Why some Muslims are easy prey to terrorists and extremists.

 I totally welcome our country’s fight against terrorism through the use of law, the police and the military. Safety of the citizens is always a high priority for any responsible government.

However, I am of the view that anti-terrorism measures cannot merely be confined to law, police and military, though necessary, if a long-term solution is the objective.

The re-evaluation and reformation of values, culture, thought and how Islam is taught is the root that ought to be addressed. For this to happen, we need to create a culture of knowledge, thinking, civilised debates and discourse and a high tolerance for dissenting views. In short, coercion and compulsion in matters of faith must give way to personal choice and spiritual growth. 

Islam related terrorism (IR terrorism) is not confined to acts of violence alone because it is based and propagated on ideology.  IR terrorism obviously infests on its own ideology of what Islam is.

The question that every Muslim should ask is this: how in the world did the religion of peace get associated with terrorist violence so easily and globally? How is the professed Muslim persuaded to blow himself up in the name of “jihad”?

I believe that policy makers who want to combat IR terrorism has to embark on an honest study and evaluation of history first to understand what could have been used as the basis of ideology to recruit potential terrorists. The policy maker has to study all versions of history and not just the version he is most comfortable with. A proper approach to fighting IR terrorism has to take into account various other equally significant factors.

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