Religion and Politics

Question 1

How are Muslims regarded in the mainstream media?

Answer 1

As extremist, oppressive of “their” women, backward, untrustworthy,and dangerous. Islam is inherently violent, more violent than other religions and non-religious ideologies.

Question 2

Why do we have almost no information on al Queda, IS, ‘jihadis’?

Answer 2

We almost have no information on these groups since mainstream media provide very little information about the groups, their appeals, grievances, and perhaps the job they promised.

Question 3

What do we know about al Qaeda, IS, and ‘jihadis’?

Answer 3

What we do know is that these groups reject peace as a matter of principle, that they hunger for genocide, and that their religious views are incapable of change.

Question 4

Are all jihadis islamic?

Answer 4

no

Question 5

What is al-Qaeda the byproduct of?

Answer 5

the US proxy war in Afghanistan

Question 6

What is al-Qaeda?

Answer 6

The organization is fluid and operated as a geographically diffuse network. The group does not demand the establishment of caliphate/Islamic state.

Question 7

What is IS?

Answer 7

• requires territory to remain legitimate

- it also requires top-down structure of authority to rule, like a modern state

Question 8

Did al-qaeda intend to make a state?

Answer 8

no

Question 9

What is the sole basis of IS?

Answer 9

To make a state, control territory.

Question 10

What are the salafis?

Answer 10

• the forefathers are the Prophet himself and his earliest companions, whom the Salafis (including IS) honour and emulate as the model for all behaviour, including warfare and family life. Salafism represents a commitment to follow and emulate the ways of the pious forefathers the contemporary world

Question 11

What doe ‘jihad’ mean, literally?

Answer 11

struggle

Question 12

Why have Muslims throughout the ages debated on the meaning of jihad?

Answer 12

• on its defensive and expansionist, legitimate and illegitimate forms
• disagreed whether jihad is an individual or communal duty

Question 13

When did ‘jihadists’ emerge?

Answer 13

After 911, the Islamists who ‘struggled’ with the use of violence to achieve their political goals

Question 14

True or voice, most jihadis are Salafis, not vice versa. Regular Muslims are not necessarily Salafis.

Answer 14

True

Question 15

How are jihadis viewed in the west?

Answer 15

• in the West, there is very little recognition of what jihadi group like IS is, its genuine appeal, and even less the joy it engenders
• the seriousness of IS’s mission is denied: the jihadis are nihilistic, a bandwagon for losers

Question 16

What is the reality of the contemporary jihadis?

Answer 16

In reality, the movement emerged in response to the failure of nation-states in the Middle east.

Question 17

How has the jihad movement managed to attract foreign young adults to their cause?

Answer 17

Through their media

Question 18

How do many young adults become radicalized?

Answer 18

• many young adults became radicalized in their process of finding a form of identity in a flattened world
• they feel disenfranchised by both the country they live in and their country of origin
• but they didn’t want to be a treet gangster
• they wanted a new identity that provides purpose, joy, and freedom from “the vice of a meaningless material world.”

Question 19

Do many of the young jihad have a religious background?

Answer 19

Many either have no traditional religious education or “born again” to religion through jihad call.

Question 20

What does the johad movement promise young people?

Answer 20

• Jihadis movement promised them joy: the joy of joining for a great cause; the joy that comes from satiation of anger and the gratification of revenge
• these messages resonated with foreign young adults who were longing for adventure, glories, ideals, significance, and joy.
• In the process too find they identity, the young adults were ready to make costly sacrifice (go to prison, one one’s life, have one’s family suffer).

Question 21

What ere the outcomes of young people joining the jihadis?

Answer 21

The outcomes: these young foreign fighters are the most dangerous and fearless. They fight to win and they fight to die.

Question 22

What inspired the most lethal assailant in the world today?

Answer 22

Is not so much the Qur’an or religious teachings, but rather a thrilling cause and a call to action that promises to glory and esteem. For the young adults, this glory and esteem in the eyes of friends are more than the eternal promise city life and shopping malls.