The Direct Connection Between Devoutness in Islam and Violence

It is commonplace for Leftists and Islamic apologists in the West to claim that jihadis are ignorant of Islam, and indifferent to it. “Terrorists don’t kill for their religion,” asserted an article published in the World Economic Forum last year, just one of many that claim the same thing. Yet again and again we see just the opposite: jihadis are devout, informed Muslims.

Here is yet another example: According to the Times Ledger, a Muslim named Ahmed Parveg “pleaded guilty in a Brooklyn federal court last month to helping the overseas terrorist organization ISIS.” Parveg “traveled to Saudi Arabia [in] June 2017 to celebrate the Islamic religious holiday Ramadan, then attempted to travel to Syria to join ISIS.”

Parveg was a fan of the now-dead jihad mastermind Anwar al-Awlaki, and had bookmarked on his computer a recording of a sermon in which al-Awlaki preached: “Jihad must continue and fighting must go on until the Final Hour comes. Fighting is only increasing as prescribed by Allah — now it is time to carry the battle to further lands outside of Arab countries.”

Was Parveg intending to kill for his religion? “He got religious in the last year. Not radical, just religious,” his brother said after Parveg was arrested.

Not only was Parveg religious, the group he wanted to join was — and is — as well.

The Islamic State (ISIS), in its heyday, quoted the Qur’an frequently — odd behavior if the group was actually ignorant of, indifferent to, or in violation of the book’s core tenets. ISIS quoted the Qur’an extensively in threats to blow up the White House and conquer Rome and Spain; in explaining its priorities in the nations it is targeting in jihad; in preaching to Christians after collecting the jizya (a Qur’an-based tax, cf. Qur’an 9:29); in justifying the execution of accused spies; and in its various videos.

ISIS also awarded $10,000 prizes and sex slaves in Qur’an memorization contests. One of its underground lairs was found littered with weapons and copies of the Qur’an. Children in the Islamic State study the Qur’an and get weapons training. One Malaysian Muslim said that the Qur’an led him to join the Islamic State. A Muslim woman in the U.S. promoted the Islamic State by quoting the Qur’an. An Islamic State propagandist’s parents said of him: “Our son is a devout Muslim. He had learnt the Quran by heart.” A Muslim politician from Jordan said that the Islamic State’s “doctrine stems from the Qur’an and Sunnah.”

All this and much more like it points to a fact that today’s political and media elites steadfastly refuse to recognize, and accuse anyone who notices it of “Islamophobia”: the Qur’an repeatedly calls upon believers to commit acts of violence against non-Muslims, and there is a direct connection between devoutness in Islam and violence.

Not all who are devout in Islam will ever become violent — but virtually all jihad terrorists are devout Muslims.

In fact, jihad groups such as ISIS and al-Qaeda make recruits among peaceful Muslims by appealing to them on Islamic grounds, and by presenting themselves as the quintessentially authentic Muslims.

A sane society with a rational public discourse would be having a public discussion of this and its implications, and would be calling upon Muslim organizations in the U.S. to renounce the aspects of the Qur’an and Sunnah that contradict Constitutional principles and freedoms. Instead of doing this, the Leftist elites condemn as “bigoted” and “Islamophobic” anyone who calls for such a course of action.

But these smear words aren’t going to blunt the force of the Qur’anic imperative to wage jihad. Their only effect will be the discrediting and silencing of people who call attention to the nature and magnitude of the global jihad, which will continue to advance, even to the point at which the jihad’s useful idiots on the Left will be targeted.

At that point, as the jihadi’s blade begins to slice through their necks, they can congratulate themselves on never having been, even for a moment, so “racist” as to have favored limitations on immigration from jihadi hotspots, or other counter-jihad measures.