Between the Christmas Day airliner attack, the recent spate of domestic terrorism arrests and the Fort Hood shooting, people are understandably concerned about homegrown terrorism involving Muslim-Americans. And while the potential for this form of terrorism is real, it is largely overstated.
Despite a troubling spike in terrorism arrests and incidents in 2009, violent terrorist activity by Muslim-Americans since 9/11 is rare. In the 100 months since 9/11, 139 Muslim-Americans have been accused of planning or carrying out terror-related violence. To put this in perspective, more than 136,000 people have been murdered in the United States since 9/11, and only 31 of those murders were committed by these Muslim-Americans.
Together with University of North Carolina sociology professor Charles Kurzman and Duke University religion professor Ebrahim Moosa, I have been studying Muslim-Americans for the past two years to learn about how they deal with the threat of radicalization within their communities and to identify ways that may help prevent home-grown terrorism in the future.
We found that:
• Muslim-American organizations and the vast majority of individuals who we interviewed firmly reject the radical extremist ideology that justifies the use of violence to achieve political ends.
• Muslim-Americans have taken a number of positive steps to reduce the potential for radicalization in their communities. They have consistently spoken out against terrorist incidents, and counseled or sometimes cast out from mosques and community groups those expressing radical views. Muslim-Americans also provide information to law enforcement about radical individuals who might engage in violence.
• Muslim-Americans feel the strain of living in America during the post-9/11 era. They perceive both official and societal discrimination, endure negative portrayals in the media and worry about the many barriers to assimilation and participation in mainstream American life.
• Muslim-Americans are responding to these concerns through increased political activity, community-building activities and forming a strong identity as a religious sub-group.
• Counterterrorism officials should take heed of these findings. Actions that distance Muslim-Americans from mainstream society and increase social isolation will likely reduce productive cooperation with law enforcement and possibly contribute to the conditions that lead to radicalization. Continue reading
GOATMILK: An intellectual playground 