Why Muslim ‘not in my name’ campaigns are part of the problem

Merely being unsupportive of jihadism does not prevent the phenomenon from growing.

Merely being unsupportive of jihadism does not prevent the phenomenon from growing

When faced with the appalling and brutal acts of groups like ISIS or al-Qaeda, the most common response the vast majority of my fellow Muslims offer is ‘they don’t represent me’ or ‘they have been condemned by most Muslims’.

These sentiments may seem laudable on the surface, and in some respects they are, but they also conceal a much deeper problem that helps explain why jihadist ideology seems to be growing in spite of such sentiments being widespread.

Two key points need to be made about this.

Firstly, in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t really matter that the vast majority of Muslims oppose jihadism because as long as there is a significant and determined minority of Muslims that are supportive, jihadists will achieve their aims.

The vast majority of Iraqis and Syrians hate ISIS but that did not prevent ISIS from taking over large swathes of those countries and committing large-scale massacres. A majority of Nigerian Muslims oppose Boko Haram but that does not seem to have dented their seemingly unstoppable rise. A majority of Pashtuns oppose the Taliban but they still remain the most potent political and military force in Pashtun regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Hence, merely being unsupportive of jihadism does not prevent the phenomenon from growing and causing widespread chaos and destruction. Nor does it prevent it from becoming a dominant force.

There is a false assumption at work here, namely the notion that as long as the vast majority of Muslims oppose jihadism everything will be fine. Recent history has shown that this assumption is not only false but dangerous.

The second point to be made is that statements such ‘they don’t represent me’ are only useful if they are a precursor to a sustained effort to challenge and undermine jihadism. In my experience, this is rarely the case, in fact, the opposite tends to be true.

Such statements tend to be another way of saying ‘this is none of my business because I don’t agree with them’. By merely declaring jihadists not representative of Muslims at large, many Muslims are in fact refusing to take ownership of the problem and merely performing a PR exercise.

This is the reason why we have not seen any large-scale Muslim led effort to challenge extremist ideology in Europe since 911. Muslims either go into conspiratorial mode or convince themselves that it is not their problem when faced with jihadi excesses.

And yet the very same people will then say they are concerned about Islamophobia and the Palestinian cause because it affects fellow Muslims and that they have concerns about the global Muslim community.

How can one be concerned about the global Muslim community and not want to tackle jihadism which, in the grand scheme of things, has killed far more Muslims that anyone else?

Rather than offering such shallow condemnations, we as Muslims need to stop being solely concerned with the image of Islam and Muslims and recognise that challenging jihadists and associated extremists proactively will do more to rehabilitate the image of Islam than shallow ‘not in my name’ statements.

The greatest threat to Islam and Muslims today is not the US, Israel or India but jihadism and only we can defeat it. The sooner we recognise that the better!

Amjad Khan is a Muslim writer and commentator

41 Responses to “Why Muslim ‘not in my name’ campaigns are part of the problem”

  1. Gary Scott

    Fair enough, more should be done. But the average man in the street can’t do much more than condemn the actions of the extremists. With Palestine people can contribute by way of charities but in a practical sense there is very little that can be done. Its not the job of peaceful Muslims to take ownership of any outrage committed by Muslims elsewhere in the world, to do so, or to say so simply invites Islamaphobia. No one called on British Catholics to condemn the IRA and if they had it would rightly have been seen as sectarian. All the groups taking arms do not have religious aims they simply seek power, they must be stripped of the cover of ‘religion’ and seen for what they are.

  2. Mark

    How is this to be done? I must admit that for some time I’ve been tired of the same old TV “commentators” using the word “abhorrent”, possibly three times in two sentences, every time something nasty occurs. Shift him on, say “abhorrent,” shift him off. At the very least, find another word to use!
    As far as David Cameron is concerned, “extremist organisations” will be countered by “enabling those who support democracy.” I don’t know what that means, apart from sounding like pitting Muslim organisations against each other.
    If I could put myself in the shoes of a regular Muslim, I would find it hard not to say, “Not in my name,” etc, because that’s how it is at that level I imagine. On the other hand, is it difficult for those “regular Muslims” to accept that, if taken literally in many ways, the Quran/Hadith can lead to such things? Is it taboo to go there? Is it difficult to realise that this is exactly what the jihadists are doing, outside of any other influencing factors?
    The Quran cannot be re-written. Can it be re-explained? Can we have the equivalent of Christians rejecting Leviticus? I have no idea at all. Who can approach this is not for me to suggest, but it certainly isn’t government ministers quoting apparent nice bits from the Quran.

  3. Mohsen Gohden

    We know what it looks like when the Muslim world is bothered by something. Cartoons and youtube videos of their prophet make them visibly upset. Jihad? not so much.

  4. Dave Roberts

    I’ve read the article several times and can’t see what the point of it is except to fill up space. The writer seems to be saying that it is a waste of time to denounce extremists but then goes further and claims that these denunciations are ” a part of the problem”. Would he or anyone else like to tell us how saying that terrorism is bad makes that a part of the problem?

  5. swat

    Good article. The Muslim world think hey can get away with it by just condemnation; but they can’t. They are going to have to do something about these crazed individuals and sects. That means they are going toi have to take them head on, whether they like it or not. Don’t expect the nonMuslim world to do it.

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