Islamic Extremism

Examples of Usage:  

In a Politico article (27 July 2018) entitled “With anti-Muslim laws, Europe enters new dark age” (link here), it states: “Islamic extremism is distinct from Islam and this distinction must be made clear at a government level. By enacting discriminatory laws in the guise of “protection” and social cohesion, Europe is slipping into pre-Renaissance religious intolerance, and aligning itself with the authoritarian regimes of the Middle East.” 

Extremism is distinct from Islam and it is true that this distinction must be made clear. However, using the term “Islamic extremism” does not allow this to happen.  

The term “Islamic extremism” is not a neutral term. Rather it is a term that implies there is something intrinsically “Islamic” about the extremism and that the faith of Islam (rather than a mixture / selection from the following: political ideology [5] , uncertainties around identity etc.) is the driver of the extremism. 

Research conducted by The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point has shown that, at least in the case of Daesh, “…the ability of the foreign fighters to develop an emotional and cognitive attachment to the jihadi community is based on other factors, which may be more related to cultural and political dimensions of their identities as Muslims in non-Muslim societies than religious triggers.” [6] [8]   

Statistical Trends 

Worldwide and Great Britain Corpus 

Worldwide Corpus 

The following – sorted by percentage – are the fifty most frequently used collocates of the word “Extremism” in the NOW Corpus. The “All” tab refers to the number of times the word in question appears in the Corpus while the “Freq” tab refers to the number of times it occurs within five words (to the left or the right) of the root word “Extremism”. So, if we take Islamic as an example, we see that 0.71% of all usages were in relation to extremism, thus yielding a high mutual information (MI) score of 6.54. 

Great Britain Corpus 

If we narrow our search to include results only from the British press, we get the following results below. It is clear looking at the table, that the term “Islamic Extremism” is much more prevalent in the British Press than the worldwide press.  

 Appendix A: The Hon. Justice Haddon-Cave’s ten-point guide to “Extremist Islamic Positions” [9]

First, a ‘Manichean’ view of the world. A total, eternal ‘Manichean’ worldview is a central tenet of violent Islamic extremism. It divides the world strictly into ‘Us’ versus ‘Them’: those who are blessed or saved (i.e. the “right kind” of Muslim) on the one hand and those who are to be damned for eternity (i.e. the “wrong kind” of Muslim and everyone else) on the other. For violent Islamic extremists, the “wrong kind” of Muslim includes moderate Sunni Muslims, all Shia Muslims, and many others who are “mete for the sword” and can be killed, and anyone who associates or “collaborates” with them. Violent Islamic extremists divide the world strictly into the Abode of Islam (Dar al-Islam), the Abode of Unbelief (Dar al-Kufr) and the Abode of War (Dar al-Harb). The ultimate agenda of violent Islamic extremists is the overthrow of all democratic states, including Muslim democratic states, and the creation of a global Caliphate or Islamic State and the imposition of a primitive, literalist interpretation of Sharia Law by force (as exemplified by e.g. ‘ISIS’). The clearest exposition of this ‘Manichean’ philosophy is to be found in Sayyid Qutb’s “Milestones” who called for a war against jahiliyyah (unbelief).   

Second, the reduction of jihad (striving in God’s cause) to qital (armed combat) (‘the Lesser Jihad’). An interpretation of jihad that simply equiparates jihad with qital and ignores the numerous peaceable meanings of jihad (and ‘the Greater Jihad’) would a priori be extreme. Such an interpretation would give jihad an exclusively violent meaning which it does not have.  

Third, the ignoring or flouting of the conditions for the declaration of armed jihad (qital), i.e. the established Islamic doctrinal conditions for the declaration of armed combat (qital) set out above. Thus, terrorist insurgency, ‘leaderless’ jihadist attacks by groups or individuals against civilians, or the waging of aggressive war against another country or people, cannot properly constitute lawful qital under Islamic doctrine. Accordingly, encouragement of such actions would, therefore, be classified as “extremist” Islamic positions.  

Fourth, the ignoring or flouting of the strict regulations governing the conduct of armed jihad, i.e. the stipulations in the Qur’an and the Sunna for the ethics of conducting qital set out above. Thus, the use of excessive violence, attacks on civilians, indiscriminate ‘suicide’ violence and the torture or the murder of prisoners would constitute violation of these regulations of jihad, and, therefore, be classified as “extremist” Islamic positions.  

Fifth, advocating armed fighting in defence of Islam (qital) as a universal individual religious obligation (fard al ‘ayn). Qital has been adjudicated from early to classical to modern times by the vast majority of Islamic scholars as being a collective religious obligation (fard al-kifaya) unless one is directly under attack. Thus, encouraging young Muslim men or women to believe that it was their individual religious duty to go off and ‘fight in the name of Allah’ would be an “extremist” Islamic position.  

Sixth, any interpretation of Shari’a (i.e. religious law laid down by the Qur’an and the Sunna) that required breaking the ‘law of the land’. Under Shari’a, Muslims are required to obey the law of the land, unless that law of the land explicitly required them to break the Shari’a .  

Seventh, the classification of all non-Muslims as unbelievers (kuffar). Extremist Islamists cite irreconcilable differences between belief (iman) and unbelief (kufr) and classify as all non-Muslims as unbelievers (kuffar). In mainstream Islam, however, ‘People of the Book’, i.e. Christians and Jews, are not classed as kuffar.  

Eighth, the extreme Salafist Islamism doctrine that the precepts of the Muslim faith negate and supersede all other natural ties, such as those of family, kinship and nation. This is redolent of the extreme Salafist Islamist outlook which cites absolute, irreconcilable differences between belief (iman) and unbelief (kufr)  

Ninth, the citing with approval the fatwa (legal opinions) of Islamic scholars who espouse extremist view (e.g. the Salafi-Wahabi scholar, Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Baz), or referring with approbation to notorious violent, extremist, Islamic ideologues (e.g. Sayyid Qutb and Abdullah Azzam).  

Tenth, any teaching which, expressly or implicitly, encourages Muslims to engage in, or support, terrorism or violence in the name of Allah.