Islamic terrorism refers to terrorist acts carried out by fundamentalist militant Islamists and Islamic extremists.
Gilles Kepel, is a French political scientist and Arabist, specialized in the contemporary Middle East and Muslims in the West. He was Professor at Sciences Po Paris, the Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL) and director of the Middle East and Mediterranean Program at PSL, based at Ecole Normale Supérieure. His latest English-translated book is, Away from Chaos. The Middle East and the Challenge to the West was reviewed by The New York Times as "an excellent primer for anyone wanting to get up to speed on the region”. His last essay, le Prophète et la Pandémie / du Moyen-Orient au jihadisme d'atmosphère, just released in French, has topped the best-seller lists and is currently being translated into English and a half-dozen languages.
Deeyah Khan is a Norwegian documentary film director and human rights activist of Punjabi/Pashtun descent. Deeyah is a two-time Emmy Award winner, two time Peabody Award winner, a BAFTA winner and has received the Royal Television Society award for Best Factual Director. She has made seven documentaries to date, all have been shown on ITV in the UK as part of its Exposure series.
Jihadism is a neologism for militant Islamic movements that seek to base the state on Islamic principles. In a narrower sense, it refers to the belief held by some Muslims that armed confrontation with political rivals is an efficient and theologically legitimate method of socio-political change. It is a form of religious violence and has been applied to various insurgent Islamic extremist, militant Islamist, and terrorist individuals and organizations whose ideologies are based on the Islamic notion of lesser jihad from the classical interpretation of Islam. It has also been applied to various Islamic empires in history, such as the Rashidun and Umayyad caliphates of the early Muslim conquests, and the Ottoman Empire. There were also the Fula jihads in West Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Islamic extremism, Islamist extremism or radical Islam refers to a set of extremist beliefs, behaviors and ideologies within Islam. These terms remain contentious, encompassing a spectrum of definitions, ranging from academic interpretations of Islamic supremacy to the notion that all ideologies other than Islam have failed and are inferior.
Salafi jihadism, also known as Salafi-jihadism, jihadist Salafism and revolutionary Salafism, is a religiopolitical Sunni Islamist ideology that seeks to establish a global caliphate. An extreme, jihadist interpretation of the broader Salafism movement, Salafi jihadism is characterized by the advocacy of physical violence against both non-Muslims, and self-proclaimed Muslims deemed to be heretics or apostates. In a narrower sense, jihadism refers to the belief that armed confrontation with political rivals is an efficient and theologically legitimate method of socio-political change. The Salafist interpretation of sacred Islamic texts is "in their most literal, traditional sense", which adherents claim will bring about the return to "true Islam".
Islamic extremism in the United States comprises all forms of Islamic extremism occurring within the United States. Islamic extremism is an adherence to fundamentalist interpretations of Islam, potentially including the promotion of violence to achieve political goals. In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, Islamic extremism became a prioritized national security concern of the U.S. government and a focus of many subsidiary security and law enforcement entities. Initially, the focus of concern was on foreign Islamic terrorist organizations, particularly al-Qaeda, but in the course of the years since the September 11 terror attacks, the focus has shifted more towards Islamic extremist radicalized individuals and jihadist networks within the United States.
Fuuse is an independent music, arts and film production company founded by Norwegian artist, Deeyah Khan. Fuuse is an Emmy and Peabody award winning company based in Norway and specialises in creating music and film projects rooted in art, culture and activism to encourage dialogue around social and political issues.
While many Islamist jihadists view hip-hop negatively due to its Western origins, there have also been examples of hip-hop songs with pro-jihadist lyrics, and of jihadists embracing hip-hop and gangsta culture as a way of attracting Westerners to join their organizations. The phenomenon is sometimes known as "Jihad Cool" and includes music, clothing, magazine, videos and other media.
The ideology of the Islamic State, unoffically referred to as Islamic Statism, has been described as being a blend of Salafism, Salafi jihadism, Sunni Islamist fundamentalism, Wahhabism, and Qutbism. Through its official statement of beliefs originally released by its first leader Abu Omar al-Baghdadi in 2007 and subsequently updated since June 2014, the Islamic State defined its creed as "a middle way between the extremist Kharijites and the lax Murji'ites".
The Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) is a British Sunni Muslim organisation founded in 1997. MAB has been well known for its participation in the protests opposing the Iraq War. More recently, it has been known for promoting Muslim participation in Britain.
Dame Sara Khan is a British human rights activist and the chief executive officer of Inspire, an independent non-governmental organisation working to counter extremism and gender inequality. Khan is a contributor to The Guardian and The Independent newspapers, as well as The Huffington Post and has made appearances on British television and radio. She has been interviewed for the BBC's HARDtalk and Desert Island Discs.
Islam's Non-Believers is a 2016 documentary produced by Fuuse Films, and filmed and directed by Deeyah Khan. The film documents the lives and experiences of ex-Muslims: people who have left Islam to become atheists, and who often face discrimination, harassment, ostracism and violence for leaving Islam, both in the UK and abroad. The documentary was first shown on the ITV's current affairs series Exposure.
Uran Toktonazarovich Botobekov is a Kyrgyz scholar, journalist, diplomat and publicist. He was an opposition activist until 2016 when he emigrated. He is also the author of more than 60 scientific and analytical articles on politics, religion, and economy of the post-Soviet Central Asian states. His scientific works were published in magazines in several countries.
Yahya al-Bahrumi was an American jihadist, Islamic scholar, and supporter of the Islamic State (ISIL). Having converted to Islam, he studied to the point of developing "a staggering mastery of Islamic law and classical Arabic language and literature". He was close to Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, the ISIL spokesman, chief strategist, and director of foreign terror operations.
"White Right: Meeting the Enemy" is a 2017 documentary that aired as an episode of British current affairs TV series Exposure. The documentary was directed by Deeyah Khan and produced by Deeyah's production company Fuuse.
Hazimism, also referred to as the Hazimi movement or known as the Hazimiyyah or Hazimi current, was an extremist current within the Ideology of Islamic State. The movement was based on the doctrines of the Saudi-born Muslim scholar Ahmad ibn Umar al-Hazimi, which was adopted by many Tunisian recruits in IS. Hazimis believe that those who do not unconditionally excommunicate (takfir) unbelievers are themselves unbelievers, which opponents argue leads to an unending chain of takfir." Its spread within ISIS triggered prolonged ideological conflict within the group, pitting its followers against the moderate faction led by Turki al-Binali. The movement was eventually branded as extremist by ISIS, who initiated a crackdown on its followers.
Ahmad ibn Umar al-Hazimi is a Saudi scholar whose interpretation of takfir (excommunication) gave rise to the eponymous Hazimi branch of Wahhabism. A relatively unknown figure until he publicised his teachings in Tunisia after the 2011 revolution, followers of al-Hazimi's views briefly wielded considerable power within the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS). He was arrested and imprisoned by Saudi authorities in 2015.
Muslim In Trump’s America is a 2020 current affairs documentary film produced for ITV's Exposure strand. The film had its British premiere on 1 November 2020, and Norwegian Premier on NRK 2 on 2 November.
Tania Joya is a British-American former jihadi and current counter-extremism activist. In 2013, she fled Syria after traveling there with husband John Georgelas to join the Islamic State. In 2022, she asserted that she had an extramarital romantic relationship with US Representative Van Taylor, who subsequently acknowledged having a relationship and dropped out of a Texas runoff election.
