ISLAM AND THE RADICAL MINORITY MYTH

Radicalism, we are continuously told, is a small minority within the endless, confusing depths of Islam. The vast majority, if not all, Muslims are peaceful, because Islam is peace, right? The first red light with these statements that the politicians, media and apologists alike are quick to ram down the throat of anyone who dares to discuss the never ending atrocities happening worldwide in the name of religion, is the blind and all encompassing claim that Islam is peace. Islam is no peace; Islam is submission. Total, deliberately blind, irrevocable submission to Allah through the message passed down to Muhammad and recorded in the Qur’an. The second red light is the application of common sense to the claims that radicalism is a minority; how is such a tiny, almost insignificant minority having such fatal and devastating effects on human life across half of the globe? Why has the surely overpowering, vast majority not squashed out the unwanted, unsupported radical minority destroying the image of peace they claim Islam is? And if radical actions carried out with blood in the name of this “peaceful” Islam, why is there always a deafening silence in the wake of innocent, non Muslim people being slaughtered by Muslims, in the name of Islam?

So is radicalism a small minority in Islam, or is this simply a politically correct pacifier fed to the blissfully unaware masses?

When looking at the concept of radical Muslims, it does not mean jihadists/terrorists only. A radical is not always a jihadist, and a jihadist is not always a radical. In fact, the vast majority of radicals never engage in jihad – they just support it. In this article I am addressing the every day, average Muslim, many of whom claim or are claimed to be moderate Muslims.

For the purpose of this article, in the interest of looking at the radical element of Islam, radicalism is defined as; support of implementation of strict sharia law, terrorists and terrorist acts, honour killings, female genital mutilation, and so on and so forth. By researching online, and collecting information from various sources and statistical data research, I found the following.

In this video by Ben Shapiro, survey data from the following certainly does not support the theory that radicalism is a minority, side show feature of Islam. All data presented is from PEW research, and defines radical as outline above.
Indonesia -which has the largest population of Muslims at approximately 205 million Muslims, of which 143 million hold radical beliefs

Egypt – 80 million Muslims of which 55.2 million hold radical beliefs

Pakistan – 179 million Muslims of which 135.4 million hold radical beliefs

Bangladesh – 149 million Muslims of which 121.9 million hold radical beliefs

Nigeria – 75.7 million Muslims of which 53.7 million hold radical beliefs

Iran – 74.8 million Muslims of which 62.1 million hold radical beliefs

Turkey – 74.7 million Muslims of which 23.9 million hold radical beliefs

Morocco – 32.4 million Muslims of which 24.6 million hold radical beliefs

Iraq – 31.9 million Muslims of which 24.3 million hold radical beliefs

Afghanistan – 24 million Muslims of which 24 million radicals hold radical beliefs

Jordan – 6.4 million muslims of which 3.8 million hold radical beliefs

Palestinian areas – 4.3 million Muslims of which 3.83 million hold radical beliefs

Research also shows that in non Islamic countries;

France – 4.7 million Muslims of which 1.6 million hold radical beliefs

Great Britain – 2.8 million Muslims of which 2.2 million hold radical beliefs

US 2.6 million Muslims of which over 500,000 hold radical beliefs

This only shows 12 of the 49 Islamic countries in the world, and only 3 western countries where populations of Muslims reside. Of the mentioned countries, which is not even half of the total global Muslim population, a total of 680,030,000 Muslims hold radical beliefs out of the total 942 million Muslims in those countries. This is more than half, not just a fraction, over half of the Muslim populations mentioned are considered, by definition, radicalised.

We know from countries like Saudi Arabia adhering to strict sharia law and the high radical jihadism in countless other countries, that the same high percentages of radical beliefs exist in those countries too. Which undeniably takes the number of radical Muslims to well over half of the entire Muslim population world wide. Which really begs to differ to the tiny minority claim.

But let’s keep looking;

27% of Young French Muslims (1.62 million) back the Islamic State, poll finds source

A PEW research published a study in 2007 under the name Muslim Americans Middle Class and Mostly Mainstream (Released May 22, 2007). It revealed that a large number of Muslims in the West support suicide bombings (mass murders). The numbers are probably much higher today. source

More than 42 Million Muslims support ISIS and support is growing. The study, based on four recent polls, reveals the shocking level of support for the caliphate around the world. Ryan Mauro of the Clarion Project, which carried out the research, warned that “ISIS is only a fraction of what it could potentially become”. He said: “If we don’t act quickly, this is still going to grow – and what we’re looking at today is going to look like the good old days compared to the future.” More than 8.5million people view ISIS positively, and around 42million view them somewhat positively, according to the data. source

In a recent survey conducted by AlJazeera.net, the website for the Al Jazeera Arabic television channel, respondents overwhelmingly support the Islamic State terrorist group, with 81% voting “YES” on whether they approved of ISIS’s conquests in the region. Al Jazeera

Palestinians have the highest percentage support for Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda – PEW statistics

Pew Poll Analysis: A Billion Muslims Want Sharia Law source

BBC Poll: 49% of UK Muslims endorse hate preachers; 11% support Jihad; 27% support Charlie Hebdo execution BBC

The number of deaths from terrorism increased by 61% between 2012 and 2013, a study into international terrorism says. There were nearly 10,000 terrorist attacks in 2013, a 44% increase from the previous year, the Global Terrorism Index 2014 report added. The report said militant groups Islamic State, al-Qaeda, Boko Haram and the Taliban were behind most of the deaths.

This is only a fraction of the data and information available online. Don’t take my word for it, research for yourself. Use the links provided or start your own google search and start fresh.

The issue of radicalism is very clearly not a minor element of Islam. Many parts, hundreds of verses in fact, of the Qur’an are radical. It is impossible to deny that there is a global epidemic of Islamist extremism, resulting in distorted perceptions of reality and the world, which is proving fatal for all too many innocent people, muslims included. This article is not an attack against all muslims, because there are millions of peaceful muslims who do not share these radical views. But these are issues that must be discussed openly and honestly, and addressed by muslims and non muslims alike for there to be any hope of peace and functional multi-religion and secular societies.

Reezy Smith, TTEONB

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