{"id":860,"date":"2016-02-03T13:25:28","date_gmt":"2016-02-03T19:25:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/?p=860"},"modified":"2016-02-03T13:40:21","modified_gmt":"2016-02-03T19:40:21","slug":"one-is-too-many-but-islamic-extremist-threat-is-small","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/one-is-too-many-but-islamic-extremist-threat-is-small\/","title":{"rendered":"One Is Too Many, But “Islamic Terrorism” Threat Is Small"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the Name of God: The Extremely and Eternally Loving and Caring<\/em><\/p>\n

Don’t get me wrong. Even one American Muslim either thinking about, or planning, or trying to commit an act of terror is too many. Each case is a failure, on multiple levels. Yet, if one hears pundits, so-called “terrorism experts,” and politicians – especially those in the GOP – speak, he or she would think that there is a Muslim waiting on every corner of this beautiful country ready to pounce and kill at will.<\/p>\n

The truth, thank God, is very different than the rhetoric.<\/p>\n

Since 2010, Charles Kurzman, Professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and specialist on Islamic movements, has been publishing a report on Muslim-American terrorism<\/a>. His latest was released on February 2<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n
Eighty-one Muslim-Americans were associated with violent extremist plots in 2015, the highest annual total since 9\/11. A majority of the individuals identified in 2015 innolved travel (22 individuals) or attempted travel (23 individuals) to join militant groups based in Syria. Three joined militant groups in Pakistan or Somalia; and four were accused of helping others travel to Syria. Twenty-eight were associated with plots against targets in the United States. One person both traveled to Syria and allegedly plotted against targets in the United States upon his return.<\/em><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Again, don’t get me wrong: this picture is very distressing to me as an American Muslim. But, out of a community of at least 2.5 million people (the most conservative estimate), this is a very tiny fraction: .00324%. In an interview with Religion News Service<\/a>, Professor Kurzman said:<\/div>\n

Each year since 2010 when I began doing this report, I try to remind readers \u2026 that among the threats to public safety that Americans face year in and year out, Islamic terrorism has played a very small role. Even the numbers of disrupted plots remain much lower than the public debate would lead us to believe. And yet it remains the focus of so much of the security discourse in American politics.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

And that’s the larger point I want to make. There are those in our country, including individuals running for President, that are trying to stoke up fear of Muslims for some sort of gain: political, financial, or otherwise. Yes, since 9\/11, the report states that a total of 69 fatalities have occurred as a result of Muslim extremists. That is way too many. Yet, in 2015 alone, 134 Americans were killed in mass shootings.<\/p>\n

Of course, one statistic is not better than the other. The murder of anyone, whether by a Muslim savage terrorist or a petty thief, is an enormous tragedy. But the fear of Muslims is not based on evidence, and we must resist the “otherization” of any community in this country by any and all. With the Presidential election now in full swing, I pray that more and more Americans take this lesson to heart.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the Name of God: The Extremely and Eternally Loving and Caring Don’t get me wrong. Even one American Muslim either thinking about, or planning, or trying to commit an act of terror is too many. Each case is a failure, on multiple levels. Yet, if one hears pundits, so-called “terrorism experts,” and politicians –…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":175,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,65],"tags":[285,703,11,12,702,701,283,18,289],"class_list":["post-860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-common-word","category-american-islam","tag-charles-kurzman","tag-gun-violence","tag-islam","tag-muslims","tag-plots","tag-real","tag-report","tag-terrorism-2","tag-threat"],"yoast_head":"\nOne Is Too Many, But "Islamic Terrorism" Threat Is Small<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"While any American Muslim committing an act of terror is horrific, the threat from "Islamic Terrorism" is very small.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"One Is Too Many, But "Islamic Terrorism" Threat Is Small\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While any American Muslim committing an act of terror is horrific, the threat from "Islamic Terrorism" is very small.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/one-is-too-many-but-islamic-extremist-threat-is-small\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Common Word, Common Lord\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-02-03T19:25:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-02-03T19:40:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hesham A. Hassaballa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@GodFaithPen\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"One Is Too Many, But \"Islamic Terrorism\" Threat Is Small","description":"While any American Muslim committing an act of terror is horrific, the threat from \"Islamic Terrorism\" is very small.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"nofollow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"One Is Too Many, But \"Islamic Terrorism\" Threat Is Small","og_description":"While any American Muslim committing an act of terror is horrific, the threat from \"Islamic Terrorism\" is very small.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/one-is-too-many-but-islamic-extremist-threat-is-small\/","og_site_name":"Common Word, Common Lord","article_published_time":"2016-02-03T19:25:28+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-02-03T19:40:21+00:00","author":"Hesham A. 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Hassaballa","description":"Hesham A. Hassaballa is a Chicago doctor and writer. He has written extensively on a freelance basis, being published in newspapers across the country and around the world. He has been a Beliefnet columnist since 2001, and has written for the Religion News Service. He is also a columnist for Patheos. His articles have been distributed worldwide by Agence Global, and he was also a guest blogger for The Chicago Tribune and has blogged on ChicagoNow\" . In addition, Dr. Hassaballa has appeared as a guest on WTTW (Channel 11) in Chicago, CNN, Fox News, BBC, and National Public Radio. Dr. Hassaballa is co-author of The Beliefnet Guide to Islam (Doubleday), and his essay, \u201cWhy I Love the Ten Commandments,\u201d was published in the award-winning book Taking Back Islam (Rodale). His latest book, Noble Brother, is the story of the Prophet Muhammad told entirely in poetry, and it is now published in its second edition. In 2007, his blog \"God, Faith, and a Pen\" was nominated for a Brass Crescent Award for a blog that is \u201cthe most stimulating, insightful, and philosophical, providing the best rebuttals to extremist ideology and making an impact whenever they post.\u201d \"God, Faith, and a Pen\" has also received an award for being one of the \"Top Muslim Blogs for 2010\" by Awarding The Web. In addition to writing, Dr. Hassaballa helped found the Chicago Chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations and currently serves on their board of directors. He also co-founded the Bayan H. 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