Currently Islam is being portrayed as a violent religion because of the terrorism and extremism allegedly linked with it, hence the plethora of Islamophobia that has emerged in the West and other parts of the World where the generalisations are made that all Muslims are either terrorists or extremists. Despite this, Muslims are said to be more likely to be victims of terrorism in the name of Islamic extremism. The overall stigma regarding religious extremism has been revolving on how the West has been a target of terrorism instigated by Islamic extremism. The fatalities that occur within the Muslim world are not as evident in the media. The number of attacks that take place in the Muslim world are far greater than that in any other part of the world. As a result of this, Muslims are the victims of this Islamic extremism as seen in the rise of terrorist organisations such as Al-Qaeda, ISIS (Daesh) and the Taliban.
The United States had launched its War on Terror after the September 11 attacks in 2001. This led to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but nearly 20 years later we have seen that the situation has not improved. States such as Pakistan have also been victims of Islamic extremism that has also spread to neighboring countries like India and Bangladesh.
The rise of Islamic radical thought is often attributed to the teachings of Sheikh Muhammad ibn-Abd-al-Wahab (1703-1791), Jamal-ud-Din Afghani (1839-1897) who called for Pan-Islamism, Ali Shariati (1933-1977) and Maulana Syed Abul Ala Mawdudi (1903-1979) of Pakistan - the first Amir of the Jamaat-i-Islami. The teachings of these men, called for jihad and the restoration of Shariah Law and reverting back to the traditional way of life as directed by Islam. These beliefs have been on the rise across the Muslim world with different Muslims states experiencing various variants of these ideals. The most radical of such movements, however, is the Salafist movement, the scholars of this movement support radical activity and Wahhabism is considered as a branch of the Salafist movement.
The Salafist movement draws its roots from Egypt; however, the spread of radical Islamic ideology is evident all over the Muslim world. The Salafist movement was a retaliatory ideology to Western Imperialism. Such as the attacks that have been carried out against the West for example, the 9/11 attacks which were carried out by Al-Qaeda and the recent ISIS attacks that have been scattered across continents. The culprits of these attacks are often motivated by Daesh or carried by self-radicalised Muslim youth. The same is the case with the Muslim world, however, terrorist attacks are more common in Muslim states for example, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. The targets are Muslims and these attacks have increased post 9/11 attacks in New York. It can be said that victims of terrorism and Islamic extremism are mostly Muslims.
Pakistan has faced a lot of controversy as the Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was found hiding in Pakistan before his death. Much like Afghanistan, Pakistan has had to deal with similar issues and has also faced terrorism in the name of Islamic extremism and the rise to various extremist political parties with many civilian deaths in the country. Pakistan has seen several military dictatorships and unstable governments in the past as well.
These unstable governments and a problematic political past led to citizens of these states more prone to self-radicalisation, and as a result supporting radical movements. It can be said that when the situation is volatile in states, it immediately provokes extremist ideas, as was the situation in poverty-stricken Russia before it turned into the Soviet Union. What these Muslim states have in common is a volatile past full of wars. Afghanistan was invaded by the Soviet Union and Iraq was invaded by the United States of America. Both countries were reduced to rubble after unnecessary wars.
It has been established that Muslim states have had problematic status quos. We can understand that the Islamic extremism in these states has been targeting Muslims and citizens within these countries with only some instances where the terrorism is exported to other countries in the West.
In conclusion, it is wrong to say that Muslims are much more likely to suffer at the hands of Islamic extremism with millions of Muslims falling victim to this violence. This has been the case in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The pattern that emerges from this is that most Muslim states are already unstable and did not have the means to counter the terrorism as effectively but states like Pakistan have seen a decline in terrorism and the situation in Afghanistan has been improving too. The worldview that terrorism emerges from the Muslim world because Islam is a problematic religion is an unsubstantiated argument as there have been similar cases with other religions with the Christian extremist groups such as Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in India. It can be said that every religion has an extremist right and Islam has been used as a pawn for manipulation in order to keep the Muslim world from uniting and becoming a modern powerful international force. The idea that Muslims support extremist movements is debatable. The Muslim world is not only threatened by the spread of such movements but it has taken steps to prevent the progression of extremist ideas.
This proves that on the outside it may seem easier to blame the phenomenon at hand on Islam but the mechanisms of this phenomenon are much more complex needing sustained and robust handling.