Islamic Religious Extremism - Term Paper Example

Islamic Religious Extremism Insert Insert The general overview on radicalization in the Muslim religion cuts across many factors. Philosophers, as well as preachers, have an enormous influence to Islam extremism. In addition, extremist groups are getting both financial as well as moral support from different countries that believe in the Islamic religion. Furthermore, lack of democracy in the Muslim state is another factor that promotes Muslim extremism. The act of extremism in the Muslim faith is spreading very first across the entire world because of the support from the deeply rooted individuals in that particular religion. Apart from the support from the supporter, Islam extremism has got a lot of opposition from western countries and other religions. Introduction Extremism is the act that that tends significantly to violate human rights, as well as the abuse of the rule of law. The Muslim religion believes that by exercising extremism they are doing right. They get the interpretation and understanding from their religious leaders among other philosophers, who have deeper understanding of the Muslim religion. Islamic extremism is given directions by the interpretation of the Islamic faith that believes that Islamic law is an inclusive of political and religious system. Since the Muslims believe that Allah gives the prescriptions for imposing sharia or law have to in the public sphere by a worldwide Islamic state. In addition, Islamic extremists take it as the only truly legitimate form of governance and reject the values of human right and democracy (Bernard, 2012). For this reason, the primary objective of Islamic extremist’s religion is the union of state and mosque under the sharia law. Individuals who stand for such an approach are called Islamists. Their philosophy is political Islam or Islamism. Some of the related terms for Islamic extremism comprise radical Islam and Islamic supremacy. Islamic extremists believe that they have a right to put in place the form of governance in Muslim territories, countries and, eventually and also extending it to the entire world. According to the Islamic extremists, they believe that they are promoting freedom and justice instituting sharia. In other countries that deeply rooted in Islam religion, the Islamic extremists explain sharia as a greater form democracy. In addition, Islamic extremists also have intermediate political targets that they consider that it will open way for the worldwide implementation of sharia (Hiber, 2009). Among their primary goals is the removal of nonMuslim soldiers from the Muslim land, and overthrow their enemys regime. Acts of Islamic extremism includes the violation of Human rights, terrorism, the implementation of sharia-based governance, mistreatment of non-Muslims and overall hostility to the Western democracy. Causes of the rise of Islamic extremism in the world Current Islamic extremism developed majorly because of Islamic revivalist movement, in the late 19th century. Islamic revivalism was a response to the perceived dimness of the Muslim world matched by the British Empire and the rise of secularism because of the increased influence of the Western culture in Muslim countries. Philosophers associated with Islamic revivalism preached a fresh understating of Islamic texts basing on goals of pan-Islamic unity and the erection of Islamic states basing on their sharia law. The rise of religious extremism in the world has to do majorly with four factors that include; the absence of the Muslim’s world of democratic, accountable governments, and disputes over contested territories. In addition, the failure of governments to address the problems arising rapidly from social, demographic and economic gives room to terrorist groups. Logistical and moral support from external actors and the breakdown in a particular country, as the established tradition by what religious clerics are independent and apply Koranic law to different circumstances. Government’s attempts combat the situation of Islam extremism One school of thought explains that breeding of the religion is through societal as well as political complaints. As a result, the school has it that extremists are increasing because of injustices committed by the Western governments and other armies in Muslim countries. As per the school, the Islamic extremism should be opposed to addressing these complaints of angry Muslim populations. It will be done by changing the foreign policy and political concessions in case of disagreements. In addition, improving the governance of Muslim states, dialog, and income redistribution will also help control terrorism (Laurence & Valise, 2006). In addition, the school of thought sticks that these grievances, raised by Islamic extremists, are just a reason to prove antagonism towards the Western countries. It further argues that the Islamic extremist worldview is frontrunners to the implementation of the grievances. Advocates of the school of thought indicate that the issues cannot account for every element of Islamic extremism, such as the abuse of human rights victimization of women in sharia-based societies. As per the school views, Islamic radicalism can only be managed by discouraging the ideology itself. Reformist Muslims that stand for an interpretation of Islam that gets along with modernity and Western democracy are dangerous to rebellious Islamic extremists. The sponsors of Islamic extremism Islamic extremism can spread naturally, but there is a known infrastructure that spreads it. The structure includes mosques, foreign governments, media and schools including social media as well as internet services and non-governmental institutions. For instance, US State Department has put in pace four governments as State Sponsors of Terrorism: Syria, Iran, Cuba and Sudan. The government of Iranian is the world’s largest promoter of terrorism in the world. The government of U.S. has also put into documentation the fact that Iran promotes terrorist groups like the Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas (Palmer & Palmer, 2008). In addition, Iran supports radical militias in Yemen and Iraq and participating in acts of terrorism around the world. On the other hand, Syrian government also funds Hezbollah and is a major ally of Iran. Historically, it has also offered its support to other terrorist groups across the country. Never the less, the support ended when the other groups supported the Syrian rebels trying to overthrow the Syrian regime. The government of Cuba is in support of non-Muslim terrorist groups in Latin America and is believed to accommodate not less than one Muslim terrorist who is wanted by the U.S. government. In addition, the non-Muslim groups that are supported by Cuban government, to be precise the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia are known to have links to Hezbollah. The Supporters of Islamic extremist ideology are mostly in the Muslim world, with Islamic terrorist groups getting double-digit support. In addition, such terror groups have even won elections; this includes the Hamass 2006 victory in the Gaza Strip and also the Muslim Brotherhoods 2012 victory in Egypt. The Islamist party also won the 2011 elections in Tunisia, which is the country that just began the "Arab Spring." However, the Islamic extremists takeover has brought about decisive backlashes. After a year in the government marred by Islamist power grabs, the widespread disapproval made the Egyptian army remove the Muslim Brotherhood from regime merely a year later after elections of the new government. Also Tunisias Islamic party, not wanting to encounter the same consequences as their Egyptian brothers, made the decision of stepping down from power after a massive protest by civilians against it (Willis, 2011). In what many people did find as a surprise to them, the government took a wisely and critical decision of resigning in January 2014. Such decision by government was a brave one in a lifetime since they were about to face severe consequences as their brothers in Egypt. Also in the West, the Islamic extremist groups together with their supporters to spread their ideology using a chain of front groups. For instance, the Iranian governments use of the Alavi Foundation in New York to pass its ideas to fellow Muslims. In addition, the extremist group has significant support from their religious leaders, which help in spreading their understanding to Corran and extremists. Examples of Islamic extremist groups The most well-known Islamic extremist group is called the Muslim Brotherhood. It is an international organization that believes in waging jihad through different means in order to put in place worldwide sharia rule. One of the stated means is through a process of cultural or civilization jihad, this given process follows the Brotherhood’s strategy of graduation. The Freedom and Justice Party in Egypt together with Hamas are some of the political and terrorist groups respectively which belong to the Brotherhood. According to Steve Emerson, who is the executive director of the Investigative Project on Terrorism, the majority number of Sunni terrorist groups that include, Al Qaeda, Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Hamas and The Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The formation of above groups is as a result of the Muslim Brotherhood. Other examples of Islamic extremist groups include; the Hezbollah, the Taliban, Jamaat Ul-Fuqra, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and various Salafist groups. Ideological opponents of Islamic extremists The majority of Islamic extremist’s enemies are any persons that do not follow the sharia-based governance or anyone who opposes Islamic extremist ideology with its agenda. Also, those Muslims that support a reformation in Islamic teaching that is favorable to critical examination, such as Western democracy, modernity, human rights, and separation of mosque and state are opponents of Islamic extremism. Joining the extremists group Individuals join extremist groups for various reasons; this includes the desire to promote specific political objectives, also in response to a variety of financial, spiritual, and emotional incentives. In addition to that, the groups also attract persons who, despite of their social class or economic background, can feel they have been underrated and treated as second class by the reigning government authorities and others. Meeting groups objectives The ability of extremists groups to meet their intended goals depends on four main factors. That is the accessibility to weapons, mastery of the art of public relations and the use of the media to promote their intentions. In addition, accessibility to intelligence sources and development of counterintelligence techniques. Finally, the establishment of corporate headquarters gave a significant contribution to their set objectives. Extremist groups display a diversity of motives and methods of operation, thus reflecting the widely varying situations in which they have risen and operated. Lucky extremist groups have got clear missions; they depend on the division of labor between young and uneducated foot soldiers and the better-educated elite operatives, and also have created a variety of fundraising techniques. Most of the groups depend mostly on the Internet to raise funds together with contributions from foreign governments. The religious extremist groups found in the Islamic world are immensely divided along ideological and sectarian lines. However, the stereotyped images of Islam as a monolithic religion predisposed towards the violence do not do any justice at all to the fact that most Muslims are peaceful. Such stereotypes also do fail to consider the multi-faceted complexity of those so-called Islamic groups that choose violence as a political strategy. References Bernard, D. (2012). Narrative landmines. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press. Bernard develops a vivid illustration of the issues which cannot account for every element of Islamic extremism, such as the abuse of human rights victimization of women. Moreover, the Islamic radicalism management can be achieved via discouraging the ideology itself. The association has groups which are known to be reformist Muslims and stand for an interpretation of Islam that gets along with modernity and Western democracy are dangerous to rebellious Islamic extremists. Hiber, A. (2009). Islamic militancy. Detroit: Green haven Press. Islamic extremists believe that they have a right to put in place the form of governance in Muslim territories, countries, eventually and extend it to the entire world. With regard to Islamic extremists, they believe that they are promoting freedom and justice instituting sharia. The author depicts that Islamic extremists also have intermediate political targets that they consider will open way for the worldwide implementation of sharia (Hiber, 2009). The primary goals for the associations are the removal of nonMuslim soldiers from the Muslim land, and overthrow their enemys regime Laurence, J., & Vailsse, J. (2006). Integrating Islam. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press. Documented here is that extremist groups display a diversity of motives and methods of operation, thus reflecting the widely varying situations in which they have risen and operated. The association that forms the extremist groups found in the Islamic world is immensely divided along ideological and sectarian lines. Monolithic religious group are predisposed towards the violence does not do any justice at all to the fact that most Muslims are peaceful. Palmer, M., & Palmer, P. (2008). Islamic extremism. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Palmer documents that the rise of religious extremism is dependent on the absence of the Muslim’s world of democratic, accountable governments, and territorial disputes. There is a recognizable failure of governments to address the problems arising rapidly from social, demographic and economic gives room to terrorist groups. Logistical and moral support from external actors and the breakdown in a particular country, as the established tradition by what religious clerics are independent and apply laws to different circumstances. Willis, L. (2011). Extremism. Detroit: Greenhaven Press. The book elucidates on the extremist groups and admission regulation for various reasons; this includes the desire to promote specific political objectives, in response to a variety of financial, spiritual, and emotional incentives. In addition the author elaborates on how they attract persons who, despite of their social class or economic background, can feel they have been underrated and treated as second class by the reigning government authorities and others. Read More