Islamist extremism finds strength in a global community

In a full Senate committee hearing on “The Roots of Violent Islamist Extremism and Efforts to Counter it,” witnesses spoke about where violent Islamist extremism begins and what steps the United States should take to maintain strong national security.

Maajid Nawaz, director of the Quilliam Foundation and former member of the Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT), spoke about the ways to differentiate between Islam and Islamists. He said that Islamists believe Islam is a political ideology not a religion, that the religious code must become state law, the members identify with a global Islam community as a political community not a religious community, and that the ideology needs to be represented by a block, an expansionist state that must reach non-Islamist states and liberate them from communism or capitalism.

Nawaz spoke about how as a confused youth, struggling to find his identity he turned to the HT and was given a ideology and was connected to a global community. He said this was a common occurrence among third generation Muslims who have grown up in countries and then struggle to find themselves and could happen in the U.S. The danger with HT and other Islamist groups is that they connect local conflicts to a global level and restructures those conflicts to a fight between truth and falsehood, Islam against everything else, and could lead members to violent extremism, he said.

Peter Mandaville, associate professor of Government and Politics at George Mason University, gave several ways that violent Islamist extremism begins: there is a universal approach to religion which drops cultural values making it portable and easily decontextualized, it also targets those newly introduced to the religion or youths suffering from an identity crisis, and provides a sense of identity and framework which greatly affects “easily influenced young people trying to find their way in the world.” Mandaville said that while HT has ranks of passive members, the worldview it espouses could easily lead members to military action.

Zeyno Baran, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, cautioned U.S. government agencies to know everything about Islamist organizations before bestowing them legitimacy as “moderate” Muslims. FBI agents have been trained by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which was an organization connected with Islamist extreme organizations and is completely self-defeating, she said. Baran urged the United States to engage in countering Islamist ideology from spreading in the United States.