Systematic Radicalization of Muslim Youths

By: Kayhan Int’l Staff Writer More than 25,000 homegrown terrorists from Europe, the United States and elsewhere have now officially joined ISIL and Al-Qaeda in both Iraq and Syria.

Date: 18 April 2015 - 20:53

News ID: ۱۲۸۸۰

According to a recent United Nations report, these recruits come from more than 100 countries worldwide. While the highest numbers are from Middle Eastern and North African countries, Western countries have also seen foreign recruits rise.
Out of the top 15 source-Western countries listed by the International Center for the Study of Radicalization, France, as well as Germany and the United Kingdom have had the highest numbers, followed by the United States.
The point is that despite the ISIL media propaganda campaign, many of these recruits are under constant surveillance by the security and law enforcement authorities. For the most part, Muslims in the West feel they are not part of the system or part of the country they have chosen to live. They feel alienated.
While the majority of Muslims worldwide reject violent extremism and are worried about increasing rates in their home countries, American and European Muslims reject extremism by larger margins than most Muslim publics.
A Pew survey of Muslim Americans, the most current of its kind, found more than eight-in-10 Muslims saw suicide bombings and other forms of violence against civilian targets as never justified (81 percent) or rarely justified (5 percent) to defend Islam from its enemies. That’s compared to a median of 72 percent of Muslims worldwide saying such attacks are never justified and 10 percent saying they are rarely justified.
European Muslims are generally less well off and frustrated with the lack of economic opportunities. More European Muslims have joined ISIL and other extremist groups in Iraq and Syria than their American counterparts.
Ideologically centered recruitment and discontent with perceived domestic and foreign policies affecting Muslims are the primary causes of radicalization in European countries, especially where Muslim communities are isolated from others. The sense of alienation, especially among the youth of Muslim immigrants, mixed with antipathy toward their country’s foreign policy makes some of them prime targets for foreign recruiters.
Within this context, and if indeed Western governments are serious about curbing terrorism and radicalization, they must introduce social and economic programs to end systematic discrimination and religious intolerance, initiate interfaith dialog, include Muslim youths and stop violent attacks against Islamic centers.
They must also scrap their so-called anti-terrorism policies and surveillance programs that exclusively target and single out young Muslims. There is no other way to prevent their Muslim communities from feeling discriminated against and isolated.
It’s also the only way to encourage religious tolerance and/or stop Muslim youngsters from becoming radicalized and ISIL foot soldiers.