Connor Monaco

Rob Cole

ENC2135

26 March 2017

The Myth of The Radical Islam Minority

Islam is a religion of peace, said former president Barack

Obama. When the president makes a claim like this, it is reasonable

that the majority of viewers will believe it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7k9x7XlTGTk

However, this is a misconception that is too commonly expressed to

the American people. The existence of radical Islam is very real, and to

an extent that is far too underreported today. As the American people

are misinformed of a serious international threat, the radical Islam

population only adds to its force. This is not just a force in the Middle

East, but a rapidly growing threat all around the world that caters to

supporters of all ages. Through numerical data and research, the myth

of radical Islam being in only the minority of all Muslims will be

debunked and proven to be nothing more than a myth.

There are close to 1.6 billion Muslims in the world today, with

around 3.3 million of them residing in the United States. With Islam

being the fastest growing religion in the world, its new adherents are

being drawn to a system of beliefs that began in the earliest stages of

Islam in what is known as Sharia Law. Sharia Law contains sets of

beliefs that can be coined as radical to the rest of the world. Beliefs

such as justified killings of adulterers, hand mutilation of thieves, and

honor killings or stoning of women. On top of the growing support of

Sharia Law, the expanding radical population is adopting support for

terrorist acts, terrorist organizations, and the forced implementation of

Sharia Law. To credibly survey the beliefs of the worldwide Islamic

population, the following information was recorded in a 2011 poll done

by Pew Research in Muslim majority countries. To begin analysis on the

radical Islam population, start with Indonesia, the worlds most densely

populated Muslim country with nearly 205 million believers. About fifty

percent of Muslims in Indonesia support Sharia Law as the official law

in their country as well as other countries. On top of that, seventy

percent of Muslims in Indonesia believe that the United States or Israel

is responsible for the 9/11 attacks. In Indonesia alone that equates to

about 143 million radicals. Egypt contains roughly eighty million

Muslims, with sixty five percent in favor of strict Sharia Law in their

country in addition to every other Islamic country (Pew Research). Also,

seventy percent of Egyptian Muslims had positive feelings about

Osama Bin Laden, which brings a total of fifty five million radicals in

Egypt. Pakistan has 179 million Muslims, with seventy six percent in

favor of strict Sharia Law in all Islamic countries, which adds on around

135 million radicals. Bangladesh is a smaller country, but has a dense

Islamic population of 149 Muslims. A whopping quarter of people

believe that suicide bombings and civilian targeting can be justified,

eighty two percent of people in favor of strict Sharia Law

implementation, and two thirds believe that honor killings of women

can be justified, which equates to nearly 122 million radicals. Seventy

five million Muslims live in Nigeria, with seventy one percent in favor of

Sharia Law, which comes to fifty three million radicals. With nearly

seventy five million Muslims residing in Iran, eighty three percent favor

Sharia Law, which results in around sixty two million radicals. Turkey

also has about seventy five million Muslims, with a third supporting the

belief that honor killings of women can be justified. That adds on

roughly twenty four million radicals. Morocco has thirty two million

Muslims, with just over three quarters of the population supporting

Sharia Law, which amounts to twenty-four and a half million radicals.

Thirty one million Muslims are in Iraq, with seventy eight percent

supporting honor killings of women, equating to roughly twenty four

million radical Muslims. Afghanistan inhabits twenty four million

Muslims, with seventy six percent in support of honor killings of

women, and a sweeping ninety nine percent of people in support of

strict Sharia Law as the official order of the land. So, almost all of

Afghanistans twenty four million Muslims are radicalized. Jordan, a

relatively smaller Islamic country of six million Muslims, has sixty

percent of its Muslims show approval to the radical organization

Hamas, which equates to almost four million radicals. In the Palestinian

areas there are 4.3 million Muslims. Of these Muslims, seventy eight

percent had positive feelings about Osama Bin Laden, eighty nine

percent support attacks on Israel, and eighty nine percent also favor

implementation of Sharia Law, which brings a total of 3.83 radical

Muslims. Although the previous countries stated are majority Middle

Eastern countries, it is also important to observe Western countries.

France contains about 4.7 million Muslims. Thirty five percent of these

Muslims believe suicide bombings can be justified, bringing 1.6 million

more radicals. Now move even further west to the United States. With

2.2 million Muslims, thirteen percent believe attacks on civilians can be

justified, and seventeen percent show favoritism to Al-Qaeda. Although

thirteen and seventeen percent seem to be just a sliver of the

population, that still equates to about half a million radical Muslims

living in the United States. Although the listing of the previous data

seems excessive, it is absolutely vital in determining the amount of

radicals in the Muslims population. Of the previous countries stated,

678,000,000 out of their total Muslim population of 942,400,000 are

radicalized. Pew Research did not survey other Muslim countries such

as Syria, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, and Libya. Considering these countries

are now under control of ISIS, it is safe to assume that there is a high

majority of radicals in the population, which would push the total

number of radicals over 800,000,000. Therefore, radical Islam is not in

the small minority of Muslims, but rather in the majority. With the Pew
Research Poll being performed in 2011, it leaves one to question the

growth and spread of radical Islam since then and into the future.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIo6AQ-pbXg

As numerical data of the

underreported Muslim majority was

examined and presented

previously, this video provides

anecdotal insight into everyday

actions of Muslims, particularly in

Iraq where the US Marine in the

video happens to be deployed. He

explains that in a conversation with

local Iraqis, he asked if, as an

American, he would be welcomed

on the streets of Iraq. Without

hesitation he receives the answer

absolutely not, and to go even

Pew Research further to say he would be killed,

beheaded, then most likely publicized to the Iraqi people. The Iraqis in

the discussion also state that this would be done by the everyday

locals and not even by militant groups such as ISIS or Al-Qaeda. This

goes to show that violent radicalism, and especially hatred towards the

American people, is rooted in a vast amount of the Muslims in these

countries. And although this outlook on Americans is described in the

Iraqi area, it is important to consider the push to spread these beliefs

to places all over the world.

As radical groups are growing in numbers around the globe, al-

Shabaab has an intelligent strategy to add to their force. Al-Shabaab is

a fundamentalist jihadist group that has declared its allegiance to Al-

Qaeda back in 2012. The spread of radicalism can bring one to

question why anyone with a decent mind would join such a hateful and

violent movement. Of the countries that are falling to radical groups

left and right, African countries are joining not primarily for the beliefs,

but for the money. The intentions and expectations of Kenyans joining

al-Shabaab were examined in a case study performed by John C. Amble

and Alexander Meleagrou Hitchens. After interviewing three former

members, all of them admitted that they were first drawn to the

militant group after being promised a wage of forty thousand Kenyan

Shillings per month, which is four times the national average (Amble

525). The interviewees also admitted that some potential recruits

were offered wages of up to two hundred thousand Kenyan Shillings

per month. They also added that most recruits that join for financial

purposes then adopt the ideology of radical Islam, as some recruits

were previous Christians. The power of money is heavily influential in

recruiting for radical groups, especially in poverty stricken countries

such as Kenya. Money is enough to get an ordinary person to adopt the

ideology of radicalism and only add the growing amount of radicals in

the world. However, some people are not just in it for the money, but

they are in it for much more personal benefits.

As all of these radical groups use violence to assert their

dominance, one might come to think what the rationality behind all of

it is. Why are people doing these horrible things and even more odd,

why are people joining? As stated in the previous paragraph, money

was a strong influential factor, but another aspect of growth in

radicalism has to do with the youth. For the youth, money is not

everything and radicalism serves to them a handful of personal

benefits as stated in Bertjan Doosjes journal on the determinants of

radicalization of Islamic youth in the Netherlands. The three

determinants of radicalization of the youth are personal uncertainty,

perceived injustice, and perceived group threat (Doosje 586). The first

determinant, personal uncertainty, applies to the youth who question

who they are, what they should do with their life and how, and what

the future holds for them. As they are uncertain of all these things,

radicalism provides a straightforward set of rules by which one lives

their life, which then removes the uncertainty. Perceived injustice is a

concerning determinant as it applies to anyone who believes they are

at a societal disadvantage. These certain people believe that the

authorities around them are illegitimate and that joining these radical

groups proves a rebellious point. This is concerning because there is a

significant emotion of perceived injustice in the black youth in America

today. This does not mean that they will adopt the ideology of

radicalism necessarily, but that the perceived injustice with black

youth in America and Islam youth in the Netherlands is fairly similar.

The last determinant is a perceived group threat. This means that the

supporters of an ideology, radicalism in this case, are aware of a threat

to their ideology. Because of this, they use violent acts to assert

dominance to any viable threats. These are all determinants of drawing

youth into radicalism, but the more important question to analyze is

why normal radical Muslims believe what they do is rational.

The rationalization behind radicalism is to act in ways that

benefit all Muslims. This means establishing a world wide Islamic state,

with the United States wiped from the future Islamic land as stated in

Quintan Wiktorowiczs journal on the Rationality of Radical Islam. Most

radical Islamic groups offer spiritual incentives that attract people to

radical activism, including salvation on judgment day and entrance to

Paradise in the afterlife (Wiktorowicz 427). However, salvation and

access to heaven is only achieved through individual radical acts of

high risk, including suicide bombings, civilian attacks, execution of

non-believers, etc. The growing population of Muslims is adapting to

this ideology of cost-benefit actions to achieve spiritual salvation and

with radicalism being in a large amount of Muslims, these actions are

now becoming the basic beliefs.

 Radicalism is a growing threat in the world, is often far

underreported. The myth that radical Islam is in only the tiny minority

of Muslims has now been debunked. It has been debunked by showing

that numerically, radicalism is in over half of all the Muslims on Earth.

Also, several journals have showed that along with the high number of

radical supporters, the number is only increasing through efforts to

push radicalism upon anyone in its path, no matter what age.

Radicalism is an issue not to be taken lightly, but to believe that it is

non-existent is just unrealistic in the world today.

Works Cited

Alonso, Rogelio. "The Spread of Radical Islam in Spain:

Challenges Ahead." Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, vol.
35, no. 6, June 2012, pp. 471-491. EBSCOhost,.

Amble, John C. and Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens. "Jihadist

Radicalization in East Africa: Two Case Studies." Studies
 in Conflict & Terrorism, vol. 37, no. 6, June 2014, pp. 523-
540.

Doosje, Bertjan, et al. "Determinants of Radicalization of

Islamic Youth in the Netherlands: Personal Uncertainty,
Perceived Injustice, and Perceived Group Threat." Journal
of Social Issues, vol. 69, no. 3, Sept. 2013, pp. 586-604.

Lipka, Michael. "Muslims and Islam: Key Findings in the U.S.

and around the World." Pew Research Center. Pew
Research, 22 July 2016. Web. 26 Feb. 2017.

Mantzikos, Ioannis. "Somalia and Yemen: The Links between

Terrorism and State Failure." DOMES: Digest of Middle
East Studies, vol. 20, no. 2, Fall2011, pp. 242-260.

Wiktorowicz, Quintan and Karl Kaltenthaler. "The Rationality of

Radical Islam." Political Science Quarterly (Wiley-
Blackwell), vol. 131, no. 2, June 2016, pp. 421-448.
Digital Components

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7TAAw3oQvg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7k9x7XlTGTk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGq9c0ycVDM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIo6AQ-pbXg

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/02/27/muslims-and-islam-
key-findings-in-the-u-s-and-around-the-world/
(Image in first paragraph)

Annotated Bibliography

Alonso, Rogelio. "The Spread of Radical Islam in Spain:

Challenges Ahead." Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, vol.
35, no. 6, June 2012, pp. 471-491. EBSCOhost,.
In this source, the spread of radicalism to Spain is examined. The
data from this source shows an increasing number of radicalized
 Muslim immigrants to Spain, and their building of radicalism in
the country. Practice of radicalism is observed in a growing
number of Mosques, and although the source regards to radical
growth in Spain, it shows that it can be spread and built upon
easily in other countries who do not stand against it.

Amble, John C. and Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens. "Jihadist

Radicalization in East Africa: Two Case Studies." Studies
in Conflict & Terrorism, vol. 37, no. 6, June 2014, pp. 523-
540.
This journal analyzes the process of Jihadist Radicalization in East
Africa. It discussed the motives and success of radicalization in
large parts of East Africa such as Kenya, as well as determinants
to how successful radicalization can be in certain East African
Areas. Again, although it is in East Africa, the examination of
radicalization motives can be taken into consideration when
discussing the threat of the same actions in the United States.

Doosje, Bertjan, et al. "Determinants of Radicalization of

Islamic Youth in the Netherlands: Personal Uncertainty,
Perceived Injustice, and Perceived Group Threat." Journal
of Social Issues, vol. 69, no. 3, Sept. 2013, pp. 586-604.
This journal researches the radicalization of the Islamic youth in the
Netherlands. It discusses the process in which Islamic children
are radicalized, and how things such as personal threat and
perceived superiority of Muslims can enable children to
radicalize. This is important because it shows the impacting that
invading radicals have on children and their efforts to grow
through children.

Lipka, Michael. "Muslims and Islam: Key Findings in the U.S.

and around the World." Pew Research Center. Pew
Research, 22 July 2016. Web. 26 Feb. 2017.
This source is poll from Pew Research that surveys the beliefs of
Muslims from the United States and around the world. The
survey includes the belief that Sharia should be the official law
for their residing country. This research poll is vital to the
argument of radical Islam, and is credible as Pew Research
conducted a poll that cannot really have a bias of some sort.

Mantzikos, Ioannis. "Somalia and Yemen: The Links between

Terrorism and State Failure." DOMES: Digest of Middle
East Studies, vol. 20, no. 2, Fall2011, pp. 242-260.
This journal examines the states of Somalia and Yemen, and their
relationships to terrorism in a failing state. The text provides
information of the history of terrorism in both Somalia and
 Yemen, and how it has led to a failed state. With them also being
failed states, it is also important to consider that these failing
states can be incubators for terrorism in the future as they lay
vulnerable to rising terrorist groups such as ISIS and Al-Shabaab.

Wiktorowicz, Quintan and Karl Kaltenthaler. "The Rationality of

Radical Islam." Political Science Quarterly (Wiley-
Blackwell), vol. 131, no. 2, June 2016, pp. 421-448.
This source discusses the rationality of radicalism. It does not discuss
justification of radicalism, but more so, why radicals commit the
violent acts that they do. This text will help provide background
details to the violent actions of radical Islam.
Digital Components

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7TAAw3oQvg

This video is a brief overview by Ben Shapiro of a Pew Research poll.

He discusses several countries around the world and their beliefs
on radicalism by the numbers. The title of the video is The Myth
of the Tiny Radical Muslim Minority and as Ben Shapiro breaks
down the numbers, he displays that radicalism is not in the
minority of Muslims in these countries, but rather a majority.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7k9x7XlTGTk

This video is of an address by former President Barack Obama. Simply

put, Obama claims that Islam is more a religion of peace, rather
than of violence. This is important to the essay, as it will provide
backup details to the overall myth that radicalism is only in a
small majority of Muslims. As the President of the United States,
his firm belief that Islam is peaceful spreads to the minds of
citizens and undersells the severity of the violence in Islam.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGq9c0ycVDM

This video also discusses beliefs of Muslims in several countries. Some

of the beliefs include the death penalty for those who leave the
Muslim religion, stoning of adulterers, and importantly the belief
that there is only one interpretation of Islam. The numbers in the
polls are way higher than just a minority of the population, and
countries commonly associated with terrorism such as
Afghanistan and Pakistan had the highest numbers. The most
important piece is that although the number of people who
commit these violent acts is small, the number of people who
believe in them is not small at all and is evidently a majority of
Muslims.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIo6AQ-pbXg

This video is a primary source video from a US marine deployed in Iraq

discussing the travel ban enforced by President Trump. He talks
more about the everyday actions of the Muslims in Iraq towards
Americans. He describes their predicted actions in a brutal
manner, that he would be killed, and made an example. He also
adds that this would be done by the locals, and not even by a
radical group such as ISIS. This goes to show that radicalism and
the ideology to exterminate any opposition is very real, even
amongst every day people.

Rhetorical Rationale

This project was an interesting one but a harder one certainly.

One thing I first did not find easy was finding a set of sources before

hand to be graded before starting the paper. I did not find this easy

because some sources I removed and some were added when the

deadline for the annotated bibliography passed. In terms of the essay

itself, it was enjoyable for me to write because the topic is one that

genuinely interests me. I found it extremely interesting when I was first

informed about the realities of radicalism in the world today, because

myself, like stated in the paper, was under the impression that

radicalism was only in a small majority of Muslims. Upon finding this

information, I decided to look into it a lot more and the numbers were

shocking to me and I believed it was enough to write my second

project on. One thing that was certainly hard was reaching the word

count. There was a lot to write about in regards to the topic but just not

enough to me. Most of the convincing evidence was in the numbers

and the videos, but I also added the whole aspect of the future of

radicalism and its growth to incorporate a feel for how it could become

even bigger. I found myself behind in the process of drafting as the first

draft was due when I returned from spring break, and I had an

insufficiently written rough draft at the time. The feedback I received

from my classmates was pretty helpful to me too. Caroline gave me

very detailed and specific things I could work on such as describing the

acts of radicalism to really put a picture in the heads of readers of how

bad it really is. After finishing this paper, I felt like I really could have

written better if I dedicated more time to it. However, I am looking

forward to the next class paper.