Tag: Sectarian Diversity

Diversity, English, Extremism

A Pyramid of Hate Perspective on Religious Bias, Discrimination and Violence

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Jawad Syed and Faiza Ali Abstract This study provides a ‘pyramid of hate’ perspective on issues and challenges facing minority religious communities in social and political climates that bestow permission to hate. Previous research shows that adverse social stereotypes and biases, together with non-inclusive policies and practices at the level of the state, create an enabling environment that signals the legitimacy of public hostility towards a minority community. This paper argues that such climates of hate within and outside the workplace may be better understood by paying attention to the multiple levels of hate, i.e., biased attitudes, biased actions, discrimination … Continue reading A Pyramid of Hate Perspective on Religious Bias, Discrimination and Violence

Diversity, English, Extremism

How Takfiri Islamist Extremists Target Civilians

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The Global Extremism Monitor (GEM) in 2017 recorded 6,310 civilian deaths deliberately caused by 47 violent Islamist militant groups in 1,510 attacks across 28 countries. In a manifestation of a brutal and warped ideology, these militant groups used calculated violence with varying objectives to target areas where members of the public can be reached and harmed. Using various statistical measures, the GEM has revealed significant differences between violent Islamist extremist groups operating in today’s fiercest conflicts. This chapter focuses on the violence administered by the most organised and distinct violent Takfiri Islamist organisations. The violence used by the Takfiri Islamist … Continue reading How Takfiri Islamist Extremists Target Civilians

Diversity, English, Extremism

Why Do Takfiris Destroy Historic Sites? – Mubaraz Ahmed

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The Temple of Bel in Palmyra, considered to be one of the most well-preserved structures in the ancient city, has joined the growing list of historic sites to be razed by ISIS. In 2015, satellite images released by the UN showing before and after the demolition reveal the sheer scale of the devestation. The city is one of the ancient world’s most important cultural centres and has stood for 2000 years. But ISIS’ actions are not just acts of extreme vandalism. The destruction is part of an overall strategy and ISIS makes clear that, in its eyes, it is religiously justifiable. In … Continue reading Why Do Takfiris Destroy Historic Sites? – Mubaraz Ahmed

Diversity, English, Extremism

ISIS Magazine Targets Sunni ‘Apostates’

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In the 2016 edition of Dabiq, ISIS takes aim at both Islamists and mainstream Sunni Muslim scholars. The issue presents edicts from medieval Muslim theologian Ibn Taymiyya, which sanctioned violence against the Muslim Mongols, as justifying war against fellow Sunni and Sufi Muslims. The view of Ibn Taymiyyah are often promoted by Takfiri Islamist groups within Salafi/Wahhabi and Deobandi sub-branches of Sunni Islam. ISIS, Taliban, Al Qaeda and other similar groups promote a Takfiri ideology and attack Sunni and Shia Muslims alike. Carrying the image of the deposed Muslim Brotherhood President of Egypt Mohammad Morsi with the heading ‘The Murtadd Brotherhood” (the apostate brotherhood), the tone of … Continue reading ISIS Magazine Targets Sunni ‘Apostates’

Diversity, English, Extremism

Unsophisticated and naive? Fragmenting monolithic understandings of Islam

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Jawad Syed and Edwina Pio Abstract Mainstream academic literature and media use the word ‘Islam’ or ‘Muslim’ in a monolithic manner that implies internal homogeneity. However, the Islamic faith is subject to multiple interpretations, with multiple types of Muslims who practice Islam based on their ideological interpretations, sect, ethnicity and gender. Drawing on a review of literatures on Islam and Muslims from diverse fields such as religion, gender, diversity and extremism, we present a taxonomy of different types of Muslims, and highlight implications for management, organizations and governance. We trace ideological sources of divergence among variants of Islam and analyze … Continue reading Unsophisticated and naive? Fragmenting monolithic understandings of Islam

Diversity, English, Extremism

Takfir and terrorism – Tahir Kamran

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Like khalafah, umma, jihad and shahadat, takfir has attained a wide currency in modern day Muslim discourse. For analysts, takfir has a peculiar specificity, especially when referring to modern day proponents of revivalist Islam. Takfir denotes excommunication or declaration of a person or group of people to be non-Muslim. Although the instances of takfir can be gleaned from the early history of Muslims, it started featuring regularly in the Muslim discourse since the last quarter of the 19th century. Deobandi clerics were at the centre of the trend of issuing takfiri fatwas. Though not a takfiri treatise as such, Rashid Gangohi’s Hadayatush Shia (Advice to the Shia) is the first published … Continue reading Takfir and terrorism – Tahir Kamran

Diversity, English, Extremism

Who are the Takfiri Islamist extremists in Pakistan

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The Deobandis are an offshoot of the mainstream Sunni, Hanafi Islam in South Asia. While many of them are moderate and peace loving, a section of this community is influenced by a mutant and Wahhabized strain. Some of these people have aligned themselves with puritanical, literalist and takfiri Salafi and Wahhabi movements that seek to marginalize and apostasize the majority of Sufi, Shia and Barelvi Sunni school of thought. The Deobandi sub-sect is found primarily in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh and has since 1950s spread to the United Kingdom, United States and has also a presence in South Africa. The name … Continue reading Who are the Takfiri Islamist extremists in Pakistan

Diversity, English, Extremism, Sufism

The Muslims in the Middle

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By William Dalrymple, Aug 16, 2010 PRESIDENT OBAMA’S eloquent endorsement on Friday of a planned Islamic cultural center near the World Trade Center, followed by his apparent retreat the next day, was just one of many paradoxes at the heart of the increasingly impassioned controversy. We have seen the Anti-Defamation League, an organization dedicated to ending “unjust and unfair discrimination,” seek to discriminate against American Muslims. We have seen Newt Gingrich depict the organization behind the center — the Cordoba Initiative, which is dedicated to “improving Muslim-West relations” and interfaith dialogue — as a “deliberately insulting” and triumphalist force attempting to … Continue reading The Muslims in the Middle

Diversity, English, Extremism

The Diversity of Islam

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Nicholas Kristof, Oct. 8, 2014 A few days ago, I was on a panel on Bill Maher’s television show on HBO that became a religious war. Whether or not Islam itself inspires conflict, debates about it certainly do. Our conversation degenerated into something close to a shouting match and went viral on the web. Maher and a guest, Sam Harris, argued that Islam is dangerous yet gets a pass from politically correct liberals, while the actor Ben Affleck denounced their comments as “gross” and “racist.” I sided with Affleck. After the show ended, we panelists continued to wrangle on the topic … Continue reading The Diversity of Islam

Diversity, English, Extremism, Sufism

Who Are Sufi Muslims and Why Do Some Extremists Hate Them?

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By Megan Specia, Nov. 24, 2017 Sufism is a mystical form of Islam, a school of practice that emphasizes the inward search for God and shuns materialism. It has produced some of the world’s most beloved literature, like the love poems of the 13th century Iranian jurist Rumi. Its modern-day adherents cherish tolerance and pluralism, qualities that in many religions unsettle extremists. But Sufism, often known as Islamic mysticism, has come under violent attack in recent years. On Friday, Takfiri Islamist militants stormed a Sufi mosque on the Sinai Peninsula, killing at least 305 people in what officials are calling the worst terrorist … Continue reading Who Are Sufi Muslims and Why Do Some Extremists Hate Them?