The world is engaged in a war not against generic terrorism, nor against Islam, but specifically against Islamic terrorism. Islam is the only contemporary religion that is a common factor in such a wide swath of violence. Few Islamic scholars today are brave enough and objective enough to admit that contemporary Islam has a serious problem. An Iraqi writer quotes an earlier Iraqi satirist: “The disease that is in us, is from us.” A British Muslim writes, “Islam has become its own enemy.” The restoration of religion to the sphere of the personal, its de-politicization, is the nettle that all Muslim societies must grasp in order to become modern. If terrorism is to be defeated, the world of Islam must take on board the secularist-humanist principles on which the modern world is based.
Terror, Terror Everywhere: The Menace Of Islamic Terrorism
The word ‘terror’ immediately brings to one’s mind a surfeit of emotions; when heard or read. A blog from the Medium (dated 29th Oct. 2017) states, “…Whilst a study in 2012 found 261 distinct definitions for terrorism, today it is broadly associated with non – state groups that seek to influence an audience using violence against non- combatant targets.” This leads one to the understanding that terrorism can neither be understood nor fought by just analyzing the last bombing or shooting outrage.