ISLAM AWARENESS
What’s the difference between Islam and Radical Islam ?
The issue of whether the religion of Islam is a faith that endorses extremism, and more specifically violent extremism, or is used and abused by extremist groups for notional objectives, is an important one. This query continues to be a recurrent theme at different levels in world politics.
The debate about Islam and extremism has become more potent in the decades following the advent of the Islamic government of Iran in 1979, the jihadist resistance to the Soviet invasion and occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, and al-Qaeda’s 11 September 2001 terror attacks on the United States.
The rise of various ideologically linked violent-extremist networks and groups—including al-Qaeda, Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, Abu Sayyaf Group, Mujahidin Indonesia Timur and Jemaah Islamiyah—has threatened the stability of many states and challenged the sanguinity of the international order.
Hence, scholars, policymakers, commentators and community leaders of different ideological and political persuasions have come up with various descriptors to try to make sense of where Islam stands in relation to extremism.
They prominently include political Islam, reformist Islam, moderate Islam, radical Islam, extremist Islam, Salafist Islam, Wahhabi Islam and Deobandi Islam, or a combination of these.
Do these terms capture the essence of Islam as a communal faith and way of life, or do they indicate that the Quran is open to a range of interpretations, including the ones that can justify violence and terrorism?
The challenges posed by violent Salafism and the potential solutions that should be considered. The book has a strong regional dimension, with a focus on the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.
While urging the authorities to be cognisant of the distinction between different strands of Islamism, the author alerts them to what he identifies as a fundamentalist theological–ideological amalgam that has been called Salafism in Southeast Asia.
This brand of Salafism has never had wider space than since 9/11. The killings of Osama bin Laden in 2011, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2019 and many of their main operatives and the return to power of the Taliban in Afghanistan have not seriously diminished opportunities for violent Salafist jihadis. The defeat of the US and its NATO allies in Afghanistan was a significant shot in their arms.
Islamism. A recent UN Security Council report makes it clear that the Taliban’s relations with al-Qaeda have regained strength in Afghanistan. The group constitutes a major security threat, despite its denial of this and the existence of other violent extremist groups, such as the Khorasan branch of the Islamic State, in the country.
The point about the Islamic State Khorasan is that, while it is a rival to the Taliban, many of its members are renegade Taliban.
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