COMSATS UNIVERSITY, ISLAMABAD

Subject: Islamic Studies

Main Topic: Challenges faced by Muslims.

Selected Title: Linking Muslims with Terrorism, which
the sole cause of, tarnished image of Muslims.

Prepared by:

Submitted To:

Ms. Zainab

Date: 09/05/2019

Department of Computer Science.

Contents
INTRONDUCTION TO TERRORISM ......................................................................................... 3
Definition: .................................................................................................................................. 3
Origin of terrorism: .................................................................................................................. 3
Brief Description/Introduction to terrorism: ......................................................................... 4
Some of the prominent terrorists groups are: ........................................................................ 5
Findings and Discussion ................................................................................................................. 5
THE UNSEEN DOERS OF TERRORISM .................................................................................... 5
Some Major Attacks That Took Place In The World That Are Arbitrarily Associated With
Muslims........................................................................................................................................... 7
9/11/2001 attacks, U.S.A: .......................................................................................................... 7
The recent Crist-church attack: .............................................................................................. 8
Madrid Train Bombing 2004, Spain: ...................................................................................... 9
2015 Paris Attacks, France: ................................................................................................... 10
Suicide attacks in Iraq, Israel and Palestine: ....................................................................... 11
2014 APS Peshawar School Attacks, Pakistan: .................................................................... 11
Terrorism Effect on Pakistan: ....................................................................................................... 12
Effect on Muslims: ........................................................................................................................ 13
Recommendations/ Remedies for eradication of Terrorism ......................................................... 14
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................. 14
Effort that are being made to combat terrorism.................................................................. 15
References ..................................................................................................................................... 16

Contents of Tables /Graphs

Table 1 Death Toll Servey Graph across the world ....................................................................... 6
Table 2 Graph of attack from 2006 to 2017 .................................................................................. 11
 INTRONDUCTION TO TERRORISM

Definition:
“The unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against
civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.”

Origin of terrorism:
Terrorism originated during the French Revolution of the late 18th
century. However, gained mainstream popularity in the 1970s in news
reports and books covering the conflicts in Northern Ireland, the Basque
Country and Palestine. Social structure and order, governance of society
and politics are dependent on good communication, and good
communication requires agreement on definitions of terminology.
Terrorism can dramatically influence the world, as shown by the far-
reaching and prolonged effects of the attacks in New York on 11
September 2001. The definition of terrorism will affect communication
and response to this issue and so have consequences for society and
politics. However, a suitable universal definition remains elusive
because different bodies, organizations and government agencies have
different definitions to suit their own particular role, purpose or bias. ”
Brief Description/Introduction to terrorism:
 Terrorism is the use of intentionally in discriminable violence as a
way to create terror among large number of people; or fear to attain
a political, financial, ideological or religious aim. The terms
"terrorism" originated during the French Revolution of the late 18th
century but gained popularity during the U.S. Presidency of Ronald
Reagan after the 1983 Beirut barracks bombings.
 There is no globally accepted definition of the term "terrorism". It is
refer to as something "morally wrong". It often gets used, by non-
state group or government, To abuse opposing party. A large
category of political organizations has been blaming for the use of
terrorism to further enhance their objectives. These organizations
include religious groups, right wing and left-wing political
organizations, revolutionaries, nationalist groups and ruling
governments. In various countries, the legislature regards
"terrorism" as a heinous crime.
 Throughout history, terrorist activities have been carrying out on
religious basis with the goal to spread a belief or opinion. The scope
and validity of religion-based terrorism is limited to the individual's
view or the group's point of view.
 Religious terrorism has overtaken national separatism and has
become the trigger of terrorist attacks around the world. There has
been a 5 times increase in death toll due to terrorism since 9/11. The
majority of incidents can be relate to gangs with religious agendas
up their sleeves. Before 2000, it was nationalist separatist terrorist
organizations. The IRA and Chechen rebels, who were behind the
most attacks. The number of incidents from nationalist separatist
groups has remained relatively stable in the years since while
religious extremism has grown. The prevalence of Islamist groups
in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria and Syria is the main driver
behind these trends.
Some of the prominent terrorists groups are:
* Taliban * Al-Qaida *ISIS * Boko Haram * Haqqani Network (HQN)

They have been highly active in Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Syria.
80% of all deaths from terrorism occurred in one of these five countries.

Findings and Discussion

THE UNSEEN DOERS OF TERRORISM

Since the ages, we have been told that terrorism is solely present in Muslim
countries and those involved are Muslims. Nevertheless, we shuffle the page of
history; we will come to know that the real perpetrators of terrorism attacks can be
individuals, groups, or states. The most common image of terrorism. Motivated to
serve a particular cause and many of the most deadly operations in recent times,
such as the September 11 attacks, the London underground bombing, 2008
Mumbai attacks and the 2002 Bali bombing were plan. Carried out by a close
clique, composed of close friends, family members and other strong social
networks. These groups benefited from the free flow of information and efficient
telecommunications to succeed where others had failed.

Over the years, much research has been conducting to distill a terrorist profile to
explain these individuals' actions through their psychology and socio-economic
circumstances. Others, like Roderick Hinduri, have sought to discern profiles in the
propaganda tactics used by terrorists. Some security organizations designate these
groups as violent non-state actors. Terrorists are less likely to come from an
impoverished background and more likely to have at least a high-school education.
An analysis found only 16% of terrorists came from impoverished families, vs.
30% of male Palestinians, and over 60% had gone beyond high school, vs. 15% of
the populace. A study into the poverty-stricken conditions and whether or not,
terrorists are more likely to come from here, show that people who grew up in
these situations tend to show aggression and frustration towards others. This theory
is largely debating for the simple fact that just because one is frustrated, does not
make them a potential terrorist.

To avoid detection, a terrorist will look, dress, and behave normally until executing
the assigned mission. Some claim that attempts to profile terrorists based on
personality, physical, or sociological traits are not useful. The physical and
behavioral description of the terrorist could describe almost any normal person.
However, the majority of terrorist attacks are carried out by military age men, aged
16–40. Table 1 Death Toll Servey Graph across the world
This wave of terrorism has caused Human race such a gigantic death toll. Below is
the graph of death toll from

Some Major Attacks That Took Place In The World

That Are Arbitrarily Associated With Muslims
The Terrorism has become one of the most defining issue of the 21st century. It
would be a great achievement if such issues handled significantly. Concerns over
terrorism has become part of life in 21st century. Although terrorism is not new to
this world but there are some events that shook the whole world and in most of
these events, Islamic Extremist Groups came to an account. Some of these events
given below:

9/11/2001 attacks, U.S.A:

Considered as one of the most
deadliest and fatal terrorist attack in
the history of mankind, this attack
took place on morning of 11th
September 2001 when four
passenger planes were hijacked by
the terrorist group. Out of these four
hijacked planes, two of them
crashed when they struck the towers
of World Trade Center in New York
City. These two crashes caused a lot of damage to the building of World Trade
Center, both the towers were destroyed and in a blink of a moment both the towers
collapsed. This destruction resulted in high number of causalities and it caused
damage to the other surrounding buildings. The third hijacked plane crashed into
Pentagon, which is headquarter for United States Defense Department. The
terrorists aimed to crash the fourth plane in Washington D.C but because of some
resistance shown by its passengers it crashed near a small town in Pennsylvania. It
believed that the target of terrorists who hijacked the fourth flight was White
House.

The death rate in these attacks was very high as they resulted in death of 2996
people and other 6000 were left injured. This series of attacks also caused serious
damage to world economy. This attack was associated to the Islamic extremist
terrorist group Al-Qaeda. Although at start, any sort of involvement in these
attacks denied by Al-Qaeda but later their Leader Osama Bin Laden claimed the
responsibility of these attacks. Just after these attacks, United States government
started a military operation against Al-Qaeda by invading Afghanistan and started
the war against terrorism. Many other countries tied with U.S in this war against
Terror. Terrorism has increased dramatically after the 9/11 attacks. These attacks
erupted hate crimes within America. These attacks strongly affected the lives of
Muslims in America as they faced aftermaths of this attack. Muslims filed a
number of harassment cases and many cases on attacks on mosques reported. This
war on terror also affected number of Muslim countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan
etc.

The recent Crist-church attack:

The Christchurch mosque shootings
were two consecutive terrorist attacks
at mosques in Christchurch, New
Zealand, during Friday Prayer on 15
March 2019. The attacks began at the
Al Noor Mosque in the suburb of
Riccarton at 1:40 pm and continued at
the Linwood Islamic Centre at about
1:55 pm.The gunman live-streamed the
first attack on Facebook Live.

The attacks killed 51 people and injured 49 others. A 28-year-old Australian man
described in media reports as a white supremacist and part of the alt-right. The
attacks have been linking to an increase in white supremacism and alt-right
extremism globally. Observed since the mid-2010s. Politicians and world leaders
condemned the attacks, and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern described it as "one of
New Zealand's darkest days". The government established a royal commission of
inquiry into its security agencies in the wake of the attacks, which are the deadliest
mass shootings in modern New Zealand history.

Madrid Train Bombing 2004, Spain:

It was a terrorist attack that occurred in
Spanish capital Madrid. The bombings
were the most deadly attacks in the in
the history of Spain. In this attack, the
target was public traveling in Madrid
computer rail network. It was a
morning of March 2004. When the
number of explosions occurred in the
four computer trains. All of the bombs
were time triggered and exploded according to the time they being set. All the
bombs in the four trains exploded within a short span of time. About 193 people
killed in these explosions and more than 2000 people were injured. These blasts
caused emergency in the city as people rushed to the hospitals to look out for their
family members who were aboard the trains. These attacks took place just few
days before Spanish general elections, which caused political instability in country
and this instability, arouse number of political controversies. Just like the 9/11
New York attacks, these attacks were also associated to Al-Qaeda. However, there
was no evidence regarding the involvement of Al-Qaeda in this attack other than a
video, in which representative of Al-Qaeda claimed the responsibility of these
attacks.

London Transport Bombing 2005,

England: 2005, London transport bombing
also known as 7/7 was a series of bomb blasts
that occurred on early morning of 7 July 2005.
In this attack, four suicide bombers explode
themselves at different places in London. Three
of the bombs exploded in the London
underground train stations. Fourth, one
exploded in a double-decker bus. Out of four suicide bombers three were the
British citizen and one was Jamaican citizen. Just as if the other attacks discussed
above, terrorist in this attack linked to Islamic Terrorism. About 56 people killed in
these four blasts and more than 700 people were injured. Among the dead, there
were also several foreign-born British nationals. This attack is termed as one of the
most horrible terrorist attack that has ever happened in United Kingdom. This
attack caused disruption of transport and telecom services within British Capital
for some time and it effected the Britain’s economy very badly. The attack
condemned by the countries all over the world.

2015 Paris Attacks, France:

This was a series of attacks, in which three
suicide bombers exploded themselves
outside a football stadium in Paris. The
bombings followed by shooting at some
restaurants and public places of the City.
Some of the attackers took the people
hostages at a theater, but later the attackers
shot down by police and some of them blew
themselves up. These number of attacks resulted in death of 137 people alongside
with attackers while almost 400 people injured in the attacks. The attack believed
to conduct by ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and Levant) and the motive of this attack
was the revenge against French airstrikes on ISIL. The attacks condemned by
countries throughout the world and condemned by Muslim organization in France
and Europe.

After this attack French Government made strong policies and decided to take
strong actions against the terrorist organizations involved in this attack
Suicide attacks in Iraq, Israel and Palestine:

There are number of suicide attacks that occurred in these countries. Again in these
attacks Islamic organizations were accused of the attacks. These accusations
spoiled the reputation of Muslims throughout the world.

Table 2 Graph of attacks from 2006 to 2017

2014 APS Peshawar School Attacks, Pakistan:

This attack is the perfect
example that Muslims, equally
affected due to terrorism. This
attack took place on the
morning of 16 December 2014
when six terrorists entered a
school in Peshawar and started
mass shooting of students and
teachers of school. In result of this inhuman act, 149 people lost their life including
children and school staff. This was one of the most horrible and fatal attack that
human race has ever witnessed. The attackers also took hostages but all the
attackers killed in counter attack of Pakistani military forces. The responsibility of
this attack claimed by TTP (Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan). Pakistani government
showed immediate reaction to this incident. In response of this attack Pakistani
government and armed forces decided to start a full-scale operation against TTP
and other terrorist organizations in the country. This inhuman massacre of children
was largely condemned worldwide.

Terrorism Effect on Pakistan:

Pakistan is one of the countries which is most affected by terrorism. Just after
America attacked on Afghanistan and started war against many Afghan based
terrorist organizations, many terrorists came in to Pakistan and used the tribal areas
of Pakistan as their safe heavens. These terrorists then started making a strong hold
in these areas of Pakistan and they became successful at it. Because of these,
people terrorism spread throughout Pakistan. Another reason of spreading of
terrorism in Pakistan is the weak and failed policies of government against them.
Because of this Pakistan bearded a heavy loss fighting against it. Because of
Pakistan lost number of lives in this war and lost huge amount of billions of dollars
against terrorism. After all, of these sacrifices the international powers like
America and India blame Pakistan for sponsoring terrorism in the region by
helping terrorists. Here are the some stats in rate of deaths against terrorism in
Pakistan.

More than the year’s sustained state of rebellion in Pakistan is causing

compensation to the country in all the aspects as well as economic aspect. what's
more the non-quantifiable loss to humans, other main economic costs of the
terrorism include poverty, capital flight, destruction of infrastructure, reduction in
FDI and exports, low public revenues and entertainment of the development
expenditure to the expenditure on law and order maintenance and so forth. All
these economic costs have significant impact on economic growth, e.g. one of the
major contributors is the recent violence and terrorist activities in Pakistan that
caused the overall GDP growth in 2010 to fell to 1.6 percent.
 Effect on Muslims:
Muslims all around the world are most affected people by the terrorism. Terrorism
has become a major and destructive phenomenon in the current years. Terrorism
has caused a continuous fear and terror in the Muslim community throughout the
world. Terrorists are spreading hate and fear and they choose innocent people as
their target. Terrorism has developed a bad impact on the Muslim communities.
Like other Muslim countries facing this problem, it is also the biggest concern foe
Pakistan. Due to this, foreign investors refused to deal with Pakistan and it is badly
effecting the economy of Pakistan. There were millions of Muslims killed during
the past years. Due to terrorist’s attacks, Muslims are not allow to visit many of
European and Western countries. An issue comes repeatedly. The highest number
of attacks and incidents occurred in Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Pakistan and Syria.

Syria is the most affected by the terrorism now days. Terrorists were attacking
Muslims in Syria and more than 25000 Syrians have lost their lives in four and a
half years. The Muslims fellowship blaming for the terror by the government.

There has been a civil war in Syria for the last seven years, with different groups
trying to seize control of the country. In this scenario, Muslims brutally killed by the
terrorist. They are not safe in their country. USA has played a big role in spreading
terrorism. USA attacked on Afghanistan to fight against Taliban in Afghanistan.
USA began bombing Afghanistan. In this case, Muslims were infamous due to this
attack. Instead of upholding anti-torture treaties, America is using many Muslims
and Non-Muslims countries for the so-called rendering process. Several Muslim
countries like Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Egypt have simply
become bolder in torturing prisoners. America has created an international
environment in which government are behaving like Lawless Mafia. The torture
cases in Uzbekistan where people are boil to death and the killing of several
Pakistani economic migrant workers in fake encounters in Macedonia. At least
fifteen Muslim countries have suffered loss of sovereignty through the establishment
of American military bases on their lands. They have become objects of hatred
,playing right in to the hands of Osama bin Laden, who has been campaigning on
this issue since the first American basis were set up in Saudi Arabia during the first
Gulf War in 1991. Freedom and self-determination movements have lost supports
as their occupiers branded them terrorists. The liberation struggles of Kashmiris,
Chechens and Palestinians have dismissed and free reign has given to India, Russia
and Israel respectively to crush these legitimate causes.

Recommendations/ Remedies for eradication of

Terrorism
• Understand the differences in cultures, religions, beliefs and
human behaviors.
• Think of the peace, freedom and equality of all human beings, not
just “one group of people”.
• Education.
• Following Islam by heart and spirit.
• Eliminate the roots of terrorism.
• By adapting the pluralism towards rest of the communities, we can
eliminate terrorism.

CONCLUSION

By understanding, appreciating and addressing the psychosocial factors

contributing to terrorism in Pakistan, one may find long-lasting solutions to the fall
out on Pakistan’s war against terror. This war has led to a loss of innocent human
lives, compounded by the deep psychological scars for survivors, which will
undoubtedly persist for generations to come. An ongoing, concerted effort to gain
peace and security in the region is essential and is the only way to counteract the
revenge attacks and further brainwashing of young impressionable youths. These
psychological determinants, however, are markedly different from terrorist
activities in Western countries, where it seems that a different set of psychological
rules apply.

The Administration is aggressively implementing the objectives of the President’s

National Strategy for Homeland Security and National Strategy for Combating
Terrorism, rooting out terrorism abroad, forming international coalitions,
equipping first responders with additional tools, enhancing intelligence
capabilities, cutting off terrorist financing, securing our borders and transportation
systems, enhancing response capabilities, developing medical countermeasures,
and adding protective measures for critical infrastructure. All Federal agencies are
integrating their efforts better than ever before and coordinating with state, local,
and private entities to prevent future terrorist attacks on American soil.

International and domestic efforts have led to the removal of terrorist leaders and
personnel and the disruption of numerous plots. Iraq and Afghanistan no longer
provide state-sponsored or government-supported sanctuary and training grounds
for terrorist groups. Initiatives by the United States have provided good
governance, health and education, and given more countries the opportunity to be
active participants in the global economy, strengthening states that terrorists might
otherwise seek to exploit.

The United States is working aggressively with its regional and international
partners to combat terrorism. The threat is global, and the United States is
coordinating its response by building alliances, increasing capacity, and reducing
vulnerabilities.

The United States and its allies have made great progress in the Global War on
Terrorism, but we must maintain our dedication and vigilance. While many
terrorists have brought to justice, others are plotting to attack us. We will remain
on the offensive, preemptively stopping terrorists seeking to do harm against the
United States, its citizens and partners, and creating an international environment
that is inhospitable to terrorists and all those who support them. Victory against
terrorism will occur through the sustained efforts of a global coalition dedicated to
ridding the world of those who seek to destroy our freedom and way of life.

Effort that are being made to combat terrorism

 International Effort to combat Terrorism: UN Resolutions
 Freeze financial assets of terrorism and their supporters
 Deny terrorism travel and safe heaven
 Prevent terrorist recruitment and weapon supply
  Co-operate on information sharing and criminal persecution.
 UN Counter terrorism Committee
 To monitor member countries adherence to the resolution
 To strengthen the counter-terrorism capacity of UN member states
 Provide technical assistance to the countries who need help in implementing
the resolution.
 Point to take note when evaluating
 Transnational terrorism is a global threat which require EVERYONE’S
efforts
 No one country can defeat terrorism on its own

References
Clutterbuck, R. (n.d.). Terrorism and Guerrilla Warfare.

Klor, E. D. (n.d.). Wiley Online Library.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ecoj.12219

Malik, Z. U. (n.d.). Impact of Terrorism on Pakistani Society.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320702592_Impact_of_Terrorism_on_Pakistani
_Society

Max Roser, M. N. (n.d.). Our world in data. https://ourworldindata.org/terrorism

site, O. o. (n.d.). Foreign Terrorist organisations.

https://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/other/des/123085.htm

wikipedia, W. b. (n.d.). Terrorism. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism