition? Debating Authority and Martyrdom |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dWHdDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA36 |title=And God Knows the Martyrs: Martyrdom and Violence in Jihadi-Salafism |location=] and ] |publisher=] |doi=10.1093/oso/9780190092153.003.0002 |pages=36–69 |isbn=978-0-19-009215-3 |lccn=2019042378}}</ref>
'''Islamic terrorism''' (also known as '''Jihadist terrorism'''{{Fact|date=December 2008}}, but not to be confused with '''Islamist terrorism'''<ref name=nassar>Nassar, Jamal R. ''Globalization and Terrorism: The Migration of Dreams and Nightmares''. 2005, page 87.</ref>) is ] by those whose motivations are rooted in their interpretations of ].


Since at least the 1990s, Islamist terrorist incidents have occurred around the world and targeted both ] and non-Muslims.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/24/isis-ideology-islamic-militants-british-appeal-iraq-syria|title=Isis: a contrived ideology justifying barbarism and sexual control|first=Mona|last=Siddiqui|author-link=Mona Siddiqui|work=The Guardian |date=23 August 2014|access-date=7 January 2015 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140824131118/http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/24/isis-ideology-islamic-militants-british-appeal-iraq-syria |archive-date=24 August 2014}}</ref> Most attacks have been concentrated in ],<ref>{{cite web|date=November 2015|title=Global Terrorism Index Report 2015|url=http://economicsandpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Global-Terrorism-Index-2015.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151123075703/http://economicsandpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Global-Terrorism-Index-2015.pdf|archive-date=23 November 2015|access-date=13 January 2022|website=]|publisher=]|page=10}}</ref> with studies finding 80-90% of terrorist victims to be Muslim.<ref>The study was conducted by a French non-governmental organization. {{Cite journal|last1=Ritchie|first1=Hannah|author1-link=Hannah Ritchie |last2=Hasell|first2=Joe|last3=Appel|first3=Cameron|last4=Roser|first4=Max|author4-link=Max Roser |date=28 July 2013|title=Terrorism|url=https://ourworldindata.org/terrorism|journal=Our World in Data}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Overwhelming majority of terror victims are Muslims|url=https://www.trtworld.com/mea/overwhelming-majority-of-terror-victims-are-muslims-31586|access-date=31 October 2020|website=Overwhelming majority of terror victims are Muslims|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fondapol.org/dans-les-medias/islamists-have-killed-167096-people-since-1979-most-of-them-were-muslims/|date=November 2019|title=Islamists have killed 167,096 people since 1979}}</ref>
According to statistics gathered in 2006 by the ] of the United States, "Islamic extremism" was responsible for approximately a quarter of all terrorism fatalities worldwide,<ref name="nctc2006"/> and a majority of the fatalities for which responsibility could be conclusively determined.<ref name="nctc2006"> US National Counterterrorism center, page 20, 'Fatalities by Perpetrator Category / Islamic Extremist (Sunni) - 19% / Secular 16% / Islamic Extremist (Shia) - 2% / Other - 4% / Unknown - 59%.' Thus, in 41% of all terrorist fatalities "a perpetrator could be specified" and in 56% of these (23% of all attacks) the terrorist "could be specified" as a Sunni or Shia "Islamic extremist."</ref> Terrorist acts have included ], ], ], ], ], ] and occasionally, ].<ref></ref><ref></ref><ref></ref><ref>"Abu Sayyaf members sometimes rape female hostages or force them into temporary marriages for sex." from "Big target pinned on small rebel group" by Paul Wiseman, ''USA Today'', 02/21/2002</ref>
The annual number of fatalities from terrorist attacks grew sharply from 2011 to 2014 when it reached a peak of 33,438, before declining to 13,826 in 2019.<ref name="gti-2020-15">{{cite web |title=Global Terrorism Index 2020: Measuring the Impact of Terrorism |url=https://www.visionofhumanity.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/GTI-2020-web-1.pdf |website=Vision of Humanity |publisher=Institute for Economics & Peace |access-date=6 May 2021 |page=15}}</ref> As of 2015, four ] – ], ], the ], and ] – were responsible for 74% of all deaths from ].<ref name="GTI2016-4">{{cite book|url=http://economicsandpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Global-Terrorism-Index-2016.2.pdf|title=Global Terrorism Index 2016|date=2016|publisher=Institute for Economics and Peace|page=4|access-date=13 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161117033240/http://economicsandpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Global-Terrorism-Index-2016.2.pdf|archive-date=17 November 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Egypt's Counterinsurgency Success in Sinai|url=https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/egypts-counterinsurgency-success-sinai|access-date=12 February 2022|website=The Washington Institute|language=en}}</ref> In some of the worst-affected Muslim-majority regions, these terrorists have been met by armed, independent resistance groups.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/01/kurdish-peshmerga-kobani-isis-syria|title=Kurdish peshmerga forces arrive in Kobani to bolster fight against Isis|author=Constanze Letsch|work=The Guardian|date=November 2014|access-date=7 January 2015}}</ref> Islamist terrorism has also been roundly condemned by prominent Islamic figures and groups.<ref name=kurzman>{{cite web|url=http://kurzman.unc.edu/islamic-statements-against-terrorism/|title=Islamic Statements Against Terrorism |author=Charles Kurzman|publisher=UNC.edu|author-link=Charles Kurzman|access-date=31 January 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ispu.org/al-qaida-today-a-movement-at-a-crossroads/ |title=Al-Qaida today: a movement at the crossroads |date=14 May 2009 |author=Fawaz A. Gerges |author-link=Fawaz Gerges|access-date=7 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141025152045/https://www.opendemocracy.net/article/al-qaida-today-the-fate-of-a-movement|archive-date=25 October 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalreview.com/article/388593/moderate-muslims-stand-against-isis-christine-sisto|title=Moderate Muslims Stand against ISIS |author=Christine Sisto|work=National Review|access-date=7 January 2015 |date=23 September 2014}}</ref>


Justifications given for attacks on civilians by Islamic extremist groups come from their interpretations of the ],<ref name="French 2020" /> the '']'',<ref name=holbrook1>{{cite journal |last=Holbrook |first=Donald |year=2010 |title=Using the Qur'an to Justify Terrorist Violence |journal=Perspectives on Terrorism |publisher=Terrorism Research Initiative and ] |volume=4 |issue=3}}</ref><ref name=holbrook2 /> and ].<ref name="French 2020" /> These include retribution by armed '']'' for the perceived injustices of ] against Muslims;<ref name="Wiktorowicz-2003">{{cite journal |last1=Wiktorowicz |first1=Quintan |last2=Kaltner |first2=John |title=Killing in the Name of Islam: Al-Qaeda's Justification for September 11 |journal=Middle East Policy |date=Summer 2003 |volume=X |issue=2 |pages=85–90|url=https://www.aclu.org/files/fbimappingfoia/20111110/ACLURM001177.pdf |access-date=12 August 2019}}</ref> the belief that many self-proclaimed Muslims have violated Islamic law and are disbelievers ('']'');<ref name="Poljarevic 2021">{{cite book |author-last=Poljarevic |author-first=Emin |year=2021 |chapter=Theology of Violence-oriented Takfirism as a Political Theory: The Case of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) |editor1-last=Cusack |editor1-first=Carole M. |editor1-link=Carole M. Cusack |editor2-last=Upal |editor2-first=M. Afzal |editor2-link=Afzal Upal |title=Handbook of Islamic Sects and Movements |location=] and ] |publisher=] |series=Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion |volume=21 |doi=10.1163/9789004435544_026 |doi-access=free |isbn=978-90-04-43554-4 |issn=1874-6691 |pages=485–512}}</ref> the perceived necessity of restoring Islam by establishing ], including by reestablishing the ] as a ] state (e.g. ]);<ref name="what-isis-really-wants">{{cite magazine |last=Wood |first=Graeme |author-link=Graeme Wood (journalist) |title=What ISIS Really Wants |magazine=] |location=] |date=March 2015 |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2015/02/what-isis-really-wants/384980/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150216095910/https://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2015/02/what-isis-really-wants/384980/ |archive-date=16 February 2015 |url-status=live |access-date=30 October 2020}}</ref> the glory and heavenly rewards of ];<ref name=holbrook2>{{cite book |last=Holbreook |first=Donald |date=2014 |title=The Al-Qaeda Doctrine |location=London |publisher=] |pages=30ff, 61ff, 83ff |isbn= 978-1-62356-314-1}}</ref> and the belief in the ] over all ].{{#tag:ref|which is encapsulated in the formula "Islam is exalted and nothing is exalted above it".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Tolerance and Coercion in Islam: Interfaith Relations in the Muslim tradition |last=Yohanan|first=Friedmann |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2003|isbn=978-0-521-82703-4|editor-last=Morgan|editor-first=David|location=Cambridge|oclc=57256339}}</ref> Also World Assembly of Muslim Youth "which has publicly stated that one of its educational goals is to ''arm the Muslim youth with full confidence in the supremacy of the Islamic system over other systems.''"<ref name="Flow_WAMY_NYT">{{cite news |last1=van Natta Jr. |first1=Don |title=Flow of Saudis' Cash to Hamas Is Scrutinized |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/17/world/flow-of-saudis-cash-to-hamas-is-scrutinized.html |access-date=11 August 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=17 September 2003}}</ref>|group=Note}}
Perhaps the most resonant, well known, and well ] incident of ] was the hijacking of four passenger jets and the destruction of the ] on the day of ] 2001, in the ]. Other prominent attacks have occurred in ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ] and ]. These terrorist groups often describe their actions as Islamic ] (struggle). Self-proclaimed sentences of punishment or death issued publicly as threats often come in the form of ]s (Islamic legal judgments). Both Muslims and non-Muslims have been among the targets and victims, but threats against Muslims are often issued as ] (a declaration that a person, group or institution that describes itself as Muslim has in fact left Islam and thus is a traitor). This is an implicit death threat as the punishment for ] is death under ] law.


The use of the phrase "Islamic terrorism" is disputed. In Western political speech, it has variously been called "counter-productive", "highly politicized, intellectually contestable" and "damaging to community relations", by those who disapprove of the characterization 'Islamic'.<ref name="Jackson2007">{{cite journal|last=Jackson|first=Richard|year=2007|title=Constructing Enemies: 'Islamic Terrorism' in Political and Academic Discourse|journal=Government and Opposition|volume=42|issue=3|pages=394–426|doi=10.1111/j.1477-7053.2007.00229.x|s2cid=143513477|issn=0017-257X}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hoover.org/research/religious-sources-islamic-terrorism|title=The Religious Sources of Islamic Terrorism|author=Shmuel Bar|publisher=Hoover Institution}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.csis.org/analysis/islam-and-patterns-terrorism-and-violent-extremism|title=Islam and the Patterns in Terrorism and Violent Extremism|author=Anthony H. Cordesman|date=17 October 2017 |publisher=Center for Strategic and International Studies}}</ref> It has been argued that "Islamic terrorism" is a ] for what should be called "] terrorism".<ref name="islamism" />
The controversies surrounding the subject include whether the terrorist act is self-defense or aggression, national self-determination or Islamic supremacy;whether ] can ever condone the targeting of noncombatants; whether some attacks described as Islamic terrorism are merely terrorist acts committed by Muslims or motivated by nationalism; whether the ] is the root of Islamic terrorism, or simply one cause; how much support there is in the Muslim world for Islamic terrorism<ref>Tony Blair, "Speech to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council", http://www.number10.gov.uk/output/Page9948.asp</ref> and whether support for terror is a temporary phenomenum, a "bubble", now fading away.<ref></ref>
__TOC__


== Terminology ==
==Debate over terminology==
] and ] (US president and UK Prime Minister respectively at the time of the ]) repeatedly stated that the war against terrorism has nothing to do with Islam.<ref name="Bar">{{cite web |last1=Bar |first1=Shmuel |title=The Religious Sources of Islamic Terrorism |url=https://www.hoover.org/research/religious-sources-islamic-terrorism |website=Hoover Institute |access-date=12 August 2019 |date=1 June 2004}}</ref> Others inside and out of the Islamic world who oppose its use on the grounds there is no connection between Islam and terrorism include ], the prime minister of Pakistan, and academic ].<ref name="IK-6-19">{{cite news |title=Islam has no connection with terrorism: Imran Khan |url=https://www.globalvillagespace.com/islam-has-no-connection-with-terrorism-imran-khan/ |access-date=8 August 2019 |agency=Global Village Space |date=2 June 2019}}</ref><ref name="Siasat">{{cite web |title=Islam has no connection with terrorism: Prof. Bruce Lawrence |url=https://archive.siasat.com/news/islam-has-no-connection-terrorism-prof-bruce-lawrence-404381/ |website=Siasat Daily |access-date=8 August 2019 |date=22 February 2013}}</ref>
Former US president ] explained why he used the term "terrorism" rather than "Islamic terrorism" in a 2016 townhall meeting saying, "There is no doubt, ... terrorist organizations like ] or ISIL – They have perverted and distorted and tried to claim the mantle of Islam for an excuse for basically barbarism and death ... But what I have been careful about when I describe these issues is to make sure that we do not lump these murderers into the billion Muslims that exist around the world ..."<ref name="Diaz_why_CNN_29-9-16">{{cite news |last1=Diaz |first1=Daniella |title=Obama: Why I won't say 'Islamic terrorism' |url=https://www.cnn.com/2016/09/28/politics/obama-radical-islamic-terrorism-cnn-town-hall/index.html |access-date=11 August 2019 |publisher=CNN |date=29 September 2016}}</ref>


It has been argued that "Islamic terrorism" is a ] for what should be called "] terrorism".<ref name="islamism">{{cite web |last1=Courty |first1=Audrey |last2=Rane |first2=Halim |title=Why the media needs to be more responsible for how it links Islam and Islamist terrorism |url=http://theconversation.com/why-the-media-needs-to-be-more-responsible-for-how-it-links-islam-and-islamist-terrorism-103170 |website=The Conversation |access-date=8 August 2019 |date=1 October 2018}}</ref>
"Islamic terrorism" is itself a controversial phrase, although its usage is widespread throughout the English-speaking world. ] believes that the phrase "Islamic terrorism" is apt, because although "Islam, as a religion" is not "particularly conducive to terrorism or even tolerant of terrorism". In his own words:
{{cquote|Islam has had an essentially political character ... from its very foundation ... to the present day. An intimate association between religion and politics, between power and cult, marks a principal distinction between Islam and other religions. ... In traditional Islam and therefore also in resurgent fundamentalist Islam, God is the sole source of sovereignty. God is the head of the state. The state is God's state. The army is God's army. The treasury is God's treasury, and the enemy, of course, is God's enemy. <ref>"Islamic Terrorism?" by Bernard Lewis, in ''Terrorism: How The West Can Win''. edited by Netanyahu, Benjamin, Farrar Straus Giroux, 1987, p.66.</ref></blockquote>}}


In January 2008, the ] Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties issued a report titled "Terminology to Define the Terrorists: Recommendations from American Muslims",<ref name="DHS-terminology">{{cite web |title=Terminology to Define the Terrorists: Recommendations from American Muslims |url=https://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/dhs_crcl_terminology_08-1-08_accessible.pdf |website=U.S. Department of Homeland Security |access-date=15 July 2021}}</ref> which opened with
This argument is countered by ] and Karim H. Karim, who contend that because there are over a billion adherents of the religion, the phenomenon is more precisely regarded as "Islamist terrorism"<ref name=nassar /> or "militant Islamism",<ref>Karim, Karim H. ''Islamic Peril: Media and Global Violence''. 2003, page 10.</ref> because '']'' describes political ideologies rooted in interpretations of Islam.<ref name=nassar /> In this vein, describing terrorism as "Islamic" may confirm "a prejudicial perspective of all things Islamic".<ref>Pratt, Douglas. ''The Challenge Of Islam: Encounters In Interfaith Dialogue''. 2005, page 173.</ref>
{{Blockquote
|text=Words matter. The terminology that senior government officials use must accurately identify the nature of the challenges that face our generation. At the same time, the terminology should also be strategic – it should avoid helping the terrorists by inflating the religious bases and glamorous appeal of their ideology.
}}
The office "consulted with some of the leading U.S.-based scholars and commentators on Islam to discuss the best terminology to use when describing the terrorist threat." Among the experts they consulted,
{{Blockquote
|text=here was a consensus that the should avoid unintentionally portraying terrorists, who lack moral and religious legitimacy, as brave fighters, legitimate soldiers, or spokesmen for ordinary Muslims. Therefore, the experts counseled caution in using terms such as, "jihadist," "Islamic terrorist," "Islamist," and "holy warrior" as grandiose descriptions.
}}


== History ==
] contends that "fundamentalism is often a form of nationalism in religious disguise", and that using the phrase "Muslim terrorism" is dangerously counterproductive, as it suggests those in the west believe that such atrocities are caused by Islam, and hence reinforces the viewpoint of some in the Muslim world that the west is an implacable enemy.<ref name="labels">{{cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/comment/story/0,16141,1525894,00.html|title=The label of Catholic terror was never used about the IRA|author=Karen Armstrong|date=2005-07-11|publisher=The Guardian}}</ref> Armstrong believes that the terrorists in no way represent mainstream Islam, and suggests the use of other terms such as "Wahhabi terrorism" and "]ian terrorism".<ref name="labels"/>
=== Pre-20th century ===
Whether Islamic terrorism is a recent phenomenon is disputed. Some maintain that there was no terrorism in Islam prior to late 20th and early 21st century, while others, such as ], claim that from the beginning of Islam, "violent movements have arisen" such as the ],<ref name="First Terrorists?">{{cite book |last1=Ibn Warraq |title=The Islam in Islamic Terrorism : the importance of Beliefs, Ideas, and Ideology |date=2017 |publisher=New English Review Press |location=London, UK |isbn=978-1-943003-08-2|chapter=9 The First Terrorists? Kharijites, Violence, and the Demand for the Purification of Islam of Its Unpious Accretions |edition=First}}</ref> Sahl ibn Salama, ], ] movement, ], etc., "seeking to revive true Islam, which its members felt had been neglected in Muslim societies, who were not living up to the ideals of the earliest Muslims".<ref name=ibn-warraq-violent>{{cite book |last1=Ibn Warraq |title=The Islam in Islamic Terrorism : the importance of Beliefs, Ideas, and Ideology |date=2017 |publisher=New English Review Press |location=London, UK |isbn=978-1-943003-08-2 |page=18 |edition=First}}</ref> The 7th century ], according to some, started from an essentially political position but developed extreme doctrines that set them apart from both mainstream ] and ] Muslims. The group was particularly noted for adopting a radical approach to '']'', whereby they declared Muslim opponents to be unbelievers and therefore worthy of death,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/fruits-of-the-tree-of-extremism|title=Imam Mohamad Jebara: Fruits of the tree of extremism|author=Mohamad Jebara More Mohamad Jebara|work=Ottawa Citizen}}</ref> and also by their strong resemblance to contemporary ISIL.<ref name="SHEEMA KHAN 2014">{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/another-battle-with-islams-true-believers/article20802390/ |title=Another battle with Islam's 'true believers'|work=The Globe and Mail |last1=KHAN |first1=SHEEMA |date=29 September 2014}}</ref>


=== 1960s–1970s ===
==History==
During the era of the anti-colonial struggle in ] and the ], coinciding with the creation of ] in 1948, a series of ] and ] movements swept throughout the Arab and Islamic world. These movements were nationalist and revolutionary, but not Islamic. However, their view that terrorism could be effective in reaching their political goals generated the first phase of modern international terrorism. In the late 1960s, Palestinian secular movements such as ] and the ] (PFLP) began to target civilians outside the immediate arena of conflict. Following Israel's ] in 1967, Palestinian leaders began to realize that the ] was unable to defeat Israel in the battlefield. At the same time, lessons drawn from the ] and ]s across Latin America, North Africa and Southeast Asia, motivated the Palestinians to turn away from ] towards urban terrorism. These movements were secular in nature, though their international reach served to spread terrorist tactics worldwide.<ref name="Islamic Evolution" /> Moreover, the ] between mostly US-aligned conservative Islamic monarchies (Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Jordan) and Soviet-aligned secular national-revolutionary governments (Egypt, Syria, Algeria, Libya, Iraq) inspired a growth of religiously motivated Islamic movements in the Middle East, supported by ], which came into conflict with the predominant secular (] and ]) nationalist ideologies at the time.<ref name="Islamic Evolution" /><ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/45072440 | jstor=45072440 | title=Nasser's Pan-Arab Radicalism and the Saudi Drive for Islamic Solidarity : A Response for Security | last1=Baba | first1=Noor Ahmad | journal=India Quarterly | date=17 November 1992 | volume=48 | issue=1/2 | pages=1–22 | doi=10.1177/097492849204800101 | s2cid=157470830 |issn = 0974-9284}}</ref>
According to one source, although Islamic terrorism, at least in the form of suicide attacks - dates back to the ] sect of the 11th century, "its modern history begins with statements made by Sheik ]", the spiritual leader of ], who said in an interview published in 1983:
{{cquote|We believe that the future has surprises in store. The jihad is bitter and harsh, it will spring from inside, through effort, patience and sacrifice, and the spirit of readiness for martyrdom.<ref name="nytimes.com"></ref>}}


The book ''The Revolt'' by ], leader of the ] militia and future Israeli Prime Minister, influenced both ]'s urban guerrilla theory and ]'s Islamist ] organization.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://warontherocks.com/2021/07/july-22-a-pivotal-day-in-terrorism-history/ |title=July 22: A Pivotal Day in Terrorism History | date=22 July 2021}}</ref> Israeli journalist ] in the book '']'' asserted that ]'s 1983 campaign of coordinated terrorist attacks against American, French and Israeli military installations in ] drew inspiration from and directly mirrored the ]'s and ]'s 1946 bombing campaign against the British: both succeeded in creating an atmosphere of widespread fear which eventually forced the enemy to withdraw.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rise and Kill First The Secret History of Israel: Targeted Assassinations by Ronen Bergman |url=https://theswissbay.ch/pdf/Books/Politics/Rise%20and%20Kill%20First%20The%20Secret%20History%20of%20Israel%E2%80%99s%20Targeted%20Assassinations%20by%20Ronen%20Bergman%20%28z-lib.org%29.pdf |website=theswissbay.ch}}</ref> Bergman further asserts that the influence of Israeli-sponsored terrorist operations on the emerging Islamists was also of operational nature: the Israeli proxy ] had carried out multiple deadly ] in Lebanon long before the emergence of Hezbollah. An Israeli ] agent told Bergman: "I saw from a distance one of the cars blowing up and demolishing an entire street. We were teaching the Lebanese how effective a car bomb could be. Everything that we saw later with Hezbollah sprang from what they saw had happened after these operations."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://medium.com/@djadan/israeli-journalist-ronen-bergman-reveals-his-countrys-terrorist-bombing-campaign-in-lebanon-8a5d9ff7a2f2 |title=Israeli Journalist Ronen Bergman Reveals Israel's Terrorist Bombing Campaign in Lebanon |date=14 August 2019}}</ref>
==Organizations and acts==
{{see| Terrorist groups#Islamic}}


The year 1979 is widely considered a turning point in the rise of religiously motivated radicalism in the Muslim world. Several events are thought to be crucial for the proliferation of Islamist terrorism in the next decade, such as the ] and unprecedented support from Saudi Arabia, ] and the US for anti-Soviet ]; the ] and subsequent ] as well as ]'s active support for ] fighting the ]; the ] in Mecca and subsequent ] of the Saudi government; and the ] that was highly unpopular in some sections of the Muslim world.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://apnews.com/article/e6a7f7c8963f4cd1b0e27f1e7d484610 |title=AP Analysis: Climactic events in 1979 shaped modern Mideast |work=] |date=19 January 2019}}</ref>
Some prominent Islamic terror groups and incidents include the following:


According to ] of ], in 1980, 2 out of 64 terrorist groups were categorized as having religious motivation while in 1995, almost half (26 out of 56) were religiously motivated with the majority having Islam as their guiding force.<ref name="Hoffman-1999-V">{{cite book |last1=Hoffman |first1=Bruce |title=Countering the New Terrorism |date=1999 |publisher=Rand Corporation |page=V |url=https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/www/external/congress/terrorism/phase1/countering.pdf |access-date=12 August 2019 |chapter=Two: Terrorism Trends and Prospects}}</ref><ref name="Islamic Evolution" />
===Transnational===
====Al-Qaeda====
{{main|Al-Qaeda}}
] is a worldwide pan-Islamic terrorist network headed by ] and is most famous for orchestrating the ] against the ]. It
now operates in more than 60 countries. Its stated aim is the use of ] to defend Islam against ], ], the secular West, and Muslim governments such as Saudi Arabia, which it sees as insufficiently Islamic and too closely tied to America.<ref>.</ref><ref>Michael, Maggie. ''''. The Associated Press. ], ].</ref><ref> from the BBC. ], ].</ref><ref>Langhorne, R. (2006), "The Essentials of Global Politics", Hodder Arnold</ref>


=== 1980s–1990s ===
Formed by bin Laden and Muhammad Atef in the aftermath of the ] in the late 1980s, Al Qaeda called for the use of violence against civilians and military of the United States and any countries that are allied with it.<ref>"Al Qaeda", http://www.answers.com/topic/al-qaeda</ref> Since its formation Al Qaeda has committed a number of terrorist acts in ], the ], ], and ]. Although once supported by the ] organization in Afghanistan, the U.S. and British governments never considered the ] to have been a terrorist organization.<ref>{{cite web
The ] and the subsequent anti-Soviet mujahedin war, lasting from 1979 to 1989, started the rise and expansion of terrorist groups. Since their beginning in 1994, the Pakistani-supported ] militia in Afghanistan has gained several characteristics traditionally associated with ], providing logistical support, travel documentation, and training facilities. Since 1989 the increasing willingness of religious extremists to strike targets outside immediate country or regional areas highlights the global nature of contemporary terrorism. The ], and the 11 September 2001 attacks on the ] and Pentagon, are representative of this trend.<ref name="Islamic Evolution">{{cite web|url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/target/etc/modern.html| title=The Evolution of Islamic Terrorism: an Overview|author=John Moore|publisher=PBS Frontline}}</ref>
|url = http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:8aEZ7fHkwNMJ:www.csmonitor.com/2006/0502/dailyUpdate.html+terrorist+groups+taliban&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=2&
|title = US does not consider Taliban terrorists
|last = Regan
|first = Tom
|year = 2006
|work = Christian Science Monitor
|publisher = Christian Science Monitor
|accessdate = 2001-01-15
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url = http://www.cfr.org/publication/10552/terrorisms_dubious_a_list.html?breadcrumb=default
|title = Terrorism’s Dubious ‘A’ List
|last = Kaplan
|first = Eben
|year = 2006
|publisher = Council on Foreign Relations
|accessdate = 2001-01-15
}}</ref>


===Europe=== === 2000s–2010s ===
According to research by the German newspaper '']'', between 11 September 2001 and 21 April 2019, there were 31,221 Islamist terrorism attacks, in which at least 146,811 people were killed. Many of the victims were Muslims, including most of the victims who were killed in attacks involving 12 or more deaths.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://pasteboard.co/IgC7ac6.jpg|title=18 Jahre Terror|date=28 April 2019|website=Die Welt|access-date=18 June 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://jyllands-posten.dk/international/ECE11350481/naesten-150000-har-mistet-livet-i-islamistiske-angreb/|title=Næsten 150.000 har mistet livet i islamistiske angreb|date=1 May 2019|website=jyllands-posten.dk|access-date=4 May 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/danmark/naesten-150000-har-mistet-livet-i-islamistiske-angreb|title=Næsten 150.000 har mistet livet i islamistiske angreb|date=1 May 2019|website=kristeligt-dagblad.dk|access-date=18 June 2019}}</ref>


=== 2010s ===
Major lethal attacks on civilians in Europe credited to Islamic terrorism include the March 11 ], where 191 people were killed and 2,050 wounded, and the ], also of public transport, which killed 52 commuters and injured 700.
According to the Global Terrorism Index, deaths from terrorism peaked in 2014 and have fallen each year since then until 2019 (the last year the study had numbers for), making a decline of more than half (59% or 13,826 deaths) from their peak. The five countries "hardest hit" by terrorism continue to be Muslims countries—Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Syria and Somalia.
According to ] there were almost 500 acts of terrorism across the European Union in 2006, but only one, the foiled suitcase bomb plot in ], was related to Islamist terror.<ref>, ], ] ]</ref>
{{#tag:ref|An indication that Islamic terrorism has at least paced the general decline in deaths from terror is that "one of the more worrying trends" in terrorism over the five year period from 2014–2019, is (non-Islamic) far-right terrorism.<ref name="Porterfield-25-11-2020">{{cite news |last1=Porterfield |first1=Carlie |title=Terrorism Deaths Decline Worldwide, But Far-Right Attacks Are On The Rise |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2020/11/25/terrorism-deaths-decline-worldwide-but-far-right-attacks-are-on-the-rise/ |access-date=5 May 2021 |work=Forbes |date=25 November 2020}}</ref> |group=Note}}


== Attacker profiles and motivations ==
====Russia====
{{See also|Motives for the September 11 attacks}}
Politically-motivated attacks on civilians in Russia have been traced to separatist sentiment among Muslims in its Caucasus region, particularly Chechnya. Russia's two biggest terrorist attacks both came from Muslim groups. In the ] at a theater in ] in October 2002, the Chechnyan separatist "Special Purpose Islamic Regiment" took an estimated 850 people hostage. An estimated 300 Russians died in an attempted rescue. Whether this attack would more properly be called a ] rather than an Islamist attack is in question.
The motivation of Islamic terrorists has been disputed. Some (such as ], ], and ]) attribute it to extremist interpretations of Islam;<ref name="eikmeier" /><ref name="Nawaz-debate">{{cite news|last1=Nawaz|first1=Maajid|last2=Hasan|first2=Mehdi|date=4 July 2012|title=Age of extremes: Mehdi Hasan and Maajid Nawaz debate|work=New Statesman|publisher=]|location=London|url=http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/politics/2012/07/age-extremes-muslim-mehdi-hasan-maajid-mawaz|url-status=dead|access-date=13 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120714001243/http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/politics/2012/07/age-extremes-muslim-mehdi-hasan-maajid-mawaz|archive-date=14 July 2012}}</ref><ref name=ibn-warraq-violent /> others (Mehdi Hasan) to some combination of political grievance and social-psychological maladjustment;<ref name="Hasan-2017">{{cite web |last1=Hasan |first1=Mehdi |title=You Shouldn't Blame Islam for Terrorism. Religion Isn't a Crucial Factor in Attacks. |url=https://theintercept.com/2017/03/29/you-shouldnt-blame-islam-for-terrorism-religion-isnt-a-crucial-factor-in-attacks/ |website=The Intercept |access-date=12 August 2019 |date=29 March 2017}}</ref> and still others (such as James L. Payne and ]) to a struggle against "U.S./Western/Jewish aggression, oppression, and exploitation of Muslim lands and peoples".<ref name="PAYNE-2008">{{cite web |last1=PAYNE |first1=JAMES L. |title=What Do the Terrorists Want? |url=https://www.independent.org/pdf/tir/tir_13_01_2_payne.pdf |website=Independent Review |access-date=8 August 2019 |year=2008}}</ref>


=== Religious motivation ===
In the September 2004 ] 1,200 schoolchildren and adults were taken hostage after "School Number One" secondary school in Beslan, North Ossetia-Alania was overrun by the "Caucasus Caliphate Jihad" led by ]. As many as 500 died, including 186 children.<ref>''Foreign Affairs'', January/February 2008, p.74, "The Myth of the Authoritarian Model"</ref> According to the only surviving attacker, Nur-Pashi Kulayev, the choice of a school and the targeting of mothers and young children by the attackers was done in hopes of generating a maximum of outrage and igniting a wider war in the Caucasus with the ultimate goal of establishing an Islamic ] across the whole of the ].<ref name=mn>{{cite news |first=Sanobar |last=Shermatova |title=Basayev knew there to hit |url=http://www.mn.ru/issue.php?2004-39-11 |publisher=] N39 |date=] ] |accessdate=2007-09-11 }}{{ru icon}} </ref>
] and ], in their book, ''The Age of Sacred Terror'', argue that Islamic terrorist attacks are motivated by religious fervor. They are seen as "a sacrament ... intended to restore to the universe a moral order that had been corrupted by the enemies of Islam." Their attacks are neither political nor strategic but an "act of redemption" meant to "humiliate and slaughter those who defied the hegemony of God".<ref>{{cite book|title=The Age of Sacred Terror|page=40|author=Daniel Benjamin|author2=Steven Simon|year=2002|isbn=978-0-7567-6751-8|publisher=Random House}}</ref>


According to Indonesian Islamic leader Yahya Cholil Staquf in a 2017 ] interview, within the classical Islamic tradition the relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims is assumed to be one of segregation and enmity. In his view extremism and terrorism are linked with "the basic assumptions of Islamic orthodoxy" and that radical Islamic movements are nothing new. He also added that Western politicians should stop pretending that extremism is not linked to Islam.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://time.com/4930742/islam-terrorism-islamophobia-violence/|title=Orthodox Islam and Violence 'Linked' Says Top Muslim Scholar|magazine=Time|access-date=27 December 2017|quote=Western politicians should stop pretending that extremism and terrorism have nothing to do with Islam. There is a clear relationship between fundamentalism, terrorism, and the basic assumptions of Islamic orthodoxy. So long as we lack consensus regarding this matter, we cannot gain victory over fundamentalist violence within Islam. Radical Islamic movements are nothing new. They've appeared again and again throughout our own history in Indonesia. The West must stop ascribing any and all discussion of these issues to "Islamophobia." Or do people want to accuse me—an Islamic scholar—of being an Islamophobe too?}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.faz.net/1.5157757|title=F.A.Z. exklusiv: Terrorismus und Islam hängen zusammen|date=18 August 2017|work=Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung|access-date=27 December 2017|language=de-DE|issn=0174-4909}}</ref>
===Turkey===
====Hezbollah (Turkish)====
{{main|Turkish Hezbollah}}
Unrelated to the more famous ] ] of Lebanon, this ] terrorist group<ref></ref> has been credited with the assassination of Diyarbakir police chief Gaffar Okkan, and the November 2003 bombings of two synagogues, the British consulate in ] and HSBC bank headquarters, killing 58 and wounding several hundred.<ref> by Evan Kohlmann </ref>


According to journalist ] "much of what" one major Islamic terror group -- ] -- "does looks nonsensical except in light of a sincere, carefully considered commitment to returning civilization to a seventh-century legal environment" of Muhammad and his companions, "and ultimately to bringing about the apocalypse" and ]. ISIS group members insist "they will not—cannot—waver from governing precepts that were embedded in Islam by the Prophet Muhammad and his earliest followers".<ref name="WOOD-wants-2015">{{cite journal |last1=WOOD |first1=GRAEME |title=What ISIS Really Wants |journal=The Atlantic |date=March 2015 |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/03/what-isis-really-wants/384980/ |access-date=9 August 2019}}</ref>
===Iraq===
The area that has seen some of the worst terror attacks in modern history has been Iraq as part of the ]. In 2005, there were 400 incidents of one type of attack (suicide bombing), killing more than 2000 people - many if not most of them civilians.<ref> p.131</ref> In 2006, almost half of all reported terrorist attacks in the world (6600), and more than half of all terrorist fatalities (13,000), occurred in Iraq, according to the ] of the United States.<ref> 6600 out of 14000</ref> The insurgency in Iraq against the US and Iraqi government combines attacks on "Coalition troops" and the Iraqi security forces, with attacks on civilian contractors, aid workers, and infrastructure. Along with nationalist ] groups and ], non-political attacks, the insurgency includes Islamist insurgent groups, who favor suicide attacks far more than non-Islamist groups.


Shmuel Bar argues that while the importance of political and socioeconomic factors in Islamist terrorism is not in doubt, "In order to comprehend the motivation for these acts and to draw up an effective strategy for a war against terrorism, it is necessary to understand the religious-ideological factors — which are deeply embedded in Islam."<ref>Bar, Shmuel, "The Religious Sources of Islamic Terrorism", ''Policy Review'', June/July 2004</ref>
They include the ]'s al-Qaeda affiliate; Al-Faruq Brigades, a militant wing of the Islamic Movement in Iraq (Al-Harakah al-Islamiyyah fi al-arak); ]; the Mujahideen of the Victorious Sect (Mujahideen al ta’ifa al-Mansoura); the Mujahideen Battalions of the Salafi Group of Iraq (Kata’ib al mujahideen fi al-jama’ah al-salafiyah fi al-‘arak); the Jihad Brigades/Cell; "White Flags, Muslim Youth and Army of Mohammed" ; ], a Taliban-like, jihadist group with ties to Al Qaeda. At least some of the terrorism has a transnational character in that some foreign Islamic jihadists have joined the insurgency.<ref> the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies estimates roughly 1,000 foreign Islamic jihadists </ref>


Examining Europe, two studies of the background of Muslim terrorists—one of the UK and one of France—found little connection between terrorist acts performed in the name of Islam and the religious piety of the operatives. A "restricted" 2008 UK report of hundreds of case studies by the domestic counter-intelligence agency ] found that there was no "typical profile" of a terrorist, and that
===Lebanon===
====Fatah al-Islam====
{{main|Fatah al-Islam}}
] is an ] group operating out of the ] refugee camp in northern ]. It was formed in November 2006 by fighters who broke off from the pro-]n ], itself a splinter group of ], and is led by a Palestinian fugitive militant named ].<ref name="IHT_20070315">International Herald Tribune (March 15, 2007). . Retrieved May 20, 207.</ref> The group's members have been described as militant ]s,<ref name="Figaro_20070416">Le Figaro (April 16, 2007). . Retrieved May 20, 2007.</ref> and the group itself has been described as a terrorist movement that draws inspiration from ].<ref name="IHT_20070315" /><ref name="Figaro_20070416" /><ref name="Reuters_20070519">Reuters (May 19, 2007). . Retrieved May 20, 2007.</ref> Its stated goal is to reform the Palestinian refugee camps under ],<ref name="Reuters_FactBox">Reuters (May 20, 2007). . Retrieved May 20, 2007.</ref> and its primary targets are ] and the ].<ref name="IHT_20070315" /> Lebanese authorities have accused the organization of being involved in the ], ] bombing of two ]es that killed three people, and injured more than 20 others, in ], Lebanon,<ref name="Reuters_20070519" /> and identified four of its members as having confessed to the bombing.<ref name="Reuters_FactBox"/>


{{blockquote|ar from being religious zealots, a large number of those involved in terrorism do not practise their faith regularly. Many lack religious literacy and could actually be regarded as religious novices. Very few have been brought up in strongly religious households, and there is a higher than average proportion of converts. Some are involved in drug-taking, drinking alcohol and visiting prostitutes. MI5 says there is evidence that a well-established religious identity actually protects against violent radicalisation.<ref name="Travis-20-8-2008">{{cite news|last1=Travis|first1=Alan|title=MI5 report challenges views on terrorism in Britain|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/aug/20/uksecurity.terrorism1|access-date=6 November 2015|work=The Guardian |location=London |date=20 August 2008}}</ref>}}
====Hezbollah====
]]]
{{Main|Hezbollah}}
] is a ] militia, political party, and social services provider based in ]. Six governments<ref>The United States, ], ] and ] regard Hezbollah as a "]" organization, while the ] and ] consider only Hezbollah's external security organization to be a terrorist organization.</ref> consider it, or a part of it, to be a terrorist group<ref>Roy, Olivier, ''The Failure of Political Islam'', Harvard University Press, (1994), p.115</ref><ref>Pape, Robert, ''Dying to Win'', Random House, 2005, p.129</ref> responsible for blowing up the ]<ref>Ranstorp, Magnus, ''Hizb'allah in Lebanon'', St. Martins Press, 1997 p.89-90</ref> and later its annex, as well as the ] and a ].<ref name=autogenerated1>Ranstorp, Magnus, ''Hizb'allah in Lebanon'', St. Martins Press, 1997, p.54</ref><ref name=autogenerated2>Kepel, Gilles, Jihad, (2002), p.129</ref> It is also accused of being the recipient of massive aid from Iran,<ref>Ranstorp, Magnus, ''Hizb'allah in Lebanon'', St. Martins Press, 1997, p.127</ref> and of serving "Iranian foreign policy calculations and interests,"<ref name=autogenerated1 />or serving as a "subcontractor of Iranian initiatives"<ref name=autogenerated2 /> Hezbollah denies any involvement or dependence on Iran.<ref>Ranstorp, Magnus, ''Hizb'allah in Lebanon : The Politics of the Western Hostage Crisis,'' p.60</ref>


However, while the motivation of the individuals directly involved in carrying out the terror attacks are not necessarily religious and may stem from other reasons, religiously motivated organizations and governments are very often behind such attacks. Fundamentalist organizations and governments often encourage, fund, assist, incentivize or reward the actions of individuals they recognize as susceptible to be coerced into committing terror attacks, thus using people who are not always religiously motivated themselves to achieve religious ends. ], for example, is known for ] the families of imprisoned terrorists and of ]s. The ] intends billions of US dollars annually for ] and terrorists,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Iran spends $7 billion per year on terror network |url=https://embassies.gov.il/un/NewsAndEvents/Pages/Iran-terror-network-.aspx}}</ref> exploiting the extreme economic difficulties faced by people in countries such as ], ] and ] by offering them cash in exchange for terror activity.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.iranintl.com/en/202302054479|title=Exclusive: IRGC Officers Pocket Millions Intended As Salaries For Proxies|website=Iran International|date=16 November 2023}}</ref>
In the Arab and Muslim worlds, on the other hand, Hezbollah is regarded as a legitimate and successful resistance movement that drove both Western powers and Israel out of Lebanon.<ref></ref> In 2005, the Lebanese Prime Minister said of Hezbollah, it "is not a militia. It's a resistance."<ref name="cnn-2005-05-07">
{{cite news|publisher=]|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/05/06/lebanon.report/index.html |title=Hezbollah disarmament unclear|date=], ]|accessdate=2006-08-05}}</ref>


A 2015 "general portrait" of "the conditions and circumstances" under which people living in France become "Islamic radicals" (terrorists or would-be terrorists) by Olivier Roy (see above) found radicalisation was not an "uprising of a Muslim community that is victim to poverty and racism: only young people join, including converts".<ref name="roy-inside">{{cite magazine |last=Roy |first=Olivier |date=18 December 2015 |title=What is the driving force behind jihadist terrorism? |url=http://insidestory.org.au/what-is-the-driving-force-behind-jihadist-terrorism |access-date=25 February 2016 |magazine=Inside Story |issn=1837-0497}}</ref>
Hezbollah's simultaneous suicide attacks on US and French barracks in Beirut and the withdrawal of American peacekeeping troops shortly thereafter the bombings prompted is thought to have "made a profound impression on bin Laden."<ref>Wright, Lawrence, ''Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11,'' Knopf, 2006
p.174</ref>


Roy believes terrorism/radicalism is "expressed in religious terms" because
===Israel and the Palestinian territories===
{{main|Israel|Palestinian territories|Arab-Israeli conflict|Israeli-Palestinian conflict}}


# most of the radicals have a Muslim background, which makes them open to a process of re-Islamisation ("almost none of them having been pious before entering the process of radicalisation"), and<ref name=roy-inside />
====Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades====
# jihad is "the only cause on the global market". If you kill in silence, it will be reported by the local newspaper; "if you kill yelling 'Allahu Akbar', you are sure to make the national headlines". Other extreme causes—ultra-left or radical ecology are "too bourgeois and intellectual" for the radicals.<ref name=roy-inside />
{{main|Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades}}


Somewhat in contradiction to this, a study surveying Muslims in Europe to examine how much Islamist ideology increases support for terrorism, found that "in Western countries affected by homegrown terrorism ... justifying terrorism is strongly associated with an increase in religious practice". (This is not the case in European "countries where Muslims are predominant"—], ], etc. -- where the opposite seems to be true, i.e. the more importance respondents assigned to religion in their life, the less likely they were to "justifying political violence".)<ref name="Egger-2021">{{cite journal |last1=Egger |first1=Clara |last2=Magni-Berton |first2=Raul |title=The Role of Islamist Ideology in Shaping Muslims Believers' Attitudes toward Terrorism: Evidence from Europe |journal=Studies in Conflict & Terrorism |year=2021 |volume=44 |issue=7 |pages=581–604 |doi=10.1080/1057610X.2019.1571696 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
====Hamas====
{{main|Hamas}}
], ("zeal" in Arabic and an acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya), began support for attacks on military and civilian targets in ] at the beginning of the ] in 1987. As the Muslim Brotherhood organization for ] its leadership was made up of "intellectuals from the devout middle class,... respectable religious clerics, doctors, chemists, engineers, and teachers.<ref>p.154, ''Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam'' by Gilles Kepel (2002)</ref>


==== Denominations/Ideologies ====
The 1988 charter of ] calls for the destruction of ]<ref></ref>, and it still states its goal to be the elimination of Israel<ref></ref>. Its "military wing" has claimed responsibility for ] in Israel. Hamas has also been accused of sabotaging the Israeli-Palestine peace process by launching attacks on civilians during Israeli elections to anger Israeli voters and facilitate the election of harder-line Israeli candidates. For example, "a series of spectacular suicide attacks by Palestinians that killed 63 Israelis and led directly to the election victory of ] and his Likud party on ] ]."<ref>''Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam'' by Gilles Kepel, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, (2002), p.331</ref>
Most strains of thought/schools/sects/movements/]/traditions of Islam do not support or otherwise associate themselves with terrorism.{{#tag:ref| Shia Muslims have been involved in violence primarily at the state level<ref name="Jacobsen-12-3-19" /> (] attacks on Israeli targets and Iran's use of ] against ]'s ] for example). The small ] (Muslims who follow only Quran) and ] groups (who believe jihad should be peaceful) have "zero history of violence".|group=Note}}
According to Mir Faizal, only three sects or movements of Islam—the Sunni sects of ], ], and ].{{#tag:ref|Faizal calls these groups "sects", Misplaced Pages calls them "movements". |group=Note}}—have been associated with violence against civilians.<ref name="Jacobsen-12-3-19">{{cite news |last1=Jacobsen |first1=Scott Douglas |title=Is There a Link between Islam and Terrorism? |url=https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/islam-terrorism-sjbn/ |website=good men project |access-date=9 August 2019 |date=12 March 2019}}</ref> Of the three, only Salafi Islam—specifically ] Islam—can be called involved in global terrorism, as it is connected with ], ], ] and other groups. (Terrorism among some members of the ] sect is limited to attacks on alleged blasphemers in Pakistan, and the terrorism among ] groups has "almost no" influence beyond Afghanistan, Pakistan and Indian.)<ref name="Jacobsen-12-3-19" /> Another sect/movement known as ] (intertwined with ''non''-jihadist ]) has been accused of being the ideology behind Islamic terrorist groups,<ref name="worldaffairsjournal.org">{{cite journal|date=May–June 2015|title=The Saudi Connection: Wahhabism and Global Jihad|url=http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/article/saudi-connection-wahhabism-and-global-jihad|journal=]|first1=Carol E. B.|last1=Choksy|author2=Jamsheed K. Choksy|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150509000307/http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/article/saudi-connection-wahhabism-and-global-jihad|archive-date=9 May 2015}}</ref> but ] and other terrorists are more commonly described as following a ''fusion'' of ] and ].<ref name=ayoob-many-58>{{cite book |last1=Ayoob |first1=Muhammad |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3998/mpub.189346
Hamas justifies these attacks as necessary in fighting the Israeli ], and as responses to Israeli attacks on Palestinian targets. The wider movement also serves as a charity organization and provides services to Palestinians.<ref>Humphreys, R. (2005), "Between Memory and Desire: The Middle East in a Troubled Age", University of California Press</ref>
|title=The Many Faces of Political Islam: Religion and Politics in the Muslim World |page=58 |date=2008 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |doi=10.3998/mpub.189346 |jstor=10.3998/mpub.189346 |hdl=10356/90575 |isbn=978-0-472-09971-9 |access-date=31 May 2021}}.</ref><ref>Moussalli, Ahmad. "Wahhabism, Salafism and Islamism: Who is the Enemy?" ''A Conflict Forum Monograph'' (January 2009). 10.</ref><ref>International Crisis Group. "Understanding Islamism." Middle East Report, no. 37 (2 March 2005). 2.</ref>


Outside of these sects or religious movements, the religious ideology of ] has influenced Islamic terrorism, along with religious themes and trends including ], ], and the belief that Jews and Christians are not ] but infidels/kafir waging "]". (These ideas are often related and overlapping.)
Hamas has been designated as a terrorist group by the ], ], the ], ], the ] and ]. Opponents of this view claim that Israel is not a legitimate state because of the conditions of its establishment after ].


====Islamic Jihad==== ===== Qutbism =====
Qutbism is named after Egyptian ] theoretician ], who wrote a manifesto (known as '']''), while in prison. Qutb is said to have laid out
{{main|Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine}}
the ideological foundation of ] (according to Bruce Livesey);<ref>{{Cite web|last=Livesey|first=Bruce|date=25 January 2005|title=The Salafist Movement|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/front/special/sala.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628202818/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/front/special/sala.html|archive-date=28 June 2011|publisher=PBS}}</ref> his ideas are said to have formed "the modern Islamist movement" (according to Gilles Kepel);{{#tag:ref|Kepel wrote that "the modern Islamist movement"<ref name=KepelJihad-32 /> was "rebuilt" around "the ideas" of Qutb, rebuilt because the ] by the regime of Gamal Abdel Nasser. In 1954 another a second unsuccessful assassination was attempted against Egypt's prime minister (Gamal Abdel Nasser), and blamed on the "secret apparatus" of the Brotherhood. The Brotherhood was again banned and this time thousands of its members were imprisoned.|group=Note}}
Islamic Jihad is a militant Palestinian group Islamist group based in the Syrian capital, ], and dedicated to waging jihad to eliminate the state of ]. It was formed by Egyptian Fathi Shaqaqi in the Gaza Strip following the ] which inspired its members. From 1983 onward, it engaged in "a succession of violent, high-profile attacks" on Israeli targets. The intifada which "it eventually sparked" was quickly taken over by much larger the ] and ].<ref>p.122, Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam by Gilles Kepel)</ref> Beginning in September 2000, it started a campaign of suicide bombing attacks against Israelis. It is currently led by Sheikh Abdullah Sheikh Abdullah Ramadan.
which along with other "violent Islamic thought", became the ideology known as "] that is the "center of gravity" of al-Qaeda and related groups (according to ] Colonel Dale C. Eikmeier).<ref name="eikmeier" />
Qutb is thought to be a major influence on Al-Qaeda #2 leader, ].<ref>Lawrence Wright (2006). ''The Looming Tower''. Knopf. ISBN 0-375-41486-X. p.37</ref>{{#tag:ref|] has been used as a close relative,<ref name="Manne-2017-17-22">{{cite book |last1=Manne |first1=Robert |title=The Mind of the Islamic State |date=2017 |publisher=Prometheist Books |location=NY |pages=17–22 |isbn=978-1-63388-371-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Es41DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA19 |access-date=9 March 2021}}</ref><ref name="Shultz-2008">{{cite book |last1=Shultz |first1=Richard |title=Global Insurgency Strategy and the Salafi Jihad Movement. |date=2008 |publisher=USAF Institute for National Security Studies |location=Colorado |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0s0gAQAAIAAJ |access-date=9 March 2021}}</ref> or variety of Salafi jihadism.|group=Note}}


In his manifesto (called "one of the most influential works in Arabic of the last half century"),<ref>''The Age of Sacred Terror'' by Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon, New York : Random House, c2002, p.63</ref> Qutb preached:
The PIJ's armed wing, the Al-Quds brigades, has claimed responsibility for numerous militant attacks in Israel, including suicide bombings and the group has been designated as a terrorist group by the several countries in the West.
* the absolute necessity of enforcement of ] law ("even more necessary than the establishment of the Islamic belief", without which Islam does not exist);<ref>Qutb, ''Milestones'', p.89, 9</ref>
* the need for violent jihad as well as preaching to bring back sharia law and spread Islam, (a vanguard "movement" will use "physical power and Jihad",<ref>Qutb, ''Milestones'', p.55</ref> to remove "material obstacles");<ref>Qutb, ''Milestones'', p.59</ref>
* that offensive jihad—attacking non-Muslim territory—ought not neglected by true Muslims in favor of defensive jihad, (this "diminish the greatness of the Islamic way of life",<ref>Qutb, ''Milestones'', p.71</ref> and is the work of those who have been "defeated by the attacks of the treacherous Orientalists!"<ref>Qutb, ''Milestones'', p.69</ref> Muslims should not let lack of non-Muslim aggression stop them from waging Jihad to spread sharia law because ''"truth and falsehood cannot coexist on earth"'' in peace.<ref>Qutb, ''Milestones'', p.65</ref>
* a loathing of "the West" (a "rubbish heap ... filth ... hollow and worthless");<ref>Qutb, ''Milestones'', p.139, 136</ref>
* ... which is deliberately undermining Islam (pursuing a "well-thought-out scheme" to "demolish the structure of Muslim society");<ref>Qutb, ''Milestones'', p.116</ref>
* ... despite the fact it "knows" it is inferior to Islam (It "knows that it does not possess anything which will satisfy its own conscience and justify its existence", so that when confronted with the "logic, beauty, humanity and happiness" of Islam, "the American people blush");<ref>Qutb, ''Milestones'', p.7, 139</ref>
* and a loathing and hatred of Jews ("world Jewry, whose purpose is to eliminate ... the limitations imposed by faith and religion, so that Jews may penetrate into body politics of the whole world and then may be free to perpetuate their evil designs usury, the aim of which is that all the wealth of mankind end up in the hands of Jewish financial institutions ...").<ref>Qutb, ''Milestones'', p.110-111</ref>


Eikmeier summarizes the tenets of Qutbism as being:
===North Africa===
* A belief that Muslims have deviated from true Islam and must return to "pure Islam" as originally practiced during the time of ].
====Armed Islamic Group====
* The path to that "pure Islam" is only through a literal and strict interpretation of the ] and ], along with implementation of Muhammad's commands.
{{main|Armed Islamic Group}}
* Muslims should interpret the original sources individually without being bound to follow the interpretations of Islamic scholars.
The Armed Islamic Group, active in Algeria between 1992 and 1998, was one of the most violent Islamic terrorist groups, and is thought to have ]ed the Muslim population of Algeria. Its campaign to overthrow the Algerian government included civilian massacres, which sometimes wiping out entire villages in its area of operation (see ]; notably the ] and ], among others.) It also targeted foreigners living in Algeria killing more than 100 expatriate men and women in the country. The group's favored technique was the kidnapping of victims and slitting their throats although it also used assassination by gun and bombings, including car bombs. Outside of Algeria, the GIA established a presence in France, Belgium, Britain, Italy and the United States. In recent years it has been eclipsed by a splinter group, The Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), now called ].<ref></ref><ref>Kepel, Gilles, ''Jihad'', (2003)</ref>
* Any interpretation of the Quran from a historical, contextual perspective is a corruption, and that the majority of Islamic history and the ] is mere sophistry.<ref name="eikmeier" />


While ] preached that ''all'' of the Muslim world had become ] or '']'', he did not specifically takfir or call for the execution of any apostates, even those governing non-sharia governments {{#tag:ref|(Qutb wrote ''Milestones'' in prison and "died before he could fully explain his theories" and clear up "his use of the term jahiliyya and its dire consequence, ''takfir''")<ref name=KepelJihad-31 />|group=Note}} Qutb did however emphasize that "the organizations and authorities" of the putatively Muslim countries were irredeemably corrupt and evil<ref name="Sayyid Qutb, Milestones, p.55">Sayyid Qutb, ''Milestones'', p.55</ref> and would have to be abolished by "physical power and Jihad",<ref name="Sayyid Qutb, Milestones, p.55" /> by a "vanguard"<ref>Sayyid Qutb, ''Milestones'', p.12</ref> movement of true Muslims.<ref>Sayyid Qutb, ''Milestones'', p.101-103</ref>
===South Asia===
====Lashkar-e-Toiba====
{{main|Lashkar-e-Toiba}}
Pakistan based ] is a militant group that seeks the Indian state of ]'s accession to ]. It has committed mass militant actions against Indian troops and civilian ].<ref>{{cite web
|url = http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=Lashkar-e-Toiba
|title = Lashkar-e-Toiba
|work = South Asia
|publisher = dictionary.com
|accessdate = 2006-08-27
}}</ref>
The Lashkar leadership describes ]n and ] regimes as the main enemies of Islam, claiming India and ] to be the main enemies of ].<ref>{{cite web
|last = Mir
|first = Amir
|authorlink =
|year = 2005
|url = http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/GC11Df07.html
|title = The jihad lives on
|work = South Asia
|publisher = Asia Times Online Ltd.
|accessdate = 2006-06-24
}}</ref> Lashkar-e-Toiba, along with ], another militant group active in ] are on the United States’ foreign terrorist organizations list. They are also designated as terrorist groups by the ],<ref>{{cite web
|url = http://www.britishhighcommission.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1031627751059
|title = Speech by the Prime Minister the Rt Hon Tony Blair MP to the Confederation of Indian Industry Bangalore, India ] ]
|work = Indo-UK Relations
|publisher = britishhighcommission.gov
|accessdate = 2006-06-24
}}</ref> India, ]<ref>{{cite web
|last = Thompson
|first = Geoff
|year = 2004
|url = http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2004/s1107792.htm
|title = Is Lashkar-e-Toiba still operating in Pakistan?
|work = PM
|publisher = Australian Broadcasting Corporation
|accessdate = 2006-06-25
}}</ref> and ].<ref>{{cite web
|year = 2002
|url = http://www.ppu.org.uk/war/countries/asia/pakistan.html
|title = current situation
|work = wars and armed conflicts
|publisher = Peace Pledge Union
|accessdate = 2006-06-25
}}</ref>


One who did argue this was ], the main theoretician of ] that ]. who in his book ''Al-Farida al-gha'iba'' (The Neglected Duty), cited a fatwa issued in 1303 CE by the celebrated strict medieval jurist ]. He had ruled that fighting and killing of the Mongol invaders who were invading Syria was not only permitted but obligatory according to Sharia. This was because the Mongols did not follow sharia law, and so even though they had converted to Islam (Ibn Taymiyyah argued) they were not really Muslims.<ref>Kepel, Gilles, ''The Prophet and the Pharaoh'', (2003), p.194-197</ref> Faraj preached that rulers such as Anwar Sadat were "rebels against the Laws of God ",<ref name=Faraj-Duty>Faraj, ''al-Farida al-gha'iba'', (Amman, n.d.), p.28, 26; trans. Johannes Jansen, ''The Neglected Duty'', (New York, 1986)</ref><ref name=Cook-understanding-192>Cook, David, ''Understanding Jihad'' by David Cook, University of California Press, 2005 p.192, 190</ref> and "apostates from Islam" who have preserved nothing of Islam except its name.<ref>Kepel, Gilles, ''The Prophet and the Pharaoh'', (2003), p.197</ref>
====Jaish-e-Mohammed====
{{main|Jaish-e-Mohammed}}
] (often abbreviated as '''JEM''') is a major Islamic militant organization in ]. Jaish-e-Mohammed was formed in 1994 and is based in the ]. The group's primary objective is to separate ] from ], and it has carried out a series of attacks all over India.<ref></ref><ref></ref>


===== Wahabism/Salafism =====
The group was formed after the supporters of ] split from another Islamic militant organization, ]. It is believed that the group gets considerable funding from Pakistani expatriates in the ]. The group is regarded as a terrorist organization by several countries including ], ] and ].{{ref|FTOs}} Jaish-e-Mohammed is viewed by some as the "deadliest" and "the principal terrorist organization in ]".<ref name="fas">{{citeweb|title=Foreign Terrorist Organizations|url=http://www.fas.org/irp/crs/RL32223.pdf|format=PDF|publisher=fas.org|accessdate=2008-02-06}}</ref> The group was also implicated in the kidnapping and murder of ] journalist ].<ref name="fas"/>
Another Islamic movement accused of being involved in terrorism is known as ].<ref name="School2015">{{cite book|author=Naval Postgraduate Naval Postgraduate School|title=Wahhabism: Is It a Factor in the Spread of Global Terrorism?|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=25JPrgEACAAJ|date=19 March 2015|publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform|isbn=978-1-5089-3613-8}}</ref><ref name="Allen2009">{{cite book|author=Charles Allen|author-link = Charles Allen (writer)|title=God's Terrorists: The Wahhabi Cult and the Hidden Roots of Modern Jihad|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dKK0_bM-4n8C|date=1 March 2009|publisher=Da Capo Press, Incorporated|isbn=978-0-7867-3300-2}}</ref><ref name="DeLong-Bas2007">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nwX_UJ-p2rsC&pg=PA4|title=Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad|publisher=I.B.Tauris|year=2007|isbn=978-1-84511-322-3|pages=4–|author=Natana J. DeLong-Bas}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-yousaf-butt-/saudi-wahhabism-islam-terrorism_b_6501916.html?ir=India&adsSiteOverride=in | work=HuffPost | title=How Saudi Wahhabism Is the Fountainhead of Islamist Terrorism | date=20 January 2015}}</ref><ref name="worldaffairsjournal.org" />


Sponsored by ] ], ] is deeply conservative and anti-revolutionary (its founder taught that Muslims are obliged to give unquestioned allegiance to their ruler, however imperfect, so long as he leads the community according to the laws of God),<ref name="LofC">{{cite web|year=1992|title=Saudi Arabia. Wahhabi Theology|url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field%28DOCID+sa0044%29|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041107123733/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd%2Fcstdy%3A%40field%28DOCID+sa0044%29|archive-date=7 November 2004|access-date=13 January 2022|work=]|publisher=Library of Congress Country Studies}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=House, Karen Elliott|title=On Saudi Arabia : Its People, past, Religion, Fault Lines and Future|publisher=Knopf|year=2012|page=27|quote=Not only is the Saudi monarch effectively the religious primate, but the puritanical Wahhabi sect of Islam that he represents instructs Muslims to be obedient and submissive to their ruler, however imperfect, in pursuit of a perfect life in paradise. Only if a ruler directly countermands the commandments of Allah should devout Muslims even consider disobeying. 'O you who have believed, obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you. '}}</ref>
====Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen====
Nonetheless, this ideology and its sponsors have been accused of assisting terrorism both
In Bangladesh the group ] was formed sometime in 1998 and gained prominence on ] ] when 25 petrol bombs and documents detailing the activities of the organization were discovered and eight of its members were arrested in Parbatipur in ].<ref name=satp> , from South Asia Terrorism Portal</ref> The organization was officially banned in February 2005 after attacks on ]s, but struck back in August when 300 bombs were detonated almost simultaneously throughout Bangladesh. Dhaka international airport, government buildings and major hotels were targeted.<ref></ref><ref>''The Columbia World Dictionary of Islamism'', Columbia University Press (2007), p.69-70</ref>
* indirectly—by "creating" an environment from late 1970s to 2010 that "supported the spread of extremist ideologies";<ref name="Dillon-Factor-2009-72">{{cite book |last1=Dillon |first1=Michael R. |title=Wahhabism: Is It a Factor in the Spread of Global Terrorism? |date=September 2009 |publisher=Naval Post Graduate School |page=72 |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA509109.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210518221709/https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA509109.pdf |url-status=live |archive-date=18 May 2021 |access-date=18 May 2021}}</ref> despite its conservatism, Wahhabism shares important doctrinal points with forms of Islamism—a strong "revulsion" against ],<ref name=Commins-141>{{cite book|last=Commins |first=David |title=The Wahhabi Mission and Saudi Arabia |publisher=I.B.Tauris |year=2009 |url=http://ebooks.rahnuma.org/religion/Muslim_Sects/The-Wahhabi-Mission-and-Saudi-Arabia.pdf |page=141|quote= shared with the Wahhabis a strong revulsion against western influences and unwavering confidence that Islam is both the true religion and a sufficient foundation for conducting worldly affairs ... More generally, Banna's keen desire for Muslim unity to ward off western imperialism led him to espouse an inclusive definition of the community of believers. ... he would urge his followers, 'Let us cooperate in those things on which we can agree and be lenient in those on which we cannot.' ... A salient element in Banna's notion of Islam as a total way of life came from the idea that the Muslim world was backward and the corollary that the state is responsible for guaranteeing decent living conditions for its citizens.}}</ref> a belief in strict implementation of injunctions and prohibitions of ],<ref name=Kepel51>{{cite book|last=Kepel|first=Gilles|title=Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam|date=2006|publisher=I.B. Tauris|page=51|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OLvTNk75hUoC&pg=PA61|quote=Well before the full emergence of Islamism in the 1970s, a growing constituency nicknamed ']' included Wahhabi ulemas and Islamist intellectuals and promoted strict implementation of the sharia in the political, moral and cultural spheres; this proto-movement had few social concerns and even fewer revolutionary ones.|isbn=978-1-84511-257-8}}</ref> an opposition to both ] and popular Islamic religious practices (the ] of ]),<ref name=roy-117>{{cite book |last=Roy |first=Olivier |author-link=Olivier Roy (political scientist) |year=1994 |title=The Failure of Political Islam |location=] |publisher=] |page= |isbn=978-0-674-29141-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/failureofpolitic00royo |url-access=registration |access-date=2 April 2015 |via=] |quote=The Muslim Brothers agreed not to operate in Saudi Arabia itself, but served as a relay for contacts with foreign Islamist movements. The MBs also used as a relay in South Asia movements long established on an indigenous basis (Jamaat-i Islami). Thus the MB played an essential role in the choice of organizations and individuals likely to receive Saudi subsidies. On a doctrinal level, the differences are certainly significant between the MBs and the Wahhabis, but their common references to Hanbalism ... their rejection of the division into juridical schools, and their virulent opposition to Shiism and popular religious practices (the cult of 'saints') furnished them with the common themes of a reformist and puritanical preaching. This alliance carried in its wake older fundamentalist movements, non-Wahhabi but with strong local roots, such as the Pakistani Ahl-i Hadith or the Ikhwan of continental China.}}</ref> and a belief in the importance of armed ].<ref name=Kepel2004-156>{{cite book|last1=Kepel|first1=Gilles|title=The War for Muslim Minds: Islam and the West|date=2004|publisher=Harvard University Press|page=|url=https://archive.org/details/warformuslimmind00kepe |url-access=registration|access-date=4 April 2015|quote=In the melting pot of Arabia during the 1960s, local clerics trained in the Wahhabite tradition joined with activists and militants affiliated with the Muslims Brothers who had been exiled from the neighboring countries of Egypt, Syria and Iraq ... The phenomenon of Osama bin Laden and his associates cannot be understood outside this hybrid tradition.|isbn=978-0-674-01575-3}}</ref>
* and directly—through ]<ref>{{cite book |title=A History of Saudi Arabia |last=Al-Rasheed |first=Madawi|author-link=Madawi al-Rasheed |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-521-74754-7 |page=233|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref><ref name=Cordesman-2002-6>{{cite book|last1=Cordesman|first1=Anthony H.|title=Saudi Arabia Enters The 21st Century: IV. Opposition and Islamic Extremism Final Review|date=31 December 2002|publisher=CSIS|pages=6–7|url=http://csis.org/files/media/csis/pubs/s21_04.pdf|access-date=26 November 2015|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304110757/http://csis.org/files/media/csis/pubs/s21_04.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> and through its influence on at least two major terrorist groups<ref>The Taliban were responsible for 4,990 terrorist deaths in 2019, according to the Global Terrorism Index 2020, an 18 per cent decrease from 2018. {{cite web |title=Global Terrorism Index 2020 |url=https://www.visionofhumanity.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/GTI-2020-web-1.pdf |website=Vision of Humanity |publisher=Institute for Economics & Peace |access-date=18 May 2021 |page=15}}</ref> -- ]<ref name=LICHTBLAU>{{cite news|last1=LICHTBLAU|first1=ERIC|title=Documents Back Saudi Link to Extremists |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/world/middleeast/24saudi.html|access-date=17 August 2014|work=The New York Times|date=23 June 2009|quote=The new documents, provided to The New York Times by the lawyers, are among several hundred thousand pages of investigative material obtained by the Sept. 11 families and their insurers as part of a long-running civil lawsuit seeking to hold Saudi Arabia and its royal family liable for financing Al Qaeda.}}</ref> and the ].


Up until at least 2017 or so (when ] ] declared Saudi Arabia was returning to "moderate Islam"),<ref name="bbc-moderate-2017">{{cite news |title=Crown prince says Saudis want return to moderate Islam |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-41747476 |access-date=18 May 2021 |publisher=BBC |date=25 October 2017}}</ref>
===Afghanistan===
Saudi Arabia ] many billions, not only through the Saudi government but through Islamic organizations, religious charities, and private sources,<ref name=house-groups>{{cite book |last=House |first=Karen Elliott |author-link=Karen Elliott House |title=] |publisher=] |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-307-47328-8 |page=234 |quote=To this day, the regime funds numerous international organizations to spread fundamentalist Islam, including the ], the ], the ], and various royal charities such as the Popular Committee for Assisting the Palestinian Muhahedeen, led by Prince ], now minister of defense, who often is touted as a potential future king . Supporting da'wah, which literally means 'making an invitation' to Islam, is a religious requirement that Saudi rulers feel they cannot abandon without losing their domestic legitimacy as protectors and propagators of Islam. Yet in the wake of ], American anger at the kingdom led the U.S. government to demand controls on Saudi largesse to Islamic groups that funded terrorism.}}</ref>
In Afghanistan, ] and ] forces, are reported to have "sharply escalated bombing and other attacks in 2006 and early 2007" against civilians. During 2006 "at least 669 Afghan civilians were killed in at least 350 armed attacks, most of which appear to have been intentionally launched at civilians or civilian objects. An additional 52 civilians were killed in insurgent attacks in the first two months of 2007."<ref> April 2007 Volume 19, No. 6(C) </ref>
on ''dawah wahhabiya'', i.e. spreading the Wahhabi interpretation of Islam,<ref name=lacey-95-embassies>{{cite book|last=Lacey|first=Robert|title=Inside the Kingdom: Kings, Clerics, Modernists, Terrorists, and the Struggle for Saudi Arabia|url=https://archive.org/details/insidekingdomkin00lace_0|url-access=registration|date=2009|publisher=Viking
|page=|isbn=978-0-670-02118-5|quote=The Kingdom's 70 or so embassies around the world already featured cultural, educational, and military attaches, along with consular officers who organized visas for the hajj. Now they were joined by religious attaches, whose job was to get new mosques built in their countries and to persuade existing mosques to propagate the ''dawah wahhabiya''.}}</ref>
This funding incentivized Muslim "schools, book publishers, magazines, newspapers, or even governments" around the world to "shape their behavior, speech, and thought in such a way as to incur and benefit from Saudi largesse," and so propagate Wahhabi doctrines;<ref>{{cite book|last= Abou El Fadl |first=Khaled|title=The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists|url= https://archive.org/details/greattheftwrestl00abou |url-access= registration |publisher= Harper San Francisco |year=2005 |page= |isbn=978-0-06-056339-4|quote=A wide range of institutions, whether schools, book publishers, magazines, newspapers, or even governments, as well as individuals, such as imams, teachers, or writers, learned to shape their behavior, speech, and thought in such a way as to incur and benefit from Saudi largesse. In many parts of the Muslim world, the wrong type of speech or conduct (such as failing to veil or advocate the veil) meant the denial of Saudi largesse or the denial of the possibility of attaining Saudi largesse, and in numerous contexts this meant the difference between enjoying a decent standard of living or living in abject poverty.}}</ref>


The hundreds of Islamic colleges and Islamic centers, over a thousand mosques and schools for Muslim children, it financed {{#tag:ref|One estimate is that during the reign of ] (1982 to 2005), over $75 billion was spent in efforts to spread Wahhabi Islam. The money was used to establish 200 Islamic colleges, 210 Islamic centers, 1,500 mosques, and 2,000 schools for Muslim children in Muslim and non-Muslim majority countries.<ref name=threat-alliance>{{cite news|last=Ibrahim|first=Youssef Michel|title=The Mideast Threat That's Hard to Define|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=11 August 2002|url=http://www.cfr.org/religion/mideast-threat-s-hard-define/p4702|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140904022847/http://www.cfr.org/religion/mideast-threat-s-hard-define/p4702|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 September 2014|access-date=21 August 2014|quote=... money that brought Wahabis power throughout the Arab world and financed networks of fundamentalist schools from Sudan to northern Pakistan.}}</ref> According to diplomat and political scientist ], this funding was for non-Muslim countries alone.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gold |first1=Dore |title=Hatred's Kingdom: How Saudi Arabia Supports the New Global Terrorism |date=2003 |publisher=Regnery |page=126}}</ref>|group=Note}}
===Southeast Asia===
often featured Wahhabi-friendly curriculum and religious materials<ref name=lynch-schools>{{cite web|last1=Lynch III|first1=Thomas F.|title=Sunni and Shi'a Terrorism Differences that Matter|url=http://gsmcneal.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/sunni-and-shia-terrorism-differences-that-matter.pdf|website=gsmcneal.com|publisher=Combating Terrorism Center at West Point|access-date=31 October 2014|page=30|date=29 December 2008|quote=Although Sunni‐extremist fervor dissipates the further one travels from the wellsprings of Cairo and Riyadh, Salafist (and very similar Wahhabi) teaching is prominently featured at thousands of worldwide schools funded by fundamentalist Sunni Muslim charities, especially those from Saudi Arabia and across the Arabian Peninsula.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Focus on Islamic issues |last=Malbouisson |first=Cofie D. |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-60021-204-8 |page=26|publisher=Nova Publishers}}</ref><ref name=Cordesman-17-18>{{cite book|last1=Cordesman|first1=Anthony H.|title=Saudi Arabia Enters The 21st Century: IV. Opposition and Islamic Extremism Final Review|date=2002|publisher=Center for Strategic and International Studies|pages=17–18|url=http://csis.org/files/media/csis/pubs/s21_04.pdf|access-date=31 October 2015|quote=Many aspects of the Saudi curriculum were not fully modernized after the 1960s. Some Saudi textbooks taught Islamic tolerance while others condemned Jews and Christians. Anti-Christian and anti-Jewish passages remained in grade school textbooks that use rhetoric that were little more than hate literature. The same was true of more sophisticated books issued by the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Practices. Even the English-language Korans available in the hotels in the Kingdom added parenthetical passages condemning Christians and Jews that were not in any English language editions of the Koran outside Saudi Arabia.|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304110757/http://csis.org/files/media/csis/pubs/s21_04.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
====Abu Sayyaf Group====
such as textbooks explaining that all forms of Islam except Wahhabism were deviation,<ref name=Husain-wahhab>{{cite book|author=Husain, Ed|title=The Islamist: Why I Joined Radical Islam in Britain, What I Saw Inside and Why I Left|publisher=Penguin|date=2007|page=250|quote=My Saudi students gave me some of their core texts from university classes. They complained that regardless of their subject of study, they were compelled to study 'Thaqafah Islamiyyah' (Islamic Culture) ... These books were published in 2003 (after a Saudi promise in a post-9/11 world to alter their textbooks) and were used in classrooms across the country in 2005. I read these texts very closely: entire pages were devoted to explaining to undergraduates that all forms of Islam except Wahhabism were deviation. There were prolonged denunciations of nationalism, communism, the West, free mixing of the sexes, observing birthdays, even Mother's Day }}</ref> or the twelfth grade Saudi text that "instructs students that it is a religious obligation to do 'battle' against infidels in order to spread the faith".<ref name=SACoI-9>{{cite book|title=Saudi Arabia's Curriculum of Intolerance|date=2006|publisher=Center for Religious Freedom of Freedom House with the Institute for Gulf Affairs|page=9|url=https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/CurriculumOfIntolerance.pdf|access-date=10 November 2015}}</ref>
The ] also known as '''al-Harakat al-Islamiyya''' is one of several militant ] ] groups based in and around the southern islands of ], in ] (], ], and ]) where for almost 30 years various Muslim groups have been engaged in an insurgency for a state, independent of the predominantly ] ]. The name of the group is derived from the Arabic ابو, '']'' ("father of") and ''sayyaf'' ("Swordsmith").<ref name="24threlease">, ''FBI national Press Release'', ], ]</ref>


Wahhabi-friendly works distributed for free "financed by petroleum royalties" included those of ]<ref name=kepel-158-taymiyyah>{{cite book|last=Kepel |first=Gilles |title=The War for Muslim Minds|url=https://archive.org/details/warformuslimmind00kepe |url-access=registration |publisher=Belknap Press of Harvard University Press |year=2004 |page=|isbn=978-0-674-01575-3 |quote=Starting in the 1950s, religious institutions in Saudi Arabia published and disseminated new editions of Ibn Taymiyya's works for free throughout the world, financed by petroleum royalties. These works have been cited widely: by Abd al-Salam Faraj, the spokesperson for the group that assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981; in GIA tracts calling for the massacre of 'infidels'during the Algerian civil war in the 1990s; and today on Internet sites exhorting Muslim women in the west to wear veils as a religious obligation.}}</ref> (author of the fatwa mentioned above against rulers who do not rule by sharia law).<ref name=Faraj-Duty /><ref name=Cook-understanding-192 />
Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out ]s, ]s, ]s, ]s, and ] in their fight for an independent ] in western Mindanao and the ] with the stated goal of creating a pan-Islamic superstate across ], spanning from east to west; the island of Mindanao, the Sulu Archipelago, the island of ] (], ]), the ], and the ] (], ] and ]).<ref name="TKBAbu">{{cite web|url=http://tkb.org/Group.jsp?groupID=204 |title=Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) |publisher=MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base |lastaccessyear=2006 |lastaccessmonthday=September 20}}</ref>


Not least, the successful 1980–1990 jihad against Soviet occupation of Afghanistan—that inspired non-Afghan jihad veterans to continue jihad in their own country or other—benefited from billions of dollars in Saudi financing, as well as "weaponry and intelligence".
The ] has branded the group a terrorist entity by adding it to the list of ].<ref name="TKBAbu" />
<ref name=Rashid-taliban-1308>{{cite book
| last = Rashid
| first = Ahmed
| author-link = Ahmed Rashid
| title = Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil, and Fundamentalism in Central Asia
| publisher = I.B. Tauris
| year = 2000
| location = London
| page = 130}}</ref>


==== Religious interpretations ====
==Tactics==
The "root cause" of Muslim terrorism is extremist ideology, according to Pakistani theologian ], specifically the teachings that:
{{Muslims and controversies}}
* "Only Muslims have the right to rule, non-Muslims are meant to be subjugated";
]'s justification for his terrorist attack at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Meditation II, has appeared on numerous websites critical to Islam.]]
* "Modern nation states are unIslamic and constitute ] (disbelief)";
Some of these groups, such as Hamas and Hezbollah, have limited their acts to localized regions of the Middle East, while others, notably Al-Qaeda, have an international scope for their terrorist activities.{{Fact|date=June 2008}}
* the only truly Islamic form of state is a unified Muslim Caliphate;
* "when Muslims obtain power they will overthrow non-Muslim governments and rule";
* "The punishment of kufr (disbelief) and ] (apostasy) is death and must be implemented".<ref>{{cite web
| url =http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/junaid-jahangir/freedom-of-speech_b_9004740.html
| title =Freedom Of Speech Does Not Mean Freedom To Hate
| last =Jahangir
| first =Junaid
| date =18 January 2017
| website =HuffPost
| access-date =6 April 2017
| quote =Islamic grand teacher, Javed Ahmad Ghamidi, who is in self-imposed exile due to death threats, has clearly stated that the root cause of Muslim terrorism is religious ideology. }}</ref>
Other authors have noted other elements of extremist Islamic ideology.


===Bombings=== =====Martyrdom/Istishhad=====
{{main|Suicide attack}} {{Main|Istishhad}}
Terror attacks requiring the death of the attacker are generally referred to as ] by the media, but when done by Islamists their perpetrators generally call such an attack ''Istishhad'' (or in English "]"),<ref>{{Cite book |last=Romero |first=Juan |title=Terrorism: the Power and Weakness of Fear |date=2022 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-032-19806-4 |series=Routledge Studies in Modern History |location=Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY |pages=145–146 |chapter=Rules of jihad}}</ref> and the suicide attacker '']'' (pl. ''shuhada'', literally 'witness' and usually translated as 'martyr'). The idea being that the attacker died in order to testify his faith in God, for example while waging '']'' (] by the sword). The term "suicide" is never used because Islam has ] against taking one's own life.
An increasingly popular tactic used by terrorists is suicide bombing.<ref>{{citeweb|title= The_MIPT_Terrorism_Annual|url=http://www.tkb.org/documents/Downloads/2006-MIPT-Terrorism-Annual.pdf|format=PDF|publisher=tkb.org|accessdate=2008-02-06}}</ref> This tactic is used against civilians, soldiers, and government officials of the regimes the terrorists oppose. The use of suicide bombers is seen by many Muslims as contradictory to Islam's teachings; however, groups who support its use often refer to such attacks as "]s" and the suicide-bombers who commit them as "]s" (Arabic: shuhada, plural of "shahid"). The bombers, and their sympathizers often believe that suicide bombers, as martyrs to the cause of jihad against the enemy, will receive the rewards of ] for their actions.<ref>http://cns.miis.edu/pubs/week/031121.htm "Shi'i theology glorifies the act of "self martyrdom" against overwhelming odds, claiming to provide the `martyr` with a direct path to heaven. What is more, the shuhada' (martyrs) see themselves as continuing Husayn's tradition of "self martyrdom." The following Hizb`allah fighter echoes these sentiments."</ref>


According to author Sadakat Kadri, "the very idea that Muslims might blow themselves up for God was unheard of before 1983, and it was not until the early 1990s that anyone anywhere had tried to justify killing innocent Muslims who were not on a battlefield." After 1983 the process was limited among Muslims to Hezbollah and other Lebanese Shi'a factions for more than a decade.<ref name=kadri-168>{{cite book|last1=Kadri|first1=Sadakat|title=Heaven on Earth: A Journey Through Shari'a Law from the Deserts of Ancient Arabia ...|date=2012|publisher=macmillan|isbn=978-0-09-952327-7|page=168|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ztCRZOhJ10wC&q=Heaven+on+Earth:+A+Journey+Through+Shari%27a+Law}}</ref>
One source has found interest in new and so far unutilized bombing technique on internet forums used by the Islamic terror group al-Qaeda - the use of "remote-piloted aircraft" and "robot designs," and "training dogs to recognize American troops’ uniforms," as a replacement for techniques such as suicide bombing or a detonating planted bombs with a radio-control.<ref name="nytimes.com"/>
===Hijackings===
The hijacking of passenger vehicles such as cars, buses, and planes has also become a hallmark of Islamist terrorism,<ref name="hijack"> 5 April 2007. Retrieved 10 May, 2007.</ref>{{Fact|date=April 2008}} particularly as a result of the simultaneous hijacking of the four passenger jets utilized in the September 11th terrorist attacks as well as the hijacking of a Belgian airlines jet during the 1972 ].


Since then, the "vocabulary of martyrdom and sacrifice", videotaped pre-confession of faith by attackers have become part of "Islamic cultural consciousness", "instantly recognizable" to Muslims (according to ]),{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}} while the tactic has spread through the Muslim world "with astonishing speed and on a surprising course".{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}}
===Kidnappings and executions===
Along with bombings and hijackings, Islamist terrorists have made extensive use of highly-publicised kidnappings and executions, often circulating videos of the acts for use as propaganda. Notable ] include ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ]. One Iraqi victim was ]. The most frequent form of execution by these groups has been decapitations, often committed while shouting the Islamic chant, "]" (Arabic for God is greatest). While some targets are military, or seen as supporting the anti-Islamist forces, victims are also as varied as the Red Cross,<ref></ref> the Iraqi education ministry,<ref></ref> and diplomats.<ref></ref>


{{blockquote|First the targets were American soldiers, then mostly Israelis, including women and children. From ] and Israel, the technique of suicide bombing moved to Iraq, where the targets have included mosques and shrines, and the intended victims have mostly been ] ]. ... ], ... both the perpetrators and the targets are orthodox ] Muslims. Not long ago, a bombing in Lashkar Gah, the capital of ], killed Muslims, including women, who were applying to go on ] to ]. Overall, the trend is definitively in the direction of Muslim-on-Muslim violence. By a conservative accounting, more than three times as many Iraqis have been killed by suicide bombings in just three year (2003–6) as have Israelis in ten (from 1996–2006). Suicide bombing has become the archetype of Muslim violence&nbsp;– not just to Westerners but also to Muslims themselves.<ref name="nytimes.com">], , ''The New York Times'', October 29, 2006</ref>}}
==Motivation, ideology and theology==
===Motivations===
To what extent Islamic terrorists are motivated by religious belief is disputed.
], has argued that at least terrorists utilizing suicide-homicide attacks -- a particularly effective<Ref>For example, according to Pape, from 1980 to 2003 suicide attacks amounted to only 3% of all terrorist attacks, but accounted for 48% of total deaths due to terrorism - this excluding 9/11 attacks, from Pape, ''Dying to Win,'' (2005), p.28</ref> form of terrorist attack -- are driven not by Islamism but by "a clear strategic objective: to compel modern democracies to withdraw military forces from the territory that the terrorists view as their homeland."<ref>{{cite web
|last = McConnell
|first = Scott
|year = 2005
|url = http://www.amconmag.com/2005_07_18/article.html
|title = The Logic of Suicide Terrorism
|work = The American Conservative magazine
|publisher = The American Conservative
|accessdate = 2006-06-25
}}</ref></BLOCKQUOTE> However a critic of Pape's theory, ], argues that it does not account for the lack of suicide bombings in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in Israel for nearly 30 years after the occupation began, for the targeting of native, non-combatant Shia by jihadi bombers in Iraq, the prominence of British-born Pakistanis in bombings in London, or of North Africans, and especially Moroccans, in the second wave of al-Qaeda attackers.<ref></ref>


;Jihadist comparisons of life and death
In particular, scholar Scott Atran, points out that the massive increase in suicide bombing has meant most suicide bombings have occurred after Pape's study ended in 2003. "Roughly 600," suicide attacks occurred in just two years, 2004 and 2005, more "than in Pape's entire sample,"<ref> p.131, 133</ref> - and the overwhelming majority of these bombers have been motivated by the ideology of Islamist martyrdom.


Below are jihadist statements comparing life and death:
Some supporters of ] have claimed that citizens of Israel are legitimate military targets because Jewish adolescents are required by law to serve in the country's military.{{Fact|date=January 2007}}
* "We love death like our enemies love life" (] leader ] on ] in 2014)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Weber |first1=Joseph |title=Divided Loyalties: Young Somali Americans and the Lure of Extremism |publisher=MSU Press |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XzLwDwAAQBAJ&q=%E2%80%9CWe+love+death+like+our+enemies+love+life%E2%80%9D+haniyeh&pg=PT133 |chapter= 13. The Glory of the Shahid |date=September 2020 |isbn=978-1-62895-407-4 |access-date=15 July 2021}}</ref>
* "The Americans love Pepsi-Cola, we love death." (Afghan jihadist Maulana Inyadullah addressing a British reporter in 2001)<ref name="Blair-2001">{{cite news |last1=Blair |first1=David |title=The Americans love Pepsi-Cola, we love death. |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/1341470/The-Americans-love-Pepsi-Cola-but-we-love-death.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/1341470/The-Americans-love-Pepsi-Cola-but-we-love-death.html |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=15 July 2021 |work=The Telegraph |date=24 September 2001}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
* "The world is but a passage ... what is called life in this world is not life but death" (] in 1977, commemorating his son's death)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Figueira |first1=Daurius |title=The Al Qaeda Discourse of the Greater Kufr |date=November 2004 |publisher=iUniverse |isbn=978-0-595-33613-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YCDMiksuRdYC&q=%22what+is+called+life+in+this+world+is+not+life+but+death%22+khomeini&pg=RA1-PT21 |access-date=15 July 2021}}</ref>
* "...The sons of the land of the two holiest sites ] and ]] ... I say this to you, These youths love death as you love life" (Osama bin Laden addressing U.S. Secretary of Defense William Perry in 1996 fatwa)<ref name="Declaration of Jihad ObL">{{cite web |last1=bin Laden |first1=Osama |title=Declaration of Jihad Against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holiest Sites. (Expel the infidels from the Arab Peninsula). A message from Usamah Bin Muhammad Bin Ladin |url=https://ctc.usma.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Declaration-of-Jihad-against-the-Americans-Occupying-the-Land-of-the-Two-Holiest-Sites-Translation.pdf |website=Combating Terrorism Center |access-date=15 July 2021 |page=(Document page 3) |archive-date=7 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210807052959/https://ctc.usma.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Declaration-of-Jihad-against-the-Americans-Occupying-the-Land-of-the-Two-Holiest-Sites-Translation.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>


=====Justification for killing noncombatants =====
Former ] analyst ]'s states that the Al Qaeda Islamic terror attacks against America are motivated not by a hatred of American culture and religion but by the belief that ] is a threat to Islam,<ref>{{cite book | last = Scheuer| first = Michael| authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Imperial Hubris| publisher = Brassey's, Inc.| year = 2004| location = Dulles, Virginia| pages = 9| url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-965-51394-7|quote= The focused and lethal threat posed to U.S. national security arises not from Muslims being offended by what America is, but rather from their plausible perception that the things they most love and value--God, Islam, their brethren, and Muslim lands--are being attacked by America.}}</ref> condensed in the phrase "They hate us for what we do, not who we are." U.S. foreign policy actions Scheuer believes are fueling Islamic terror include
Al-Qaeda justification for the killing of civilian bystanders following its first attack (see above) based on a ]'s fatwa was described by author Lawrence Wright,
* U.S. troops on Muslim holy ground in ]
{{blockquote| Ibn Taymiyyah had issued a historic fatwa: Anyone who aided the Mongols, who bought goods from them or sold to them or was merely standing near them, might be killed as well. If he is a good Muslim, he will go to Paradise; if he is bad, he will go to hell, and good riddance. Thus the dead tourist and the hotel worker would find their proper reward.<ref name="auto1">[source: testimony of Jamal al-Fadl, U.S. v. Usama bin Laden, et.al., quoted in ''Looming Tower'', by Lawrence Wright, NY, Knopf, 2006, 174-5</ref>}}
* U.S. support for "]" ] in Muslim nations such as Saudi Arabia, ], ], ], ], and ]<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/front/interviews/scheuer.html|title= Frontline: Al Qaeda's New Front: Interviews: Michael Scheuer|accessdate=2008-03-08 |format= |work= |quote= Bin Laden has had success because he's focused on a limited number of U.S. foreign policies in the Muslim world, policies that are visible and are experienced by Muslims on a daily basis: our unqualified support for Israel; our ability to keep oil prices at a level that is more or less acceptable to Western consumers. Probably the most damaging of all is our 30-year support for police states across the Islamic world: the Al Sauds and the Egyptians under Mubarak and his predecessors; the Algerians; the Moroccans; the Kuwaitis. They're all police states.}}</ref>
*The invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq
*U.S. support for ] of the Christian state of ] from territory previously held by Muslim ].
*Perceived U.S. approval or support of counterinsurency against Muslim insurgents in India, Philippines, Chechnia, ] ] in western China, Palestine.<ref>{{cite book | last = Scheuer| first = Michael| authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Imperial Hubris| publisher = Brassey's, Inc.| year = 2004| location = Dulles, Virginia| pages = 11–13| url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-965-51394-7}}</ref>


An influential tract '']'' (''Idarat at-Tawahhush''), explains away mass killing in part by the fact that even "if the whole umma perishes they would all be martyrs".<ref name="auto2">Najji, ''Management of Savagery'', p.76; quoted in ...</ref><ref name="Gerges-18-3-19">{{cite journal |last1=Gerges |first1=Fawaz A. |title=The World According to ISIS |journal=Foreign Policy Journal |date=18 March 2016 |url=https://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2016/03/18/the-world-according-to-isis/ |access-date=17 August 2019}}</ref> Similarly, author ] has described the chat room reaction of a Taliban supporter to his (Rizvi's) condemnation of the ]—that the 132 school children the Taliban slaughtered were "not dead" because they had been killed "in the way of God ... Don't call them dead. They are alive, but we don't perceive it" (citing, {{qref|3|169|b=y}} Never think of those martyred in the cause of Allah as dead. In fact, they are alive with their Lord, well provided for—), and maintaining that those whose Islamic faith is "pure" would not be upset with the Taliban's murder of children either.<ref name="interview">{{cite web |last1=POWELL |first1=CALEB |title=Leaving The Faith, THE SUN INTERVIEW, Ali Rizvi. |url=https://www.thesunmagazine.org/issues/504/leaving-the-faith |website=The Sun Magazine |access-date=26 August 2019 |date=December 2017}}</ref>
Some other academics agree that argues that 'terrorism should be seen as a strategic reaction to American power,' - that America is an empire, and empires provoked resistance in the form of terrorism. The Russian, Ottoman, and Habsburg Empires, for example, all suffered from terrorist attacks and had terrorist organisations - the Black Hand, Young Bosnia, Narodnaya Volya - spawned from their multiple ethnic, religious, and national peoples (Serb, Macedonian, and Bosnian). <ref>{{cite journal|author=Albert J. Bergesen and Omar Lizardo|volume=22|issue=1|title=Theories of Terrorism: A Symposium|journal=Sociological Theory|year=2004|month=March|pages=38–52|doi=10.1111/j.1467-9558.2004.00203.x}}</ref>


===== "War against Islam" =====
===Profiles===
Forensic psychiatrist and former foreign service officer Marc Sageman, made an "intensive study of biographical data on 172 participants in the jihad," in his book "Understanding Terror Networks".<ref>http://books.google.com/books?id=SAQ8Oa6zWF4C&printsec=frontcover</ref> He concluded "social networks", the "tight bonds of family and friendship" rather than behavioral disorders "poverty, trauma, madness, ignorance" inspired alienated young Muslims to join the jihad" and kill.<ref></ref>


A tenant of Qutbism and other militant Islamists is that Western policies and society are not just un-Islamic or exploitive, but actively anti-Islamic, or as it is sometimes described, waging a "]". Islamists (such as Qutb) often identify what they see as a historical struggle between ] and ], dating back as far as the ],<ref name="Qut-Decieve-1982-159">{{cite book |last1=Qutb |first1=Sayyid |title=Milestones |date=1982 |publisher=Mother Mosque Foundation |location=Iowa |isbn=0-911119-42-6 |pages=159–160 |quote=Enemies of the Believers may wish to change this struggle into an economic or political ... struggle so that the Believers become confused concerning the true nature of the struggle and the flame of belief in their hearts becomes extinguished ... We see an example of this today in the attempts of Christendom to try to deceive us by distorting history and saying that the Crusades were a form of imperialism. The truth of the matter is that the latter-day imperialism is but a mask for the crusading spirit, since it is not possible for it to appear in its true form, as it was possible in the Middle Ages.}}</ref> among other historical conflicts between practitioners of the two respective religions.
Author ] describes the characteristic of "displacement" of members of the most famous Islamic terrorist group, Al-Qaeda.
<BLOCKQUOTE> What the recruits tended to have in common - besides their urbanity, their cosmopolitan backgrounds, their education, their facility with languages, and their computer skills - was displacement. Most who joined the jihad did so in a country other than the one in which they were reared. They were Algerians living in expatriate enclaves in France, Moroccans in Spain, or Yemenis in Saudi Arabia. Despite their accomplishments, they had little standing in the host societies where they lived. ...."<REF>Wright, ''Loming Tower'' (2006), p.304</REF></BLOCKQUOTE>


In 2006, Britain's then head of ] ] said of Al-Qaeda that it "has developed an ideology which claims that Islam is under attack, and needs to be defended". "This," she said "is a powerful narrative that weaves together conflicts from across the globe, presenting the West's response to varied and complex issues, from long-standing disputes such as Israel/Palestine and Kashmir to more recent events as evidence of an across-the-board determination to undermine and humiliate Islam worldwide."<ref name="EM-B">{{cite web|first=Eliza|last=Manningham-Buller|author-link=Eliza Manningham-Buller|url=http://www.icjs-online.org/index.php?article=1121|title=Transcript of speech: The International Terrorist Threat to the UK|publisher=ICJS Research|date=10 November 2006|access-date=4 August 2016|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304185657/http://www.icjs-online.org/index.php?article=1121|url-status=dead}}</ref> She said that the video wills of ] suicide bombers made it clear that they were motivated by perceived worldwide and long-standing injustices against Muslims; an extreme and minority interpretation of Islam promoted by some preachers and people of influence; their interpretation as anti-Muslim of UK foreign policy, in particular the UK's involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan."<ref name="EM-B" />
Scholar ] describes the background of the hundreds of ''global'' (as opposed to local) terrorists who were incarcerated or killed and for whom authorities have records, as being surprising for their Westernized background; for the lack of Palestinians, Iraqis, Afghans "coming to avenge what is going on in their country"; their lack of religiousity before being "born again" in a foreign country; the high percentage of converts to Islam among them; their "de-territorialized backgrounds" - "For instance, they may be born in a country, then educated in another country, then go to fight in a third country and take refuge in a fourth country"; their untraditional belief that jihad is permanent, global, and "not linked with a specific territory."<ref></ref>


In his call for jihad, ] almost invariably described his enemies as aggressive and his action against them as defensive.<ref name="KNAPP-90">{{cite journal|last1=KNAPP|first1=MICHAEL G.|date=Spring 2003|title=The Concept and Practice of Jihad in Islam|url=https://ssi.armywarcollege.edu/pubs/parameters/articles/03spring/knapp.pdf|url-status=dead|journal=Parameters|publisher=]|page=90|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170517024926/https://ssi.armywarcollege.edu/pubs/parameters/articles/03spring/knapp.pdf|archive-date=17 May 2017|access-date=14 January 2022}}</ref>
This profile differs from that found among recent ''local'' Islamist suicide bombers in Afghanistan, according to a 2007 study of 110 suicide bombers by Afghan pathologist Dr. Yusef Yadgari. Yadgari found that "80%" of the attackers studied had some kind of physical or mental disability. The bombers were also "not celebrated like their counterparts in other Arab nations. Afghan bombers are not featured on posters or in videos as martyrs."<ref></ref>


===== Enmity towards non-Muslims, Western society and LGBT+ =====
===Ideology===
The enmity towards non-Muslims among Islamist militants, leaders and scholars is driven by theological beliefs that deem Christians and Jews as "]". This hostility is further extended to ] due to its secular values and practices, which are viewed as contrary to Islamic principles. These include issues such as the proliferation of ], perceived ], and the acceptance of ] and ].
{{main|Neofascism and religion#Islam}}


An example of this ideological stance in practice was provided by Karam Kuhdi, an Islamist arrested in Egypt in 1981 for his involvement in a series of robberies and murders targeting Christian goldsmiths. In this period, tourists, often non-Muslim, were also frequently targeted by Islamic terrorists in Egypt. During police interrogation, Kuhdi surprised authorities with his unconventional beliefs. He rejected the traditional Islamic doctrine that Christians were "]" entitled to protection as ], instead considering them infidels subject to violent jihad. Kuhdi supported his stance by citing Quranic verses such as 'Those who say that God is Jesus, son of Mary, are infidels' and 'combat those of the people of the book who are infidels', explaining the Islamists view that the infidels are "the People of the Book, since they have not believed in this book".<ref>Kepel, Gilles, The Prophet and the Pharaoh, (2003), p.208-209</ref>
Tenets of ] have been summarized by Dale C. Eikmeier as being:
*A belief that Muslims have deviated from true Islam and must return to “pure Islam” as originally practiced during the time of the Prophet.
*The path to “pure Islam” is only through a literal and strict interpretation of the ] and ], along with implementation of the ]’s commands.
*Muslims should interpret the original sources individually without being bound to follow the interpretations of Islamic scholars.
*That any interpretation of the Quran from a historical, contextual perspective is a corruption, and that the majority of Islamic history and the ] is mere sophistry.<ref>[http://www.carlisle.army.mil/usawc/Parameters/07spring/eikmeier.htm Qutbism, An Ideology of
Islamic-Fascism by Dale C. Eikmeier] accessed July 17, 2007</ref>


According to a doctrine known as ''al-wala' wa al-bara{{'}}'' (literally, "loyalty and disassociation"), Wahhabi founder Abd al-Wahhab argued that it was "imperative for Muslims not to befriend, ally themselves with, or imitate non-Muslims or heretical Muslims", and that this "enmity and hostility of Muslims toward non-Muslims and heretical had to be visible and unequivocal".<ref>{{cite book|last= Abou El Fadl |first= Khaled |title= The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists |publisher= Harper San Francisco |year=2005 |pages=49, 50 |quote=Significantly, Abd al-Wahhab also insisted that it was a sign of spiritual weakness for Muslims to care for or be interested in non-Muslim beliefs or practices. Pursuant to a doctrine known as ''al-wala' wa al-bara{{'}}'' (literally, the doctrine of loyalty and disassociation), Abd al-Wahhab argued that it was imperative for Muslims not to befriend, ally themselves with, or imitate non-Muslims or heretical Muslims. Furthermore, this enmity and hostility of Muslims toward non-Muslims and heretical had to be visible and unequivocal. For example, by not being the first to greet a non-Muslim, orby ever wishing a non-Muslim peace.}}</ref>
Transnational ] ideology, specifically of the militant Islamists, assert that Western polities and society are actively anti-Islamic, or as it is sometimes described, waging a "]". Islamists often identify what they see as a historical struggle between Christianity and Islam, dating back as far as the ], among other historical conflicts between practitioners of the two respective religions. ], for example, almost invariably describes his enemy as aggressive and his call for action against them as defensive. ] differs from offensive jihad in being "] al-ayn," or a personal obligation of all Muslim, rather than "] al-kifaya", a communal obligation, which if some Muslims perform it is not required from others. Hence, framing a fight as defensive has the advantage both of appearing to be a victim rather than aggressor, and of giving your struggle the very highest religious priority for all good Muslims.


Although bin Laden almost always emphasized the alleged oppression of Muslims by America and Jews when talking about the need for jihad in his messages, in his "]", he answered the question, "What are we calling you to, and what do we want from you?" with:
Many of the violent terrorist groups use the name of ] to fight 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.


{{blockquote|We call you to be a people of manners, principles, honour, and purity; to reject the immoral acts of fornication, homosexuality, intoxicants, gambling's, and trading with interest (...) You separate religion from your policies, (...) You are the nation that permits Usury, which has been forbidden by all the religions (...) You are a nation that permits the production, trading and usage of intoxicants (...) You are a nation that permits acts of immorality (...) You are a nation that permits gambling in its all forms. (...) You use women to serve passengers, visitors, and strangers to increase your profit margins. You then rant that you support the liberation of women.<ref> accessed 24 May 2007</ref>}}
The historic rivalry between ] and Muslims in the ] has also often been the primary motive behind some of the most deadly terrorist attacks in ]. According to a ] report, India topped the list of countries worst affected by Islamic terrorism.


This principle has been emphasized by ] (leader of al-Qaeda since June 2011), ] (Jihadi theorist), ] (conservative Sudi scholar who supported the 9/11 attacks), and a number of Salafi preachers, ], ].<ref name="Gilliam-2018">{{cite journal |last1=Gilliam |first1=Joshua |title=Why They Hate Us An Examination of al-wala' wa-l-bara' in Salafi-Jihadist Ideology |journal=Military Review |date=15 February 2018 |url=https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Journals/Military-Review/Online-Exclusive/2018-OLE/Feb/They-Hate/ |access-date=1 June 2021}}</ref>
In addition, Islamist Jihadis, scholars, and leaders opposed Western society for what they see as ] ]. Islamists have claimed that such unrestricted free speech has led to the proliferation of ], ], ], ], ], and many other ideas that Islamists often oppose. Although bin Laden almost always emphasized the alleged oppression of Muslims by America and Jews when talking about them in his messages, in his "Letter to America" he answered the question, "What are we calling you to, and what do we want from you?," with
<BLOCKQUOTE>We call you to be a people of manners, principles, honour, and purity; to reject the immoral acts of fornication, homosexuality, intoxicants, gambling's, and trading with interest ... You separate religion from your policies, ... You are the nation that permits Usury, which has been forbidden by all the religions ... You are a nation that permits the production, trading and usage of intoxicants ... You are a nation that permits acts of immorality ... You are a nation that permits gambling in its all forms. ... You use women to serve passengers, visitors, and strangers to increase your profit margins. You then rant that you support the liberation of women. ...<ref> accessed may 24, 2007</ref></BLOCKQUOTE>


Following the 2016 ], described as a "hate crime" due to the victims being customers of an LGBT nightclub,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Blinder |first1=Alan |last2=Robles |first2=Frances |last3=Pèrez-Peña |first3=Richard |date=16 June 2016 |title=Omar Mateen Posted to Facebook Amid Orlando Attack, Lawmaker Says |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/17/us/orlando-shooting.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160618111744/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/17/us/orlando-shooting.html |archive-date=18 June 2016 |access-date=18 June 2016 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> allegedly targeted in retaliation for American airstrikes against ISIS, the official ISIS magazine ] responded: "A hate crime? Yes. Muslims undoubtedly hate liberalist sodomites. An act of terrorism? Most definitely. Muslims have been commanded to terrorize the disbelieving enemies of Allah."<ref>{{cite magazine |date=July 2016 |title=Why We Hate You & Why We Fight You |url=http://clarionproject.org/factsheets-files/islamic-state-magazine-dabiq-fifteen-breaking-the-cross.pdf |access-date=2 February 2018 |journal=Dabiq |page=30 |issue=15 |archive-date=31 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180131151712/https://clarionproject.org/factsheets-files/islamic-state-magazine-dabiq-fifteen-breaking-the-cross.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Gilliam-2018" />
Given their perceived ], '']'' noted the irony when a major<ref>[http://www.thelondondailynews.com/sexual-perverts-link-islamic-terrorists-p-1584.html
Sexual perverts and the link to Islamic terrorists], ''The London Daily News'',October 17, 2008.</ref> investigation by their reporters uncovered a link between Islamic Jihadis and ]; a discovery that, according to the ] paper, "is expected to improve understanding of the mindsets of both types of criminals and has been hailed as a potentially vital intelligence tool to undermine future terrorist plots."<ref name=Times>, Richard Kerbaj, Dominic Kennedy, Richard Owen and Graham Keeley, '']'', October 17, 2008; accessed November 30, 2008.</ref>


====Accusations of apostasy==== ===== Takfir =====
Justification for terrorism against other Muslims by militant Islamists, in particular against Muslim regimes they consider non-Islamic, is often based on the contention that the targets are ].<ref>, ], Special Dispatch Series - No. 1188, June 20, 2006</ref> Osama ], for example, maintains that any Muslim who helps "infidels over Muslims" is no longer a Muslim,
<BLOCKQUOTE>... the believer ... should boycott the goods of America and her allies, and he should be very wary that he does not support falsehood, for helping the infidels over Muslims -- even with a single word is clear unbelief, as the religious scholars have decreed.<ref>''Message to the World'' p.202, from 53-minute audiotape that "was circulated on various websites." dated Feb. 14, 2003. "Among a Band of Knights." ]</ref> </BLOCKQUOTE>
and that Taliban-ruled Afghanistan (deposed in 2001) "is the only Islamic country" in the world.<ref>''Messages to the World,'' Verso, 2006, p.143, from Interview published in ''Al-Quds Al-Arabi'' in London November 12, 2001 (originally published in Pakistani daily, ''Ausaf,'' November 7), shortly before the Northern Alliance entry into Kabul.</ref> Islamic law traditionally designates death as the penalty for apostasy (converting) from Islam.


According to traditional Islamic law, the blood of someone who leaves Islam is "forfeit"—i.e. they are condemned to death.<ref name=KepelJihad-31 /> This applies not only to self-proclaimed ex-Muslims, but to those who still believe themselves to be Muslims but who (in the eyes of their accusers) have deviated too far from orthodoxy. {{#tag:ref|(The punishment is agreed on by all the ] (Islamic jurisprudence) both ] and ],<ref name="punishment">{{cite book |last1=Abul Ala Mawdudi |title=The Punishment of the Apostate According to Islamic Law |date=1 January 1994 |publisher=The Voice of the Martyrs |chapter=Chapter one. The Problem of the Apostate's Execution from a Legal Perspective }}</ref> and has traditionally been undisputed.)<ref name="Schirrmacher-2020-85">{{cite book |last1=Schirrmacher |first1=Christine |editor1-last=Enstedt |editor1-first=Daniel |editor2-last=Larsson |editor2-first=Göran |editor3-last=Mantsinen |editor3-first=Teemu T. |title=Handbook of Leaving Religion |date=2020 |publisher=Brill |page=85 |url=https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/43466/external_content.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |access-date=6 January 2021 |chapter=Leaving Islam}}</ref>|group=Note}}
{{Main|Apostasy in Islam}}


Many contemporary liberal/modernist/reformist Muslims believe ] to be in violation of the Quranic injunction 'There is no compulsion in religion....' (]), but even earlier generations of Islamic scholars warned against making such accusations (known as '']''), without great care and usually reserved the punishment of death for "extreme, persistent and aggressive" proponents of religious innovation ('']'').<ref name="Lewis-229">{{cite book|last1=Lewis|first1=Bernard|title=The Middle East: a Brief History of the Last 2000 Years|date=1995|publisher=Touchstone|isbn=978-0-684-83280-7|page=229}}</ref> The danger, according to some (such as ]), was that "used wrongly or unrestrainedly, ... Muslims might resort to mutually excommunicating one another and thus propel the ] to complete disaster."<ref name=KepelJihad-31>Kepel, Gilles; ''Jihad: the Trail of Political Islam'', London: I.B. Tauris, 2002, page 31</ref>
Opinions within the Muslim community vary as to the grounds on which an individual may be declared to have apostatized. The most common view among Muslim scholars is that a declaration of ] (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 ].


Kepel noted that some of Qutb's early followers believed that his declaration that the Muslim world has reverted to pre-Islamic ignorance (]), should be taken literally and everyone outside of their movement takfired;<ref name=KepelJihad-32>Kepel, ''Jihad'', 2002, p. 32</ref> and Wahhabis has been known for their willingness to takfir non-Wahhabi Muslims.<ref name="TCSI2010: 48">{{cite book|last=Halverson|first=Jeffry R.|year=2010|title=Theology and Creed in Sunni Islam: The Muslim Brotherhood, Ash'arism, and Political Sunnism |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-0-230-10658-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IYzGAAAAQBAJ |pages=48–49}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Islam and power in Saudi Arabia|editor-first=John L.|editor-last=Esposito|editor2=Emad El-Din Shahin|encyclopedia=The Oxford Handbook of Islam and Politics|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2013 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hc7iAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA412|pages=412–413|isbn=978-0-19-539589-1}}</ref>
===Interpretations of the Qur'an===


Since the last half of the 20th century, a "central ideology"<ref name="OISO" /> of insurgent ]/] groups<ref>Oliveti, Vincenzo; ''Terror's Source: the Ideology of Wahhabi-Salafism and its Consequences,'' Birmingham: Amadeus Books, 2002</ref> has been the "sanctioning" of "violence against leaders" of Muslim majority states<ref name="OISO" /> who do not enforce ] (Islamic law) or are otherwise "deemed insufficiently religious".<ref name="OISO">{{cite web |title=Takfiri |url=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e2319 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117234531/http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e2319 |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 January 2013 |website=Oxford Islamic Studies Online |access-date=18 December 2020}}</ref>
The role played by the ], Islam's sacred text, in opposing or in encouraging attacks on civilians is hotly disputed.
Some insurgent groups -- ] of Egypt, and later ], the ], and ]) -- are thought to have gone even further, applying takfir and its capital punishment against not only to Sunni government authorities and Shia Muslims, but to ordinary Sunni civilians who disagree with/disobeyed insurgent policies such as reinstituting slavery.


In 1977, the group '']'' (known to the public as '']''), kidnapped and later killed an Islamic scholar and former Egyptian government minister Muhammad al-Dhahabi. The founder of ''Jama'at al-Muslimin'', Shukri Mustaf had been imprisoned with ], and had become one of Qutb's "most radical" disciples.<ref name=pbs>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/front/etc/script.html|title=Transcript &#124; Al Qaeda's New Front &#124; FRONTLINE |publisher=PBS}}</ref> He believed that not only was the Egyptian government ], but so was "Egyptian society as a whole" because it was "not fighting the Egyptian government and had thus accepted rule by non-Muslims".<ref name=Mili-29-6-2006>{{cite journal|last1=Mili|first1=Hayder|title=Jihad Without Rules: The Evolution of al-Takfir wa al-Hijra|journal=Terrorism Monitor|date=29 June 2006|volume=4|issue=13|url=http://www.jamestown.org/programs/tm/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=822&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=181&no_cache=1|access-date=18 December 2015}}</ref> While police broke up the group, it reorganized with thousands of members,<ref>Wright, Robin ''Sacred Rage'', 1985, p.181</ref> some of whom went on to help assassinate the Egyptian president Anwar Sadat,<ref name="Rabasa">{{Cite book|first=Angel|last=Rabasa|title=Radical Islam in East Africa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x96UabsFz4AC&pg=PA70|year=2009|publisher=Rand Corporation|page=70|isbn=978-0-8330-4679-6}}</ref> and join the ] and Al-Qaeda.<ref name="Dalacoura"> By Katerina Dalacoura, p.113</ref> During the 1990s, a violent Islamic insurgency in Egypt, primarily perpetrated by ], targeted not only police and government officials but also civilians, killing or wounding 1106 persons in one particularly bloody year (1993).<ref>Murphy, Caryle ''Passion for Islam : Shaping the Modern Middle East: the Egyptian Experience'', Scribner, 2002, pp. 82-3</ref>
], an Iranian-born American citizen awaiting trial for nine counts of attempted murder, cited a number of verses from the Qur'an in justifying his attempt to kill civilians, including:<ref></ref>


In the brutal 1991–2002 ], takfir of the general Algerian public was known to have been declared by the hardline Islamist ] (GIA). The GIA amir, Antar Zouabri claimed credit for two massacres of civilians (] and ]s), calling the killings an "offering to God" and declaring impious the victims and all Algerians who had not joined its ranks.<ref name=GKJTPI2002:272-3>]: p.272-3</ref> He declared that "except for those who are with us, all others are apostates and deserving of death,"<ref>'']'', 21 January (quoted in Willis 1996)</ref> (Tens, and sometimes hundreds, of civilians were killed in each of a series of massacres that started in April 1998.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Nesroullah Yous |author2=Salima Mellah |title=Qui a tué a Bentalha?|publisher=La Découverte, Paris|year=2000|isbn=978-2-7071-3332-8}}</ref> However, how many murders were the doing of GIA and how many of the security forces—who had infiltrated the insurgents and were not known for their probity—is not known.)<ref>, 31 March 1998</ref><ref name=Ajami-2010>{{cite magazine|last1=Ajami|first1=Fouad|title=The Furrows of Algeria|magazine=New Republic|date=27 January 2010|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/books-and-arts/the-furrows-algeria|access-date=4 June 2015}}</ref>
<BLOCKQUOTE> Fighting is prescribed for you, and ye dislike it. But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you, and that ye love a thing which is bad for you. But Allah knoweth, and ye know not. {{Quran-usc|2|216}} </BLOCKQUOTE>


In August 1998 the Taliban insurgents slaughtered 8000 mostly Shia ] non-combatants in ], Afghanistan. Comments by Mullah Niazi, the Taliban commander of the attack and newly installed governor, declared in a number of post-slaughter speeches from Mosques in Mazar-i-Sharif: "Hazaras are not Muslim, they are Shi'a. They are kofr . The Hazaras killed our force here, and now we have to kill Hazaras. ... You either accept to be Muslims or leave Afghanistan. ...",<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/report/1998/11/01/afghanistan-massacre-mazar-i-sharif|title=THE MASSACRE IN MAZAR-I SHARIF|publisher=Human Rights Watch|date=1 November 1998 |access-date=25 December 2020}}</ref> indicated that along with revenge, and/or ethnic hatred, ] was a motive for the slaughter.
<BLOCKQUOTE>The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land: that is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the Hereafter; {{Quran-usc|5|33}}</BLOCKQUOTE>


From its inception in 2013 to 2020, directly or through affiliated groups, ]), "has been responsible for 27,947 terrorist deaths", the majority of these have been Muslims,{{#tag:ref|according to Jamileh Kadivar based on estimates from Global Terrorism Database, 2020; Herrera, 2019; Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights & United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) Human Rights Office, 2014; Ibrahim, 2017; Obeidallah, 2014; 2015<ref name="Kadivar-2020" />|group=Note}} "because it has regarded them as kafir".<ref name="Kadivar-2020">{{cite journal |last1=Kadivar |first1=Jamileh |title=Exploring Takfir, Its Origins and Contemporary Use: The Case of Takfiri Approach in Daesh's Media |journal=Contemporary Review of the Middle East |date=18 May 2020 |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=259–285 |doi=10.1177/2347798920921706 |s2cid=219460446 |doi-access=free }}</ref>
<BLOCKQUOTE>But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war); but if they repent, and establish regular prayers and practise regular charity, then open the way for them: for Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful. {{Quran-usc|9|5}}</BLOCKQUOTE>


One example of Daesh takfir is found in the 13th issue of its magazine ''Dabiq'', which dedicated "dozens of pages ... to attacking and explaining the necessity of killing Shia", who the group refers to by the label ''Rafidah''
<BLOCKQUOTE>Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued. The Jews call 'Uzair a son of Allah, and the Christians call Christ the son of Allah. That is a saying from their mouth; (in this) they but imitate what the unbelievers of old used to say. Allah's curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the Truth! {{Quran-usc|9|29-30}}</BLOCKQUOTE>
{{blockquote|Initiated by a sly Jew, are an apostate sect drowning in worship of the dead, cursing the best companions and wives of the Prophet, spreading doubt on the very basis of the religion (the Qur'ān and the Sunnah), defaming the very honor of the Prophet, and preferring their "twelve" imāms to the prophets and even to Allah! ...Thus, the Rāfidah are mushrik apostates who must be killed wherever they are to be found, until no Rāfidī walks on the face of earth, even if the jihād claimants despise such...<ref name="Pillalamarri-why-hate-29-1-2016">{{cite news |last1=Pillalamarri |first1=Akhilesh |title=Revealed: Why ISIS Hates the Taliban |url=https://thediplomat.com/2016/01/revealed-why-isis-hates-the-taliban/ |access-date=26 December 2020 |agency=The Diplomat |date=29 January 2016}}</ref>}}


Daesh not only called for the revival of slavery of non-Muslims (specifically of the ] minority group), but declared takfir on any Muslim who disagreed with their policy.
], a Western convert to Islam and Islamic scholar commented on verse {{cite quran|2|216|style=nosup|expand=no}}, references verse {{cite quran|2|251|style=nosup|expand=no}}, and interpreted these particular verses to mean that fighting is not optional when done in defense of the oppressed and the weak.<ref name=mmdk> Pickthall, Muhammad Marmaduke: “War and Religion” page 17-18. The Woking Muslim Mission and Literary Trust, Surrey, England </ref>
{{blockquote|Yazidi women and children divided according to the Shariah amongst the fighters of the Islamic State who participated in the ] ... Enslaving the families of the ] and taking their women as ] is a firmly established aspect of the Shariah that if one were to deny or mock, he would be denying or mocking the verses of the Koran and the narrations of the Prophet ... and thereby apostatizing from Islam.<ref name="what-isis-really-wants" />}}


Starting in 2013, Daesh began "encouraging takfir of Muslims deemed insufficiently pure in regard of ''tawhid'' (monotheism)". The Taliban were found "to be "a 'nationalist' movement, all too tolerant" of Shia.<ref name=infighting-2019 /> In 2015 ISIL "pronounced ] -- then al-Qaida's affiliate in Syria -- an apostate group."<ref name=infighting-2019>{{cite journal|journal=Perspectives on Terrorism |volume=13 |issue=1 |last1=Bunzel |first1=Cole |title=Ideological Infighting in the Islamic State |date=February 2019 |pages=12–21 |jstor=26590504 |access-date=17 December 2020 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26590504}}</ref>
] goes on to say that “Nowhere does the Qur’an approve a spirit of revenge” <ref> Pickthall, Muhammad Marmaduke: “War and Religion” page 22. The Woking Muslim Mission and Literary Trust, Surrey, England </ref> and situates verse {{cite quran|2|194|style=nosup|expand=no}} in the context of a defensive war. ] stated that the Quran clearly commands believers to prefer forgiveness over retaliation wherever possible.<ref> Ibn Kathir’s commentary on verse 42:40 </ref>


===== Interpretations of the Qur'an and Hadith =====
] and Jane I. Smith (a Professor of Islamic Studies) write that barring some extremists like Al-Qaeda, most Muslims do not interpret Qura’nic verses as promoting warfare; and that the phenomenon of radical interpretation of scripture by extremist groups is not unique to Islam."<ref name="Sells">{{cite news | author=Michael Sells | title=Understanding, Not Indoctrination | url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A57379-2002Aug7&notFound=true |date=2002-08-08 | publisher=The Washington Post}}</ref>.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | author=Jane I. Smith | title=Islam and Christianity | encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Christianity | publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2005 | id=ISBN 0-19-522393-4}}</ref> According to Sells, " no more expect to apply to their contemporary non-Muslim friends and neighbors than most Christians and Jews consider themselves commanded by God, like the Biblical Joshua, to exterminate the infidels."<ref name="Sells"/>
{{See also|Quran and violence}}


Donald Holbrook, a Research Fellow at the ], analyzes a sample of 30 works by jihadist propagandists for references to Islamic scripture that justifies the objectives of violent jihad.<ref name=holbrook1 /> ] (4:74–75) is quoted most frequently; other popular passages are ] (9:13–15, 38–39, 111), ] (2:190–191, 216), and ]:
===Criticism of Islamic terrorist ideology===
Although "Islamic" Terrorism is commonly associated with the ]s or "]s", the scholars of the group have constantly attributed this association to ignorance, misunderstanding and sometimes insincere research and deliberate misleading by rival groups.<ref>""</ref>. Following the ] terrorist attacks in New York, Pennsylvania and Arlington, Shaikh Abdul-Azeez Aal ash-Shaikh (the ] of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia President of the Committee of Major Scholars and centre for Knowledge based research and verdicts) made an official statement that "the Islamic Sharee'ah (legislation) does not sanction" such actions.<ref>""</ref>
A ] or "]" "Committee of Major Scholars" in Saudi Arabia has declared that "Islamic" terrorism, such as the May 2003 bombing in Riyadh, are in violation of ] law and aiding the enemies of Islam. <ref>""</ref>.


{{blockquote|But when these months, prohibited (for fighting), are over, slay the idolaters wheresoever you find them, and take them captive or besiege them, and lie in wait for them at every likely place. But if they repent and fulfill their devotional obligations and pay the zakat, then let them go their way, for God is forgiving and kind.}}
Criticism of Islamic terrorism on Islamic grounds has also been made by anti-terrorist Muslims such as Abdal-Hakim Murad:


Holbrook notes that the first part "slay the idolaters ..." is oft quoted but not the limiting factors at the end of the ].<ref name=holbrook1 />
<BLOCKQUOTE>Certainly, neither ] nor his principal associate, ], are graduates of Islamic universities. And so their proclamations ignore 14 centuries of Muslim scholarship, and instead take the form of lists of anti-American grievances and of Koranic quotations referring to early Muslim wars against Arab idolaters. These are followed by the conclusion that all Americans, civilian and military, are to be wiped off the face of the Earth. All this amounts to an odd and extreme violation of the normal methods of Islamic scholarship. Had the authors of such ]s followed the norms of their religion, they would have had to acknowledge that no school of mainstream Islam allows the targeting of civilians. An insurrectionist who kills non-combatants is guilty of baghy, “armed aggression,” a capital offense in Islamic law.<ref></ref></BLOCKQUOTE>


==== Jihad and Islamic jurisprudence ====
One counter-terrorism scholar, Dale C. Eikmeier, points out the "questionable religious credentials" of many Islamist theorists, or "Qutbists," which can be a "means to discredit them and their message":
{{Main|Jihad}}


] are restricted by classical Islamic jurisprudence, but its scope is not. ] states that ultimately Jihad ends when the entire world is brought under Islamic rule and law.<ref>Lewis, Bernard, ''The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2000 Years'', pp. 233–34</ref> ] imposes, without limit of time or space, the duty to subjugate non-Muslims, (according to Lewis).<ref>Lewis, Bernard, ''The Political Language of Islam'', p. 73</ref> ] writes that some radical Islamists go beyond the classical theory to insist that the purpose of jihad is to overthrow regimes oppressing Muslims and bring non-Muslims to convert to Islam. In contrast, ]–who Islamists despise–view jihad as defensive and compatible with modern standards of warfare.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IbOtAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA338|title=Sharī'a: Theory, Practice, Transformations|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2009|pages=338–39|author=Wael B. Hallaq|isbn=978-1-107-39412-4}}</ref> To justify their acts of ], jihadist individuals and networks resort to the nonbinding genre of Islamic legal literature ('']'') developed by ] legal authorities, whose legal writings are shared and spread via the ].<ref name="French 2020" />
<BLOCKQUOTE>With the exception of ] and ], none of Qutbism’s main theoreticians trained at Islam’s recognized centers of learning. Although a devout Muslim, ] was a teacher and community activist. ] was a literary critic. ] was an electrician. ] is a physician. ] trained to be a businessman.<ref>[http://www.carlisle.army.mil/usawc/Parameters/07spring/eikmeier.htm Qutbism: An Ideology of
Islamic-Fascism DALE C. EIKMEIER] From ''Parameters'', Spring 2007, pp. 85-98. </ref></BLOCKQUOTE>


;Al-Qaeda
Yemeni Judge Hamoud Al-Hitar has also attacked the Islamic intellectual basis of terrorism using hujjat or proof "in theological dialogues that challenge and then correct the wayward beliefs" of terrorists or would-be terrorists.<ref> http://www.yementimes.com/article.shtml?i=799&p=community&a=2 Peter Willems, “The Dialogue Committee is Known Internationally,” ''Yemen Times'', 16 December 2004 to 19 December 2004 </ref>
While Islamic opponents of attacks on civilians have quoted numerous prophetic hadith and hadith by Muhammad's first successor ],<ref name="Wiktorowicz-2003-86">{{cite journal |last1=Wiktorowicz |first1=Quintan |last2=Kaltner |first2=John |title=Killing in the Name of Islam: Al-Qaeda's Justification for September 11 |journal=Middle East Policy |date=Summer 2003 |volume=X |issue=2 |pages=86|url=https://www.aclu.org/files/fbimappingfoia/20111110/ACLURM001177.pdf |access-date=12 August 2019}}</ref> Al-Qaeda believes its attacks are religiously justified.
After its first attack on a US target that killed civilians instead (a ]), Al Qaeda justified the killing of civilian bystanders through an interpretation (by one Abu Hajer) based on medieval jurist ] (see above).


In a post-9/11 work, "A Statement from Qaidat al-Jihad Regarding the Mandates of the Heroes and the Legality of the Operations in New York and Washington", Al-Qaeda provided a more systematic justification—one that provided "ample theological justification for killing civilians in almost any imaginable situation."<ref name="Wiktorowicz-2003" /> Among these justifications are that America is leading the countries of the West in waging war on Islam, which (al-Qaeda alleges) targets "Muslim women, children and elderly". This means any attacks on America are a defense of Islam, and any treaties and agreements between Muslim majority states and Western countries that would be violated by attacks are null and void. Other justifications for killing and situations where killings is allowed based on precedents in early Islamic history include: killing non-combatants when it is too difficult to distinguish between them and combatants when attacking an enemy "stronghold" (''hist''), and/or non-combatants remain in enemy territory; killing those who assist the enemy "in deed, word, mind", this includes civilians since they can vote in elections that bring enemies of Islam to power; necessity of killing in the war to protect Islam and Muslims; when the prophet was asked whether Muslim fighters could use the catapult against the village of Taif, even though the enemy fighters were mixed with a civilian population, he indicated in the affirmative; killing women, children and other protected groups is allowed when they serve as human shields for the enemy; killing of civilians is permitted if the enemy has broken a treaty.
Iranian Ayatollah ] issued a ] (ruling) that suicide attacks against civilians are legitimate only in the context of war.<ref>{{cite web
<ref name="Wiktorowicz-2003" />
|year = 2006
|url = http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Terrorism&loid=8.0.245083220&par=0
|title = Iran: Ayatollah Issues Fatwa Against Suicide Attacks
|work = adn kronos international
|publisher = adn kronos international
|accessdate = 2006-06-25
}}</ref> The ruling did not say whether other types of attacks against civilians are justified outside of the context of war, nor whether ] is included in Sanei's definition of war.


Supporters of bin Laden have pointed to reports according to which the Islamic prophet Muhammad attacked towns at night or with catapults, and argued that he must have condoned incidental harm to noncombatants, since it would have been impossible to distinguish them from combatants during such attacks.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wiktorowicz |first1=Quintan |last2=Kaltner |first2=John |title=Killing in the Name of Islam: Al-Qaeda's Justification for September 11 |journal=Middle East Policy |date=Summer 2003 |volume=X |issue=2 |pages=85–90 |url=https://www.aclu.org/files/fbimappingfoia/20111110/ACLURM001177.pdf |access-date=12 August 2019}}</ref><ref name="peters-cook">{{cite encyclopedia |year=2014 |title=Jihād |encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Politics |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref:oiso/9780199739356.001.0001/acref-9780199739356-e-0263 |last1=Peters |first1=Rudolph |first2=David|last2=Cook |url-access=subscription |isbn=978-0-19-973935-6}}</ref> These arguments were not widely accepted by Muslims.<ref name=peters-cook />
On the other hand, ], a prominent Turkish ], has claimed that "a real Muslim," who understood Islam in every aspect, could not be a terrorist.<ref>{{cite web
|year = 2005
|url = http://www.rumiforum.org/server/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=99&Itemid=35
|title = The terrorist attacks in London
|publisher = Rumi Forum
|accessdate = 2006-08-01
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|year = 2004
|url = http://www.fethullahgulen.org/a.page/press/interview/interview.with.nuriye.akman.of.zaman.daily/a1727.html
|title = A Real Muslim cannot be a Terrorist
|work = Interview with Nuriye Akman of Zaman Daily
|publisher = Fethullah Gülen's Website
|accessdate = 2006-08-01
}}</ref> There are many other people with similar points of view such as ],<ref>{{cite web
|year = 2001
|url = http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,1000907,00.html
|title = The True, Peaceful Face Of Islam
|work = Time
|publisher = Time Inc.
|accessdate = 2006-08-01
}}</ref> Prof. ],<ref>{{cite web
|year = 2002
|url = http://www.theturkishtimes.com/archive/02/02_15/opinion.html#a_akgunduz
|title = A Muslim cannot be a Terrorist and a Terrorist cannot be a Muslim
|work = Article
|publisher = Fethulah Gulen's Website
|accessdate = 2006-08-01
}}</ref> and ]<ref>{{cite web
|year = 2006
|url = http://www.harunyahya.com/terrorism1.php
|title = Islam Denounces Terrorism
|publisher = Harun Yahya's Website
|accessdate = 2006-08-01
}}</ref>


;''Management of Savagery''
==Muslim attitudes toward terrorism ==
Al-Qaeda's splinter groups and competitors, ] and the ], are thought to have been heavily influenced<ref name=McCoy-12-8-2004 /><ref name=Crooke-30-8-2014>{{cite web|last1=Crooke|first1=Alastair|title=The ISIS' 'Management of Savagery' in Iraq|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/alastair-crooke/iraq-isis-alqaeda_b_5542575.html|website=The World Post|access-date=2 December 2015|date=30 August 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Hassan |first=Hassan |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/08/isis-islamic-state-ideology-sharia-syria-iraq-jordan-pilot |title=Isis has reached new depths of depravity. But there is a brutal logic behind it |work=The Guardian |date=8 February 2015 |access-date=10 February 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=McCoy |first=Terrence |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/08/12/the-calculated-madness-of-the-islamic-states-horrifying-brutality/ |title=The calculated madness of the Islamic State's horrifying brutality |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=12 August 2014 |access-date=1 September 2014}}<br />{{bullet}}{{cite news |first=Alastair |last=Crooke |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/alastair-crooke/iraq-isis-alqaeda_b_5542575.html |title=The ISIS' 'Management of Savagery' in Iraq |work=HuffPost |date=30 June 2014}}<br />{{bullet}}{{cite news |last=Hassan |first=Hassan |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/08/isis-islamic-state-ideology-sharia-syria-iraq-jordan-pilot |title=Isis has reached new depths of depravity. But there is a brutal logic behind it |work=The Guardian |date=8 February 2015}}</ref><ref name="Ajjoub 2021">{{cite book |last=Ajjoub |first=Orwa |year=2021 |title=The Development of the Theological and Political Aspects of Jihadi-Salafism |url=https://www.cmes.lu.se/sites/cmes.lu.se/files/2021-02/orwa_ajjoub_rapport_a4_0203_interaktiv.pdf |url-status=live |location=] |publisher=Swedish South Asian Studies Network (SASNET) at the ] |pages=1–28 |isbn=978-91-7895-772-9 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210210042321/https://www.cmes.lu.se/sites/cmes.lu.se/files/2021-02/orwa_ajjoub_rapport_a4_0203_interaktiv.pdf |archive-date=10 February 2021 |access-date=6 July 2021}}</ref> by a 2004 work on jihad entitled '']'' (''Idarat at-Tawahhush''), written by Abu Bakr Naji<ref name="Ajjoub 2021" /> and intended to provide a strategy to create a new Islamic ] by first destroying "vital economic and strategic targets" and terrifying the enemy with cruelty to break its will.<ref name="nyJune14">{{cite magazine |last=Wright |first=Lawrence |title=ISIS's Savage Strategy in Iraq |url=http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/isiss-savage-strategy-in-iraq |magazine=The New Yorker |date=16 June 2014 |access-date=1 September 2014}}</ref>
Muslim popular opinion on the subject of attacks on civilians by Islamist groups varies. While most Muslims living in the West denounce the September 11th attacks on the US, ]'s rocket attacks against ]i civilian targets are widely supported in the Muslim world and regarded as ] by a legitimate ] rather than terrorism.<ref></ref><ref></ref>


The tract asserts that "one who previously engaged in jihad knows that it is naught but violence, crudeness, terrorism, deterrence and massacring,"<ref name=NEGUS-1-4-2015>{{cite news|last1=NEGUS|first1=STEVE|title='ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror,' and More|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/05/books/review/isis-inside-the-army-of-terror-and-more.html|access-date=3 December 2015|work=The New York Times|date=1 April 2015}}</ref> and that even "the most abominable of the levels of savagery" of jihad are better "than stability under the order of unbelief"—those orders being any regime other than ISIL.<ref name=McCoy-12-8-2004>{{cite news|last1=McCoy|first1=Terrence|title=The calculated madness of the Islamic State's horrifying brutality|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/08/12/the-calculated-madness-of-the-islamic-states-horrifying-brutality/|access-date=2 December 2015|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=12 August 2014}}</ref><ref name=Atran-nybooks-11-16-15>{{cite news |last1=Atran |first1=Scott |last2=Hamid |first2=Nafees |title=Paris: The War ISIS Wants |url=http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2015/nov/16/paris-attacks-isis-strategy-chaos |work=] |access-date=20 November 2015 |date=16 November 2015}}</ref>
A Sunday Times survey taken in UK shortly after the 9/11 attack "revealed that 40% of British Muslims believe Usama bin Laden was right to attack the United States. About the same proportion think that British Muslims have a right to fight alongside the Taliban. A radio station serving London's Pakistani community conducted a poll which 98% of London Muslims under 45 said they would not fight for Britain, while 48% said they would fight for bin Laden." <ref>''The Age of Sacred Terror'', by Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon, New York : Random House, c2002, p.213. (Source: Nicolas Le Quesne, `Islam in Europe: A Changing Faith` Time Europe, 24 December 2001, 44</ref>
Victims should not only be beheaded, shot, burn alive in cages or gradually submerged until drowned, but these events should be publicized with videos and photographs.<ref name=cnn-12-8-15>{{cite news |last1=Lee |first1=Ian |last2=Hanna |first2=Jason |title=Croatian ISIS captive reportedly beheaded |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2015/08/12/middleeast/isis-croatian-hostage/ |access-date=12 August 2015 |publisher=CNN |date=12 August 2015}}</ref>


;''The Jurisprudence of Blood''
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.<ref>{{cite web
] flag, with the top saying "'']''", the next line saying "'']''", followed by "''Death to Israel''", followed by "'']''", and the bottom saying "''Victory to Islam''".]]
|year = 2005
|url = http://pewglobal.org/reports/display.php?ReportID=248
|title = Islamic Extremism: Common Concern for Muslim and Western Publics
|work = Pew Global Attitudes Project
|publisher = Pew Research Center
|accessdate = 2006-06-25
}}</ref> A ] survey<ref>{{cite web
|last = King
|first = Anthony
|year = 2005
|url = http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/07/23/npoll23.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/07/23/ixnewstop.html
|title = One in four Muslims sympathises with motives of terrorists
|work = News
|publisher = Telegraph Group Limited
|accessdate = 2006-06-25
}}</ref> showed that 6% of British Muslims fully supported the ] in the London Underground.


Some observers<ref name="Poljarevic 2021" /><ref name="1Kadri-2012">{{cite book |last=Kadri |first=Sadakat |year=2012 |title=Heaven on Earth: A Journey Through Shari'a Law from the Deserts of Ancient Arabia |publisher=] |location=] |isbn=978-0-09-952327-7 |pages=172–175 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ztCRZOhJ10wC}}</ref><ref name="Gorka-2009">{{cite web|title=Understanding History's Seven Stages of Jihad|url=https://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/understanding-history%E2%80%99s-seven-stages-of-jihad|last=Gorka|first=Sebastian|date=3 October 2009|website=Combating Terrorism Center|access-date=1 November 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304082911/https://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/understanding-history%E2%80%99s-seven-stages-of-jihad|archive-date=4 March 2016}}</ref> have noted the evolution in the rules of jihad—from the original "classical" doctrine to that of 21st-century ].<ref name="Ajjoub 2021" /> According to the ] Sadarat Kadri,<ref name="1Kadri-2012" /> during the last couple of centuries, incremental changes in Islamic legal doctrine (developed by Islamists who otherwise condemn any '']'' (innovation) in religion), have "normalized" what was once "unthinkable".<ref name="1Kadri-2012" /> "The very idea that ] might blow themselves up for God was unheard of before 1983, and it was not until the early 1990s that anyone anywhere had tried to justify killing innocent Muslims who were not on a battlefield."<ref name="1Kadri-2012" />
A 2004 Pew survey revealed that ] is viewed favorably by large percentages in Pakistan (65%), ] (55%) and ] (45%). In Turkey as many as 31% say that suicide attacks against Americans and other Westerners in Iraq are justifiable.<ref>{{cite web
|year = 2004
|url = http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=206
|title = A Year After Iraq War - Mistrust of America in Europe Ever Higher, Muslim Anger Persists
|work = Survey reports
|publisher = The Pew Research Center
|accessdate = 2006-06-25
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|year = 2003
|url = http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_11-7-2003_pg4_6
|title = Bin Laden more popular with Nigerian Muslims than Bush
|work = News
|publisher = Daily Times of Pakistan
|accessdate = 2006-06-25
}}</ref>


The first or the "classical" doctrine of jihad which was developed towards the end of the 8th century, emphasized the "jihad of the sword" (''jihad bil-saif'') rather than the "jihad of the heart",<ref>{{cite book |last=Lewis |first=Bernard |author-link=Bernard Lewis |year=1988 |title=] |page= |publisher=] |location=] |isbn=0-226-47693-6 |via=]}}</ref> but it contained many legal restrictions which were developed from interpretations of both the ] and the ], such as detailed rules involving "the initiation, the conduct, the termination" of jihad, the treatment of prisoners, the distribution of booty, etc. Unless there was a sudden attack on the ], jihad was not a "personal obligation" (''fard 'ayn''); instead it was a "collective one" ('']''),<ref name="Khadduri-1955-60">{{cite book |last=Khadduri |first=Majid |author-link=Majid Khadduri |title=War and Peace in the Law of Islam |year=1955 |publisher=] |location=] |page=60 |chapter-url=https://actforamericaeducation.com/downloads/All_Files_by_Type/khadduri.pdf |access-date=26 October 2015 |chapter=5. Doctrine of Jihad |quote= ... 'unless the Muslim community is subjected to a sudden attack and therefore all believers, including women and children are under the obligation to fight— is regarded by all jurists, with almost no exception, as a collective obligation of the whole Muslim community,' meaning that 'if the duty is fulfilled by a part of the community it ceases to be obligatory on others'.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151128192525/http://www.actforamericaeducation.com/downloads/All_Files_by_Type/khadduri.pdf|archive-date=28 November 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> which had to be discharged "in the way of God" (''fi sabil Allah''),<ref name="2Kadri-2012">{{cite book |last=Kadri |first=Sadakat |year=2012 |title=Heaven on Earth: A Journey Through Shari'a Law from the Deserts of Ancient Arabia |publisher=] |location=] |isbn=978-0-09-952327-7 |pages=150–151 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ztCRZOhJ10wC}}</ref> and it could only be directed by the ], "whose discretion over its conduct was all but absolute."<ref name="2Kadri-2012" /> (This was designed in part to avoid incidents like the ]'s jihad against and killing of ], since ] that ]).<ref name="Poljarevic 2021" /> ] resulting from an attack on the enemy with no concern for your own safety was praiseworthy, but dying by your own hand (as opposed to the enemy's) merited a special place in ].<ref name="ARSI-BL-xii">{{cite book|last1=Lewis|first1=Bernard|title=The Assassins, a radical sect in Islam|orig-year=1967|year=2003|publisher=Basic Books|page=xi–xii |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sRVmL_h_PcsC&q=suicide |access-date=13 October 2015|isbn=978-0-7867-2455-0}}</ref> The category of jihad which is considered to be a collective obligation is sometimes simplified as "offensive jihad" in Western texts.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Edwards |first1=Richard |last2=Zuhur|first2=Sherifa |title=The Encyclopedia of the Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Political, Social, and|page=553|publisher=ABC-CLIO|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YAd8efHdVzIC&pg=PA553|isbn=978-1-85109-842-2 |date=12 May 2008}}</ref>
The Free Muslims Coalition<ref></ref> 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."


Based on the 20th-century interpretations of ], ], ], ] and others, many if not all of those self-proclaimed jihad fighters believe that defensive global jihad is a personal obligation, which means that no caliph or Muslim head of state needs to declare it. Killing yourself in the process of killing the enemy is an act of martyrdom and it brings you a special place in ], not a special place in Hell; and the killing of Muslim bystanders (nevermind Non-Muslims), should not impede acts of jihad. Military and intelligent analyst ] described the new interpretation of jihad as the "willful targeting of civilians by a non-state actor through unconventional means."<ref name=Gorka-2009 />
], a Muslim and the general manager of Arab news channel, ] 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.<!-- link broken --> 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 ], the ], southern Thailand and Kashmir.<!-- link broken http://www.tkb.org/NCTC/PerpetratorReportModule.jsp?pagemode=incident_perp&perpType=Unknown/Unspecified&perpId=7&sortby=country&filterMode=0&filterDetails=0&orderBy=DESC&sortByPast=date&startDate=01/01/2004&endDate=03/31/2005 -->The methodology employed by the Center is sometimes disputed and the center has been accused of responding to political pressure from the Bush administration to show a decline in terrorism.<ref>{{cite web
|last = Glasser
|first = Susan B.
|year = 2005
|url = http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/30/AR2005043000907.html
|title = Global Terrorism Statistics Debated
|work = World news
|publisher = The Washington Post Company
|accessdate = 2006-06-25
}}</ref>


] Abu Abdullah al-Muhajir has been identified as one of the key theorists and ]s behind modern jihadist violence.<ref name="Ajjoub 2021" /><ref name="CP265">{{cite journal |last=Bunzel |first=Cole |date=18 February 2016 |title=The Kingdom and the Caliphate: Duel of the Islamic States |url=https://carnegieendowment.org/files/CP_265_Bunzel_Islamic_States_Final.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Carnegie Papers |volume=265 |pages=1–43 |publisher=] |location=] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160328062426/https://carnegieendowment.org/files/CP_265_Bunzel_Islamic_States_Final.pdf |archive-date=28 March 2016 |access-date=5 July 2021}}</ref><ref name="Atlantic 2016">{{cite magazine |last1=al-Saud |first1=Abdullah K. |last2=Winter |first2=Charlie |title=Abu Abdullah al-Muhajir: The Obscure Theologian Who Shaped ISIS |magazine=] |location=] |date=4 December 2016 |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/12/isis-muhajir-syria/509399/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612140424/https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/12/isis-muhajir-syria/509399/ |archive-date=12 June 2018 |url-status=live |access-date=28 September 2020}}</ref><ref name="Guardian">{{cite news |last=Townsend |first=Mark |date=13 May 2018 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/12/isis-jihadist-manual-analysed-rebutted-by-islamic-scholar |title=The core Isis manual that twisted Islam to legitimise barbarity |work=] |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180609090007/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/12/isis-jihadist-manual-analysed-rebutted-by-islamic-scholar |archive-date=9 June 2018 |url-status=live |access-date=5 July 2021 }}</ref> His theological and legal justifications influenced ], al-Qaeda member and former leader of ], as well as several other jihadi terrorist groups, including ISIL and Boko Haram.<ref name="Ajjoub 2021" /><ref name="CP265" /><ref name="Atlantic 2016" /><ref name="Guardian" /> Zarqawi used a 579-page manuscript of al-Muhajir's ideas at AQI training camps that were later deployed by ISIL, known in Arabic as ''Fiqh al-Dima'' and referred to in English as ''The Jurisprudence of Jihad'' or ''The Jurisprudence of Blood''.<ref name="Ajjoub 2021" /><ref name="CP265" /><ref name="Atlantic 2016" /><ref name="Guardian" /><ref name="ChrisStout">{{cite book |last=Stout |first=Chris E. |author-link=Chris Stout (psychologist) |year=2018 |orig-year=2017 |title=Terrorism, Political Violence, and Extremism: New Psychology to Understand, Face, and Defuse the Threat |location=] |publisher=] |pages=5–6 |chapter=The Psychology of Terrorism |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QvHeDgAAQBAJ&q=jurisprudence+of+blood+ISIS&pg=PA5 |isbn=978-1-4408-5192-6 |oclc=994829038}}</ref> The book has been described by counter-terrorism scholar Orwa Ajjoub as rationalizing and justifying "suicide operations, the mutilation of corpses, beheading, and the killing of children and non-combatants".<ref name="Ajjoub 2021" /> '']''{{'}}s journalist Mark Towsend, citing Salah al-Ansari of ], notes: "There is a startling lack of study and concern regarding this abhorrent and dangerous text in almost all Western and Arab scholarship".<ref name="Guardian" /> Charlie Winter of '']'' describes it as a "theological playbook used to justify the group's abhorrent acts".<ref name="Atlantic 2016" /> He states:
], emergency services surround the wreckage of the number 30 bus in Tavistock Square.]]


{{Blockquote|Ranging from ruminations on the merits of beheading, torturing, or burning prisoners to thoughts on assassination, siege warfare, and the use of biological weapons, Muhajir's intellectual legacy is a crucial component of the ]—and, indeed, whatever comes after it—a way to render practically anything permissible, provided, that is, it can be spun as beneficial to the jihad. According to Muhajir, ] is not only a theologically sound act, but a commendable one, too, something to be cherished and celebrated regardless of its outcome. neither Zarqawi nor his inheritors have looked back, liberally using Muhajir's work to normalize the use of suicide tactics in the time since, such that they have become the single most important military and terrorist method—defensive or offensive—used by ISIS today. The way that Muhajir theorized it was simple—he offered up a theological fix that allows any who desire it to sidestep the Koranic injunctions against suicide.<ref name="Atlantic 2016" />}}
In 2006, Palestine voters gave the group ] - which is designated as a terrorist organization in Israel, United States, Canada, and the European Union, but is designated as a legitimate resistance organization by Palestanians and the ] - a majority of the seats in its parliament.<ref>{{cite web|year=2006|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4650788.stm|title=Hamas sweeps to election victory|work=Middle East news|publisher=BBC|accessdate=2006-06-25}}</ref> though there is question as to whether whether the election results represent support for the organization's militia tactics, support for the organization's social programs, or dissatisfaction with the previous government which was widely seen as corrupt and incompetent. <ref>{{cite web|year=2006|url=http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/92C2A0B5-793F-4409-9CEA-A4F7E4985850.htm|title=Palestinians want Hamas reform - poll|work=News - Arab World|publisher=Aljazeera.Net|accessdate=2006-06-25}}</ref>


Clinical psychologist ] also discusses the al Muhajir-inspired text in his essay, ''Terrorism, Political Violence, and Extremism'' (2017). He assesses that jihadists regard their actions as being "for the greater good"; that they are in a "weakened in the earth" situation that renders Islamic terrorism a valid means of solution.<ref name="ChrisStout" />
], a British academic specialist on the Middle East, argues that most Muslims consider these acts to be egregious violations of Islam's laws.<ref>Halliday, Fred: ''Islam and the Myth of Confrontation: Religion and Politics in the Middle East'' (New York: I.B. Tauris, 2003), 107</ref>


=== Economic motivation ===
Daniel Chirot said "Not many people in the world, either in Islamic countries, or Christian ones, or Hindu, or Buddhist, or anything else, really want to live a life of extreme puritanism, endless hate, and suicidal wars. Extremist leaders can take power, and for a time, be backed by much of their population hoping to redress past grievances and trying to find a new utopia. But as with the most extreme Christian warriors during the European wars of religion, or with the Nazis, or the most committed communist revolutionaries, it eventually turned out that few of their people were willing to go all the way in their struggles if that meant permanent violence, suffering, and death. So it will be with Islamic extremism."<ref name="chirot">{{cite book|title=Why Some Wars Become Genocidal and Others Don't|author=Daniel Chirot|publisher=Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington|url=http://jsis.artsci.washington.edu/jsis/Chirot-War.pdf|format=PDF}}</ref>{{rp|14}}
], in November 2001.]]
Following the 9/11 attack, commentators noted the poverty of Afghanistan, and speculated that blame might partly fall on a lack of a "higher priority to health, education, and economic development" funding by richer countries,<ref name="Stern-2001">{{cite journal |last1=Stern |first1=Jessica |title=John Harvard's Journal: Talking about Terrorism |journal=Harvard Magazine |date=November 2001 |issue=November–December 2001 |url=https://harvardmagazine.com/2001/11/talking-about-terrorism.html |access-date=31 August 2019}}</ref> and "stagnant economies and a paucity of jobs" in poorer countries.<ref name="Sachs">{{cite news |last1=Sachs |first1=Susan |title=A NATION CHALLENGED: WHO SEETHES, AND WHY; Despair Beneath the Arab World's Rage |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/14/world/a-nation-challenged-who-seethes-and-why-despair-beneath-the-arab-world-s-rage.html |access-date=31 August 2019 |work=] |date=14 October 2001}}</ref>


Among the acts of oppression against Muslims by the United States and its allies alleged by the head of Al-Qaeda, are economic exploitation. In a 6 October 2002 message by Osama bin Laden 'Letter to America', he alleges
==Examples of attacks ==
{{blockquote|You steal our wealth and oil at paltry prices because of your international influence and military threats. This theft is indeed the biggest theft ever witnessed by mankind in the history of the world. ... If people steal our wealth, then we have the right to destroy their economy.<ref>{{cite news |last1=bin Laden |first1=Osama |title=Full text: bin Laden's 'letter to America' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/nov/24/theobserver |access-date=31 August 2019 |work=The Guardian}}</ref><ref name="Swanson-stealing">{{cite web |last1=Swanson |first1=Elmer |title=Muslims are starving to death and the United States is stealing their oil |url=http://gemsofislamism.tripod.com/us_stealing_muslim_oil.html |website=Gems of Islamism |access-date=31 August 2019}}</ref>}}
{{Refimprove|date=April 2007}}
In a 1997 interview, he claimed that "since 1973, the price of petrol has increased only $8/barrel while the prices of other items have gone up three times. The oil prices should also have gone up three times but this did not happen",<ref>bin Laden in an interview with Hamid Mir, Pakistan, 18 March 1997. Quoted on p.230 of ''The New Jackals : Ramzi Yousef, Osama Bin Laden and the Future of Terrorism'' by Simon Reeve, 1999.</ref>{{#tag:ref|(This claim seems to be based on incorrect facts — the price of wheat did not increase three fold from 1973–1997 — and the questionable assumption that the demand and price for oil would continue to rise at a steady rate after the ] raised it by four fold in a short period.)<ref name="Swanson-stealing" /><ref name="Macrotrends">{{cite web |title=Wheat Prices – 40 Year Historical Chart |url=https://www.macrotrends.net/2534/wheat-prices-historical-chart-data |website=Macrotrends |access-date=3 June 2021}}</ref>|group=Note}} (On the other hand, in an interview five weeks after the destruction the ] towers his operation was responsible for, bin Laden described the towers as standing for—or "preaching"—not exploitation or capitalism, but "freedom human Rights, and equality".)<ref>Osama bin Laden interviewed by Tayser Allouni, Al Jazeera, 21 October 2001, in ''Messages to the World: the Statements of Osama bin Laden'', ed. Bruce Lawrence, translated by James Howarth (London, Verso, 2005), 112</ref>
] Tower Two that remained standing after an Islamist terrorist attack orchestrated by ].]]
*] ] - ].
*] ] - ] in ], ]. 63 killed.
*] ] - ], ]. 6 killed.
*] ] - ]. ], ]. The single-day attacks resulted in over 250 civilian fatalities and 700 injuries.
*] ] - ] hijacking in ] by 3 members of ] and another terrorist. 7 killed including 4 hijackers.
*] ] - ], 20 killed, 372 wounded.
*] ]. The ] occurred in the city of ], ], ]. 46 people were killed and over 200 were injured in 13 bomb attacks within a 12&nbsp;km radius.
*] ] - ] in Tanzania and Kenya. 224 dead. 4000+ injured.
*] ] - ], 56 killed
*] ] - ] 4 planes ] and crashed into ] and ] by 19 hijackers. Nearly 3000 dead.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/04/25/moussaoui.trial/ |title=2006 9/11 Death Toll |date=April 2006|publisher=]|accessdate=2006-09-07}}</ref>
*] ] - Suicide attack on India's parliament in New Delhi. Aimed at eliminating the top leadership of India and causing anarchy in the country. Allegedly done by Pakistan-based Islamist terrorist organizations, Jaish-E-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Toiba.
*] ] - ] attack on a ] Seder in a Hotel in ]. 29 dead, 133 injured
*] ] - Café suicide bombing in Jerusalem; 11 killed, 54 injured. <!-- was this the moment cafe attack? -->
*] ] - Bombing in al-Arbaa, Algeria. 49 dead, 117 injured.
*] ] - Machine Gun attack on Hindu temple in ], India. 31 dead, 86 injured.<ref>{{cite web|year=2003|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?msid=153495 |title=Akshardham attack was planned in Riyadh|work=The Times of India|publisher=Times Internet Limited|accessdate=2006-06-25}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|year=2005|url=http://in.news.yahoo.com/050715/48/5zcxb.html|title = Akshardham attack "plotted in Riyadh"|work=India news|publisher=Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.|accessdate=2006-06-25}}</ref>
*] ] - ]. 202 killed, 300 injured.<ref name="afp">{{cite web|url=http://afp.gov.au/international/operations/previous_operations/bali_bombings_2002| accessdate=2007-03-18| publisher=Australian Federal Police |title=Bali bombings 2002| work=International Activities}}</ref>
*] ] - ] - 4 simultaneous attacks in ] killing 33 civilians (mostly Moroccans) carried by ].
*] ] - Multiple ] on trains near Madrid, Spain. 191 killed, 1460 injured. (alleged link to Al-Qaeda)
*] ] Approximately 344 civilians including 186 children, are killed during the ].<ref
name="last_casualty">{{cite news|date=], ]|url=http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2006/12/08/woman_injured_in_2004_russian_siege_dies/|title=Woman injured in 2004 Russian siege dies|publisher=]|accessdate=2007-01-09}}</ref><ref></ref>
*] ] - Ritual murder of ] by Amsterdam-born jihadist ].
*] ] - Muslim militants attacked the ] community in Demsa, Nigeria, killing 36 people, destroying property and displacing an additional 3000 people.
*] ] - Multiple ]. 53 killed by four suicide bombers. Nearly 700 injured.
*] ] - ], an Egyptian resort city, at least 64 people killed.
*] ] - ]. Over 60 killed and over 180 injured in a series of three attacks in crowded markets and a bus, just 2 days before the ] festival.<ref>- ]</ref>
*] ] - ]. Over 60 killed and 115 injured, in a series of coordinated suicide attacks on hotels in ].<ref> - TheStreet.com, ], ]</ref><ref> - ], ], ]</ref> Four attackers including a husband and wife team were involved.<ref> - ], ], ]</ref>
*] ] - ]. An attack attributed to ] by ] government officials, over 28 killed and over 100 injured, in a series of attacks in the Sankath Mochan Hanuman temple and Cantonment Railway Station in the ] holy city of ].<ref></ref> Uttar Pradesh government officials.
*] ]. ], ]. ] were a series of seven bomb blasts that took place over a period of 11 minutes on the Suburban Railway in Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay). 209 people lost their lives and over 700 were injured in the attacks.
*] ]. ], ]. Islamic militants detonate at least 16 explosive devices in the heart of this industrial capital, leaving at least 49 dead and 160 injured. A Muslim group calling itself the Indian Mujahideen claims responsibility. Indian authorities believe that extremists with ties to Pakistan and/or Bangladesh are likely responsible and are intent on inciting communal violence<ref></ref>. Investigation by Indian police led to the eventual arrest of a number of militants suspected of carrying out the blasts, most of whom belong to a well-known terrorist group, The ]<ref></ref>.
*] ]. ], ]. Muslim extremists kill at least 174 people and wound numerous others in a serious of coordinated attacks on India's largest city and financial capital. A group calling itself the Deccan Mujaheddin claims responsibility, however, the government of India suspects Islamic militants based in Pakistan are responsible.<ref></ref><ref></ref>


In 2002, academics Alan B. Krueger and Jitka Maleckova found "a careful review of the evidence provides little reason for optimism that a reduction in poverty or an increase in educational attainment would by themselves, meaningfully reduce international terrorism."<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Krueger |first1=Alan B. |last2=Maleckova |first2=Jitka |title=Does Poverty Cause Terrorism |magazine=The New Republic |date=24 June 2002 |url=http://www.nber.org/ens/feldstein/Krueger/LC514_Week_02_Does_Poverty_Cause_Terrorism.pdf |access-date=31 August 2019}}</ref> Alberto Abadie found "the risk of terrorism is not significantly higher for poorer countries, once other country-specific characteristics are considered", but instead seems to correlate with a country's "level of political freedom".<ref name="Abadie-2005">{{cite journal |last1=Abadie |first1=Alberto |title=Poverty, Political Freedom, and the Roots of Terrorism |journal=American Economic Review |date=September 2005 |volume=95 |issue=4 |pages=50–56 |url=https://www.nber.org/digest/may05/w10859.html |access-date=31 August 2019 |series=(NBER Working Paper No. 10859}}</ref>
==U.S. State Department list ==
{{Col-begin|width=}}
{{Col-1-of-2}}
*], ]
*], ] and ]
*], ] (also known as ])
*], worldwide
*], ]
*] (GIA), ]
*], ]
*] (ETIM), ]
*], ]
*], ]
*] (IBDA-C), ]
*], ] and ]
{{Col-2-of-2}}
*] al-Alami, ]
*], ]
*], ]
*], ]
*], ] and ]
*], ]
*], ] and ]
*], ]
*], ]
*], ] and ]
*], ] and ]
*] (Al-Qaeda in the Land between the Two Rivers (])), Iraq
{{Col-end}}


Martin Kramer has argued that while terrorist organizers are seldom poor, their "foot-soldiers" often are.<ref name="kramer-2004">{{cite book |last1=Lieber |first1=Robert James |title=The American Era: Power and Strategy for the 21st Century |date=2005 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=118 |isbn=978-0-521-85737-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4kH7I9f6o64C&q=martin+kramer+the+vehicle+of+counter-elites%2C+people+who%2C+by+virtue+of+education+and%2For+income%2C+are+potential+members+of+the+elite&pg=PA118 |access-date=31 August 2019}}</ref> Andrew Whitehead states that "poverty creates opportunity" for terrorists, who have hired desperate poor children to do grunt work in Iraq and won the loyalty of poor in Lebanon by providing social services.<ref>Andrew Whitehead, "Does Poverty Cause Terrorism?", Homeland Security Policy Institute, 21 August 2007</ref>
==See also==


=== Western foreign policy ===
{{Col-begin}}
Many believe that groups like Al-Qaeda and ISIS are reacting to aggression by non-Muslim (especially US) powers, and that religious beliefs are overstated if not irrelevant in their motivation.
{{Col-1-of-4}}
According to a graph by U.S. State Department, terrorist attacks escalated worldwide following the ] and ].<ref name="stopwar.org.uk">{{cite web|last=Rees|first=John|author-link=John Rees (activist)|date=7 January 2015|title=What you need to know about terrorism and its causes: a graphic account|url=http://stopwar.org.uk/news/what-you-need-to-know-about-terrorism-and-its-causes-a-graphic-account|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150111021852/http://stopwar.org.uk/news/what-you-need-to-know-about-terrorism-and-its-causes-a-graphic-account|archive-date=11 January 2015|access-date=14 January 2022|website=]|publisher=stopwar.org.uk}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=July 2016}} ], the former head of ], told the Iraq inquiry, the security services warned Tony Blair launching the ] would increase the threat of terrorism.<ref name="stopwar.org.uk" />{{Better source needed|reason=This source is the website of an advocacy group with a very clear POV.|date=January 2015}} ] has argued that at least terrorists utilizing suicide attacks—a particularly effective<ref>For example, according to Pape, from 1980 to 2003 suicide attacks amounted to only 3% of all terrorist attacks, but accounted for 48% of total deaths due to terrorism—this excluding 9/11 attacks, from Pape, ''Dying to Win'', (2005), p. 28</ref> form of terrorist attack—are driven not by Islamism but by "a clear strategic objective: to compel modern democracies to withdraw military forces from the territory that the terrorists view as their homeland".<ref>{{cite web|last=McConnell |first=Scott |year=2005 |url=http://www.amconmag.com/2005_07_18/article.html |title=The Logic of Suicide Terrorism |work=The American Conservative magazine |publisher=The American Conservative |access-date=25 June 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060622024516/http://www.amconmag.com/2005_07_18/article.html |archive-date=22 June 2006 }}</ref> However, ], who debated Pape on origins of suicide bombing, stated that the motivation for suicide attacks is not just strategic logic but also an interpretation of Islam to provide a moral logic. For example, ] initiated suicide bombings after a complex reworking of the ]. Kramer explains that the ] raised the temperature necessary for this reinterpretation of Islam, but occupation alone would not have been sufficient for suicide terrorism.<ref name=kramer2010>{{cite web|url=http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC05.php?CID=2401 |title=Suicide Terrorism in the Middle East: Origins and Response |publisher=Washingtoninstitute.org |access-date=25 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090112232504/http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC05.php?CID=2401 |archive-date=12 January 2009 }}</ref> "The only way to apply a brake to suicide terrorism," Kramer argues, "is to undermine its moral logic, by encouraging Muslims to see its incompatibility with their own values."<ref name=kramer2010 />
*]
*]
*]
*]
*]
*]
{{Col-2-of-4}}
*]
*]
*]
*'']'', a documentary critical of Islam.
*]
*]
{{Col-3-of-4}}
*].
*]
*]
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*]
{{Col-4-of-4}}
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*]
{{Col-end}}


Breaking down the content of Osama bin Laden's statements and interviews collected in ]'s '']'' (Lawrence shares Payne's belief in US imperialism and aggression as the cause of Islamic terrorism), James L. Payne found that 72% of the content was on the theme of "criticism of U.S./Western/Jewish aggression, oppression, and exploitation of Muslim lands and peoples" while only 1% of bin Laden's statements focused on criticizing "American society and culture".<ref name="PAYNE-2008" />
==Further reading==

* '']'' by ]
Former ] analyst ] argues that terrorist attacks (specifically ] attacks on targets in the United States) are ''not'' motivated by a religiously inspired hatred of ] or religion, but by the belief that ] has oppressed, killed, or otherwise harmed Muslims in the Middle East,<ref name="Scheuer 2004 9">Scheuer (2004), p. 9<br />
* '']'' by ]
"The focused and lethal threat posed to U.S. national security arises not from Muslims being offended by what America is, but rather from their plausible perception that the things they most love and value—God, Islam, their brethren, and Muslim lands—are being attacked by America."</ref> condensed in the phrase "They hate us for what we do, not who we are." U.S. foreign policy actions Scheuer believes are fueling Islamic terror include: the US–led intervention in Afghanistan and invasion of Iraq; ], namely, financial, military, and political support for ];<ref>{{cite news|date=14 September 2009|title=US Support for Israel prompted 9/11|newspaper=The Australian|publisher=]|agency=Agence France-Presse|url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/us-support-for-israel-prompted-911-osama-bin-laden/story-e6frg6so-1225772727712|access-date=14 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140411152607/http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/us-support-for-israel-prompted-911-osama-bin-laden/story-e6frg6so-1225772727712|archive-date=11 April 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=] |author2=] |title=The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |location=New York |year=2007 |pages= |isbn=978-0-374-17772-0 |oclc= |doi= |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780374177720 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|date=27 July 2006|title=Six shot, one killed at Seattle Jewish federation|work=Seattle Post-Intelligencer|publisher=]|url=http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Six-shot-one-killed-at-Seattle-Jewish-federation-1210235.php#ixzz1hCIBKtsf.|url-status=dead|access-date=14 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308170723/http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Six-shot-one-killed-at-Seattle-Jewish-federation-1210235.php|archive-date=8 March 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/25/nyregion/the-gunman-premeditated-the-attack-officials-say.html|title= The Gunman Premeditated The Attack, Officials Say|access-date= | work=The New York Times|first=Matthew|last=Purdy|date=25 February 1997}}</ref> U.S. support for "]" ]s in Muslim nations such as Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, and Kuwait;<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/front/interviews/scheuer.html|title= Frontline: Al Qaeda's New Front: Interviews: Michael Scheuer|access-date=8 March 2008 |publisher= ]|date= 25 January 2005|quote= Bin Laden has had success because he's focused on a limited number of U.S. foreign policies in the Muslim world, policies that are visible and are experienced by Muslims on a daily basis: our unqualified support for Israel; our ability to keep oil prices at a level that is more or less acceptable to Western consumers. Probably the most damaging of all is our 30-year support for police states across the Islamic world: the Al Sauds and the Egyptians under Mubarak and his predecessors; the Algerians; the Moroccans; the Kuwaitis. They're all police states.}}</ref> U.S. support for the ] of an independent ] from territory previously held by Muslim Indonesia; perceived U.S. approval or support of actions against Muslim insurgents in India, the Philippines, ], and ].<ref>Scheuer (2004), pp. 11–13</ref>
*{{cite book

|last = Swarup
] and ] argue that in many cases there is simply no connection between acts of Islamic extremism and Western intervention in Muslim lands.
|first = Ram

|year = 1982
{{blockquote|Nawaz: ... What does ] on Mount Sinjar have to do with US foreign policy? What does enforcing ] (tents in fact) on women in ] and Afghanistan, and lashing them, forcing men to grow beards under threat of a whip, chopping off hands, and so forth, have to do with US foreign policy? <br />
|title = ]
Harris: This catalogue of irrelevancy could be extended indefinitely. What does the ] and ] in Pakistan have to with Israel or US foreign policy?<ref name="tolerance-2015-57">{{cite book |last1=Harris |first1=Sam |last2=Nawaz |first2=Maajid |title=Islam and the Future of Tolerance: A Dialogue |date=2015 |publisher=Harvard University Press |page=57 |isbn=978-0-674-08870-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3I7JCgAAQBAJ&q=What+does+killing+the+Yazidi+population+on+Mount+Sinjar+have+to+do+with+US+foreign+policy%3F+nawaz&pg=PA57 |access-date=8 August 2019}}</ref>}}
|publisher = Voice of Dharma
Nawaz also argues that suicide bombers in non-Muslim majority countries such as the ] can be said to motivated by ideology not by any desire to compel UK military to withdraw from "their homeland", as they were born and raised in Yorkshire. They had never set foot in Iraq and do not speak its language.<ref name="Nawaz-debate" />
|isbn = 0-682-49948-X

}}
=== Socio-psychological motivations ===
*{{cite book

|last = Malik
==== Socio-psychological development ====
|first = S. K.
A motivator of violent radicalism (not just found in Al-Qaeda and ISIS) is psychological development during adolescence.<ref name="Rizvi-2016-88">{{cite book |last1=Rizvi |first1=Ali A. |title=The Atheist Muslim |date=2016 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |location=NY |isbn=978-1-250-09444-5 |pages=88–93}}</ref>
|year = 1986
Cally O'Brien found many terrorists were "not exposed to the West in a positive context, whether by simple isolation or conservative family influence, until well after they had established a personal and social identity." Looking at theories of psychological ] Seth Schwartz, Curitis Dunkel and Alan Waterman found two types of "personal identities" susceptible to radicalization leading to terrorism:
|title = The Quranic Concept of War
# "Foreclosed and authoritarian" — Principally conservative Muslims who are often taught by their family and communities from early childhood to not deviate from a strict path and to either consider inferior or hate outside groups. When exposed to (alien) western culture, they are likely to judge it relative to their perception of the correct order of society, as well as perceive their own identities and mental health to be at risk.<ref>Cally O'Brien, "" ''Journal of Strategic Security'', v.3, n.3 (2010): 29</ref><ref name="Identity Theory 2009">Seth J. Schwartz, Curtis S. Dunkel, and S. Waterman, "", ''Studies in Conflict and Terrorism'', v.32, n.6 (2009): 537-59</ref><ref name="Rizvi-2016-88" />
|publisher = Himalayan Books
# "Diffuse and aimless" — Principally converts whose lives are characterized by "aimlessness, uncertainty and indecisiveness" and who have neither explored different identities nor committed to a personal identity. Such people are "willing to go to their deaths for ideas that they have appropriated from others" and that give their lives purpose and certainty.<ref name="Identity Theory 2009" /><ref name="Rizvi-2016-88" />
|id = ISBN-10: 8170020204

}}
=== Characteristics of terrorists ===
*{{cite book

|last = Esposito
In 2004, a forensic psychiatrist and former foreign service officer, ], made an "intensive study of biographical data on 172 participants in the jihad" in his book ''Understanding Terror Networks''.<ref>Sageman (2004)</ref> He concluded ]s, the "tight bonds of family and friendship", rather than ] of "poverty, trauma, madness, ignorance", inspired ] young Muslims to join the jihad and kill.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/14036.html |title=Understanding Terror Networks|author= ]|publisher=Upenn.edu |date=11 September 2001 |access-date=25 April 2010}}</ref>
|first = John L.

|year = 2003
According to anthropologist ], a ] researcher studying suicide terrorism, as of 2005, the available evidence contradicts a number of simplistic explanations for the motivations of terrorists, including mental instability, poverty, and feelings of humiliation.<ref name="burke" /> The greatest predictors of ]—one common type of terror tactic used by Islamic terrorists—turns out to be not religion but group dynamics.
|title = Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam
While personal humiliation does not turn out to be a motivation for those attempting to kill civilians, the perception that others with whom one feels a common bond are being humiliated can be a powerful driver for action. "Small-group dynamics involving friends and family that form the ] cell of ] and ] on which the rising tide of martyrdom actions is based".<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://jeannicod.ccsd.cnrs.fr/ijn_00000676/document |title=The Moral Logic and Growth of Suicide Terrorism |last1=Atran |first1=Scott |pages=138, 144 |journal=The Washington Quarterly, Center for Strategic and Int'l Studies, MIT |year= 2006 |volume= 29 |access-date=26 August 2019 }}</ref> Terrorists, according to Atran, are social beings influenced by social connections and values. Rather than dying "for a cause", they might be said to have died "for each other".<ref name="burke">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/oct/24/scott-atran-talking-to-the-enemy-review|title=Talking to the Enemy by Scott Atran – review|date=23 October 2010|work=The Observer|last1=Burke|first1=Jason|access-date=19 October 2014}}</ref>
|publisher = Oxford University Press, USA

|isbn = 0-19-516886-0
In a 2011 doctoral thesis, anthropologist Kyle R. Gibson reviewed three studies documenting 1,208 suicide attacks from 1981 to 2007 and found that countries with higher ] rates correlated with greater production of ].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Harmon|first1=Vanessa|first2=Edin|last2=Mujkic|first3=Catherine|last3=Kaukinen|first4=Henriikka|last4=Weir|title=Causes & Explanations of Suicide Terrorism: A Systematic Review|year=2018|journal=Homeland Security Affairs|publisher=]|volume=25|url=https://www.hsaj.org/articles/14749}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Gibson|first=Kyle R.|title=The Roles of Operational Sex Ratio and Young-Old Ratio in Producing Suicide Attackers|year=2011|publisher=]|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260059007}}</ref> Political scientist ] has found that among Islamic suicide terrorists, 97 percent were unmarried and 84 percent were male (or if excluding the ], 91 percent male),<ref>{{cite journal|last=Pape|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Pape|title=The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism|year=2003|journal=]|publisher=]|volume=97|issue=3|pages=343–361|doi=10.1017/S000305540300073X|doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 |hdl=1811/31746|s2cid=1019730|url=http://www.columbia.edu/itc/journalism/stille/Politics%20Fall%202007/readings%20weeks%206-7/Strategic%20Logic%20of%20Suicide%20Missions.pdf|hdl-access=free}}</ref> while a study conducted by the ] in ] in 2008 found that suicide bombers were almost always single men without children aged 18 to 30 (with a mean age of 22), and were typically students or employed in ].<ref>{{cite news|title=U.S. study draws portrait of Iraq bombers|date=15 March 2008|work=]|publisher=]|url=https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2008-03-15-iraq-study_N.htm|access-date=27 February 2020}}</ref> In addition to noting that countries where polygyny is widely practiced tend to have higher ] and ], political scientists ] and Bradley Thayer have argued that because ], the higher degrees of marital inequality in ] than most of the world causes them to have larger populations susceptible to suicide terrorism, and that ] for ] serves as a mechanism to mitigate ] conflict within Islamic countries between alpha and non-alpha males by bringing esteem to the latter's families and redirecting their violence towards out-groups.<ref name="Hudson & Thayer 2010">{{cite journal|last1=Hudson|first1=Valerie M.|author-link1=Valerie M. Hudson|last2=Thayer|first2=Bradley|title=Sex and the Shaheed: Insights from the Life Sciences on Islamic Suicide Terrorism|year=2010|journal=]|publisher=]|volume=34|issue=4|pages=48–53|jstor=40784561}}</ref>
}}

*{{cite book
Along with his research on the ], Scott Atran found that ] terrorist groups (such as ]) provide monthly ]s, ], and massive prestige to the families of suicide terrorists.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Atran|first=Scott|author-link=Scott Atran|year=2003|title=Genesis of Suicide Terrorism|journal=]|publisher=]|volume=299|issue=5612|pages=1534–1539|doi=10.1126/science.1078854|pmid=12624256|bibcode=2003Sci...299.1534A|s2cid=12114032|url=https://jeannicod.ccsd.cnrs.fr/ijn_00509568/file/genesis_of_Suicide_terrorism.pdf|access-date=24 November 2022|archive-date=24 November 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221124212255/https://jeannicod.ccsd.cnrs.fr/ijn_00509568/file/genesis_of_Suicide_terrorism.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Atran|first=Scott|year=2006|title=The moral logic and growth of suicide terrorism|journal=]|publisher=]|volume=29|issue=2|pages=127–147|doi=10.1162/wash.2006.29.2.127|s2cid=154382700 |url=https://jeannicod.ccsd.cnrs.fr/ijn_00000676/file/TWQ06spring_atran.pdf }}</ref> Citing Atran and other anthropological research showing that 99 percent of Palestinian suicide terrorists are male, that 86 percent are unmarried, and that 81 percent have at least six siblings (larger than the average Palestinian family size), cognitive scientist ] argues in '']'' (2011) that because the families of men in the ] and ] often cannot afford ]s and that many potential brides end up in polygynous marriages, the financial compensation of an act of suicide terrorism can buy enough brides for a man's brothers to have children to make the ] pay off in terms of ] and ] (with Pinker also citing a famous quotation attributed to evolutionary biologist ] when Haldane quipped that he would not sacrifice his life for his brother but would for "two brothers or eight cousins").<ref>{{cite book|last=Pinker|first=Steven|author-link=Steven Pinker|year=2011|title=The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined|title-link=The Better Angels of Our Nature|publisher=]|place=New York|pages=353–358|isbn=978-0143122012}}</ref>
|last = Esposito

|first = John L.
In 2007, scholar ] described the background of the hundreds of ''global'' (as opposed to local) terrorists who were incarcerated or killed and for whom authorities have records, as being surprising in a number of ways: The subjects frequently had a Westernized background; there were few ], ], or ] "coming to avenge what is going on in their country"; there was a lack of religiosity before radicalization through being "born again" in a foreign country; a high percentage of subjects had converted to Islam; their backgrounds were "de-territorialized "—meaning, for example, they were "born in a country, then educated in another country, then go to fight in a third country and take refuge in a fourth country"; and their beliefs about jihad differed from traditional ones—i.e. they believed jihad to be permanent, global, and "not linked with a specific territory."<ref>{{cite web |title=Olivier Roy Interview (2007): Conversations with History |url=http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people7/Roy/roy07-con5.html |publisher=Institute of International Studies, UC Berkeley |date=3 May 2007 |access-date=25 April 2010 |archive-date=15 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100715230422/http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people7/Roy/roy07-con5.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Roy believes terrorism/radicalism is "expressed in religious terms" among the terrorists studied because
|year = 1995

|title = The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality?
# most of the radicals have a Muslim background, which makes them open to a process of re-Islamisation ("almost none of them having been pious before entering the process of radicalisation"), and<ref name=roy-inside />
|publisher = Oxford University Press, USA
# jihad is "the only cause on the global market". If you kill in silence, it will be reported by the local newspaper; "if you kill yelling 'Allahu Akbar', you are sure to make the national headlines". Other extreme causes—ultra-left or radical ecology are "too bourgeois and intellectual" for the radicals.<ref name=roy-inside />
|isbn = 0-19-510298-3

}}
Author ] described the characteristic of "]" of members of the most famous Islamic terrorist group, al-Qaeda:
* ]. (2008) ''Islamic terror : conscious and unconscious motives.'' Westport, Connecticut, Praeger Security International, ISBN 9780313357640

*{{cite book
{{blockquote|What the recruits tended to have in common—besides their urbanity, their ] backgrounds, their education, their facility with languages, and their computer skills—was displacement. Most who joined the jihad did so in a country other than the one in which they were reared. They were Algerians living in ] enclaves in France, ] in Spain, or ]is in Saudi Arabia. Despite their accomplishments, they had little standing in the host societies where they lived.<ref>Wright, ''Loming Tower'' (2006), p. 304</ref>}}
|last = Halliday

|first = Fred
This profile of global Jihadists differs from that found among more recent local Islamist suicide bombers in Afghanistan. According to a 2007 study of 110 suicide bombers by Afghan pathologist Dr. Yusef Yadgari, 80% of the attackers studied had some kind of physical or mental disability. The bombers were also "not celebrated like their counterparts in other Muslim nations. Afghan bombers are not featured on posters or in videos as martyrs."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15276485 |title=Disabled Often Carry Out Afghan Suicide Missions |website=NPR.org |publisher=NPR |access-date=25 April 2010}}</ref> Daniel Byman, a Middle East expert at the ], and Christine Fair, an assistant professor in peace and security studies at ], argue that many of the Islamic terrorists are foolish and untrained, perhaps even untrainable, with one in two ] suicide bombers killing only themselves.<ref name="Byman">{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/07/the-case-for-calling-them-nitwits/8130/|title=The Case for Calling Them Nitwits|author-link2=C. Christine Fair|date=July–August 2010|work=Atlantic Magazine|first1=Daniel|last1=Byman|author-link1=Daniel Byman|author2=Christine Fair|access-date=8 July 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100610213739/http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/07/the-case-for-calling-them-nitwits/8130|archive-date=10 June 2010}}</ref>
|year = 2003

|title = Islam and the Myth of Confrontation: Religion and Politics of the Middle East
Studying 300 cases of people charged with jihadist terrorism in the United States since 11 September 2001, author ] found the perpetrators were "generally motivated by a mix of factors", including "militant Islamist ideology;" opposition to "American foreign policy in the Muslim world; a need to attach themselves to an ideology or organization that gave them a sense of purpose"; and a "]" to militant Islam that often was "precipitated by personal disappointment, like the death of a parent".<ref name="Bergen-15-6-2016">{{cite news|last1=Bergen|first1=Peter|title=Why Do Terrorists Commit Terrorism?|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/15/opinion/why-do-terrorists-commit-terrorism.html|access-date=16 June 2016|work=The New York Times|date=15 June 2016}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=May 2023}}
|publisher = I.B. Tauris, New York

|isbn = 1860648681
However, two studies of the background of Muslim terrorists in Europe—one of the UK and one of France—found little connection between religious piety and terrorism among the terrorist rank and file. A "restricted" report of hundreds of case studies by the UK domestic counter-intelligence agency ] found that
}}

*{{cite book
{{blockquote|ar from being religious zealots, a large number of those involved in terrorism do not practise their faith regularly. Many lack religious literacy and could actually be regarded as religious novices. Very few have been brought up in strongly religious households, and there is a higher than average proportion of converts. Some are involved in drug-taking, drinking alcohol and visiting prostitutes. MI5 says there is evidence that a well-established religious identity actually protects against violent radicalisation.<ref name="Travis-20-8-2008" />}}
|last = Ibrahim

|first = Raymond
A 2015 "general portrait" of "the conditions and circumstances" under which people living in France become "Islamic radicals" (terrorists or would-be terrorists) by Olivier Roy (see above) found radicalisation was not an "uprising of a Muslim community that is victim to poverty and racism: only young people join, including converts".<ref name="roy-inside" />
|year = 2007

|title = The Al Qaeda Reader
== Refutations, criticisms and explanations for decline ==
|publisher = Broadway, USA
=== Refuting Islamic terrorism ===
|id = ISBN-10: 076792262X

}}
Along with explaining Islamic terrorism, many observers have attempted to point out their inconsistencies and the flaws in their arguments, often suggesting means of de-motivating potential terrorists.
*{{cite book

|last = Spencer
] Middle Eastern scholar ] argues that although bin Laden and other radical Islamists claim they are fighting to restore ] law to the Muslim world, their attacks on civilians violate the classical form of that ]. The "classical jurists of Islam never remotely considered the kind of unprovoked, unannounced mass slaughter of uninvolved civil populations".<ref>Lewis, Bernard, 'Islam: The Religion and the People' (2009). pp. 53, 145–50</ref> In regard to the ] Lewis noted,
|first = Robert

|year = 2006
{{blockquote|Being a religious obligation, jihad is elaborately regulated in sharia law, which discusses in minute detail such matters as the opening, conduct, interruption and cessation of hostilities, the treatment of prisoners and noncombatants, the use of weapons, etc.<ref>Bukhari 50:891</ref> Similarly, the laws of Jihad categorically preclude wanton and indiscriminate slaughter.<ref>Quran (8:12)</ref> The warriors in the holy war are urged not to harm non-combatants, women and children, "unless they attack you first". ... A point on which they insist is the need for a clear declaration of war before beginning hostilities, and for proper warning before resuming hostilities after a truce. What the classical jurists of Islam never remotely considered is the kind of unprovoked, unannounced mass slaughter of uninvolved civil populations that we saw in New York two weeks ago. For this there is no precedent and no authority in Islam.<ref>{{cite web|author=Bernard Lewis |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1001547201928681240 |title=Jihad vs. Crusade |publisher=Opinionjournal.com |date=September 27, 2001 |access-date=August 4, 2016}}</ref>}}
|title = ]

|publisher = Regnery Publishing, USA
Similarly, ] writes that the proclamations of bin Laden and ] "ignore 14 centuries of Muslim scholarship", and that if they "followed the norms of their religion, they would have had to acknowledge that no school of mainstream Islam allows the targeting of civilians."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.islamfortoday.com/murad04.htm|title=Abdal-Hakim Murad, Bin Laden's Violence is a Heresy Against Islam|publisher=Islamfortoday.com|access-date=25 April 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100103130922/http://islamfortoday.com/murad04.htm|archive-date=3 January 2010}}</ref>
|isbn = 978-1596980280

}}
Researcher Donald Holbrook notes that while many jihadists quote the beginning of the famous sword verse (or ]):
*{{cite book
* But when these months, prohibited (for fighting), are over, slay the idolaters wheresoever you find them, and take them captive or besiege them, and lie in wait for them at every likely place. ...
|last = Trifkovic
... they fail to quote and discuss limiting factors that follow,
|first = Serge
* ".... But if they repent and fulfill their devotional obligations and pay the zakat, then let them go their way, for God is forgiving and kind."
|year = 2006
showing how they are (Holbrook argues) "shamelessly selective in order to serve their propaganda objectives."<ref name=holbrook1 />
|title = ]

|publisher = Regina Orthodox Press, USA
The scholarly credentials of the ideologues of extremism are also "questionable".<ref name="eikmeier" /> Dale C. Eikmeier notes
|id = ISBN-10: 192865326X

{{blockquote|With the exception of ] and ], none of Qutbism's main theoreticians trained at Islam's recognized centers of learning. Although a devout Muslim, ] was a teacher and community activist. ] was a literary critic. ] was an electrician. Ayman al-Zawahiri is a physician. Osama bin Laden trained to be a businessman.<ref name="eikmeier">{{cite journal|last=Eikmeier|first=Dale C.|date=Spring 2007|title=Qutbism: An Ideology of Islamic-Fascism|url=http://www.carlisle.army.mil/usawc/Parameters/07spring/eikmeier.htm|journal=]|volume=XXXVII|issue=1|pages=85–98|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070609120804/http://www.carlisle.army.mil/usawc/parameters/07spring/eikmeier.htm|archive-date=June 9, 2007}}</ref>}}

] and Jane I. Smith (a professor of Islamic Studies) write that barring some extremists like ], most Muslims do not interpret Qur'anic verses as promoting warfare today but rather as reflecting historical contexts.<ref name="Sells">{{cite news|author=Sells|first=Michael|date=8 August 2002|title=Understanding, Not Indoctrination|newspaper=The Washington Post|publisher=]|url=https://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/msells.htm|access-date=21 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021027032139/https://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/msells.htm|archive-date=27 October 2002}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia | author=Jane I. Smith | title=Islam and Christianity | encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Christianity | publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2005 | isbn=978-0-19-522393-4}}</ref> According to Sells, most Muslims "no more expect to apply" the verses at issue "to their contemporary non-Muslim friends and neighbors than most Christians and Jews consider themselves commanded by God, like the Biblical ], to exterminate the ]s."<ref name="Sells" />

In his book '']'', ] academic ] argues that there is an internal battle currently taking place within Islam between ] reform ideals and the ].<ref name="david">{{cite journal|last=Shasha|first=David|date=January 2002|title=No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0SBL/is_1-2_19/ai_n15340018/|url-status=dead|journal=International Journal of Kurdish Studies|publisher=]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090611021728/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0SBL/is_1-2_19/ai_n15340018/|archive-date=11 June 2009|access-date=21 January 2022}}</ref> The struggle is similar to that of the 16th-century ] in ], and in fact is happening when the religion of Islam is as "old" as Christianity was at the time of its reformation.<ref name=stan> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070724073511/http://news-service.stanford.edu/pr/2006/pr-aslan-102506.html |date=24 July 2007 }}. ]. Published 20 October 2006. Retrieved 7 May 2009.</ref> Aslan argues that "the notion that historical context should play no role in the interpretation of the Koran—that what applied to Muhammad's community applies to all Muslim communities for all time—is simply an untenable position in every sense."<ref name=times> |By Max Rodenbeck| nytimes.com| 29 May 2005</ref>
<!--Beginning with the 7th-century AD ] ], and continuing on until the 21st-century resurgence of Muslim violence on non-Muslims in the name of "]", many have debated whether Islam was fundamentally a religion of peace,<ref>{{cite web|author=President and Founder of the Christian Apologetic and Research Ministry, Matt Slick |url=http://carm.org/religious-movements/islam/islam-religion-peace-and-terrorism |title=Islam, the religion of peace, and terrorism|work=carm.org}}</ref> of violence, or perhaps of some combination of the two.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Political Language of Islam |last=Lewis |first=Bernard |author-link=Bernard Lewis |year=1988 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=0-226-47692-8 |page=72}} Cf. {{cite book |last1=Watt |first1=William M. |editor1-first=Thomas P. |editor1-last=Murphy |title=The Holy War |year=1976 |publisher=Ohio State University Press |isbn=978-0-8142-0245-6 |page=143 |chapter=Islamic Conceptions of the Holy War}}</ref>-->

Despite their proclaimed devotion to the virtue of Sharia law, Jihadists have not always avoided association with the pornography of the despised West. '']'' (London) newspaper has pointed out that Jihadists were discovered by one source to have sought anonymity through some of the same dark networks used to distribute ]—quite ironic given their proclaimed ].<ref name="Times">{{Cite web|date=2 June 2010|title=Dangerous and depraved: paedophiles unite with terrorists online – Times Online|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article4958674.ece|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100602180448/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article4958674.ece|url-status=dead|archive-date=2 June 2010|access-date=21 January 2022}}</ref> Similarly, ] news agency reported that pornography was found among the materials seized from ].<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151127161638/http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/13/us-binladen-porn-idUSTRE74C4RK20110513 |date=27 November 2015 }}, "Reuters", 13 May 2011</ref>

;Takfir
Despite the fact that a founding principle of modern violent jihad is the defense of Islam and Muslims, most victims of attacks by Islamic terrorism ("the vast majority" according to one source—J.J. Goldberg)<ref name="Goldberg-9-11-2017">{{cite news |last1=Goldberg |first1=J.J. |title=The Islam-Terrorism Connection — It's Not What You Think |url=https://forward.com/opinion/387326/the-islam-terrorism-connection-its-not-what-you-think/ |access-date=17 August 2019 |agency=Forward |date=9 November 2017}}</ref> are self-proclaimed Muslims. Many if not all Salafi-Jihadi groups practice ]—i.e. proclaim that some self-proclaimed Muslims (especially government officials and security personnel) are actually apostates deserving of death.

Furthermore, the more learned salafi-jihadi thinkers and leaders are (and were), the more reluctance they are/were to embrace ] (according to a study by Shane Drennan).<ref name="DRENNAN-2008" /> The late ], "the godfather of the Afghan jihad", for example, was an Islamic scholar and university professor who avoided takfir and preached unity in the ] (Muslim community). The Islamic education of Al-Qaeda's number two leader, ], was early and much more informal—he was not a trained scholar—and al-Zawahiri expanded the definition of kafir to include many self-proclaimed Muslims. He has maintained that civilian government employees of Muslim states, security forces and any persons collaborating or engaging with these groups are apostates, for example.<ref name="DRENNAN-2008" />

Two extreme takfiris -- ], a Sunni jihadist leader in Iraq, and ], leader of the Algerian ] (GIA) during the Algerian civil war—had even broader definitions of apostasy and less religious knowledge. Al-Zarqawi was a petty criminal who had no religious training until he was 22 and limited training thereafter. Famous for bombing targets other jihadis thought off limits,<ref name="Cambanis-3-10-15">{{cite news|last1=Cambanis|first1=Thanassis|title=Book Review. 'Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS' by Joby Warrick|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/books/2015/10/03/book-review-black-flags-the-rise-isis-joby-warrick/PkvOQIXpSqCssZ5tdqH5pJ/story.html|access-date=29 October 2015|work=]|date=3 October 2015}}</ref> his definition of apostates included all Shia Muslims and "anyone violating his organization's interpretation of Shari'a".<ref name="DRENNAN-2008" /> ] was the son of a chicken farmer with little Islamic education. He famously expanded the GIA's definition of apostate until he concluded the whole of Algerian society outside of the GIA "had left Islam". His attacks led to the deaths of thousands of Algerian civilians.<ref name="DRENNAN-2008">{{cite journal |last1=DRENNAN |first1=SHANE |title=Constructing Takfir |journal=Combating Terrorism Center |date=June 2008 |volume=1 |issue=7 |url=https://ctc.usma.edu/constructing-takfir-from-abdullah-azzam-to-djamel-zitouni/ |access-date=13 August 2019 |archive-date=12 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190812175049/https://ctc.usma.edu/constructing-takfir-from-abdullah-azzam-to-djamel-zitouni/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

;De-radicalization
Evidence that more religious training may lead to less extremism has been found in Egypt. That country's largest radical Islamic group, ] — which killed at least 796 Egyptian policemen and soldiers from 1992 to 1998 — renounced bloodshed in 2003 in a deal with the Egyptian government where a series of high-ranking members were released (as of 2009 "the group has perpetrated no new terrorist acts"). A second group ] made a similar agreement in 2007. Preceding the agreements was program where Muslim scholars debated with imprisoned group leaders arguing that true Islam did not support terrorism.<ref name="DeAngelis-2009">{{cite journal |last1=DeAngelis |first1=Tori |title=Understanding terrorism |journal=Monitor on Psychology |date=November 2009 |volume=40 |issue=10 |url=https://www.apa.org/monitor/2009/11/terrorism |access-date=31 August 2019}}</ref>

== Muslim attitudes toward terrorism ==
{{Main|Muslim attitudes towards terrorism}}

The opinions of Muslims on the subject of attacks on civilians by Islamist groups vary. ], a British academic specialist on the Middle East, argues that most Muslims consider these acts to be egregious violations of Islam's laws.<ref>Halliday, Fred: ''Islam and the Myth of Confrontation: Religion and Politics in the Middle East'' (New York: I.B. Tauris, 2003), 107</ref> Muslims living in the West denounce the 11 September attacks against United States, while Hezbollah contends that their rocket attacks against Israeli targets are ] by a legitimate ] rather than terrorism.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://almashriq.hiof.no/lebanon/300/320/324/324.2/hizballah/statement01.html |title=Statement of purpose |publisher=Almashriq.hiof.no |date=20 March 1998 |access-date=25 April 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://almashriq.hiof.no/lebanon/300/320/324/324.2/hizballah/hizballah-background.html |title=Hizbullah: Views and Concepts |publisher=Almashriq.hiof.no |date=20 June 1997 |access-date=25 April 2010}}</ref>

=== Views of modern Islamic scholars ===

In reference to suicide attacks, Hannah Stuart notes there is a "significant debate among contemporary clerics over which circumstance permit such attacks." Qatar-based theologian, ], criticized the 9/11 attacks but previously justified suicide bombings in Israel on the grounds of necessity and justified such attacks in 2004 against American military and civilian personnel in Iraq. According to Stuart, 61 contemporary Islamic leaders have issued fatawa permitting suicide attacks, 32 with respect to Israel. Stuart points out that all of these contemporary rulings are contrary to classical ].<ref name="Stuart1">{{cite book|title=Countering Radicalization and Violent Extremism Among Youth to Prevent Terrorism|publisher=IOS Press|year=2014|isbn=978-1-61499-469-5|pages=74–76|author=Hannah Stuart|editor=Marco Lombardi}}</ref>

] and other authors have collected statements by prominent Muslim figures and organizations condemning terrorism.<ref name=kurzman />
In September 2014, an open letter to ISIS by "over 120 prominent Muslim scholars" denounced that group for "numerous religious transgressions and abominable crimes".<ref name="css">{{cite web|title=The Danger of Takfir (Excommunication): Exposing IS' Takfiri Ideology|url=https://css.ethz.ch/en/services/digital-library/articles/article.html/316b8048-d26a-44cb-b4ce-48d8167f1c7c/pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190826180152/https://css.ethz.ch/en/services/digital-library/articles/article.html/316b8048-d26a-44cb-b4ce-48d8167f1c7c/pdf|archive-date=26 August 2019|url-status=dead|access-date=26 August 2019|website=css.ethz.ch|publisher=Center for Security Studies}}</ref><ref name="letter">{{cite web |title=Open Letter to AL-Baghdadi |url=http://www.lettertobaghdadi.com/ |website=lettertobaghdadi |access-date=26 August 2019 |archive-date=8 February 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150208110812/http://www.lettertobaghdadi.com/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

], an author on comparative religion, argued that extremists have hijacked Islam, just as has occurred periodically in Christianity, ] and other religions throughout history. He added that the real problem is that extremists do not know their own faith.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/38467/man-of-faiths-preeminent-religion-scholar-huston-smith-reflects-on-judaism- |title=Man of faiths: Preeminent religion scholar Huston Smith reflects on Judaism and Chasing the Divine |work= Jewish News Weekly of Northern California |publisher=Jweekly.com |date=25 June 2009 |access-date=25 April 2010}}</ref>

], former ] of Egypt, stated not only for Islam but in general: "Terrorism cannot be born of religion. Terrorism is the product of corrupt minds, hardened hearts, and arrogant egos, and corruption, destruction, and arrogance are unknown to the heart attached to the divine."<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.themuslimtimes.org/2013/07/religion/terrorism-has-no-religion|title= Terrorism has no religion|date= 8 July 2013|access-date=25 August 2013}}</ref>

A ] (''fatwa'') by ] condemned suicide bombings and other forms of terrorism as '']'' (unbelief),<ref>{{cite news|title=Sheikh issues fatwa against all terrorists|work=]|author=Jerome Taylor|date=3 March 2010|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/sheikh-issues-fatwa-against-all-terrorists-1915000.html|access-date=9 April 2010 | location=London}}</ref> stating that it "has no place in Islamic teaching and no justification can be provided for it, or any kind of excuses or ifs or buts."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2634649 |title=Top Islamic scholar issues 'absolute' fatwa against terror |work=National Post |date=3 March 2010 |access-date=25 April 2010 }}{{dead link|date=September 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> Iranian Ayatollah ] has preached against suicide attacks and stated in an interview: "Terror in Islam, and especially Shiite, is forbidden."<ref>{{cite news|year = 2012|url = http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/leading-iranian-cleric-calls-on-regime-to-avoid-war-with-israel-1.459775|title = Leading Iranian Cleric Calls on Regime to Avoid War With Israel|newspaper = Haaretz |access-date = 3 August 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/tehran/interviews/saanei.html|title = Interview Grand Ayatollah Yusef Saanei |date = 2 May 2002 |publisher = PBS/Frontline|access-date = 3 August 2016}}</ref>

A group of Pakistani clerics of ] (] movement) who were gathered for a convention denounced suicide attacks and beheadings as un-Islamic in a unanimous resolution.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Top-Pak-clerics-declare-suicide-attacks-un-Islamic/articleshow/4543693.cms|title=Top Pak clerics declare suicide attacks un-Islamic|newspaper=The Times of India|date=17 May 2009|access-date=3 August 2016}}</ref> On 2 July 2013 in ], 50 Muslim scholars of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) issued a collective fatwa against suicide bombings, the killing of innocent people, bomb attacks, and targeted killings. It considers them to be forbidden.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1022298 |title=Fatwa issued against suicide bombings, targeted killings and terrorism |date=2 July 2013 |location=Lahore}}</ref>

== Tactics ==
{{Main|Tactics of terrorism}}

=== Suicide attacks ===
{{See also|Suicide attack}}

] was the first group to use suicide bombers in the Middle East.<ref name="Islamic Evolution" /> An increasingly popular tactic used by terrorists is suicide bombing.<ref>{{cite web|title= The_MIPT_Terrorism_Annual|url=http://www.tkb.org/documents/Downloads/2006-MIPT-Terrorism-Annual.pdf|publisher=tkb.org|access-date=6 February 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071129192403/http://www.tkb.org/documents/Downloads/2006-MIPT-Terrorism-Annual.pdf |archive-date=29 November 2007}}</ref> This tactic is used against civilians, soldiers, and government officials of the regimes the terrorists oppose. A recent clerical ruling declares terrorism and suicide bombing as forbidden by Islam.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8544531.stm | work=BBC News | first=Dominic | last=Casciani | title=Muslim scholar condemns terrorism |date=2 March 2010}}</ref>

=== Hijackings ===
Islamic terrorism sometimes employs the hijacking of passenger vehicles. The most infamous were the ] attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people on a single day in 2001, effectively ending the era of ].

=== Hostage taking, kidnappings and executions ===
{{Main|Beheading in Islamism}}
{{See also|Beheading video|ISIL beheading incidents}}

Along with bombings and hijackings, Islamic terrorists have made extensive use of highly publicised kidnappings and executions (i.e. ritualized murders), often circulating videos of the acts for use as propaganda. A frequent form of execution by these groups is ], another is shooting. In the 1980s, a ] by Hezbollah during the ] resulted in the 1986 ]. During the chaos of the ], more than 200 kidnappings ] (for various reasons and by various groups, including purely criminal) gained great international notoriety, even as the great majority (thousands) of victims were Iraqis. In 2007, the ] by ] resulted in the British government meeting a Hamas member for the first time.
;Motivations
] militants, including ], ], ] and the ], have used ] as a method of fundraising, as a means of bargaining for political concessions, and as a way of intimidating potential opponents.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Shay|first1=Shaul|title=Global Jihad and the Tactic of Terror Abduction: A Comprehensive Review of Islamic Terrorist Organizations|date=December 2013|publisher=Sussex Academic Press|isbn=978-1-84519-611-0}}</ref>

==== As political tactic ====
An example of political kidnapping occurred in September 2014, in the Philippines. The German Foreign Ministry reported that the Islamist militant group ] had kidnapped two German nationals and was threatening to kill them unless the German government withdraw its support for the war against ] and also pay a large ransom.<ref>{{cite news|last=Thomas|first=Andrea|title=Germany Confirms Kidnapping of Two Citizens by Islamist Group in Philippines|url=https://online.wsj.com/articles/germany-confirms-kidnapping-of-two-citizens-by-islamist-terror-group-1411564496|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|date=24 September 2014|access-date=7 October 2014|url-access=subscription }}</ref> In September 2014 an Islamist militant group kidnapped a French national in Algeria and threatened to kill the hostage unless the government of France withdrew its support for the war against ISIS.<ref>{{cite news|last=Willsher|first=Kim|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/22/algerian-islamists-threaten-to-execute-french-hostage-unless-france-halts-isis-attacks|title=Algerian Islamists threaten to execute hostage unless France halts Isis attacks|newspaper=The Guardian|date=23 September 2014|access-date=4 August 2016}}</ref>

=====Islamist self-justifications =====

ISIL justified various acts internally, including beheadings and its kidnapping of ] women and forcing them to become sex slaves or concubines.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Abdelaziz|first1=Salma|title=ISIS states its justification for the enslavement of women|url=http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/12/world/meast/isis-justification-slavery/|access-date=13 October 2014|publisher=CNN|date=13 October 2014}}</ref>

], the leader of the Nigerian extremist group ], said in a 2014 interview claiming responsibility for the ] of 270+ schoolgirls, "] is allowed in my religion, and I shall capture people and make them slaves".<ref name=CNNEssenceTerror>{{cite news| url=http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/06/world/africa/nigeria-boko-haram-analysis/ |publisher=CNN |title=Boko Haram: The essence of terror |last=Lister |first=Tim |date=5 June 2015 |access-date=13 May 2014}}</ref>

==== Kidnapping as revenue ====
] leader of the ] militant group ] describes kidnapped hostages as "an easy spoil... which I may describe as a profitable trade and a precious treasure."<ref name="nytimes1">{{cite news|last1=Callimachi|first1=Rukmini Maria|title=Paying Ransoms, Europe Bankrolls Qaeda Terror|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/30/world/africa/ransoming-citizens-europe-becomes-al-qaedas-patron.html|access-date=4 September 2014|newspaper=The New York Times|date=29 July 2014}}</ref>

A 2014 investigation, by journalist ] published in '']'' demonstrated that between 2008 and 2014, Al Qaeda and groups directly affiliated with al-Qaeda took in over US$125 million from kidnapping, with $66 million of that total paid in 2013 alone. The article showed that from a somewhat haphazard beginning in 2003, kidnapping grew into the group's main fundraising strategy, with targeted, professional kidnapping of civilians from wealthy European countries—principally France, Spain and Switzerland—willing to pay huge ransoms. US and UK nationals are less commonly targeted since these governments have shown an unwillingness to pay ransom.<ref name="nytimes1" />

] kidnapped Europeans for the Ransom their governments would pay in the early 2010s.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/boko-haram-the-chibok-abductions-and-nigerias-counterterrorism-strategy|title=Boko Haram, the Chibok Abductions and Nigeria's Counterterrorism Strategy|website=Combating Terrorism Center|publisher=West Point Military Academy|last1=Hill|first1=J.N.C.|date=30 July 2014|access-date=4 September 2014|archive-date=4 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140904160609/https://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/boko-haram-the-chibok-abductions-and-nigerias-counterterrorism-strategy|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Kington|first=Tom|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/mar/11/nigerian-kidnappers-paid-part-of-ransom|title=Nigerian kidnappers 'received ransom downpayment'|newspaper=The Guardian|date=10 March 2012|access-date=4 September 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140905003658/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/mar/11/nigerian-kidnappers-paid-part-of-ransom|archive-date=5 September 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=BBCnigeria|title=Italian Abducted in Nigeria Freed|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-18305746|access-date=4 September 2014|publisher=BBC|date=1 June 2012}}</ref>

According to ] writing in '']'', although ISIS received funding from Qatar, Kuwait and other Gulf oil states, "traditional criminal techniques like kidnapping", are a key funding source for ISIS.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Dreazen|first=Yochi|author-link=Yochi Dreazen|url=http://complex.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/06/16/isis_uses_mafia_tactics_to_fund_its_own_operations_without_help_from_persian_gulf_d|title=ISIS Uses Mafia Tactics to Fund Its Own Operations Without Help From Persian Gulf Donors|magazine=Foreign Policy|access-date=4 September 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140617074156/http://complex.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/06/16/isis_uses_mafia_tactics_to_fund_its_own_operations_without_help_from_persian_gulf_d|archive-date=17 June 2014}}</ref> ] writing in ], kidnapping was a "crucial early source" of funds as ISIS expanded rapidly in 2013.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/isiss-history-of-hostage-taking-2014-8|title=ISIS Has Been Taking Foreign Hostages Since The Very Beginning – And Getting Paid For Them|date=20 August 2014|website=Business Insider|last1=Rosen|first1=Armin|access-date=4 September 2014}}</ref> In March, upon receiving payment from the government of Spain, ISIS released 2 Spanish hostages working for the newspaper ], correspondent Javier Espinosa and photographer ], who had been held since September 2013.<ref>{{cite news|last1=BBCMarch|title=Syria crisis: Spanish journalists freed after ISIS kidnapping|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26807207|access-date=4 September 2014|publisher=BC|date=30 March 2014}}</ref> ], CEO of ] told the press that he had spent "millions" in efforts to ransom journalist ], and an American official told the ] that demand from ISIS was for 100 million ($132.5).<ref>{{cite news|last1=CBSNews|title=Multiple kidnappings for ransom funding ISIS, source says|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/multiple-kidnappings-for-ransom-funding-isis-source-says/|access-date=4 September 2014|publisher=CBS News|date=21 August 2014}}</ref> In September 2014, following the release of ISIS ]s of journalists James Foley and ], British Prime Minister ] appealed to members of the ] to abide by their pledges not to pay ransom "in the case of terrorist kidnap".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Elliott |first1=Francis |title=European allies shamed over ransom payments |url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/european-allies-shamed-over-ransom-payments-d66g7qg0rds |access-date=7 May 2021 |work=The Times |date=5 September 2014}}</ref>

Holding foreign journalists as hostages is so valuable to ISIS that Rami Jarrah, a Syrian who has acted as go-between in efforts to ransom foreign hostages, told the '']'' that ISIS had "made it known" to other militant groups that they "would pay" for kidnapped journalists.<ref name="autogenerated5">{{cite news|last1=Malas|first1=Nour|title=Hostage-Taking Central to Islamic State Strategy in Syria|url=https://online.wsj.com/articles/hostage-taking-central-to-islamic-state-strategy-in-syria-1408711183|access-date=4 September 2014|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|date=22 August 2014}}</ref> ISIS has also kidnapped foreign-aid workers and Syrians who work for foreign-funded groups and reconstruction projects in Syria.<ref name="autogenerated5" /> By mid-2014, ISIS was holding assets valued at US$2 billion.<ref>{{cite news|last=Chulov|first=Martin|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/15/iraq-isis-arrest-jihadists-wealth-power|title=Iraq arrest that exposed wealth and power of Isis jihadists|newspaper=The Guardian|date=16 June 2014|access-date=17 June 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140616091317/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/15/iraq-isis-arrest-jihadists-wealth-power|archive-date=16 June 2014}}</ref>

===== Kidnapping as psychological warfare =====
Boko Haram has been described as using kidnapping as a means of intimidating the civilian population into non-resistance.<ref name="ctc.usma.edu">{{cite journal|date=30 July 2014|title=Boko Haram, the Chibok Abductions and Nigeria's Counterterrorism Strategy|url=https://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/boko-haram-the-chibok-abductions-and-nigerias-counterterrorism-strategy|journal=Combating Terrorism Center at West Point|last1=Hill|first1=Jonathan N.C.|access-date=4 September 2014|archive-date=4 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140904160609/https://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/boko-haram-the-chibok-abductions-and-nigerias-counterterrorism-strategy|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Marina Lazreg 2009 p. 47">Marina Lazreg, "Consequences of Political Liberalisation and Sociocultural Mobilisation for Women in Algeria, Egypt and Jordan", in Anne-Marie Goetz, Governing Women: Women's Political Effectiveness in Contexts of Democratisation and Governance Reform (New York: Routledge/UNRISD, 2009), p. 47.</ref>

According to psychologist ], Hamas demonstrated effectiveness of kidnapping as a form of ] in the ] of the Israeli soldier ] when public pressure forced the government of Israel to release 1027 prisoners, including 280 convicted of terrorism by Israel, in exchange for his release.<ref>{{cite news|first=Andreas|last=Gorzewski|url=http://www.dw.com/en/hamas-uses-kidnapping-as-a-strategic-tool/a-17799249|title=Hamas uses kidnapping as a strategic tool|publisher=Deutsche Welle|date=22 July 2014|access-date=4 August 2016}}</ref> According to '']'', "Hamas has recognized the pull such incidents have over the Israeli psyche and clearly has moved to grab hostages in incidents such as the ]."<ref>{{cite news|last1=Kershner|first1=Isabel|author-link1=Isabel Kershner|author2=Jodi Rudoren|title=A Blast, a Fire and an Israeli Soldier Goes Missing |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/23/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-conflict.html |work=The New York Times|date=22 July 2014|access-date=4 August 2016}}</ref>

=== Internet recruiting ===
{{Main|Terrorism and social media}}
In the beginning of the 21st century, emerged a worldwide network of hundreds of web sites that inspire, train, educate and recruit young Muslims to engage in jihad against the United States and other Western countries, taking less prominent roles in mosques and community centers that are under scrutiny.
== Examples of organizations ==

{{Main Article|List of Islamist terrorist attacks}}
{{Further|List of designated terrorist groups}}
{{See also|United States Department of State list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations|Boko Haram insurgency|1998 United States embassy bombings}}]", used by various Islamist organizations since the late 1990s, consists of a white-on-black ].]]

=== Africa ===

The African continent has been affected by significant Islamist terrorist activity across the continent, involving various militant groups responsible for widespread violence and instability.<ref>Kepel, Gilles, ''Jihad'', (2003)</ref><ref name="Welle www.dw.com">{{Cite web|url=https://www.dw.com/de/burkina-faso-islamistische-gefahr-aus-dem-innern/a-41056722|title=Burkina Faso: Islamistische Gefahr aus dem Innern |date=20 October 2017 |publisher=Deutsche Welle |language=de-DE|access-date=18 March 2019}}</ref><ref name="thedefensepost.com">{{Cite web|url=https://thedefensepost.com/2018/09/29/chad-troops-kill-17-boko-haram-6-dead-lake-chad/|title=Chad troops kill 17 Boko Haram militants after 6 killed in Lake Chad attacks|date=29 September 2018|website=The Defense Post|language=en-US|access-date=18 March 2019}}</ref> In ], ]<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-24379013|title=In prison with al-Shabab: What drives Somali militants?|date=5 October 2013|work=BBC News|access-date=4 January 2019|language=en-GB}}</ref> has been a central figure in conflicts, particularly in ] and ].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ctc.usma.edu/terrorist-attacks-in-kenya-reveal-domestic-radicalization/|title=Terrorist Attacks in Kenya Reveal Domestic Radicalization|date=29 October 2012|website=Combating Terrorism Center at West Point|language=en-US|access-date=18 March 2019|archive-date=1 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801212030/https://ctc.usma.edu/terrorist-attacks-in-kenya-reveal-domestic-radicalization/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ctc.usma.edu/the-nairobi-attack-and-al-shababs-media-strategy/|title=The Nairobi Attack and Al-Shabab's Media Strategy|date=24 October 2013|website=Combating Terrorism Center at West Point|language=en-US|access-date=18 March 2019|archive-date=23 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180923063727/https://ctc.usma.edu/the-nairobi-attack-and-al-shababs-media-strategy/|url-status=dead}}</ref> ] and ] have seen major incidents tied to groups like ],<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-15336689|title=Who are Somalia's al-Shabab?|date=22 December 2017|work=BBC News|access-date=4 January 2019|language=en-GB}}</ref><ref name="thedefensepost.com">{{Cite web|url=https://thedefensepost.com/2018/09/29/chad-troops-kill-17-boko-haram-6-dead-lake-chad/|title=Chad troops kill 17 Boko Haram militants after 6 killed in Lake Chad attacks|date=29 September 2018|website=The Defense Post|language=en-US|access-date=18 March 2019}}</ref><ref name="reuters.com">{{Cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/northeast-nigeria-insurgency-has-killed-almost-350000-un-2021-06-24/|title=Northeast Nigeria insurgency has killed almost 350,000 – UN|date=24 June 2021|work=Reuters|language=en-US|access-date=13 February 2022}}</ref> which has caused severe disruptions in ] and neighboring countries. Additionally, nations such as ],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dw.com/en/egypt-kills-40-suspected-militants-after-tourist-bus-attack/a-46893439 |title=Egypt kills 40 suspected militants after tourist bus attack {{!}} DW {{!}} 29 December 2018 |last=Welle (www.dw.com)|first=Deutsche |publisher=Deutsche Welle |language=en-GB |access-date=20 March 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/741/eg1.htm|title=Fearing the worst|date=5 May 2005|access-date=2 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130924131816/http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/741/eg1.htm|archive-date=24 September 2013|url-status=dead|work=Al-Ahram Weekly}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.egyptindependent.com/mass-funeral-held-helwan-church-victims-coptic-orthodox-church/|title=Mass funeral to be held for Helwan church victims: Coptic Orthodox Church – Egypt Independent|date=29 December 2017|access-date=30 December 2017}}</ref> ], ],<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IQbRDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT88|title=Al-Qaeda's Revenge: The 2004 Madrid Train Bombings|last=Reinares|first=Fernando|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=2016|isbn=978-0-231-80140-9|page=88}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ctc.usma.edu/fifteen-years-after-the-djerba-synagogue-bombing/|title=Fifteen Years after the Djerba Synagogue Bombing|date=14 April 2017|website=Combating Terrorism Center at West Point|language=en-US|access-date=18 March 2019|archive-date=6 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181206103743/https://ctc.usma.edu/fifteen-years-after-the-djerba-synagogue-bombing/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/tunisia/11479898/Gunmen-take-hostages-in-attack-on-Tunisia-parliament.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150318130121/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/tunisia/11479898/Gunmen-take-hostages-in-attack-on-Tunisia-parliament.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=18 March 2015|title=Gunmen 'take hostages' in attack on Tunisia parliament.|last1=Marszal|first1=Andrew|date=18 March 2015|work=The Telegraph|access-date=18 March 2015}}</ref> and ]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://jyllands-posten.dk/premium/indblik/Indland/ECE11086519/mindst-1600-marokkanere-sluttede-sig-til-is-nu-har-marokko-et-problem-med-hellige-krigere/|title=Hundreder af tikkende bomber i landet, som Islamisk Stat styrede udenom i syv år|date=20 December 2018|website=jyllands-posten.dk|access-date=23 December 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.france24.com/en/20161213-focus-morocco-school-reform-religious-education-islam-fight-extremism|title=FOCUS – Morocco reforms religious education to fight extremism|date=13 December 2016|publisher=France 24|language=en|access-date=27 December 2018}}</ref> have experienced deadly attacks linked to broader extremist networks. These activities have led to ].{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}<!-- Empty reference <ref name="CTC 2021" /--> Civilians have been the main targets of terrorist attacks by Islamist militants.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://allafrica.com/stories/201712050740.html|title=Mozambique: Islamist Raids Continuing in Mocimboa Da Praia|date=5 December 2017|website=AllAfrica.com|access-date=27 December 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171226234748/http://allafrica.com/stories/201712050740.html|archive-date=26 December 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.verdade.co.mz/newsflash/63770-populacao-captura-supostos-membros-do-grupo-armado-que-atacou-mocimboa-da-praia-|title=População captura supostos membros do grupo armado que atacou Mocímboa da Praia|website=Verdade.co.mz|access-date=27 December 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171226234801/http://www.verdade.co.mz/newsflash/63770-populacao-captura-supostos-membros-do-grupo-armado-que-atacou-mocimboa-da-praia-|archive-date=26 December 2017}}</ref><ref name="confirm">{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.ug/au-confirms-isis-infiltration-in-east-africa/ |title=AU confirms ISIS infiltration in East Africa |work=] |date=24 May 2018 |access-date=31 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823174150/https://www.independent.co.ug/au-confirms-isis-infiltration-in-east-africa/ |archive-date=23 August 2018 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

=== Asia ===

In ], since 2006, ] and ] forces have escalated attacks against civilians.<ref>. April 2007. Volume 19, No. 6(C). ]/</ref> Kyrgyz-American brothers were behind the ]. In ], the IMU was blamed for a 2010 suicide bombing that killed two policemen.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://themoscowtimes.com/news/car-bomber-kills-2-in-tajikistan-1143|title=Car Bomber Kills 2 in Tajikistan|newspaper=]|date=6 September 2010 |access-date=3 August 2016}}</ref> ] saw multiple attacks,<ref name=Rfe2004-07-27>{{cite news|first=Bruce|last=Pannier|url=http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1054045.html|title=Uzbekistan: 'Terror' Trial Likely To Hold Few Surprises|publisher=]|date=27 July 2004|url-status=unfit|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081213124934/http://www.rferl.org/content/Article/1054045.html|archive-date=13 December 2008}}</ref><ref name="rferl.org">{{cite web |first=Gulnoza |last=Saidazimova|url=http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2007/09/6ec8adad-f98f-413d-95e1-776074d74a24.html|title=Germany: Authorities Say Uzbekistan-Based Group Behind Terrorist Plot|publisher=RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty |date=6 September 2007 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070911181849/http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2007/09/6ec8adad-f98f-413d-95e1-776074d74a24.html|archive-date=11 September 2007}}</ref> including the ] targeting President ].<ref>{{cite web|first1=Abdumannob|last1=Polat|first2=Nickolai|last2=Butkevich|url=http://www.iicas.org/english/Krsten_4_12_00.htm |title=Unraveling the Mystery of the Tashkent Bombings: Theories and Implications|date=28 November 2000 |access-date=9 February 2016 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030611072650/http://iicas.org/english/Krsten_4_12_00.htm|archive-date=11 June 2003}}</ref><ref name=CORNELL>{{cite news|first=Kathleen|last=Knox|url=http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/8147-18.cfm|title=Uzbekistan: Who's Behind The Violence?|publisher=]|issue=18 – JRL 8147|year=2004|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040404040430/http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/8147-18.cfm|archive-date=4 April 2004}}</ref> ] linked to ] ]. In ], ]<ref>{{cite news|first=Maneeza|last=Hossain|url=http://www.defenddemocracy.org/in_the_media/in_the_media_show.htm?doc_id=358521|title=The Rising Tide of Islamism in Bangladesh|publisher=defenddemocracy.org|date=16 February 2006|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060405221840/http://www.defenddemocracy.org/in_the_media/in_the_media_show.htm?doc_id=358521|archive-date=5 April 2006}}</ref><ref>''The Columbia World Dictionary of Islamism'', Columbia University Press (2007), pp. 69–70</ref> and ]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2015/may/25/ansarullah-bangla-team-banned|title=Ansarullah Bangla Team banned|work=dhakatribune.com|date=25 May 2015|url-status=unfit|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150527045656/http://en.prothom-alo.com/bangladesh/news/67459/Ansarullah-Bangla-Team-banned|archive-date=27 May 2015}}</ref> have been involved in bombings and attacks on activists. In ], ]<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=Lashkar-e-Toiba|title=Lashkar-e-Toiba |dictionary=dictionary.com |year=2003 |access-date=27 August 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040811141123/http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=lashkar-e-toiba |archive-date=11 August 2004}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britishhighcommission.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1031627751059 |title=Speech by the Prime Minister the Rt Hon Tony Blair MP to the Confederation of Indian Industry Bangalore, India 5 January 2002 |publisher=britishhighcommission.gov |date=January 2002 |access-date=24 June 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071123113931/http://www.britishhighcommission.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket%2FXcelerate%2FShowPage&c=Page&cid=1031627751059 |archive-date=23 November 2007 }}</ref> and ]<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1804228.stm |title=SOUTH ASIA &#124; Jaish-e-Mohammad: A profile |work=BBC News |date=6 February 2002 |access-date=25 April 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Attack_May_Spoil_Kashmir_Summit.html |title=Attack May Spoil Kashmir Summit |publisher=Spacewar.com |access-date=25 April 2010}}</ref> are responsible for numerous attacks,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/all-you-need-to-know-about-711/article7640887.ece|title=All you need to know about the 7/11 Mumbai train blasts|date=11 September 2015|work=The Hindu|access-date=29 August 2019|language=en-IN|issn=0971-751X}}</ref> while ] and ] have also faced Islamist attacks.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/22/world/asia/ntj-sri-lanka-national-thowheeth-jamaath.html |title = Local Group is Blamed for Attacks, but Sri Lanka Suspects 'International Network'|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 22 April 2019|last1 = Bradsher|first1 = Keith|last2 = Garcia|first2 = Sandra E.}}</ref> The ]<ref name="24threlease">{{cite press release|title=FBI updates most wanted terrorists and seeking information – War on Terrorism Lists|date=24 February 2006|publisher=FBI National Press Office|url=https://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel06/mostwantedterrorists022406.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090805113636/http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel06/mostwantedterrorists022406.htm |archive-date=5 August 2009}}</ref> in the ] continues a long-running ].<ref name="TKBAbu">{{cite web|url=http://tkb.org/Group.jsp?groupID=204|title=Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG)|publisher=MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base|access-date=20 September 2006|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060827045351/http://www.tkb.org/Group.jsp?groupID=204|archive-date=27 August 2006}}</ref><ref name="24threlease">{{cite press release|title=FBI updates most wanted terrorists and seeking information – War on Terrorism Lists|date=24 February 2006|publisher=FBI National Press Office|url=https://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel06/mostwantedterrorists022406.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090805113636/http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel06/mostwantedterrorists022406.htm |archive-date=5 August 2009}}</ref>

=== Europe ===

{{Main|Islamic terrorism in Europe|Al-Qaeda activities in Europe}}
{{See also|Foreign fighters in the Syrian and Iraqi Civil Wars}}
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|caption=Planned and foiled Jihadist terror attacks in Europe. Numbers for 2017 and 2018 are preliminary.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-hasnt-won-the-war-on-terror/|title=Europe hasn't won the war on terror|last=Nesser|first=Petter|date=5 December 2018|website=]|access-date=9 December 2018}}</ref>
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}} }}


The Europe has seen significant Islamist terrorist attacks,<ref>{{cite news|last1=Dearden|first1=Lizzie|title=Paris attack: Isis warns 'This is just the beginning' after killing at least 127 people in French capital|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/paris-attacks-this-is-just-the-beginning-isis-vows-after-killing-at-least-127-people-in-french-a6734546.html|access-date=17 November 2015|newspaper=The Independent|date=15 November 2015}}</ref><ref name="Europol17">{{Cite book|title=EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report (TE-SAT) 2017|url=https://www.europol.europa.eu/activities-services/main-reports/eu-terrorism-situation-and-trend-report-te-sat-2017|publisher=Europol|year=2017|page=10|isbn=978-9295200791}}</ref><ref name="Europol18">{{cite book|url=https://www.europol.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/tesat_2018.pdf|title=European Union Terrorism Situation and Trend Report 2018 (TE SAT 2018)|date=2018|publisher=]|isbn=978-92-95200-91-3|pages=5–9, 22–25, 35–36|access-date=23 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620144052/https://www.europol.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/tesat_2018.pdf|archive-date=20 June 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.normativeorders.net/de/presse/medienecho/40-presse/presse-echo/5606-dschihadisten-als-elitetruppe-des-islams-eine-klare-ablehnung-dieser-position-durch-islamische-verbaende-in-deutschland-fehlt-von-susanne-schroeter|title=Dschihadisten als Elitetruppe des Islams. Eine klare Ablehnung dieser Position durch islamische Verbände in Deutschland fehlt / Von Susanne Schröter|last=Storm|first=Linde|website=normativeorders.net|language=de-de|access-date=1 December 2018|archive-date=27 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181027190000/https://www.normativeorders.net/de/presse/medienecho/40-presse/presse-echo/5606-dschihadisten-als-elitetruppe-des-islams-eine-klare-ablehnung-dieser-position-durch-islamische-verbaende-in-deutschland-fehlt-von-susanne-schroeter|url-status=dead}}</ref> including the ],<ref name="Great Disaster">{{Cite book |last1=Genzmer |first1=Herbert |title=Great Disasters |last2=Kershner |first2=Sybille |last3=Schutz |first3=Christian |date=1989 |isbn=9781445410968 |page=197 |publisher=Parragon |language=English}}</ref><ref name="Elizabeth Nash">{{cite news|url=http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article1961431.ece|title=Madrid bombers 'were inspired by bin Laden address' |newspaper=] |location=UK|author=Elizabeth Nash|date=7 November 2006|access-date=16 February 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706184144/http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article1961431.ece|archive-date=6 July 2008|quote=While the bombers may have been inspired by bin Laden, a two-year investigation into the attacks has found no evidence that al-Qa'ida helped plan, finance or carry out the bombings, or even knew about them in advance. Ten bombs in backpacks and other small bags, such as gym bags, exploded. One bomb did not explode and was defused. The police did controlled explosions on three other bombs.}}</ref> the ],<ref name="lucky-driver">{{cite news |title=I'm lucky to be here, says driver |date=11 July 2005 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4671767.stm |publisher=] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061110184312/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4671767.stm |archive-date=10 November 2006 |url-status=live |access-date=12 November 2006}}</ref><ref name="north-diary">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4670099.stm |title=Coming together as a city |access-date=12 November 2006 |date=15 July 2005 |last=North |first=Rachel |publisher=BBC News |archive-date=29 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190929073251/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4670099.stm |url-status=live}}</ref> and the ],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/france-honors-victims-of-paris-terrorist-attacks-1448635450|title=France honors victims of Paris terrorist attacks|date=27 November 2015|access-date=21 January 2016|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|author1=Jason Chow|author2=Nick Kostov|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160127091740/http://www.wsj.com/articles/france-honors-victims-of-paris-terrorist-attacks-1448635450|archive-date=27 January 2016|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34827497 |title=What happened at the Bataclan? |work=BBC News |access-date=27 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181206231915/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34827497 |archive-date=6 December 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="autogenerated2">{{cite web |url=https://news.vice.com/article/this-is-what-happened-at-the-bataclan-concert-hall-during-the-paris-attacks |title=This Is What Happened at the Bataclan Concert Hall During the Paris Attacks |work=News.vice.com |date=25 November 2015 |access-date=27 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180830110538/https://news.vice.com/article/this-is-what-happened-at-the-bataclan-concert-hall-during-the-paris-attacks |archive-date=30 August 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> all of which caused numerous casualties. A report highlights that jihadist terrorism has been responsible for the majority of deaths from terrorism in Europe from 2001 to 2014.<ref>{{Cite news|title= Daily chart: Terror attacks |url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2015/01/daily-chart-8|newspaper=The Economist|date=15 January 2015}}</ref> It also discusses how jihadists in Europe have financed their activities through petty crime and how terrorist attacks have increasingly targeted people rather than property.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://icsr.info/2016/10/new-icsr-report-criminal-pasts-terrorist-futures-european-jihadists-new-crime-terror-nexus/|title=Criminal Pasts, Terrorist Futures: European Jihadists and the New Crime-Terror Nexus / ICSR|date=11 October 2016|work=]|access-date=14 July 2018|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dTt0rG_B130C&pg=PA103|title=Understanding Terrorism in the Age of Global Media: A Communication Approach|last=Archetti|first=Cristina|date=29 October 2012|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-0-230-36049-5|pages=103|language=en|quote=The London think tank, International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence (ICSR) }}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Countries like ],<ref name="arab">], {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309030546/http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4&section=0&article=51493&d=15&m=9&y=2004 |date=9 March 2016 }}, 15 September 2004</ref><ref name=Bbc20051202>{{cite news | date=2 December 2005 | title=Belgian 'suicide bomber' is named | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4488642.stm | publisher=BBC | access-date=9 April 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715001518/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4488642.stm | archive-date=15 July 2014 | url-status=live }}</ref> ],<ref>{{cite news|last=Rosman|first=Cyril|date=11 December 2018|title=Toestand van slachtoffer 'terreursteker' Amsterdam CS is 'catastrofaal'|language=nl|newspaper=]|url=https://www.ad.nl/binnenland/toestand-van-slachtof-fer-terreur-ste-ker-amsterdam-cs-is-catastrofaal~a2a13314/|access-date=13 November 2019}}</ref><ref name="life imprisonment">{{Cite news|date=20 March 2020|title=Gökmen T. krijgt levenslang voor aanslag in Utrechtse tram|language=nl-NL|work=nu.nl|url=https://www.nu.nl/schietpartij-utrecht/6039024/gokmen-t-krijgt-levenslang-voor-aanslag-in-utrechtse-tram.html|access-date=20 March 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Knivman i Amsterdam ville hämnas skymfandet av islam|url=https://svenska.yle.fi/artikel/2018/09/03/knivman-i-amsterdam-ville-hamnas-skymfandet-av-islam|access-date=19 January 2019|website=svenska.yle.fi|date=3 September 2018 |language=sv-FI}}</ref> ],<ref name="ispi2018">{{Cite book|url=https://www.ispionline.it/sites/default/files/pubblicazioni/mediterraneo_def_web.pdf|title=De-Radicalization in the Mediterranean – Comparing Challenges and Approaches|last=Vidino|display-authors=etal|publisher=ISPI|year=2018|isbn=9788867058198|location=Milano|pages=13–15, 24, 26, 35–36, 42–43, 48, 62–63, 69–70}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2016/07/26/le-terrorisme-islamiste-a-fait-236-morts-en-france-en-18-mois_4975000_4355770.html|title=Le terrorisme islamiste a fait 236 morts en France en 18 mois|date=26 July 2016|work=Le Monde|language=fr|quote=De l'attaque de « Charlie Hebdo » et de l'« Hyper casher » en janvier 2015 à la mort du père Jacques Hamel à Saint-Etienne-de-Rouvray, mardi 26 juillet, ce sont 236 personnes qui ont perdu la vie dans des attentats et attaques terroristes|access-date=27 July 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Terrorisme: deux attentats islamistes déjoués en 2020, 33 depuis 2017|url=https://www.rtl.fr/actu/justice-faits-divers/terrorisme-deux-attentats-islamistes-dejoues-en-2020-33-depuis-2017-7800949425|access-date=10 January 2021|website=RTL.fr|date=3 January 2021 |language=fr-FR}}</ref> and ] have faced multiple attacks,<ref>{{cite web|date=20 July 2020|title=Terroristen "kein Massenphänomen" in der Flüchtlingskrise|url=https://www.merkur.de/politik/terroristen-kein-massenphaenomen-in-fluechtlingskrise-zr-13837730.html|access-date=28 July 2020|website=Merkur.de|language=de}}</ref> with Belgium being a significant base for planning attacks like the ]. Despite proximity to conflict zones, ] has had relatively fewer jihadist incidents.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Marone|first=Francesco|date=13 March 2017|title=The Use of Deportation in Counter-Terrorism: Insights from the Italian Case|website=International Center for Counter-Terrorism|url=https://icct.nl/publication/the-use-of-deportation-in-counter-terrorism-insights-from-the-italian-case/|language=en-US|access-date=21 December 2018|archive-date=21 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181221134649/https://icct.nl/publication/the-use-of-deportation-in-counter-terrorism-insights-from-the-italian-case/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ispionline.it/en/pubblicazione/measure-expulsions-extremism-21804|title=The measure of expulsions for extremism|last=ispisito|date=14 December 2018|website=ISPI|language=en|access-date=21 December 2018}}</ref> The EU report found that most Islamist terror suspects were second or third-generation ],<ref name="Europol-2009a">{{cite web|url=https://www.europol.europa.eu/sites/default/files/publications/tesat2009_1.pdf|title=EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report TE-SAT 2009|year=2009|publisher=]|page=21|access-date=29 July 2015}}</ref> while over 99% of attempted terrorist attacks in Europe in the past three years were committed by non-Muslims.<ref name="Europol-2009a" />{{rp|48}}
==References==
{{reflist|3}}


In ], two men were sentenced in 2012 under anti-terror legislation for plotting against cartoonist Kurt Westergaard.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/terror-prozess-in-oslo-haftstrafen-fuer-geplanten-mord-an-mohammed-zeichner-a-812250.html|title=Terror-Prozess in Oslo: Haftstrafen für geplanten Mord an Mohammed-Zeichner|date=30 January 2012|work=Der Spiegel|access-date=9 September 2018}}</ref> ] has faced politically and religiously motivated attacks,<ref>{{Cite web |date=3 September 2014 |title=Salafist-Takfiri Jihadism: the Ideology of the Caucasus Emirate |url=http://www.ict.org.il/Article/132/Salafist-Takfiri%20Jihadism%20the%20Ideology%20of%20the%20Caucasus%20Emirate |access-date=11 February 2022 |website= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140903083632/http://www.ict.org.il/Article/132/Salafist-Takfiri%20Jihadism%20the%20Ideology%20of%20the%20Caucasus%20Emirate |archive-date=3 September 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref> particularly in Chechnya, including the ]<ref name="Satter">{{cite book |title=It Was a Long Time Ago, and It Never Happened Anyway: Russia and the Communist Past |author-link=David Satter |first=David |last=Satter |publisher=Yale University Press |date=13 December 2011 |page=303 |isbn=978-0300111453 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2365383.stm|title=Gas 'killed Moscow hostages'|date=27 October 2002|via=news.bbc.co.uk|access-date=29 October 2002|archive-date=31 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170731010211/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2365383.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> and ],<ref>''Foreign Affairs'', January/February 2008, p. 74, "The Myth of the Authoritarian Model"</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/40b2b7e8-3e84-11df-a706-00144feabdc0.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/40b2b7e8-3e84-11df-a706-00144feabdc0.html |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-access=subscription|title=Changing face of terror in Russia|work=Financial Times|access-date=7 January 2015}}</ref> linked to groups like the ]. ] has seen jihadist activity since the 1990s, highlighted by the ]<ref name="Great Disaster" /><ref name="Elizabeth Nash">{{cite news|url=http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article1961431.ece|title=Madrid bombers 'were inspired by bin Laden address' |newspaper=] |location=UK|author=Elizabeth Nash|date=7 November 2006|access-date=16 February 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706184144/http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article1961431.ece|archive-date=6 July 2008|quote=While the bombers may have been inspired by bin Laden, a two-year investigation into the attacks has found no evidence that al-Qa'ida helped plan, finance or carry out the bombings, or even knew about them in advance. Ten bombs in backpacks and other small bags, such as gym bags, exploded. One bomb did not explode and was defused. The police did controlled explosions on three other bombs.}}</ref> and the ].<ref name="BBCWhatVictims">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-40973119|title=Spain attack: What do we know about the victims?|date=21 August 2017|work=BBC News|access-date=22 August 2017}}</ref> In ], terrorist incidents have occurred like the ]<ref name="cnn">{{cite news |title=Explosions in Stockholm believed to be failed terrorist attack |first=Per |last=Nyberg |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/12/11/sweden.explosion/index.html?hpt=T1 |newspaper=] |date=12 December 2010 |access-date=12 December 2010}}</ref><ref name="bbc">{{cite news |title=Stockholm blasts kill one and injure two |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11977524 |newspaper=] |date=11 December 2010 |access-date=12 December 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101212044235/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11977524| archive-date=12 December 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=19 April 2011 |title=TE-SAT 2011: EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report (PDF)|url=https://www.europol.europa.eu/activities-services/main-reports/te-sat-2011-eu-terrorism-situation-and-trend-report|access-date=2020-08-15|website=Europol |page=15 |language=en}}</ref> and the ].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.dn.se/nyheter/sverige/punkt-for-punkt-det-har-visar-stamningsansokan-mot-akilov/|title=Punkt för punkt – det här visar stämningsansökan mot Akilov|date=30 January 2018|work=DN.SE|access-date=30 January 2018|language=sv-se}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.dn.se/sthlm/stockholm-terrorist-rakhmat-akilov-sentenced-to-life-in-prison/|title=Stockholm terrorist Rakhmat Akilov sentenced to life in prison|last=Jones|first=Evelyn|date=7 June 2018|work=Dagens Nyheter|access-date=7 June 2018}}</ref>
==External links==
*, UC Berkeley
*
* (URL accessed March 2005)
*
*] ], ]]
{{Islam topics|state=collapsed}}
{{Islamism}}
{{War on Terrorism}}


=== Middle East ===
]


Militant Islamism in ] primarily has ] roots,<ref name="ReferenceA">*German Jihad: On the Internationalisation of Islamist Terrorism by Guido Steinberg. Columbia University Press, 2013</ref> with groups like ]<ref>{{cite web|last=Kohlmann|first=Evan|author-link=Evan Kohlmann |url=http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/kohlmann200311250844.asp|title=Terrorized Turkey: Pointing fingers at al Qaeda|work=National Review |date=25 November 2003|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040217221333/http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/kohlmann200311250844.asp |archive-date=17 February 2004}}</ref> and ]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.egm.gov.tr/temuh/terorgrup1.html|title=Türkiye'de Halen Faaliyetlerine Devam Eden Başlıca Terör Örgütleri|language=tr|trans-title=Current Operations Continuing in Turkey – Major Terrorist Organizations |work=egm.gov.tr|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020827063338/http://www.egm.gov.tr/temuh/terorgrup1.html|archive-date=27 August 2002}}</ref> opposing Turkish secularism. ] has experienced terrorist activity,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Atran|first=Scott|author-link=Scott Atran|url=http://www.sitemaker.umich.edu/satran/files/twq06spring_atran.pdf |title=The Moral Logic and Growth of Suicide Terrorism|journal=The Washington Quarterly |year=2006 |volume=29 |issue=2 |page=131 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150623022648/http://www.sitemaker.umich.edu/satran/files/twq06spring_atran.pdf|archive-date=23 June 2015|doi=10.1162/wash.2006.29.2.127|s2cid=154382700}}</ref> especially during the ].<ref> 6600 out of 14000</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Atran|first=Scott|author-link=Scott Atran|url=http://www.sitemaker.umich.edu/satran/files/twq06spring_atran.pdf |title=The Moral Logic and Growth of Suicide Terrorism|journal=The Washington Quarterly |year=2006 |volume=29 |issue=2 |page=131 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150623022648/http://www.sitemaker.umich.edu/satran/files/twq06spring_atran.pdf|archive-date=23 June 2015|doi=10.1162/wash.2006.29.2.127|s2cid=154382700}}</ref> In ] and ] territories, groups such as ]<ref>''Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam'' by Gilles Kepel, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, (2002), p. 331</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Waked|first=Ali|author2=Roee Nahmias|date=9 February 2006|title=Putin: Hamas not a terror organization|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3213707,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060324183227/http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3213707,00.html|archive-date=24 March 2006|access-date=11 February 2022|work=Ynet|location=Israel}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mideastweb.org/hamas.htm |title=The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) |publisher=Mideastweb.org |access-date=25 April 2010}}</ref> and the ]<ref>p. 122, ''Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam'' by Gilles Kepel</ref> have launched numerous attacks against Israel. Additionally, ]<ref name="Figaro_20070416">''Le Figaro'' (16 April 2007). {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070606101014/http://www.lefigaro.fr/english/20070416.WWW000000477_fatah_al_islam_the_new_terrorist_threat_hanging_over_lebanon.html |date=6 June 2007 }}. Retrieved 20 May 2007.</ref> operates in ] with goals of establishing Islamic law in ].<ref name="Reuters_FactBox">Reuters (20 May 2007). . Retrieved 20 May 2007.</ref><ref name="IHT_20070315">''International Herald Tribune'' (15 March 2007). {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080515071626/http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/03/15/news/lebanon.php|date=15 May 2008}}</ref>
]

]
=== Americas ===
]

]
In ], the government identifies terrorism as a significant threat,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/harper-says-islamicism-biggest-threat-to-canada-1.1048280|title=Harper says 'Islamicism' biggest threat to Canada |date=6 September 2011 |publisher=CBC News – Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.ca |access-date=16 October 2011}}</ref> particularly emphasizing domestic radicalization,<ref>{{cite news |last=Macleod|first=Ian|url=http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=09fe30f3-84ad-458e-b8e7-8add2a9fc8c7|title=CSIS focuses on homegrown terrorism threat|newspaper=Ottawa Citizen|date=14 March 2008|access-date=16 October 2011|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080317192234/http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=09fe30f3-84ad-458e-b8e7-8add2a9fc8c7 |archive-date=17 March 2008}}</ref> as seen in the ] plot involving an ]-inspired cell.<ref>{{cite web |last=Seymour |first=Andrew |url=https://ottawacitizen.com/news/canada-in-afghanistan/RCMP+homegrown+terror+suspects+were+preparing+build+IEDs/3445591/story.html |title=RCMP say homegrown terror suspects were preparing to build IEDs |work=Ottawa Citizen |date=26 August 2010 |access-date=16 October 2011 }}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> In the ], the ] resulted in nearly 3,000 fatalities<ref name="The New York Times">{{Cite news |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |last2=Cooper |first2=Helene |last3=Barnes |first3=Julian |last4=Schmitt |first4=Eric |date=August 1, 2022 |title=U.S. Drone Strike Kills Ayman al-Zawahri, Top Qaeda Leader |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/01/us/politics/al-qaeda-strike-afghanistan.html |url-status=live |access-date=August 1, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220801215209/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/01/us/politics/al-qaeda-strike-afghanistan.html |archive-date=August 1, 2022}}</ref> and initiated the ], with homegrown extremism highlighted as a major concern.<ref name="Hayden">{{cite web|url=https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/167252-former-intel-chief-homegrown-terrorism-is-a-devil-of-a-problem/|title=Former intel chief: Homegrown terrorism is a 'devil of a problem'|last=Yager|first=Jordy|date=25 July 2010|work=The Hill}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Saslow|first=Eli |title=A one-man mission to stop homegrown Somali terrorism in U.S.|url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2015571420_somali11.html|newspaper=The Seattle Times|date=12 July 2011|access-date=12 July 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110922105411/http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2015571420_somali11.html |archive-date=22 September 2011}}</ref> ] and ] have also experienced notable attacks, such as the ]<ref name="Ensor">{{cite news|first1=Josie|last1=Ensor|first2=Jonathan|last2=Pearlman|title=Victims of Sydney siege hailed as heroes after they die protecting hostages|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/11295658/Victims-of-Sydney-siege-hailed-as-heroes-after-they-die-protecting-hostages.html|access-date=17 December 2014|work=The Telegraph (UK)|date=15 December 2014|location=London|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141216234857/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/11295658/Victims-of-Sydney-siege-hailed-as-heroes-after-they-die-protecting-hostages.html|archive-date=16 December 2014|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name=SMHInquest>{{cite news|last=Box|first=Dan|title=Sydney siege inquest: Lindt Cafe deaths investigated|url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/sydney-siege/sydney-siege-inquest-lindt-cafe-deaths-investigated/story-fnqxbywy-1227200443586|date=29 January 2015|work=The Australian|access-date=22 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150525192306/http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/sydney-siege/sydney-siege-inquest-lindt-cafe-deaths-investigated/story-fnqxbywy-1227200443586|archive-date=25 May 2015|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> and the ].<ref name="1News3Sept">{{cite AV media|date=3 September 2021|title=Full video: Jacinda Ardern, Andrew Coster speak after terrorist attack at Auckland mall
]
|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNeGFNmclEc|medium=Television production|work=]|publisher=]|via=Youtube|access-date=4 September 2021}}</ref><ref name="AP1">{{Cite web |last=Perry |first=Nick |date=3 September 2021 |title=New Zealand police were following extremist who stabbed 6 |url=https://apnews.com/article/police-new-zealand-islamic-state-group-2bbbbc9f3e4249fba2c519dda5e8f05f |access-date=4 September 2021 |website=Associated Press |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=3 September 2021|title=New Zealand PM Ardern says supermarket stabbing was 'terrorist attack'|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58405213|access-date=3 September 2021}}</ref> In ], the ]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/tehran/interviews/baer.html|title=Interviews – Robert Baer – Terror And Tehran|publisher=PBS Frontline|access-date=7 January 2015|date=2 May 2002}}</ref> and the ]<ref name="BBC Iran">{{cite news|title=Iran, Hezbollah charged in 1994 Argentine bombing|newspaper=]|date=25 October 2006|url=http://www.thenews.com.pk/update_detail.asp?id=11864 |access-date=25 October 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070901221807/http://www.thenews.com.pk/update_detail.asp?id=11864 |archive-date=1 September 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Iran charged over Argentina bomb|newspaper=BBC News|date=25 October 2006|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6085768.stm|access-date=25 October 2006|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20061107173306/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6085768.stm|archive-date=7 November 2006|url-status=live}}</ref> were linked to terrorist groups and Iran,<ref name="La Nación October 2006">, '']'', 26 October 2006</ref> resulting in significant casualties and political repercussions.
]

]
=== Transnational ===
]
{{Main|Al-Qaeda}}
]

]
]'s stated aim is the use of jihad to defend and protect Islam against ], ], the secular West, and Muslim governments such as Saudi Arabia, which it sees as insufficiently Islamic and too closely tied to the United States.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/79C6AF22-98FB-4A1C-B21F-2BC36E87F61F.htm |title=Full transcript of bin Ladin's speech |publisher=Al Jazeera |date=1 November 2004|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061114224216/http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/79C6AF22-98FB-4A1C-B21F-2BC36E87F61F.htm|archive-date=14 November 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Michael|first=Maggie|url=http://legacy.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/nation/terror/20041029-1423-binladentape.html|title=Bin Laden, in statement to U.S. people, says he ordered Sept. 11 attacks|work=The San Diego Union-Tribune|agency=Associated Press|date=29 October 2004|access-date=4 August 2016|archive-date=3 September 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120903021049/http://legacy.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/terror/20041029-1423-binladentape.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3966817.stm |title=Excerpts: Bin Laden video|work=BBC News|date=29 October 2004|access-date=4 August 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Langhorne |first=R. |year=2006 |title=The Essentials of – Global Politics |publisher=Hodder Arnold}}</ref>
]

]
== Organizations ==
]
<!-- Please respect alphabetical order -->
]
{{div col|colwidth=25em}}
]
* ], Philippines
]
* ], ] and ]
]
* ], Egypt
* ], Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, UK
* ], worldwide
* ], Somalia
* ], Iraq
* ], Libya
* ] (GIA), Algeria
* ], Nigeria
* ] (IK), Russia
* ] (ETIM), China
* ], Egypt
* ] (İBDA-C), Turkey
* ], Gaza Strip and West Bank
* ], ]
* ] al-Alami, Pakistan
* ], Lebanon
* ], Yemen
* ], India
* ], ]
* ], ]
* ], worldwide
* ], Pakistan and ]
* ], Iraq
* ], Indonesia
* ], Pakistan
* ], Iraq
* ], Pakistan and Kashmir
* ], Pakistan
* ], Philippines
* ], Philippines
* ], Morocco and Europe
* ], Sri Lanka
* ], Gaza Strip and West Bank
* ], India
* ], Iraq
* ], Pakistan and Afghanistan
{{div col end}}

== See also ==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Portal|Islam}}
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]

== References ==
=== Notes ===
{{reflist|group=Note}}

=== Citations ===
{{Reflist|30em}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{cite book|last1=Kepel|first1=Gilles|title=Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam|url=https://archive.org/details/jihad00gill_0 |url-access=registration|date=2002|publisher=Harvard University Press.|ref=GKJTPI2002|isbn=978-0-674-01090-1}}
* {{cite book|last1=Bin Laden|first1=Osama |author-link1=Osama bin Laden|last2=Lawrence|first2=Bruce|author-link2=Bruce Lawrence|title=Messages to the world: the statements of Osama Bin Laden|isbn=978-1-84467-045-1|year=2005|publisher=Verso|url=https://archive.org/details/messagestoworlds00binl|url-access=registration}}
* {{cite book | title=Challenges of the muslim world: present, future and past |author1=Cooper, William Wager |author2=Yue, Piyu | publisher=Emerald Group Publishing | year=2008 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3qwuhK3BBH8C|isbn=978-0-444-53243-5 }}
* {{cite book | title=Devil's Game: How the United States Helped Unleash Fundamentalist Islam | author=Dreyfuss, Robert | publisher=Macmillan | year=2006 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hdfLNSnUx-AC| isbn=978-0-8050-8137-4 }}
* {{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/understandingter00sage |url-access=registration | title=Understanding terror networks |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press | isbn=978-0-8122-3808-2| author1=Sageman, Marc |year=2004}}
* {{cite book | last1 = Scheuer| first1 = Michael| last2= Anonymous | title = Imperial Hubris: Why the West Is Losing the War on Terror| publisher=Potomac Books (formerly Brassey's, Inc.)| year = 2004| location = Dulles, Virginia| url =https://archive.org/details/imperialhubriswh00anon| url-access = registration| isbn = 978-0-9655139-4-4}}

== Further reading ==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book| ref=none |last1=Ishaq |first1=Ibn |last2=Guillaume |first2=A. |author-link1=Ibn Ishaq |author-link2=A. Guillaume |date=18 July 2002 |title=The Life of Muhammad |url=https://archive.org/details/GuillaumeATheLifeOfMuhammad |language=en |location=United States |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-19-636033-1 |oclc=911693736 |pages=860}}
* {{Cite book| ref=none |title = Holy Terror: Inside the World of Islamic Terrorism|last = Amir|first = Taheri|publisher = Adler & Adler|year = 1987|isbn = 978-0-917561-45-0|title-link = Amir Taheri}}
* {{Cite book| ref=none |title = Talking to the Enemy|last = Atran|first = Scott|publisher = Ecco Press / HarperCollins, US; Allen Lane/Penguin, UK|year = 2010|isbn = 978-0-06-134490-9}}
* {{Cite book| ref=none |title = The Legacy of Jihad|last = Bostom|first = Andrew|publisher = Prometheus Books|year = 2005|isbn = 978-1-59102-307-4|title-link = The Legacy of Jihad|oclc=900607541}}
* {{Cite book| ref=none |title = The Rise of the Islamic Empire and the Threat to the West|last = Dennis|first =Anthony J. |publisher = Wyndham Hall Press, Ohio|year = 1996|isbn = 978-1-55605-268-2}}
* {{Cite book| ref=none |title = Osama Bin Laden: A Psychological and Political Portrait|last = Dennis|first =Anthony J. |publisher = Wyndham Hall Press, Ohio|year = 2002|isbn = 978-1-55605-341-2}}
* {{Cite book| ref=none |title = The Third Choice: Islam, Dhimmitude and Freedom|last = Durie |first=Mark |publisher = Deror Books|year = 2010|isbn = 978-0-9807223-0-7|title-link = The Third Choice: Islam, Dhimmitude and Freedom|oclc=695930410}}
* {{Cite book| ref=none |title=The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality? |last=Esposito |first=John L. |publisher=Oxford University Press, US |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-19-510298-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/islamicthreatmyt00espo_0 }}
* {{Cite book| ref=none |title = Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam|last = Esposito|first = John L.|publisher = Oxford University Press, US|year = 2003|isbn = 978-0-19-516886-0}}
* {{Cite book| ref=none |title=Islamic Terror: Conscious and Unconscious Motives|date=2008|publisher=Praeger Security International|isbn=978-0-313-35764-0|location=Westport, Connecticut|last1=Falk|first1=Avner}}
* {{Cite book| ref=none |title = Jihad in the West: Muslim Conquests from the 7th to the 21st Centuries|last = Fregosi|first = Paul|publisher = Prometheus Books|year = 1998|isbn = 978-1-57392-247-0|url = https://archive.org/details/jihadinwestmusli00freg|oclc=248903444}}
* ]. (2006). ''Because They Hate: A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America.'' St. Martin's Press. {{ISBN|0312358377}}
* {{Cite book| ref=none |title = Islam and the Myth of Confrontation: Religion and Politics of the Middle East|last = Halliday|first = Fred|publisher = I.B. Tauris, New York|year = 2003|isbn = 978-1-86064-868-7}}
* {{Cite book| ref=none |title = Infidel|last = Hirsi Ali|first = Ayaan|publisher = Free Press|year = 2007|isbn = 978-0-7432-9503-1|author-link = Ayaan Hirsi Ali|title-link = Infidel (book)}}
* {{Cite book| ref=none |title = The Al Qaeda Reader|last = Ibrahim|first = Raymond|publisher = Broadway, US|year = 2007|isbn = 978-0-7679-2262-3|author-link=Raymond Ibrahim|oclc= 150386218}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Besenyo |first1=Janos |title=ATACURI PUŢIN COSTISITOARE, COMPLOTURI IMPERCEPTIBILE? PREZENTARE GENERALĂ PRIVIND CARACTERUL ECONOMIC AL TERORISMULUI ACTUAL |journal=Impact Strategic|trans-title=Low Cost Attacks, Imperceptible Plots? General Presentation on the Economic Character of Current Terrorism |date=2017 |volume=62 |issue=1 |pages=84–101 |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=649568 |language=Romanian |issn=1582-6511}}.
* ]. '']''.
* ]. '']''.
* {{Cite book| ref=none |title = Understanding Islam through Hadis|last = Swarup|first = Ram|publisher = Arvind Ghosh|year = 1982|isbn = 978-0-682-49948-4}}
* {{Cite book| ref=none |title=Fatwa on Terrorism and Suicide Bombings|date=2011|publisher=]|isbn=978-0-9551888-9-3|first1=Muhammad|last1=Tahir-ul-Qadri|author-link=Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri|title-link=Fatwa on Terrorism}}
* {{Cite book| ref=none |title = Why I Am Not a Muslim|last = ]|publisher = Prometheus Books|year = 1995|isbn = 978-0-87975-984-1|title-link = Why I Am Not a Muslim}}
* {{Cite book| ref=none |title = The Islam in Islamic Terrorism: The Importance of Beliefs, Ideas, and Ideology|last = ]|publisher = New English Review|year = 2017|isbn = 978-1-943003-08-2|oclc=990505503}}
* {{Cite book| ref=none |title = ] |last = Ye'or|first = Bat|publisher = ]|year = 1996|isbn = 978-0-8386-3678-7|oclc=876802597}}
{{refend}}

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Latest revision as of 05:54, 20 December 2024

Terrorist acts by groups of individuals who profess Islamic motivations or goals

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Islamic terrorism (also known as Islamist terrorism or radical Islamic terrorism or Jihadi terrorism) refers to terrorist acts carried out by fundamentalist militant Islamists and Islamic extremists.

Since at least the 1990s, Islamist terrorist incidents have occurred around the world and targeted both Muslims and non-Muslims. Most attacks have been concentrated in Muslim-majority countries, with studies finding 80-90% of terrorist victims to be Muslim. The annual number of fatalities from terrorist attacks grew sharply from 2011 to 2014 when it reached a peak of 33,438, before declining to 13,826 in 2019. As of 2015, four Islamic extremist groupsIslamic State, Boko Haram, the Taliban, and al-Qaeda – were responsible for 74% of all deaths from terrorism. In some of the worst-affected Muslim-majority regions, these terrorists have been met by armed, independent resistance groups. Islamist terrorism has also been roundly condemned by prominent Islamic figures and groups.

Justifications given for attacks on civilians by Islamic extremist groups come from their interpretations of the Quran, the hadith, and sharia law. These include retribution by armed jihad for the perceived injustices of unbelievers against Muslims; the belief that many self-proclaimed Muslims have violated Islamic law and are disbelievers (takfir); the perceived necessity of restoring Islam by establishing sharia law, including by reestablishing the Caliphate as a pan-Islamic state (e.g. ISIS); the glory and heavenly rewards of martyrdom; and the belief in the supremacy of Islam over all other religions.

The use of the phrase "Islamic terrorism" is disputed. In Western political speech, it has variously been called "counter-productive", "highly politicized, intellectually contestable" and "damaging to community relations", by those who disapprove of the characterization 'Islamic'. It has been argued that "Islamic terrorism" is a misnomer for what should be called "Islamist terrorism".

Terminology

George W. Bush and Tony Blair (US president and UK Prime Minister respectively at the time of the September 11 attacks) repeatedly stated that the war against terrorism has nothing to do with Islam. Others inside and out of the Islamic world who oppose its use on the grounds there is no connection between Islam and terrorism include Imran Khan, the prime minister of Pakistan, and academic Bruce Lawrence. Former US president Barack Obama explained why he used the term "terrorism" rather than "Islamic terrorism" in a 2016 townhall meeting saying, "There is no doubt, ... terrorist organizations like Al-Qaeda or ISIL – They have perverted and distorted and tried to claim the mantle of Islam for an excuse for basically barbarism and death ... But what I have been careful about when I describe these issues is to make sure that we do not lump these murderers into the billion Muslims that exist around the world ..."

It has been argued that "Islamic terrorism" is a misnomer for what should be called "Islamist terrorism".

In January 2008, the US Department of Homeland Security Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties issued a report titled "Terminology to Define the Terrorists: Recommendations from American Muslims", which opened with

Words matter. The terminology that senior government officials use must accurately identify the nature of the challenges that face our generation. At the same time, the terminology should also be strategic – it should avoid helping the terrorists by inflating the religious bases and glamorous appeal of their ideology.

The office "consulted with some of the leading U.S.-based scholars and commentators on Islam to discuss the best terminology to use when describing the terrorist threat." Among the experts they consulted,

here was a consensus that the should avoid unintentionally portraying terrorists, who lack moral and religious legitimacy, as brave fighters, legitimate soldiers, or spokesmen for ordinary Muslims. Therefore, the experts counseled caution in using terms such as, "jihadist," "Islamic terrorist," "Islamist," and "holy warrior" as grandiose descriptions.

History

Pre-20th century

Whether Islamic terrorism is a recent phenomenon is disputed. Some maintain that there was no terrorism in Islam prior to late 20th and early 21st century, while others, such as Ibn Warraq, claim that from the beginning of Islam, "violent movements have arisen" such as the Kharijites, Sahl ibn Salama, Barbahari, Kadizadeli movement, Ibn Abd al-Wahhab, etc., "seeking to revive true Islam, which its members felt had been neglected in Muslim societies, who were not living up to the ideals of the earliest Muslims". The 7th century Kharijites, according to some, started from an essentially political position but developed extreme doctrines that set them apart from both mainstream Sunni and Shi'a Muslims. The group was particularly noted for adopting a radical approach to takfir, whereby they declared Muslim opponents to be unbelievers and therefore worthy of death, and also by their strong resemblance to contemporary ISIL.

1960s–1970s

During the era of the anti-colonial struggle in North Africa and the Middle East, coinciding with the creation of Israel in 1948, a series of Marxist-Leninist and anti-imperialist movements swept throughout the Arab and Islamic world. These movements were nationalist and revolutionary, but not Islamic. However, their view that terrorism could be effective in reaching their political goals generated the first phase of modern international terrorism. In the late 1960s, Palestinian secular movements such as Al Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) began to target civilians outside the immediate arena of conflict. Following Israel's victory over Arab forces in 1967, Palestinian leaders began to realize that the Arab world was unable to defeat Israel in the battlefield. At the same time, lessons drawn from the Jewish struggle against the British in Palestine and revolutionary movements across Latin America, North Africa and Southeast Asia, motivated the Palestinians to turn away from guerrilla warfare towards urban terrorism. These movements were secular in nature, though their international reach served to spread terrorist tactics worldwide. Moreover, the Arab Cold War between mostly US-aligned conservative Islamic monarchies (Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Jordan) and Soviet-aligned secular national-revolutionary governments (Egypt, Syria, Algeria, Libya, Iraq) inspired a growth of religiously motivated Islamic movements in the Middle East, supported by Saudi Arabia, which came into conflict with the predominant secular (Nasserist and Ba'athist) nationalist ideologies at the time.

The book The Revolt by Menachem Begin, leader of the Irgun militia and future Israeli Prime Minister, influenced both Carlos Marighella's urban guerrilla theory and Osama bin Laden's Islamist al-Qaeda organization. Israeli journalist Ronen Bergman in the book Rise and Kill First asserted that Hezbollah's 1983 campaign of coordinated terrorist attacks against American, French and Israeli military installations in Beirut drew inspiration from and directly mirrored the Haganah's and Irgun's 1946 bombing campaign against the British: both succeeded in creating an atmosphere of widespread fear which eventually forced the enemy to withdraw. Bergman further asserts that the influence of Israeli-sponsored terrorist operations on the emerging Islamists was also of operational nature: the Israeli proxy Front for the Liberation of Lebanon from Foreigners had carried out multiple deadly truck bombings in Lebanon long before the emergence of Hezbollah. An Israeli Mossad agent told Bergman: "I saw from a distance one of the cars blowing up and demolishing an entire street. We were teaching the Lebanese how effective a car bomb could be. Everything that we saw later with Hezbollah sprang from what they saw had happened after these operations."

The year 1979 is widely considered a turning point in the rise of religiously motivated radicalism in the Muslim world. Several events are thought to be crucial for the proliferation of Islamist terrorism in the next decade, such as the Soviet-Afghan War and unprecedented support from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the US for anti-Soviet jihadists; the Iranian Revolution and subsequent Iran-Iraq War as well as Khomeini's active support for Shia groups fighting the Israeli occupation of Lebanon; the Grand Mosque seizure in Mecca and subsequent Wahhabization of the Saudi government; and the Egypt–Israel peace treaty that was highly unpopular in some sections of the Muslim world.

According to Bruce Hoffman of the RAND Corporation, in 1980, 2 out of 64 terrorist groups were categorized as having religious motivation while in 1995, almost half (26 out of 56) were religiously motivated with the majority having Islam as their guiding force.

1980s–1990s

The Soviet–Afghan War and the subsequent anti-Soviet mujahedin war, lasting from 1979 to 1989, started the rise and expansion of terrorist groups. Since their beginning in 1994, the Pakistani-supported Taliban militia in Afghanistan has gained several characteristics traditionally associated with state-sponsors of terrorism, providing logistical support, travel documentation, and training facilities. Since 1989 the increasing willingness of religious extremists to strike targets outside immediate country or regional areas highlights the global nature of contemporary terrorism. The 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, and the 11 September 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, are representative of this trend.

2000s–2010s

According to research by the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, between 11 September 2001 and 21 April 2019, there were 31,221 Islamist terrorism attacks, in which at least 146,811 people were killed. Many of the victims were Muslims, including most of the victims who were killed in attacks involving 12 or more deaths.

2010s

According to the Global Terrorism Index, deaths from terrorism peaked in 2014 and have fallen each year since then until 2019 (the last year the study had numbers for), making a decline of more than half (59% or 13,826 deaths) from their peak. The five countries "hardest hit" by terrorism continue to be Muslims countries—Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Syria and Somalia.

Attacker profiles and motivations

See also: Motives for the September 11 attacks

The motivation of Islamic terrorists has been disputed. Some (such as Maajid Nawaz, Graeme Wood, and Ibn Warraq) attribute it to extremist interpretations of Islam; others (Mehdi Hasan) to some combination of political grievance and social-psychological maladjustment; and still others (such as James L. Payne and Michael Scheuer) to a struggle against "U.S./Western/Jewish aggression, oppression, and exploitation of Muslim lands and peoples".

Religious motivation

Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon, in their book, The Age of Sacred Terror, argue that Islamic terrorist attacks are motivated by religious fervor. They are seen as "a sacrament ... intended to restore to the universe a moral order that had been corrupted by the enemies of Islam." Their attacks are neither political nor strategic but an "act of redemption" meant to "humiliate and slaughter those who defied the hegemony of God".

According to Indonesian Islamic leader Yahya Cholil Staquf in a 2017 Time interview, within the classical Islamic tradition the relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims is assumed to be one of segregation and enmity. In his view extremism and terrorism are linked with "the basic assumptions of Islamic orthodoxy" and that radical Islamic movements are nothing new. He also added that Western politicians should stop pretending that extremism is not linked to Islam.

According to journalist Graeme Wood "much of what" one major Islamic terror group -- ISIS -- "does looks nonsensical except in light of a sincere, carefully considered commitment to returning civilization to a seventh-century legal environment" of Muhammad and his companions, "and ultimately to bringing about the apocalypse" and Judgement day. ISIS group members insist "they will not—cannot—waver from governing precepts that were embedded in Islam by the Prophet Muhammad and his earliest followers".

Shmuel Bar argues that while the importance of political and socioeconomic factors in Islamist terrorism is not in doubt, "In order to comprehend the motivation for these acts and to draw up an effective strategy for a war against terrorism, it is necessary to understand the religious-ideological factors — which are deeply embedded in Islam."

Examining Europe, two studies of the background of Muslim terrorists—one of the UK and one of France—found little connection between terrorist acts performed in the name of Islam and the religious piety of the operatives. A "restricted" 2008 UK report of hundreds of case studies by the domestic counter-intelligence agency MI5 found that there was no "typical profile" of a terrorist, and that

ar from being religious zealots, a large number of those involved in terrorism do not practise their faith regularly. Many lack religious literacy and could actually be regarded as religious novices. Very few have been brought up in strongly religious households, and there is a higher than average proportion of converts. Some are involved in drug-taking, drinking alcohol and visiting prostitutes. MI5 says there is evidence that a well-established religious identity actually protects against violent radicalisation.

However, while the motivation of the individuals directly involved in carrying out the terror attacks are not necessarily religious and may stem from other reasons, religiously motivated organizations and governments are very often behind such attacks. Fundamentalist organizations and governments often encourage, fund, assist, incentivize or reward the actions of individuals they recognize as susceptible to be coerced into committing terror attacks, thus using people who are not always religiously motivated themselves to achieve religious ends. Hamas, for example, is known for paying the families of imprisoned terrorists and of suicide bombers. The Islamic Republic of Iran intends billions of US dollars annually for militia fighters and terrorists, exploiting the extreme economic difficulties faced by people in countries such as Yemen, Lebanon and Syria by offering them cash in exchange for terror activity.

A 2015 "general portrait" of "the conditions and circumstances" under which people living in France become "Islamic radicals" (terrorists or would-be terrorists) by Olivier Roy (see above) found radicalisation was not an "uprising of a Muslim community that is victim to poverty and racism: only young people join, including converts".

Roy believes terrorism/radicalism is "expressed in religious terms" because

  1. most of the radicals have a Muslim background, which makes them open to a process of re-Islamisation ("almost none of them having been pious before entering the process of radicalisation"), and
  2. jihad is "the only cause on the global market". If you kill in silence, it will be reported by the local newspaper; "if you kill yelling 'Allahu Akbar', you are sure to make the national headlines". Other extreme causes—ultra-left or radical ecology are "too bourgeois and intellectual" for the radicals.

Somewhat in contradiction to this, a study surveying Muslims in Europe to examine how much Islamist ideology increases support for terrorism, found that "in Western countries affected by homegrown terrorism ... justifying terrorism is strongly associated with an increase in religious practice". (This is not the case in European "countries where Muslims are predominant"—Bosnia, Albania, etc. -- where the opposite seems to be true, i.e. the more importance respondents assigned to religion in their life, the less likely they were to "justifying political violence".)

Denominations/Ideologies

Most strains of thought/schools/sects/movements/denominations/traditions of Islam do not support or otherwise associate themselves with terrorism. According to Mir Faizal, only three sects or movements of Islam—the Sunni sects of Salafi, Deobandi, and Barelvi.—have been associated with violence against civilians. Of the three, only Salafi Islam—specifically Salafi jihadism Islam—can be called involved in global terrorism, as it is connected with Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Boko Haram and other groups. (Terrorism among some members of the Barelvi sect is limited to attacks on alleged blasphemers in Pakistan, and the terrorism among Deobandi groups has "almost no" influence beyond Afghanistan, Pakistan and Indian.) Another sect/movement known as Wahhabism (intertwined with non-jihadist Salafism) has been accused of being the ideology behind Islamic terrorist groups, but Al Qaeda and other terrorists are more commonly described as following a fusion of Qutbism and Wahhabism.

Outside of these sects or religious movements, the religious ideology of Qutbism has influenced Islamic terrorism, along with religious themes and trends including Takfir, suicide attacks, and the belief that Jews and Christians are not People of the Book but infidels/kafir waging "war on Islam". (These ideas are often related and overlapping.)

Qutbism

Qutbism is named after Egyptian Islamist theoretician Sayyid Qutb, who wrote a manifesto (known as Milestones), while in prison. Qutb is said to have laid out the ideological foundation of Salafi jihadism (according to Bruce Livesey); his ideas are said to have formed "the modern Islamist movement" (according to Gilles Kepel); which along with other "violent Islamic thought", became the ideology known as "Qutbism that is the "center of gravity" of al-Qaeda and related groups (according to U.S. Army Colonel Dale C. Eikmeier). Qutb is thought to be a major influence on Al-Qaeda #2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

In his manifesto (called "one of the most influential works in Arabic of the last half century"), Qutb preached:

  • the absolute necessity of enforcement of sharia law ("even more necessary than the establishment of the Islamic belief", without which Islam does not exist);
  • the need for violent jihad as well as preaching to bring back sharia law and spread Islam, (a vanguard "movement" will use "physical power and Jihad", to remove "material obstacles");
  • that offensive jihad—attacking non-Muslim territory—ought not neglected by true Muslims in favor of defensive jihad, (this "diminish the greatness of the Islamic way of life", and is the work of those who have been "defeated by the attacks of the treacherous Orientalists!" Muslims should not let lack of non-Muslim aggression stop them from waging Jihad to spread sharia law because "truth and falsehood cannot coexist on earth" in peace.
  • a loathing of "the West" (a "rubbish heap ... filth ... hollow and worthless");
  • ... which is deliberately undermining Islam (pursuing a "well-thought-out scheme" to "demolish the structure of Muslim society");
  • ... despite the fact it "knows" it is inferior to Islam (It "knows that it does not possess anything which will satisfy its own conscience and justify its existence", so that when confronted with the "logic, beauty, humanity and happiness" of Islam, "the American people blush");
  • and a loathing and hatred of Jews ("world Jewry, whose purpose is to eliminate ... the limitations imposed by faith and religion, so that Jews may penetrate into body politics of the whole world and then may be free to perpetuate their evil designs usury, the aim of which is that all the wealth of mankind end up in the hands of Jewish financial institutions ...").

Eikmeier summarizes the tenets of Qutbism as being:

  • A belief that Muslims have deviated from true Islam and must return to "pure Islam" as originally practiced during the time of Muhammad.
  • The path to that "pure Islam" is only through a literal and strict interpretation of the Quran and Hadith, along with implementation of Muhammad's commands.
  • Muslims should interpret the original sources individually without being bound to follow the interpretations of Islamic scholars.
  • Any interpretation of the Quran from a historical, contextual perspective is a corruption, and that the majority of Islamic history and the classical jurisprudential tradition is mere sophistry.

While Sayyid Qutb preached that all of the Muslim world had become apostate or jahiliyah, he did not specifically takfir or call for the execution of any apostates, even those governing non-sharia governments Qutb did however emphasize that "the organizations and authorities" of the putatively Muslim countries were irredeemably corrupt and evil and would have to be abolished by "physical power and Jihad", by a "vanguard" movement of true Muslims.

One who did argue this was Muhammad abd-al-Salam Faraj, the main theoretician of the Islamist group that assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. who in his book Al-Farida al-gha'iba (The Neglected Duty), cited a fatwa issued in 1303 CE by the celebrated strict medieval jurist Ibn Taymiyyah. He had ruled that fighting and killing of the Mongol invaders who were invading Syria was not only permitted but obligatory according to Sharia. This was because the Mongols did not follow sharia law, and so even though they had converted to Islam (Ibn Taymiyyah argued) they were not really Muslims. Faraj preached that rulers such as Anwar Sadat were "rebels against the Laws of God ", and "apostates from Islam" who have preserved nothing of Islam except its name.

Wahabism/Salafism

Another Islamic movement accused of being involved in terrorism is known as Wahabism.

Sponsored by oil exporting power Saudi Arabia, Wahabism is deeply conservative and anti-revolutionary (its founder taught that Muslims are obliged to give unquestioned allegiance to their ruler, however imperfect, so long as he leads the community according to the laws of God), Nonetheless, this ideology and its sponsors have been accused of assisting terrorism both

Up until at least 2017 or so (when Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman declared Saudi Arabia was returning to "moderate Islam"), Saudi Arabia spent many billions, not only through the Saudi government but through Islamic organizations, religious charities, and private sources, on dawah wahhabiya, i.e. spreading the Wahhabi interpretation of Islam, This funding incentivized Muslim "schools, book publishers, magazines, newspapers, or even governments" around the world to "shape their behavior, speech, and thought in such a way as to incur and benefit from Saudi largesse," and so propagate Wahhabi doctrines;

The hundreds of Islamic colleges and Islamic centers, over a thousand mosques and schools for Muslim children, it financed often featured Wahhabi-friendly curriculum and religious materials such as textbooks explaining that all forms of Islam except Wahhabism were deviation, or the twelfth grade Saudi text that "instructs students that it is a religious obligation to do 'battle' against infidels in order to spread the faith".

Wahhabi-friendly works distributed for free "financed by petroleum royalties" included those of Ibn Taymiyyah (author of the fatwa mentioned above against rulers who do not rule by sharia law).

Not least, the successful 1980–1990 jihad against Soviet occupation of Afghanistan—that inspired non-Afghan jihad veterans to continue jihad in their own country or other—benefited from billions of dollars in Saudi financing, as well as "weaponry and intelligence".

Religious interpretations

The "root cause" of Muslim terrorism is extremist ideology, according to Pakistani theologian Javed Ahmad Ghamidi, specifically the teachings that:

  • "Only Muslims have the right to rule, non-Muslims are meant to be subjugated";
  • "Modern nation states are unIslamic and constitute kufr (disbelief)";
  • the only truly Islamic form of state is a unified Muslim Caliphate;
  • "when Muslims obtain power they will overthrow non-Muslim governments and rule";
  • "The punishment of kufr (disbelief) and irtidad (apostasy) is death and must be implemented".

Other authors have noted other elements of extremist Islamic ideology.

Martyrdom/Istishhad
Main article: Istishhad

Terror attacks requiring the death of the attacker are generally referred to as suicide attacks/bombings by the media, but when done by Islamists their perpetrators generally call such an attack Istishhad (or in English "martyrdom operation"), and the suicide attacker shahid (pl. shuhada, literally 'witness' and usually translated as 'martyr'). The idea being that the attacker died in order to testify his faith in God, for example while waging jihad bis saif (jihad by the sword). The term "suicide" is never used because Islam has strong strictures against taking one's own life.

According to author Sadakat Kadri, "the very idea that Muslims might blow themselves up for God was unheard of before 1983, and it was not until the early 1990s that anyone anywhere had tried to justify killing innocent Muslims who were not on a battlefield." After 1983 the process was limited among Muslims to Hezbollah and other Lebanese Shi'a factions for more than a decade.

Since then, the "vocabulary of martyrdom and sacrifice", videotaped pre-confession of faith by attackers have become part of "Islamic cultural consciousness", "instantly recognizable" to Muslims (according to Noah Feldman), while the tactic has spread through the Muslim world "with astonishing speed and on a surprising course".

First the targets were American soldiers, then mostly Israelis, including women and children. From Lebanon and Israel, the technique of suicide bombing moved to Iraq, where the targets have included mosques and shrines, and the intended victims have mostly been Shiite Iraqis. ... Afghanistan, ... both the perpetrators and the targets are orthodox Sunni Muslims. Not long ago, a bombing in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand Province, killed Muslims, including women, who were applying to go on pilgrimage to Mecca. Overall, the trend is definitively in the direction of Muslim-on-Muslim violence. By a conservative accounting, more than three times as many Iraqis have been killed by suicide bombings in just three year (2003–6) as have Israelis in ten (from 1996–2006). Suicide bombing has become the archetype of Muslim violence – not just to Westerners but also to Muslims themselves.

Jihadist comparisons of life and death

Below are jihadist statements comparing life and death:

  • "We love death like our enemies love life" (Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Al-Aqsa TV in 2014)
  • "The Americans love Pepsi-Cola, we love death." (Afghan jihadist Maulana Inyadullah addressing a British reporter in 2001)
  • "The world is but a passage ... what is called life in this world is not life but death" (Ayatollah Khomeini in 1977, commemorating his son's death)
  • "...The sons of the land of the two holiest sites ... I say this to you, These youths love death as you love life" (Osama bin Laden addressing U.S. Secretary of Defense William Perry in 1996 fatwa)
Justification for killing noncombatants

Al-Qaeda justification for the killing of civilian bystanders following its first attack (see above) based on a Ibn Taymiyyah's fatwa was described by author Lawrence Wright,

Ibn Taymiyyah had issued a historic fatwa: Anyone who aided the Mongols, who bought goods from them or sold to them or was merely standing near them, might be killed as well. If he is a good Muslim, he will go to Paradise; if he is bad, he will go to hell, and good riddance. Thus the dead tourist and the hotel worker would find their proper reward.

An influential tract Management of Savagery (Idarat at-Tawahhush), explains away mass killing in part by the fact that even "if the whole umma perishes they would all be martyrs". Similarly, author Ali A. Rizvi has described the chat room reaction of a Taliban supporter to his (Rizvi's) condemnation of the 2014 Peshawar school massacre—that the 132 school children the Taliban slaughtered were "not dead" because they had been killed "in the way of God ... Don't call them dead. They are alive, but we don't perceive it" (citing, Quran 3:169 Never think of those martyred in the cause of Allah as dead. In fact, they are alive with their Lord, well provided for—), and maintaining that those whose Islamic faith is "pure" would not be upset with the Taliban's murder of children either.

"War against Islam"

A tenant of Qutbism and other militant Islamists is that Western policies and society are not just un-Islamic or exploitive, but actively anti-Islamic, or as it is sometimes described, waging a "war against Islam". Islamists (such as Qutb) often 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.

In 2006, Britain's then head of MI5 Eliza Manningham-Buller said of Al-Qaeda that it "has developed an ideology which claims that Islam is under attack, and needs to be defended". "This," she said "is a powerful narrative that weaves together conflicts from across the globe, presenting the West's response to varied and complex issues, from long-standing disputes such as Israel/Palestine and Kashmir to more recent events as evidence of an across-the-board determination to undermine and humiliate Islam worldwide." She said that the video wills of British suicide bombers made it clear that they were motivated by perceived worldwide and long-standing injustices against Muslims; an extreme and minority interpretation of Islam promoted by some preachers and people of influence; their interpretation as anti-Muslim of UK foreign policy, in particular the UK's involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan."

In his call for jihad, Osama bin Laden almost invariably described his enemies as aggressive and his action against them as defensive.

Enmity towards non-Muslims, Western society and LGBT+

The enmity towards non-Muslims among Islamist militants, leaders and scholars is driven by theological beliefs that deem Christians and Jews as "infidels". This hostility is further extended to Western society due to its secular values and practices, which are viewed as contrary to Islamic principles. These include issues such as the proliferation of pornography, perceived immorality, and the acceptance of homosexuality and feminism.

An example of this ideological stance in practice was provided by Karam Kuhdi, an Islamist arrested in Egypt in 1981 for his involvement in a series of robberies and murders targeting Christian goldsmiths. In this period, tourists, often non-Muslim, were also frequently targeted by Islamic terrorists in Egypt. During police interrogation, Kuhdi surprised authorities with his unconventional beliefs. He rejected the traditional Islamic doctrine that Christians were "People of the Book" entitled to protection as dhimmis, instead considering them infidels subject to violent jihad. Kuhdi supported his stance by citing Quranic verses such as 'Those who say that God is Jesus, son of Mary, are infidels' and 'combat those of the people of the book who are infidels', explaining the Islamists view that the infidels are "the People of the Book, since they have not believed in this book".

According to a doctrine known as al-wala' wa al-bara' (literally, "loyalty and disassociation"), Wahhabi founder Abd al-Wahhab argued that it was "imperative for Muslims not to befriend, ally themselves with, or imitate non-Muslims or heretical Muslims", and that this "enmity and hostility of Muslims toward non-Muslims and heretical had to be visible and unequivocal".

Although bin Laden almost always emphasized the alleged oppression of Muslims by America and Jews when talking about the need for jihad in his messages, in his "Letter to America", he answered the question, "What are we calling you to, and what do we want from you?" with:

We call you to be a people of manners, principles, honour, and purity; to reject the immoral acts of fornication, homosexuality, intoxicants, gambling's, and trading with interest (...) You separate religion from your policies, (...) You are the nation that permits Usury, which has been forbidden by all the religions (...) You are a nation that permits the production, trading and usage of intoxicants (...) You are a nation that permits acts of immorality (...) You are a nation that permits gambling in its all forms. (...) You use women to serve passengers, visitors, and strangers to increase your profit margins. You then rant that you support the liberation of women.

This principle has been emphasized by Ayman al-Zawahiri (leader of al-Qaeda since June 2011), Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi (Jihadi theorist), Hamoud al-Aqla al-Shu'aybi (conservative Sudi scholar who supported the 9/11 attacks), and a number of Salafi preachers, Ahmad Musa Jibril, Abdullah el-Faisal.

Following the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting, described as a "hate crime" due to the victims being customers of an LGBT nightclub, allegedly targeted in retaliation for American airstrikes against ISIS, the official ISIS magazine Dabiq responded: "A hate crime? Yes. Muslims undoubtedly hate liberalist sodomites. An act of terrorism? Most definitely. Muslims have been commanded to terrorize the disbelieving enemies of Allah."

Takfir

According to traditional Islamic law, the blood of someone who leaves Islam is "forfeit"—i.e. they are condemned to death. This applies not only to self-proclaimed ex-Muslims, but to those who still believe themselves to be Muslims but who (in the eyes of their accusers) have deviated too far from orthodoxy.

Many contemporary liberal/modernist/reformist Muslims believe killing appostates to be in violation of the Quranic injunction 'There is no compulsion in religion....' (Al-Baqara 256), but even earlier generations of Islamic scholars warned against making such accusations (known as takfir), without great care and usually reserved the punishment of death for "extreme, persistent and aggressive" proponents of religious innovation (bidʻah). The danger, according to some (such as Gilles Kepel), was that "used wrongly or unrestrainedly, ... Muslims might resort to mutually excommunicating one another and thus propel the Ummah to complete disaster."

Kepel noted that some of Qutb's early followers believed that his declaration that the Muslim world has reverted to pre-Islamic ignorance (Jahiliyyah), should be taken literally and everyone outside of their movement takfired; and Wahhabis has been known for their willingness to takfir non-Wahhabi Muslims.

Since the last half of the 20th century, a "central ideology" of insurgent Wahhabist/Salafi jihadist groups has been the "sanctioning" of "violence against leaders" of Muslim majority states who do not enforce sharia (Islamic law) or are otherwise "deemed insufficiently religious". Some insurgent groups -- Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya of Egypt, and later GIA, the Taliban, and ISIL) -- are thought to have gone even further, applying takfir and its capital punishment against not only to Sunni government authorities and Shia Muslims, but to ordinary Sunni civilians who disagree with/disobeyed insurgent policies such as reinstituting slavery.

In 1977, the group Jama'at al-Muslimin (known to the public as Takfir wal-Hijra), kidnapped and later killed an Islamic scholar and former Egyptian government minister Muhammad al-Dhahabi. The founder of Jama'at al-Muslimin, Shukri Mustaf had been imprisoned with Sayyid Qutb, and had become one of Qutb's "most radical" disciples. He believed that not only was the Egyptian government apostate, but so was "Egyptian society as a whole" because it was "not fighting the Egyptian government and had thus accepted rule by non-Muslims". While police broke up the group, it reorganized with thousands of members, some of whom went on to help assassinate the Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, and join the Algerian Civil War and Al-Qaeda. During the 1990s, a violent Islamic insurgency in Egypt, primarily perpetrated by Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, targeted not only police and government officials but also civilians, killing or wounding 1106 persons in one particularly bloody year (1993).

In the brutal 1991–2002 Algerian Civil War, takfir of the general Algerian public was known to have been declared by the hardline Islamist Armed Islamic Group of Algeria (GIA). The GIA amir, Antar Zouabri claimed credit for two massacres of civilians (Rais and Bentalha massacres), calling the killings an "offering to God" and declaring impious the victims and all Algerians who had not joined its ranks. He declared that "except for those who are with us, all others are apostates and deserving of death," (Tens, and sometimes hundreds, of civilians were killed in each of a series of massacres that started in April 1998. However, how many murders were the doing of GIA and how many of the security forces—who had infiltrated the insurgents and were not known for their probity—is not known.)

In August 1998 the Taliban insurgents slaughtered 8000 mostly Shia Hazara non-combatants in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan. Comments by Mullah Niazi, the Taliban commander of the attack and newly installed governor, declared in a number of post-slaughter speeches from Mosques in Mazar-i-Sharif: "Hazaras are not Muslim, they are Shi'a. They are kofr . The Hazaras killed our force here, and now we have to kill Hazaras. ... You either accept to be Muslims or leave Afghanistan. ...", indicated that along with revenge, and/or ethnic hatred, takfir was a motive for the slaughter.

From its inception in 2013 to 2020, directly or through affiliated groups, Daesh), "has been responsible for 27,947 terrorist deaths", the majority of these have been Muslims, "because it has regarded them as kafir".

One example of Daesh takfir is found in the 13th issue of its magazine Dabiq, which dedicated "dozens of pages ... to attacking and explaining the necessity of killing Shia", who the group refers to by the label Rafidah

Initiated by a sly Jew, are an apostate sect drowning in worship of the dead, cursing the best companions and wives of the Prophet, spreading doubt on the very basis of the religion (the Qur'ān and the Sunnah), defaming the very honor of the Prophet, and preferring their "twelve" imāms to the prophets and even to Allah! ...Thus, the Rāfidah are mushrik apostates who must be killed wherever they are to be found, until no Rāfidī walks on the face of earth, even if the jihād claimants despise such...

Daesh not only called for the revival of slavery of non-Muslims (specifically of the Yazidi minority group), but declared takfir on any Muslim who disagreed with their policy.

Yazidi women and children divided according to the Shariah amongst the fighters of the Islamic State who participated in the Sinjar operations ... Enslaving the families of the kuffar and taking their women as concubines is a firmly established aspect of the Shariah that if one were to deny or mock, he would be denying or mocking the verses of the Koran and the narrations of the Prophet ... and thereby apostatizing from Islam.

Starting in 2013, Daesh began "encouraging takfir of Muslims deemed insufficiently pure in regard of tawhid (monotheism)". The Taliban were found "to be "a 'nationalist' movement, all too tolerant" of Shia. In 2015 ISIL "pronounced Jabhat al-Nusrat -- then al-Qaida's affiliate in Syria -- an apostate group."

Interpretations of the Qur'an and Hadith
See also: Quran and violence

Donald Holbrook, a Research Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence, analyzes a sample of 30 works by jihadist propagandists for references to Islamic scripture that justifies the objectives of violent jihad. An-Nisa (4:74–75) is quoted most frequently; other popular passages are At-Taubah (9:13–15, 38–39, 111), Al-Baqarah (2:190–191, 216), and Surah 9:5:

But when these months, prohibited (for fighting), are over, slay the idolaters wheresoever you find them, and take them captive or besiege them, and lie in wait for them at every likely place. But if they repent and fulfill their devotional obligations and pay the zakat, then let them go their way, for God is forgiving and kind.

Holbrook notes that the first part "slay the idolaters ..." is oft quoted but not the limiting factors at the end of the ayat.

Jihad and Islamic jurisprudence

Main article: Jihad

Techniques of war are restricted by classical Islamic jurisprudence, but its scope is not. Bernard Lewis states that ultimately Jihad ends when the entire world is brought under Islamic rule and law. Classical Islamic jurisprudence imposes, without limit of time or space, the duty to subjugate non-Muslims, (according to Lewis). Wael Hallaq writes that some radical Islamists go beyond the classical theory to insist that the purpose of jihad is to overthrow regimes oppressing Muslims and bring non-Muslims to convert to Islam. In contrast, Islamic modernists–who Islamists despise–view jihad as defensive and compatible with modern standards of warfare. To justify their acts of religious violence, jihadist individuals and networks resort to the nonbinding genre of Islamic legal literature (fatwa) developed by jihadi-Salafist legal authorities, whose legal writings are shared and spread via the Internet.

Al-Qaeda

While Islamic opponents of attacks on civilians have quoted numerous prophetic hadith and hadith by Muhammad's first successor Abu Bakr, Al-Qaeda believes its attacks are religiously justified. After its first attack on a US target that killed civilians instead (a 1992 bombing of a hotel in Aden Yemen), Al Qaeda justified the killing of civilian bystanders through an interpretation (by one Abu Hajer) based on medieval jurist Ibn Taymiyyah (see above).

In a post-9/11 work, "A Statement from Qaidat al-Jihad Regarding the Mandates of the Heroes and the Legality of the Operations in New York and Washington", Al-Qaeda provided a more systematic justification—one that provided "ample theological justification for killing civilians in almost any imaginable situation." Among these justifications are that America is leading the countries of the West in waging war on Islam, which (al-Qaeda alleges) targets "Muslim women, children and elderly". This means any attacks on America are a defense of Islam, and any treaties and agreements between Muslim majority states and Western countries that would be violated by attacks are null and void. Other justifications for killing and situations where killings is allowed based on precedents in early Islamic history include: killing non-combatants when it is too difficult to distinguish between them and combatants when attacking an enemy "stronghold" (hist), and/or non-combatants remain in enemy territory; killing those who assist the enemy "in deed, word, mind", this includes civilians since they can vote in elections that bring enemies of Islam to power; necessity of killing in the war to protect Islam and Muslims; when the prophet was asked whether Muslim fighters could use the catapult against the village of Taif, even though the enemy fighters were mixed with a civilian population, he indicated in the affirmative; killing women, children and other protected groups is allowed when they serve as human shields for the enemy; killing of civilians is permitted if the enemy has broken a treaty.

Supporters of bin Laden have pointed to reports according to which the Islamic prophet Muhammad attacked towns at night or with catapults, and argued that he must have condoned incidental harm to noncombatants, since it would have been impossible to distinguish them from combatants during such attacks. These arguments were not widely accepted by Muslims.

Management of Savagery

Al-Qaeda's splinter groups and competitors, Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, are thought to have been heavily influenced by a 2004 work on jihad entitled Management of Savagery (Idarat at-Tawahhush), written by Abu Bakr Naji and intended to provide a strategy to create a new Islamic caliphate by first destroying "vital economic and strategic targets" and terrifying the enemy with cruelty to break its will.

The tract asserts that "one who previously engaged in jihad knows that it is naught but violence, crudeness, terrorism, deterrence and massacring," and that even "the most abominable of the levels of savagery" of jihad are better "than stability under the order of unbelief"—those orders being any regime other than ISIL. Victims should not only be beheaded, shot, burn alive in cages or gradually submerged until drowned, but these events should be publicized with videos and photographs.

The Jurisprudence of Blood
The Houthi flag, with the top saying "God is the greatest", the next line saying "Death to America", followed by "Death to Israel", followed by "A curse upon the Jews", and the bottom saying "Victory to Islam".

Some observers have noted the evolution in the rules of jihad—from the original "classical" doctrine to that of 21st-century Salafi jihadism. According to the legal historian Sadarat Kadri, during the last couple of centuries, incremental changes in Islamic legal doctrine (developed by Islamists who otherwise condemn any bid'ah (innovation) in religion), have "normalized" what was once "unthinkable". "The very idea that Muslims might blow themselves up for God was unheard of before 1983, and it was not until the early 1990s that anyone anywhere had tried to justify killing innocent Muslims who were not on a battlefield."

The first or the "classical" doctrine of jihad which was developed towards the end of the 8th century, emphasized the "jihad of the sword" (jihad bil-saif) rather than the "jihad of the heart", but it contained many legal restrictions which were developed from interpretations of both the Quran and the Hadith, such as detailed rules involving "the initiation, the conduct, the termination" of jihad, the treatment of prisoners, the distribution of booty, etc. Unless there was a sudden attack on the Muslim community, jihad was not a "personal obligation" (fard 'ayn); instead it was a "collective one" (fard al-kifaya), which had to be discharged "in the way of God" (fi sabil Allah), and it could only be directed by the caliph, "whose discretion over its conduct was all but absolute." (This was designed in part to avoid incidents like the Kharijia's jihad against and killing of Caliph Ali, since they deemed that he was no longer a Muslim). Martyrdom resulting from an attack on the enemy with no concern for your own safety was praiseworthy, but dying by your own hand (as opposed to the enemy's) merited a special place in Hell. The category of jihad which is considered to be a collective obligation is sometimes simplified as "offensive jihad" in Western texts.

Based on the 20th-century interpretations of Sayyid Qutb, Abdullah Azzam, Ruhollah Khomeini, al-Qaeda and others, many if not all of those self-proclaimed jihad fighters believe that defensive global jihad is a personal obligation, which means that no caliph or Muslim head of state needs to declare it. Killing yourself in the process of killing the enemy is an act of martyrdom and it brings you a special place in Heaven, not a special place in Hell; and the killing of Muslim bystanders (nevermind Non-Muslims), should not impede acts of jihad. Military and intelligent analyst Sebastian Gorka described the new interpretation of jihad as the "willful targeting of civilians by a non-state actor through unconventional means."

Islamic theologian Abu Abdullah al-Muhajir has been identified as one of the key theorists and ideologues behind modern jihadist violence. His theological and legal justifications influenced Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaeda member and former leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, as well as several other jihadi terrorist groups, including ISIL and Boko Haram. Zarqawi used a 579-page manuscript of al-Muhajir's ideas at AQI training camps that were later deployed by ISIL, known in Arabic as Fiqh al-Dima and referred to in English as The Jurisprudence of Jihad or The Jurisprudence of Blood. The book has been described by counter-terrorism scholar Orwa Ajjoub as rationalizing and justifying "suicide operations, the mutilation of corpses, beheading, and the killing of children and non-combatants". The Guardian's journalist Mark Towsend, citing Salah al-Ansari of Quilliam, notes: "There is a startling lack of study and concern regarding this abhorrent and dangerous text in almost all Western and Arab scholarship". Charlie Winter of The Atlantic describes it as a "theological playbook used to justify the group's abhorrent acts". He states:

Ranging from ruminations on the merits of beheading, torturing, or burning prisoners to thoughts on assassination, siege warfare, and the use of biological weapons, Muhajir's intellectual legacy is a crucial component of the literary corpus of ISIS—and, indeed, whatever comes after it—a way to render practically anything permissible, provided, that is, it can be spun as beneficial to the jihad. According to Muhajir, committing suicide to kill people is not only a theologically sound act, but a commendable one, too, something to be cherished and celebrated regardless of its outcome. neither Zarqawi nor his inheritors have looked back, liberally using Muhajir's work to normalize the use of suicide tactics in the time since, such that they have become the single most important military and terrorist method—defensive or offensive—used by ISIS today. The way that Muhajir theorized it was simple—he offered up a theological fix that allows any who desire it to sidestep the Koranic injunctions against suicide.

Clinical psychologist Chris E. Stout also discusses the al Muhajir-inspired text in his essay, Terrorism, Political Violence, and Extremism (2017). He assesses that jihadists regard their actions as being "for the greater good"; that they are in a "weakened in the earth" situation that renders Islamic terrorism a valid means of solution.

Economic motivation

Osama in November 2001
Osama Bin Laden, the founder of multinational terrorist group Al-Qaeda, in November 2001.

Following the 9/11 attack, commentators noted the poverty of Afghanistan, and speculated that blame might partly fall on a lack of a "higher priority to health, education, and economic development" funding by richer countries, and "stagnant economies and a paucity of jobs" in poorer countries.

Among the acts of oppression against Muslims by the United States and its allies alleged by the head of Al-Qaeda, are economic exploitation. In a 6 October 2002 message by Osama bin Laden 'Letter to America', he alleges

You steal our wealth and oil at paltry prices because of your international influence and military threats. This theft is indeed the biggest theft ever witnessed by mankind in the history of the world. ... If people steal our wealth, then we have the right to destroy their economy.

In a 1997 interview, he claimed that "since 1973, the price of petrol has increased only $8/barrel while the prices of other items have gone up three times. The oil prices should also have gone up three times but this did not happen", (On the other hand, in an interview five weeks after the destruction the World Trade Center towers his operation was responsible for, bin Laden described the towers as standing for—or "preaching"—not exploitation or capitalism, but "freedom human Rights, and equality".)

In 2002, academics Alan B. Krueger and Jitka Maleckova found "a careful review of the evidence provides little reason for optimism that a reduction in poverty or an increase in educational attainment would by themselves, meaningfully reduce international terrorism." Alberto Abadie found "the risk of terrorism is not significantly higher for poorer countries, once other country-specific characteristics are considered", but instead seems to correlate with a country's "level of political freedom".

Martin Kramer has argued that while terrorist organizers are seldom poor, their "foot-soldiers" often are. Andrew Whitehead states that "poverty creates opportunity" for terrorists, who have hired desperate poor children to do grunt work in Iraq and won the loyalty of poor in Lebanon by providing social services.

Western foreign policy

Many believe that groups like Al-Qaeda and ISIS are reacting to aggression by non-Muslim (especially US) powers, and that religious beliefs are overstated if not irrelevant in their motivation. According to a graph by U.S. State Department, terrorist attacks escalated worldwide following the United States' 2001 invasion of Afghanistan and 2003 invasion of Iraq. Dame Eliza Manningham Buller, the former head of MI5, told the Iraq inquiry, the security services warned Tony Blair launching the War on Terror would increase the threat of terrorism. Robert Pape has argued that at least terrorists utilizing suicide attacks—a particularly effective form of terrorist attack—are driven not by Islamism but by "a clear strategic objective: to compel modern democracies to withdraw military forces from the territory that the terrorists view as their homeland". However, Martin Kramer, who debated Pape on origins of suicide bombing, stated that the motivation for suicide attacks is not just strategic logic but also an interpretation of Islam to provide a moral logic. For example, Hezbollah initiated suicide bombings after a complex reworking of the concept of martyrdom. Kramer explains that the Israeli occupation of the South Lebanon Security Zone raised the temperature necessary for this reinterpretation of Islam, but occupation alone would not have been sufficient for suicide terrorism. "The only way to apply a brake to suicide terrorism," Kramer argues, "is to undermine its moral logic, by encouraging Muslims to see its incompatibility with their own values."

Breaking down the content of Osama bin Laden's statements and interviews collected in Bruce Lawrence's Messages to the World (Lawrence shares Payne's belief in US imperialism and aggression as the cause of Islamic terrorism), James L. Payne found that 72% of the content was on the theme of "criticism of U.S./Western/Jewish aggression, oppression, and exploitation of Muslim lands and peoples" while only 1% of bin Laden's statements focused on criticizing "American society and culture".

Former CIA analyst Michael Scheuer argues that terrorist attacks (specifically al-Qaeda attacks on targets in the United States) are not motivated by a religiously inspired hatred of American culture or religion, but by the belief that U.S. foreign policy has oppressed, killed, or otherwise harmed Muslims in the Middle East, condensed in the phrase "They hate us for what we do, not who we are." U.S. foreign policy actions Scheuer believes are fueling Islamic terror include: the US–led intervention in Afghanistan and invasion of Iraq; Israel–United States relations, namely, financial, military, and political support for Israel; U.S. support for "apostate" police states in Muslim nations such as Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, and Kuwait; U.S. support for the creation of an independent East Timor from territory previously held by Muslim Indonesia; perceived U.S. approval or support of actions against Muslim insurgents in India, the Philippines, Chechnya, and Palestine.

Maajid Nawaz and Sam Harris argue that in many cases there is simply no connection between acts of Islamic extremism and Western intervention in Muslim lands.

Nawaz: ... What does killing the Yazidi population on Mount Sinjar have to do with US foreign policy? What does enforcing headscarves (tents in fact) on women in Waziristan and Afghanistan, and lashing them, forcing men to grow beards under threat of a whip, chopping off hands, and so forth, have to do with US foreign policy?
Harris: This catalogue of irrelevancy could be extended indefinitely. What does the Sunni bombing of Shia and Ahmadi mosques in Pakistan have to with Israel or US foreign policy?

Nawaz also argues that suicide bombers in non-Muslim majority countries such as the 7 July 2005 bombers can be said to motivated by ideology not by any desire to compel UK military to withdraw from "their homeland", as they were born and raised in Yorkshire. They had never set foot in Iraq and do not speak its language.

Socio-psychological motivations

Socio-psychological development

A motivator of violent radicalism (not just found in Al-Qaeda and ISIS) is psychological development during adolescence. Cally O'Brien found many terrorists were "not exposed to the West in a positive context, whether by simple isolation or conservative family influence, until well after they had established a personal and social identity." Looking at theories of psychological personal identity Seth Schwartz, Curitis Dunkel and Alan Waterman found two types of "personal identities" susceptible to radicalization leading to terrorism:

  1. "Foreclosed and authoritarian" — Principally conservative Muslims who are often taught by their family and communities from early childhood to not deviate from a strict path and to either consider inferior or hate outside groups. When exposed to (alien) western culture, they are likely to judge it relative to their perception of the correct order of society, as well as perceive their own identities and mental health to be at risk.
  2. "Diffuse and aimless" — Principally converts whose lives are characterized by "aimlessness, uncertainty and indecisiveness" and who have neither explored different identities nor committed to a personal identity. Such people are "willing to go to their deaths for ideas that they have appropriated from others" and that give their lives purpose and certainty.

Characteristics of terrorists

In 2004, a forensic psychiatrist and former foreign service officer, Marc Sageman, made an "intensive study of biographical data on 172 participants in the jihad" in his book Understanding Terror Networks. He concluded social networks, the "tight bonds of family and friendship", rather than emotional and behavioral disorders of "poverty, trauma, madness, ignorance", inspired alienated young Muslims to join the jihad and kill.

According to anthropologist Scott Atran, a NATO researcher studying suicide terrorism, as of 2005, the available evidence contradicts a number of simplistic explanations for the motivations of terrorists, including mental instability, poverty, and feelings of humiliation. The greatest predictors of suicide bombings—one common type of terror tactic used by Islamic terrorists—turns out to be not religion but group dynamics. While personal humiliation does not turn out to be a motivation for those attempting to kill civilians, the perception that others with whom one feels a common bond are being humiliated can be a powerful driver for action. "Small-group dynamics involving friends and family that form the diaspora cell of brotherhood and camaraderie on which the rising tide of martyrdom actions is based". Terrorists, according to Atran, are social beings influenced by social connections and values. Rather than dying "for a cause", they might be said to have died "for each other".

In a 2011 doctoral thesis, anthropologist Kyle R. Gibson reviewed three studies documenting 1,208 suicide attacks from 1981 to 2007 and found that countries with higher polygyny rates correlated with greater production of suicide terrorists. Political scientist Robert Pape has found that among Islamic suicide terrorists, 97 percent were unmarried and 84 percent were male (or if excluding the Kurdistan Workers' Party, 91 percent male), while a study conducted by the U.S. military in Iraq in 2008 found that suicide bombers were almost always single men without children aged 18 to 30 (with a mean age of 22), and were typically students or employed in blue-collar occupations. In addition to noting that countries where polygyny is widely practiced tend to have higher homicide rates and rates of rape, political scientists Valerie M. Hudson and Bradley Thayer have argued that because Islam is the only major religious tradition where polygyny is still largely condoned, the higher degrees of marital inequality in Islamic countries than most of the world causes them to have larger populations susceptible to suicide terrorism, and that promises of harems of virgins for martyrdom serves as a mechanism to mitigate in-group conflict within Islamic countries between alpha and non-alpha males by bringing esteem to the latter's families and redirecting their violence towards out-groups.

Along with his research on the Tamil Tigers, Scott Atran found that Palestinian terrorist groups (such as Hamas) provide monthly stipends, lump-sum payments, and massive prestige to the families of suicide terrorists. Citing Atran and other anthropological research showing that 99 percent of Palestinian suicide terrorists are male, that 86 percent are unmarried, and that 81 percent have at least six siblings (larger than the average Palestinian family size), cognitive scientist Steven Pinker argues in The Better Angels of Our Nature (2011) that because the families of men in the West Bank and Gaza often cannot afford bride prices and that many potential brides end up in polygynous marriages, the financial compensation of an act of suicide terrorism can buy enough brides for a man's brothers to have children to make the self-sacrifice pay off in terms of kin selection and biological fitness (with Pinker also citing a famous quotation attributed to evolutionary biologist J. B. S. Haldane when Haldane quipped that he would not sacrifice his life for his brother but would for "two brothers or eight cousins").

In 2007, scholar Olivier Roy described the background of the hundreds of global (as opposed to local) terrorists who were incarcerated or killed and for whom authorities have records, as being surprising in a number of ways: The subjects frequently had a Westernized background; there were few Palestinians, Iraqis, or Afghans "coming to avenge what is going on in their country"; there was a lack of religiosity before radicalization through being "born again" in a foreign country; a high percentage of subjects had converted to Islam; their backgrounds were "de-territorialized "—meaning, for example, they were "born in a country, then educated in another country, then go to fight in a third country and take refuge in a fourth country"; and their beliefs about jihad differed from traditional ones—i.e. they believed jihad to be permanent, global, and "not linked with a specific territory." Roy believes terrorism/radicalism is "expressed in religious terms" among the terrorists studied because

  1. most of the radicals have a Muslim background, which makes them open to a process of re-Islamisation ("almost none of them having been pious before entering the process of radicalisation"), and
  2. jihad is "the only cause on the global market". If you kill in silence, it will be reported by the local newspaper; "if you kill yelling 'Allahu Akbar', you are sure to make the national headlines". Other extreme causes—ultra-left or radical ecology are "too bourgeois and intellectual" for the radicals.

Author Lawrence Wright described the characteristic of "displacement" of members of the most famous Islamic terrorist group, al-Qaeda:

What the recruits tended to have in common—besides their urbanity, their cosmopolitan backgrounds, their education, their facility with languages, and their computer skills—was displacement. Most who joined the jihad did so in a country other than the one in which they were reared. They were Algerians living in expatriate enclaves in France, Moroccans in Spain, or Yemenis in Saudi Arabia. Despite their accomplishments, they had little standing in the host societies where they lived.

This profile of global Jihadists differs from that found among more recent local Islamist suicide bombers in Afghanistan. According to a 2007 study of 110 suicide bombers by Afghan pathologist Dr. Yusef Yadgari, 80% of the attackers studied had some kind of physical or mental disability. The bombers were also "not celebrated like their counterparts in other Muslim nations. Afghan bombers are not featured on posters or in videos as martyrs." Daniel Byman, a Middle East expert at the Brookings Institution, and Christine Fair, an assistant professor in peace and security studies at Georgetown University, argue that many of the Islamic terrorists are foolish and untrained, perhaps even untrainable, with one in two Taliban suicide bombers killing only themselves.

Studying 300 cases of people charged with jihadist terrorism in the United States since 11 September 2001, author Peter Bergen found the perpetrators were "generally motivated by a mix of factors", including "militant Islamist ideology;" opposition to "American foreign policy in the Muslim world; a need to attach themselves to an ideology or organization that gave them a sense of purpose"; and a "cognitive opening" to militant Islam that often was "precipitated by personal disappointment, like the death of a parent".

However, two studies of the background of Muslim terrorists in Europe—one of the UK and one of France—found little connection between religious piety and terrorism among the terrorist rank and file. A "restricted" report of hundreds of case studies by the UK domestic counter-intelligence agency MI5 found that

ar from being religious zealots, a large number of those involved in terrorism do not practise their faith regularly. Many lack religious literacy and could actually be regarded as religious novices. Very few have been brought up in strongly religious households, and there is a higher than average proportion of converts. Some are involved in drug-taking, drinking alcohol and visiting prostitutes. MI5 says there is evidence that a well-established religious identity actually protects against violent radicalisation.

A 2015 "general portrait" of "the conditions and circumstances" under which people living in France become "Islamic radicals" (terrorists or would-be terrorists) by Olivier Roy (see above) found radicalisation was not an "uprising of a Muslim community that is victim to poverty and racism: only young people join, including converts".

Refutations, criticisms and explanations for decline

Refuting Islamic terrorism

Along with explaining Islamic terrorism, many observers have attempted to point out their inconsistencies and the flaws in their arguments, often suggesting means of de-motivating potential terrorists.

Princeton University Middle Eastern scholar Bernard Lewis argues that although bin Laden and other radical Islamists claim they are fighting to restore shariah law to the Muslim world, their attacks on civilians violate the classical form of that Islamic jurisprudence. The "classical jurists of Islam never remotely considered the kind of unprovoked, unannounced mass slaughter of uninvolved civil populations". In regard to the September 11 attacks Lewis noted,

Being a religious obligation, jihad is elaborately regulated in sharia law, which discusses in minute detail such matters as the opening, conduct, interruption and cessation of hostilities, the treatment of prisoners and noncombatants, the use of weapons, etc. Similarly, the laws of Jihad categorically preclude wanton and indiscriminate slaughter. The warriors in the holy war are urged not to harm non-combatants, women and children, "unless they attack you first". ... A point on which they insist is the need for a clear declaration of war before beginning hostilities, and for proper warning before resuming hostilities after a truce. What the classical jurists of Islam never remotely considered is the kind of unprovoked, unannounced mass slaughter of uninvolved civil populations that we saw in New York two weeks ago. For this there is no precedent and no authority in Islam.

Similarly, Timothy Winter writes that the proclamations of bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri "ignore 14 centuries of Muslim scholarship", and that if they "followed the norms of their religion, they would have had to acknowledge that no school of mainstream Islam allows the targeting of civilians."

Researcher Donald Holbrook notes that while many jihadists quote the beginning of the famous sword verse (or ayah):

  • But when these months, prohibited (for fighting), are over, slay the idolaters wheresoever you find them, and take them captive or besiege them, and lie in wait for them at every likely place. ...

... they fail to quote and discuss limiting factors that follow,

  • ".... But if they repent and fulfill their devotional obligations and pay the zakat, then let them go their way, for God is forgiving and kind."

showing how they are (Holbrook argues) "shamelessly selective in order to serve their propaganda objectives."

The scholarly credentials of the ideologues of extremism are also "questionable". Dale C. Eikmeier notes

With the exception of Abul Ala Maududi and Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, none of Qutbism's main theoreticians trained at Islam's recognized centers of learning. Although a devout Muslim, Hassan al-Banna was a teacher and community activist. Sayyid Qutb was a literary critic. Mohammed Abdul-Salam Farag was an electrician. Ayman al-Zawahiri is a physician. Osama bin Laden trained to be a businessman.

Michael Sells and Jane I. Smith (a professor of Islamic Studies) write that barring some extremists like al-Qaeda, most Muslims do not interpret Qur'anic verses as promoting warfare today but rather as reflecting historical contexts. According to Sells, most Muslims "no more expect to apply" the verses at issue "to their contemporary non-Muslim friends and neighbors than most Christians and Jews consider themselves commanded by God, like the Biblical Joshua, to exterminate the infidels."

In his book No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, Iranian-American academic Reza Aslan argues that there is an internal battle currently taking place within Islam between individualistic reform ideals and the traditional authority of Muslim clerics. The struggle is similar to that of the 16th-century reformation in Christianity, and in fact is happening when the religion of Islam is as "old" as Christianity was at the time of its reformation. Aslan argues that "the notion that historical context should play no role in the interpretation of the Koran—that what applied to Muhammad's community applies to all Muslim communities for all time—is simply an untenable position in every sense."

Despite their proclaimed devotion to the virtue of Sharia law, Jihadists have not always avoided association with the pornography of the despised West. The Times (London) newspaper has pointed out that Jihadists were discovered by one source to have sought anonymity through some of the same dark networks used to distribute child pornography—quite ironic given their proclaimed piety. Similarly, Reuters news agency reported that pornography was found among the materials seized from Osama bin Laden's Abbottabad compound that was raided by U.S. Navy SEALs.

Takfir

Despite the fact that a founding principle of modern violent jihad is the defense of Islam and Muslims, most victims of attacks by Islamic terrorism ("the vast majority" according to one source—J.J. Goldberg) are self-proclaimed Muslims. Many if not all Salafi-Jihadi groups practice takfir—i.e. proclaim that some self-proclaimed Muslims (especially government officials and security personnel) are actually apostates deserving of death.

Furthermore, the more learned salafi-jihadi thinkers and leaders are (and were), the more reluctance they are/were to embrace takfir (according to a study by Shane Drennan). The late Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, "the godfather of the Afghan jihad", for example, was an Islamic scholar and university professor who avoided takfir and preached unity in the ummah (Muslim community). The Islamic education of Al-Qaeda's number two leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was early and much more informal—he was not a trained scholar—and al-Zawahiri expanded the definition of kafir to include many self-proclaimed Muslims. He has maintained that civilian government employees of Muslim states, security forces and any persons collaborating or engaging with these groups are apostates, for example.

Two extreme takfiris -- Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Sunni jihadist leader in Iraq, and Djamel Zitouni, leader of the Algerian Armed Islamic Group of Algeria (GIA) during the Algerian civil war—had even broader definitions of apostasy and less religious knowledge. Al-Zarqawi was a petty criminal who had no religious training until he was 22 and limited training thereafter. Famous for bombing targets other jihadis thought off limits, his definition of apostates included all Shia Muslims and "anyone violating his organization's interpretation of Shari'a". Djamel Zitouni was the son of a chicken farmer with little Islamic education. He famously expanded the GIA's definition of apostate until he concluded the whole of Algerian society outside of the GIA "had left Islam". His attacks led to the deaths of thousands of Algerian civilians.

De-radicalization

Evidence that more religious training may lead to less extremism has been found in Egypt. That country's largest radical Islamic group, al-Jama'a al-Islamiyya — which killed at least 796 Egyptian policemen and soldiers from 1992 to 1998 — renounced bloodshed in 2003 in a deal with the Egyptian government where a series of high-ranking members were released (as of 2009 "the group has perpetrated no new terrorist acts"). A second group Egyptian Islamic Jihad made a similar agreement in 2007. Preceding the agreements was program where Muslim scholars debated with imprisoned group leaders arguing that true Islam did not support terrorism.

Muslim attitudes toward terrorism

Main article: Muslim attitudes towards terrorism

The opinions of Muslims on the subject of attacks on civilians by Islamist groups vary. Fred Halliday, a British academic specialist on the Middle East, argues that most Muslims consider these acts to be egregious violations of Islam's laws. Muslims living in the West denounce the 11 September attacks against United States, while Hezbollah contends that their rocket attacks against Israeli targets are defensive jihad by a legitimate resistance movement rather than terrorism.

Views of modern Islamic scholars

In reference to suicide attacks, Hannah Stuart notes there is a "significant debate among contemporary clerics over which circumstance permit such attacks." Qatar-based theologian, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, criticized the 9/11 attacks but previously justified suicide bombings in Israel on the grounds of necessity and justified such attacks in 2004 against American military and civilian personnel in Iraq. According to Stuart, 61 contemporary Islamic leaders have issued fatawa permitting suicide attacks, 32 with respect to Israel. Stuart points out that all of these contemporary rulings are contrary to classical Islamic jurisprudence.

Charles Kurzman and other authors have collected statements by prominent Muslim figures and organizations condemning terrorism. In September 2014, an open letter to ISIS by "over 120 prominent Muslim scholars" denounced that group for "numerous religious transgressions and abominable crimes".

Huston Smith, an author on comparative religion, argued that extremists have hijacked Islam, just as has occurred periodically in Christianity, Hinduism and other religions throughout history. He added that the real problem is that extremists do not know their own faith.

Ali Gomaa, former Grand Mufti of Egypt, stated not only for Islam but in general: "Terrorism cannot be born of religion. Terrorism is the product of corrupt minds, hardened hearts, and arrogant egos, and corruption, destruction, and arrogance are unknown to the heart attached to the divine."

A 600-page legal opinion (fatwa) by Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri condemned suicide bombings and other forms of terrorism as kufr (unbelief), stating that it "has no place in Islamic teaching and no justification can be provided for it, or any kind of excuses or ifs or buts." Iranian Ayatollah Ozma Seyyed Yousef Sanei has preached against suicide attacks and stated in an interview: "Terror in Islam, and especially Shiite, is forbidden."

A group of Pakistani clerics of Jamaat Ahl-e-Sunnah (Barelvi movement) who were gathered for a convention denounced suicide attacks and beheadings as un-Islamic in a unanimous resolution. On 2 July 2013 in Lahore, 50 Muslim scholars of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) issued a collective fatwa against suicide bombings, the killing of innocent people, bomb attacks, and targeted killings. It considers them to be forbidden.

Tactics

Main article: Tactics of terrorism

Suicide attacks

See also: Suicide attack

Hezbollah was the first group to use suicide bombers in the Middle East. An increasingly popular tactic used by terrorists is suicide bombing. This tactic is used against civilians, soldiers, and government officials of the regimes the terrorists oppose. A recent clerical ruling declares terrorism and suicide bombing as forbidden by Islam.

Hijackings

Islamic terrorism sometimes employs the hijacking of passenger vehicles. The most infamous were the "9/11" attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people on a single day in 2001, effectively ending the era of aircraft hijacking.

Hostage taking, kidnappings and executions

Main article: Beheading in Islamism See also: Beheading video and ISIL beheading incidents

Along with bombings and hijackings, Islamic terrorists have made extensive use of highly publicised kidnappings and executions (i.e. ritualized murders), often circulating videos of the acts for use as propaganda. A frequent form of execution by these groups is decapitation, another is shooting. In the 1980s, a series of abductions of American citizens by Hezbollah during the Lebanese Civil War resulted in the 1986 Iran–Contra affair. During the chaos of the Iraq War, more than 200 kidnappings foreign hostages (for various reasons and by various groups, including purely criminal) gained great international notoriety, even as the great majority (thousands) of victims were Iraqis. In 2007, the kidnapping of Alan Johnston by Army of Islam resulted in the British government meeting a Hamas member for the first time.

Motivations

Islamist militants, including Boko Haram, Hamas, al-Qaeda and the ISIS, have used kidnapping as a method of fundraising, as a means of bargaining for political concessions, and as a way of intimidating potential opponents.

As political tactic

An example of political kidnapping occurred in September 2014, in the Philippines. The German Foreign Ministry reported that the Islamist militant group Abu Sayyaf had kidnapped two German nationals and was threatening to kill them unless the German government withdraw its support for the war against ISIS and also pay a large ransom. In September 2014 an Islamist militant group kidnapped a French national in Algeria and threatened to kill the hostage unless the government of France withdrew its support for the war against ISIS.

Islamist self-justifications

ISIL justified various acts internally, including beheadings and its kidnapping of Yazidi women and forcing them to become sex slaves or concubines.

Abubakar Shekau, the leader of the Nigerian extremist group Boko Haram, said in a 2014 interview claiming responsibility for the 2014 Chibok kidnapping of 270+ schoolgirls, "Slavery is allowed in my religion, and I shall capture people and make them slaves".

Kidnapping as revenue

Nasir al-Wuhayshi leader of the Islamist militant group Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula describes kidnapped hostages as "an easy spoil... which I may describe as a profitable trade and a precious treasure."

A 2014 investigation, by journalist Rukmini Maria Callimachi published in The New York Times demonstrated that between 2008 and 2014, Al Qaeda and groups directly affiliated with al-Qaeda took in over US$125 million from kidnapping, with $66 million of that total paid in 2013 alone. The article showed that from a somewhat haphazard beginning in 2003, kidnapping grew into the group's main fundraising strategy, with targeted, professional kidnapping of civilians from wealthy European countries—principally France, Spain and Switzerland—willing to pay huge ransoms. US and UK nationals are less commonly targeted since these governments have shown an unwillingness to pay ransom.

Boko Haram kidnapped Europeans for the Ransom their governments would pay in the early 2010s.

According to Yochi Dreazen writing in Foreign Policy, although ISIS received funding from Qatar, Kuwait and other Gulf oil states, "traditional criminal techniques like kidnapping", are a key funding source for ISIS. Armin Rosen writing in Business Insider, kidnapping was a "crucial early source" of funds as ISIS expanded rapidly in 2013. In March, upon receiving payment from the government of Spain, ISIS released 2 Spanish hostages working for the newspaper El Mundo, correspondent Javier Espinosa and photographer Ricardo Garcia Vilanova, who had been held since September 2013. Philip Balboni, CEO of GlobalPost told the press that he had spent "millions" in efforts to ransom journalist James Foley, and an American official told the Associated Press that demand from ISIS was for 100 million ($132.5). In September 2014, following the release of ISIS Beheading videos of journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, British Prime Minister David Cameron appealed to members of the G7 to abide by their pledges not to pay ransom "in the case of terrorist kidnap".

Holding foreign journalists as hostages is so valuable to ISIS that Rami Jarrah, a Syrian who has acted as go-between in efforts to ransom foreign hostages, told the Wall Street Journal that ISIS had "made it known" to other militant groups that they "would pay" for kidnapped journalists. ISIS has also kidnapped foreign-aid workers and Syrians who work for foreign-funded groups and reconstruction projects in Syria. By mid-2014, ISIS was holding assets valued at US$2 billion.

Kidnapping as psychological warfare

Boko Haram has been described as using kidnapping as a means of intimidating the civilian population into non-resistance.

According to psychologist Irwin Mansdorf, Hamas demonstrated effectiveness of kidnapping as a form of psychological warfare in the 2006 capture of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit when public pressure forced the government of Israel to release 1027 prisoners, including 280 convicted of terrorism by Israel, in exchange for his release. According to The New York Times, "Hamas has recognized the pull such incidents have over the Israeli psyche and clearly has moved to grab hostages in incidents such as the death and ransoming of Oron Shaul."

Internet recruiting

Main article: Terrorism and social media

In the beginning of the 21st century, emerged a worldwide network of hundreds of web sites that inspire, train, educate and recruit young Muslims to engage in jihad against the United States and other Western countries, taking less prominent roles in mosques and community centers that are under scrutiny.

Examples of organizations

Main article: List of Islamist terrorist attacks Further information: List of designated terrorist groups See also: United States Department of State list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations, Boko Haram insurgency, and 1998 United States embassy bombings
The "black flag of Jihad", used by various Islamist organizations since the late 1990s, consists of a white-on-black shahada.

Africa

The African continent has been affected by significant Islamist terrorist activity across the continent, involving various militant groups responsible for widespread violence and instability. In East Africa, Al-Shabaab has been a central figure in conflicts, particularly in Somalia and Kenya. North and West Africa have seen major incidents tied to groups like Boko Haram, which has caused severe disruptions in Nigeria and neighboring countries. Additionally, nations such as Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco have experienced deadly attacks linked to broader extremist networks. These activities have led to extensive casualties and displacement across the region. Civilians have been the main targets of terrorist attacks by Islamist militants.

Asia

In Afghanistan, since 2006, Taliban and Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin forces have escalated attacks against civilians. Kyrgyz-American brothers were behind the Boston Marathon bombing. In Tajikistan, the IMU was blamed for a 2010 suicide bombing that killed two policemen. Uzbekistan saw multiple attacks, including the 1999 Tashkent bombings targeting President Karimov. China has faced attacks linked to Xinjiang separatism. In Bangladesh, Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen and Ansarullah Bangla have been involved in bombings and attacks on activists. In India, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed are responsible for numerous attacks, while Pakistan and Sri Lanka have also faced Islamist attacks. The Abu Sayyaf Group in the Philippines continues a long-running insurgency.

Europe

Main articles: Islamic terrorism in Europe and Al-Qaeda activities in Europe See also: Foreign fighters in the Syrian and Iraqi Civil Wars
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. Updates on reimplementing the Graph extension, which will be known as the Chart extension, can be found on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.
Planned and foiled Jihadist terror attacks in Europe. Numbers for 2017 and 2018 are preliminary.

The Europe has seen significant Islamist terrorist attacks, including the 2004 Madrid bombings, the 2005 London bombings, and the 2015 Paris attacks, all of which caused numerous casualties. A report highlights that jihadist terrorism has been responsible for the majority of deaths from terrorism in Europe from 2001 to 2014. It also discusses how jihadists in Europe have financed their activities through petty crime and how terrorist attacks have increasingly targeted people rather than property. Countries like Belgium, Netherlands, France, and Germany have faced multiple attacks, with Belgium being a significant base for planning attacks like the 2015 Paris attacks. Despite proximity to conflict zones, Italy has had relatively fewer jihadist incidents. The EU report found that most Islamist terror suspects were second or third-generation immigrants, while over 99% of attempted terrorist attacks in Europe in the past three years were committed by non-Muslims.

In Norway, two men were sentenced in 2012 under anti-terror legislation for plotting against cartoonist Kurt Westergaard. Russia has faced politically and religiously motivated attacks, particularly in Chechnya, including the 2002 Moscow theater and 2004 Beslan school hostage crises, linked to groups like the Caucasus Emirate. Spain has seen jihadist activity since the 1990s, highlighted by the 2004 Madrid train bombings and the 2017 Barcelona attacks. In Sweden, terrorist incidents have occurred like the 2010 Stockholm bombings and the 2017 Stockholm truck attack.

Middle East

Militant Islamism in Turkey primarily has Kurdish roots, with groups like Turkish Hizbullah and İBDA-C opposing Turkish secularism. Iraq has experienced terrorist activity, especially during the US-led Iraq War. In Palestine and Israeli territories, groups such as Hamas and the Islamic Jihad Movement have launched numerous attacks against Israel. Additionally, Fatah al-Islam operates in Lebanon with goals of establishing Islamic law in Palestinian refugee camps.

Americas

In Canada, the government identifies terrorism as a significant threat, particularly emphasizing domestic radicalization, as seen in the 2006 Ontario terrorism plot involving an Al-Qaeda-inspired cell. In the United States, the 9/11 attacks resulted in nearly 3,000 fatalities and initiated the War on Terror, with homegrown extremism highlighted as a major concern. Australia and New Zealand have also experienced notable attacks, such as the Lindt Café siege and the Auckland supermarket stabbing. In Argentina, the 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy and the 1994 AMIA bombing were linked to terrorist groups and Iran, resulting in significant casualties and political repercussions.

Transnational

Main article: Al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda's stated aim is the use of jihad to defend and protect Islam against Zionism, Christianity, the secular West, and Muslim governments such as Saudi Arabia, which it sees as insufficiently Islamic and too closely tied to the United States.

Organizations

See also

References

Notes

  1. which is encapsulated in the formula "Islam is exalted and nothing is exalted above it". Also World Assembly of Muslim Youth "which has publicly stated that one of its educational goals is to arm the Muslim youth with full confidence in the supremacy of the Islamic system over other systems."
  2. An indication that Islamic terrorism has at least paced the general decline in deaths from terror is that "one of the more worrying trends" in terrorism over the five year period from 2014–2019, is (non-Islamic) far-right terrorism.
  3. Shia Muslims have been involved in violence primarily at the state level (Hezbollah attacks on Israeli targets and Iran's use of shaheeds against Saddam Hussien's Iraq for example). The small Quranist (Muslims who follow only Quran) and Ahmadi groups (who believe jihad should be peaceful) have "zero history of violence".
  4. Faizal calls these groups "sects", Misplaced Pages calls them "movements".
  5. Kepel wrote that "the modern Islamist movement" was "rebuilt" around "the ideas" of Qutb, rebuilt because the Muslim Brotherhood was crushed after 1954 by the regime of Gamal Abdel Nasser. In 1954 another a second unsuccessful assassination was attempted against Egypt's prime minister (Gamal Abdel Nasser), and blamed on the "secret apparatus" of the Brotherhood. The Brotherhood was again banned and this time thousands of its members were imprisoned.
  6. Qutbism has been used as a close relative, or variety of Salafi jihadism.
  7. (Qutb wrote Milestones in prison and "died before he could fully explain his theories" and clear up "his use of the term jahiliyya and its dire consequence, takfir")
  8. One estimate is that during the reign of King Fahd (1982 to 2005), over $75 billion was spent in efforts to spread Wahhabi Islam. The money was used to establish 200 Islamic colleges, 210 Islamic centers, 1,500 mosques, and 2,000 schools for Muslim children in Muslim and non-Muslim majority countries. According to diplomat and political scientist Dore Gold, this funding was for non-Muslim countries alone.
  9. (The punishment is agreed on by all the schools of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) both Sunni and Shia, and has traditionally been undisputed.)
  10. according to Jamileh Kadivar based on estimates from Global Terrorism Database, 2020; Herrera, 2019; Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights & United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) Human Rights Office, 2014; Ibrahim, 2017; Obeidallah, 2014; 2015
  11. (This claim seems to be based on incorrect facts — the price of wheat did not increase three fold from 1973–1997 — and the questionable assumption that the demand and price for oil would continue to rise at a steady rate after the Arab Oil Embargo raised it by four fold in a short period.)

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