Who gets radicalised and why? The answer to this question is more complex than meets the eye. As Sufi representatives meet in Delhi, let’s explore the Muslim case. There are certain convenient myths like “Islam is more prone to radicalisation” or that “integration prevents radicalisation” or even that “clever propaganda produces radicalised youth”. The first of these myths reflects a post hoc logical fallacy. Just because there are radicalised Muslims, it does not mean that Islam is more prone to radicalisation than other religions. There have been radicals in almost every faith and ideology.
Another post hoc fallacy suggests that integration facilitates terrorism. That is far-fetched. It is estimated that tens of thousands of Muslim youths from 90 countries have joined the Daesh (ISIS), with some coming from migrant families in Europe. That iota of the migrant community is radicalised despite being integrated not because of it. Instead, the suggestion by Prem Mahadevan that personal crises, even a failed marriage, may play a role in flipping the youths sounds plausible, although that too does not lend itself to generalisation. Other testimonial evidence points to the search of identity and even curiosity. Theories abound and research would continue, but some facts can be established.
Radicalisation does not occur in isolation. Muslims around the world hardly form a coherent Muslim public opinion, but there is almost unanimous recognition of the painful fact that Muslims are fraught in many parts of the world. There is the feeling that neo-imperialism continues in economic, political, cultural and religious domains. Too many Muslims live in polities that are badly governed. Too many wars and conflicts occur in those countries causing tremendous human suffering. Most of the humanitarian relief operations take place in Muslim majority countries. Look at how sectarian and dysfunctional Syria is causing major distress to its citizens and neighbours. Those who are living in well-governed spaces do sympathise with the suffering of those who are not that lucky. They also suffer from stereotyping. Misery creates fertile ground for radicalisation. A lot of that misery happens in Western Asia, where a viable regional order, once destroyed at the end of World War I, is yet to be established.
Secondly, there is somewhat a void in the ideological battlefield. It is necessary but not enough to remind that Islam is a religion of peace. Radical organisations point to real travails that many suffer directly or witness through social media and employ an effective propaganda strategy to help steer people towards their wicked methods and organisations. Propaganda alone does not radicalise, but helps tip the balance. Efforts need to be deployed, not the least by Muslims themselves, at the ideological stage to counter abusive propaganda. As Charlie Winter argued, jihadist propaganda employs narratives such as brutality, victimhood, war, belonging and utopianism. Each one requires an answer. Propaganda promises both immediate change and long-term transformation of the malicious present into an auspicious future. Such utopianism is where the ideological plot thickens. People who want to transform the Muslim state of affairs need to be shown that the future happiness, peace, security and prosperity of the Muslims around the world lies not in fighting the contemporary flawed civilisation but in attaining and surpassing it through education, modernisation, innovation and sheer hard work. Democracy, secularism, modernity, accountability, the rule of law, sending girls to school are not alien to faith. There is more to be achieved by producing scientists, democrats, organising around charitable and development work, reasserting humanitarian tenets of Islam than by promising empty utopias and looking high and low for excuses for violence. In this context, I remind myself of the goal set out by Japanese electronic company mogul, Konosuke Matsushita, at the end of World War II. He had pledged that Japan would again be a power among nations. And, this time it would be peaceful.
Burak Akcapar is a Turkish ambassador, professor and author. You can follow him on his twitter handle @akcapar.
Read more: