How to tackle Islamic extremism and prevent terror attacks: ten simple steps

Jun 9, 2017 by

by Andrew Carey, CEN

Theresa May acknowledged on Monday that the extremist ideology of ‘Islamism’ is behind the terrorism we are seeing in London and Manchester and, sadly, further afield. Simplistic ideas that foreign policy fuels extremism should be consigned to the dustbin.

1.  Corbyn is right to say that British and US foreign policy, including our support for the so called Arab Spring, may have led to ungoverned spaces that extremist militias and terror groups have come to dominate. But those who claim that we are being attacked in retaliation for our foreign policy are wholly wrong.

The extremism of Wahhabism and Salafism long predates the modern terrorist movement. The ideologues of Islamism – Hasan al-Banna, Sayyid Qutb, Abul Ala Maududi – formed and fomented their ideas in the first half of the 20th century. Islamism is simply a form of political Islam that believes that the Qur’an is basically a blueprint of the Islamic State that must be imposed upon modernity.

In its latest form Islamism has combined with identity politics and information technology in a highly combustible mix.

2.  Politicians must desist from having the arrogance and presumption to think that they can declare what is and what is not Islamic. We constantly hear the refrain that ‘Islam is a religion of peace’ or that this is a perversion of Islam. It is not for politicians, or indeed for leaders of other faiths, to make such declarations.

We must empower Muslims themselves to make such statements, especially the real moderates and reformers, and not just those Islamist community leaders who are competing for attention across our media.

3.  Challenge sexism in the Muslim community. This means cracking down on any form of mediation and resolution that relies on principles derived from Sharia that contradict equality laws. This also means ensuring that women’s rights are on a par with men’s in marriage and divorce. It is also about listening to women and ensuring that women leaders from the Muslim community including those who have been subject to so-called ‘honour’ violence or discrimination are heard loudly in the public square.

4.  Defend free speech against attempts to make special protections for religion, and especially Islam. The threat of violence prevents British newspapers from publishing the supposedly blasphemous ‘Danish cartoons’ for example or certain front covers of Charlie Hebdo . But we should not entertain the idea for one moment that non-Muslims are subject to religious prohibitions on depictions of Muhammad.

Islam should be subjected to exactly the same criticism, satire and ridicule as any other religion, ideology or idea. We got rid of blasphemy laws at the beginning of the 21st century: we should not smuggle them back into law under the guise of ‘Islamophobia’ or ‘hate speech’.

5.  Oppose the sharia movement. Wherever sharia is imposed throughout the world, the rights of minorities are restricted and shrunk. Sharia law is an attempt to impose medieval civil and criminal codes on modern societies in ways that do not take account of pluralism, secularism and human rights. This is an ideological war within Islam but all of us who share in the inheritance of the West should make sure that we are on the right side of this struggle.

6.  Freedom of religion must be asserted globally. The right of people to reject their faith altogether, or convert to another faith entirely, must be protected. Muslims themselves often quote their holy book that there must be no compulsion in religion but then regard converts to atheism or Christianity as ‘apostates’ who must be punished by death. Mainstream Muslim notions about ‘apostasy’ should be challenged at every opportunity.

7.  Campaign for minority rights in Muslim-majority countries and states and defend Christian minorities from terrible persecution. In particular, western political and religious leaders should start talking about reciprocity. Exactly the same religious freedoms afforded to Muslims in the West should be available to Christian minorities.

Surely it is not too much to ask for Christians in Saudi Arabia to have the right to worship?

8.  The business end of preventing terrorism is to prevent Jihadis crossing borders unchecked and especially to check, detain, prosecute and punish those returning to Britain after training in Libya and Syria.

9.  It is time to ignore the community leaders who cavil and complain about the Prevent strategy and reach out to Muslims themselves. For far too long, governments and local authorities have assumed that in order to reach the Muslim community you have to do so through leaders. In reality, there is no hierarchical structure in Islam that corresponds to Christian churches, and there is not one single monolithic community but many. Politicians and civil servants should reach out to Muslims directly as voters, taxpayers, benefit claimants, pupils, and patients – through the many ways in which they encounter the British state.

10.  Tests and questions to immigrants should be based much less on eliciting support for ambiguous British values, and much more on gauging whether those applying to become British citizens have a basic understanding of the freedoms and obligations they must subscribe to. Those freedoms include a commitment to secular liberal democracy, the independence of the judiciary, the separation of church and state, freedom of religion and freedom of speech.

Finally, these 10 steps will not eradicate Islamist extremism or terrorism. Political leaders and voters talk about policy initiatives, police numbers and antiterror strategies as though there is a way of completely stopping terrorism.

The truth is that we are probably the best-protected country in the world. The fact that terrorists find it extremely difficult to get hold of weapons and make bombs in the UK means that the future of terrorism here is largely about low-tech shock tactics including vehicle collisions and stabbings. It is impossible for the police to prevent these attacks, which is why the only way ahead is to integrate Muslim communities, educate young Muslims, and challenge political Islam wherever it is encountered – at home or abroad.

Church of England Newspaper June 9 2017

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