Topic : Islamic Fundamentalism and terrorism

Introduction

Islamic fundamentalist terrorism has become the single most influential phenomenon of the first
years of the new millennium. The Islamic commandment of jihad emphasizes the need to fight
for one’s faith, and the immediacy of that need. Thus, while affected by concrete economic,
social and political conditions which prevail at a given time in each Islamic country, they tend to
be vulnerable to waves of fundamentalism. By linking the historical development of Islamic
terrorism to the basic nature of fundamentalist Islam, it provide evidence that these events are
indeed rooted in the basic nature of Islamic fundamentalism.

Islamic Fundamentalism
The term ‘fundamentalism’, today a religio-political perspective found in many if not all major
religions in the contemporary world. Most disturbingly, it is associated with variant forms of
religious extremism and thus religiously-oriented terrorism, in particular – though by no means
exclusively – that of an Islamic ilk. Movements of a fundamentalist type are evident in Islam,
certainly, but they may be found also in Christianity, in Hinduism, in Judaism and other religious
communities. Contemporary fundamentalism is not the sole province of any one religion.1
Contemporary terrorism is often equated with religious terrorism, and more so with Islam. The
image of an “Islamic danger” emerged, because jihadi violence is no longer confined to countries
in the Middle East but, also, poses a threat to the domestic security of Western states. Like all
stereotypes, the image of so-called “Islamic terrorism” helps to heuristically cope with a complex
subject. Such mental shortcuts are at the expense of details, subtle relations and broader
background, and refer to two complexities that are sometimes poorly understood: terrorism and
Islamic fundamentalism. While religious fundamentalism in general isn’t necessarily related to
violent or even terrorist activism this is the case with jihadism. Jihadism refers to a certain form
of Islamic social movement – deterritorialized and loosely connected through an ideology – that
employs a heterodox form of jihad as a mean to fight secular-democratic influences and to assert
fundamentalists beliefs.2

1
Douglas Pratt, Terrorism and Religious Fundamentalism: Prospects for a Predictive Paradigm. Marburg
Journal of Religion: Volume 11, No. 1 (June 2006) pdf.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/33050992_Terrorism_and_Religious_Fundamentalism_Prospects_for_a_P
redictive_Paradigm
2
A Profile of Religious Fundamentalism and Terrorist Activism Defence Against Terrorism Review
Vol. 2, No. 1, Spring 2009, pp. 51-71. https://www.tmmm.tsk.tr/publication/datr/volume3/04-
ProfileofReligious_Fundamentalism_and_Terrorist%20Activism.pdf

1
Jihad
Islamic terrorism, derives from an extreme interpretation of Jihad, is as the core of the religious
wave of terrorism. Scholarship of radical Islamic terrorism elaborates the concept of ‘Jihad’ in
the Muslim religion.3 Knapp explores the history of the term to recent days and how it has been
perverted by Muslim extremists as part of their violent campaign against the West. In his
discussion he explores the concept of 'Jihad' as a form of 'struggle' in the Islamic thought with
the purpose of spreading the Muslim belief throughout the world.4 The common and agreed
components of applying Jihad among the different denominations of Islam derive from the
classic concept of Jihad in the Islamic scriptural sources (i.e. the Quran). Originated in the 7th
century with the creation of Islam, the classic concept consists of the principles of Jihad as a
communal obligation to achieve a unified Muslim realm as superior to all other faiths, inter alia,
through an armed action against the so called “enemies” of Islam. Jihad is indeed a religious
struggle between monotheists and polytheists. However, extending of Muslim territory does not
mean the annihilation of non-Muslims and peace treaties of limited duration are allowed. 5
Extreme Islamic organizations such as the Muslim Brotherhood, EIJ (Egyptian Islamic Jihad),
al Qaeda, Hamas, and Hezbollah are among those who carry the perversion of Jihad into an
indiscriminate violent campaign. With the ongoing narrative and accusation that the West attacks
the Muslims of the world, Palestinian land had been stolen from the Muslims by Israel, and that
Saudi-Arabia is occupied by the U.S., they justify an armed Jihad under the new and unique
situation of the Muslim population. Corresponding with the extreme Islamic medieval scholar
Ibn Taymiyya, radical Islamists assert that Jihad has shifted from a communal obligation to an
individual one as god is the current ruler and leader of the struggle. Moreover, Muslim leaders
and states who conduct peaceful relations with the West are apostates and hence a violence
against them is justified.6
Islamic Fundamentalist Terrorism
Terrorism has become part of human history since the late nineteenth century and most
prominently since the second half of the twentieth century. The use of terrorism has never been

3
Shay Shiran, Islamic Terrorism in the United States – the association of religious fundamentalism with
social isolation & paths leading to extreme violence through processes of radicalization.pdf
https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Islamic-Terrorism-in-the-United-States-%E2%80%93-the-of-%26-Shiran/
8183eda18d91f682113ce52229deaee7cba96385
4
Michael G. Knapp, The Concept and Practice of Jihad in Islam pdf,
https://press.armywarcollege.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2132&context=parameters
5
Shay Shiran, Islamic Terrorism in the United States – the association of religious fundamentalism with
social isolation & paths leading to extreme violence through processes of radicalization.
https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Islamic-Terrorism-in-the-United-States-%E2%80%93-the-of-%26-Shiran/
8183eda18d91f682113ce52229deaee7cba96385
6
Shay Shiran, Islamic Terrorism in the United States – the association of religious fundamentalism with
social isolation & paths leading to extreme violence through processes of radicalization.
https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Islamic-Terrorism-in-the-United-States-%E2%80%93-the-of-%26-Shiran/
8183eda18d91f682113ce52229deaee7cba96385

2
restricted to a single country or ideological apparatus. It has become a tactic which manifests
national, ideological and religious grievances all over the world. For many years scholars
studying terrorism have agreed that despite the horrible outcome of their deeds, terrorists used to
stick to some rules. The Islamic revolution in Iran introduced a new type of terrorism which was
inspired by religious causes and supported by revolutionary theocratic regimes. Although
religion had played a dominant role in the eruption of Christian, Jewish and Hindu terrorism over
the years, the expansion of terrorism inspired by Islam was dramatic. Despite the fact that from
1995 until 2000 there was a significant decrease in the number of attacks initiated by Islamic
organizations, the first two years of the new millennium indicate a significant rise in the number
of terrorist attacks perpetrated in the name of Islam. While in 2001 the number of attacks by
Islamic organizations stood at 53 (compared to 67 attacks by non-Islamic organizations), in 2002
the number grew to 57.7

Islamic terrorism in India

India has been facing several internal threats since its independence from Britain in 1947. The
oldest and still unsolved violent struggle against the Indian state has been raging in the Northeast
part of the country. But an unsettled sub-nationalist ethnic insurgency in India’s Muslim-
majority state of Jammu and Kashmir and the growing radicalization of a small but significant
segment of the Muslim community in the country have emerged as biggest challenges for India’s
security. Originally supported by Pakistan and confined to a specific territory in Indian-
administered Kashmir, it has now become more defused with no specific area. In recent years,
cities such as Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and New Delhi have been targets of terrorist
attacks. This makes facing the challenge and targeting of jihadist terrorists much more difficult
than before.8

Islamic extremism
India has the second largest Muslim population in the world. However, few Indian Muslims have
become radicalized. There are several explanations as to why: a 2009 New York Times article
suggested that due to India’s robust democratic traditions, Indian Muslims “are not afraid to
speak out against religious extremism in their midst,” citing a trend in which Indian Muslims
refused to bury the bodies of suicide bombers. 2014 Economist editorial cited India’s democratic
traditions, history of cultural integration with Hindus and other religious groups, and the
domination of Sufism, a less hardline form of Islam, in the country. However, others have
7
Terrorism and Religious Fundamentalism: Prospects for a Predictive Paradigm. Marburg Journal of
Religion: Volume 11, No. 1. pdf.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/33050992_Terrorism_and_Religious_Fundamentalism_Prospects_for_a_P
redictive_Paradigm
8
Vinay Kaura India’s Counter-Terrorism Policy against Jihadist Terror: Challenges and Prospects
https://www.jstor.org/stable/26867926#metadata_info_tab_contents pdf
3
challenged these explanations, given the rise of Hindu extremism and anti-minority sentiment in
recent years.
The Kashmir Insurgency
Indian Muslims seeking jihad have tended to gravitate toward the insurgency in Kashmir rather
than the appeal of global Islamic extremist groups such as ISIS and al-Qaeda. The northern
Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir comprises about 45 percent of the entire Kashmir region,
along with territory controlled by Pakistan and China. Several Sunni Islamic militant groups are
fighting for an independent Kashmir in the present-day insurgency in the region, which began in
the late 1980s. These groups seek to undermine Indian control in Jammu and Kashmir and unite
the entire Kashmir region in an Islamic state governed under their own respective interpretations
of sharia law. Some have even conducted attacks elsewhere in India in a broader attempt to
undermine Indian control wherever possible. Several of these groups have also allegedly
received support from the Pakistani government and intelligence services, which reportedly view
them as a counterweight to India.9
Harakat-ul-Mujahideen
Harakat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM) (a.k.a. Harakut-ul-Ansar) is a militant group that was initially
founded in 1985 to fight the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, but changed its focus to waging
jihad against Indian forces in Jammu and Kashmir in the 1990s. HuM was designated as a
terrorist organization by the United States in 1997, and gained international attention for
hijacking a domestic Indian Airlines flight in December 1999. Though HuM’s membership
mainly consists of individuals from Pakistan, Kashmir, and Afghanistan, it has also drawn
fighters from locations around the world, including Southeast Asia, the Middle East, the United
Kingdom, and the United States. HuM is allied with several other militant groups in Kashmir,
including Hizb-il-Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Taiba, and also maintains ties to al-Qaeda.10
Hizb-il-Mujahideen
Hizb-il-Mujahideen (HM) is a militant group that was formed in September 1989 as the military
wing of Jamaat-e-Islami (JeL), a conservative Islamist political party in Pakistan. According to
the U.S. Department of the Treasury, which designated HM as a terrorist organization in August
2017, the militant group is one of the largest operating in Jammu and Kashmir today. Most of
HM’s fighters are from Pakistan, though the group has also utilized social media and video
tutorials in an effort to recruit and train Kashmiri youth in recent years. 11
Jaish-e-Mohammad

9
Bill Roggio, Pakistan: Friend or Foe in the Fight Against Terrorism? Long War Journal
https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2016/07/pakistan-friend-or-foe-in-the-fight-against-
terrorism.php
10
https://cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/mappingmilitants/profiles/harakat-ul-mujahedeen
11
Danish Manzoor, International business times ‘Terrorists devise a wicked plan for imparting arms
training to new Kashmiri recruits’ https://www.ibtimes.co.in/jammu-kashmir-terrorists-devise-wicked-plan-
imparting-arms-training-new-kashmiri-recruits-725650

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Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) is a militant group that was founded in the early 2000s by former
HuM member Masood Azhar, allegedly with the support of Osama bin Laden. The group
immediately began to carry out deadly attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, such as an October 2001
attack on the state’s legislative assembly building that killed 30 people. Following the attack,
JeM was designated as a terrorist organization by the United States. JeM also expanded to carry
out attacks in other parts of India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. In December 2001, JeM
collaborated with Lashkar-e-Taiba in an armed assault on the Indian parliament building in Delhi
that reportedly killed 14 people. JeM’s membership mostly consists of individuals from Pakistan,
though the group has also drawn Kashmiri and Punjabi immigrants living in the United Kingdom
to its ranks. In June 2008, JeM reportedly switched its focus from attacking Indian targets in
Jammu and Kashmir to expelling Western forces from Afghanistan.12
Lashkar-e-Taiba
Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) is a militant group that was founded in Afghanistan in 1990 by Hafiz
Mohammed Saeed. It is currently based in Pakistan, where it maintains a vast network of training
camps and branch offices. It was designated as a terrorist organization by the United States in
2001. LeT views the dispute over Jammu and Kashmir as part of a global struggle against
Muslim oppression, and has carried out several notorious attacks in India, such as a December
2001 collaborated assault with JeM on the Indian parliament in Delhi, and the November 2008
coordinated attacks in Mumbai that killed over 160 people. LeT has also attacked Delhi’s
symbolic Red Fort palace and carried out massacres of minority groups in Jammu and Kashmir.
Though most of LeT’s membership is Pakistani, the group has also exploited Hindu-Muslim
tensions to recruit Indian Muslims, and has launched recruitment campaigns across Asia, Europe,
and North America.13
Indian Mujahideen
LeT also supports proxy Islamist groups within India, the most prominent of which is the Indian
Mujahideen (IM), which came into operation in 2003. Its stated goal is to avenge violence
against Indian Muslims. Although IM declared that it was an independent organization in
December 2007, some analysts have suspected that it is actually a direct proxy of LeT or even of
Pakistani intelligence services. Since IM’s founding, it has been difficult to determine whether
attacks have been carried out by IM or LeT, since the two groups support each other’s
operations. IM and LeT have also carried out joint attacks, such as a February 2010 attack
targeting foreigners at a bakery in Pune, India, that killed nine. The group was later linked to
ISIS after one of its known members, Muhammad Sajid, was reported to have been killed
fighting on behalf of ISIS in Syria in 2015.14
Al-Qaeda

12
Counter Extremist Project India: Extremist and Terrorism
https://www.counterextremism.com/countries/india-extremism-and-terrorism
13
Counter Extremist Project India: Extremist and Terrorism
https://www.counterextremism.com/countries/india-extremism-and-terrorism
14
Indian Mujahideen, BBC NEWS https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-23876150

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On July 27, 2017, al-Qaeda announced that it was establishing an affiliate in Jammu and
Kashmir called Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGH) led by Zakir Musa, a former leader of HM. Al-
Qaeda’s announcement was met with disapproval from many of the established militant groups
fighting in Jammu and Kashmir, including LeT, JeM, and HM, the latter of which even accused
AGH as being part of an Indian intelligence operation.
The U.S.-designated al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), whose formation was
announced in September 2014, is another al-Qaeda affiliate allegedly operating in India. AQIS is
allied with the Taliban and claims to operate in Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Myanmar (Burma),
and Bangladesh. Some analysts believe that AQIS was formed as an attempt to preserve al-
Qaeda’s safe havens in Pakistan and Afghanistan and take attention away from ISIS, though the
group claims to be fighting on behalf of Muslim oppression in the region. AQIS has been unable
to conduct any larger-scale attacks typical of al-Qaeda, and has not yet carried out any notable
attacks on Indian soil. However, in November 2017, AQIS claimed to be re-focusing its efforts
on Indian targets, specifically referencing the oppressions of Muslims by Hindu extremists in a
propaganda released video.15
ISIS
India banned ISIS in December 2014 following the group’s abduction of 39 Indian construction
workers outside of Mosul, Iraq. ISIS has had some success in recruiting supporters from India.
According to India’s Ministry of Home Affairs, 75 Indian nationals had joined the group as of
March 2017. In one notorious case in May 2014, four engineering students traveled to Iraq to
become foreign fighters for ISIS. According to the U.S. Department of State, Indian authorities
arrested 68 ISIS supporters in 2016 alone. Nearly half of all Indians arrested for their links to
ISIS have reportedly been linked to a single Syria-based online recruiter, Shafi Armar (a.k.a.
Yusuf al-Hindi).
In January 2015, ISIS announced the establishment of its affiliate Khorasan Province (ISIS-K),
active in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and parts of India. Though ISIS-K has not gained significant
traction in India, and some of its supporters were linked to a March 2017 bombing on a
passenger train in Madhya Pradesh. On May 10, 2019, ISIS claimed that it established a province
in India called “Wilayah of Hind.” ISIS characterized the incident as an attack, and claimed that
the group was responsible for inflicting casualties on Indian army soldiers in the town of
Amshipora, Shopian district of Kashmir.16
Conclusion
Fundamentalism is not simply a religious or political option in terms of belief perspective.
Whether political or religious, of local or global scope, fundamentalism is a phenomenon to be
seriously reckoned with. Religious fundamentalism, in the form of contemporary Islamism, is the
seedbed of Islamic extremism and terrorism. Religious extremism and fundamentalism create the

15
Counter Extremist Project India: Extremist and Terrorism
https://www.counterextremism.com/countries/india-extremism-and-terrorism
16
Counter Extremist Project India: Extremist and Terrorism
https://www.counterextremism.com/countries/india-extremism-and-terrorism

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path that leads to terrorism. More specifically, fundamentalism’s characteristic is the radical
ideology which is connected to religion most of the times; while the term has also a political
character and motivates to the return to an old and pure way of life. Of course, not all
fundamentalists are violent or terrorists, but as we analyze when fundamentalism and religious
radicalization finds the appropriate ground terrorism can be born.