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The Missing Martyrs: Why There Are So Few Muslim Terrorists ReviewWhen Americans think of terrorism they cannot help but think of 9/11 and Al-Qaeda. Unless they have trained themselves not to, many will undoubtedly think of Islam as well. From 9/11 until recently there had been serious talk of an "Islamic terror problem": when would they strike again, and why was Islam so conducive to terror? Nowadays talk of an "Islamic terror problem" has taken a backseat to other, more pressing concerns: the economy, etc. Moreover, Bin Laden has been killed, the "Velvet Revolution" has transformed America's vision of the Islamic/Arabic world, and the comedic Peter King witch hunts have made unqualified Muslim baiting unwelcome. Still, however, we often ask ourselves why there are so many Muslim terrorists. Indeed, probably most Americans, most westerners, assumed that the recent terrorist attack in Norway was perpetrated by Muslim terrorists.Sociologist Charles Kurzman begs to differ. On the contrary, he says; Why are there so few Muslim terrorists? With the world's Muslim population at more than one billion, Kurzman's goal in this book is to explain why the world does not witness more acts of Islamist terror. One reason is that most Muslims do not share the conviction that targeting innocent civilians is acceptable. Nevertheless, there are still terrorists, Kurzman acknowledges, but there are also many terrorist groups, which means these diverse groups do not always share the same ideology and hence cannot draw from the entire Muslim population. For example, the most general dichotomy we can distinguish is between the "globalist" and "localist" terrorists. Globalists such as Al-Qaeda are not on the same page as localists such as Hamas. Further, governments that host terrorist organizations don't always share the same nuances: the Taliban, for example, had a slightly different version of Islam than Al-Qaeda, which made Al-Qaeda's operations less easy. Essentially, this is all to say that Islam is not a monolithic religion and the Arab/Islamic world is not a two dimensional place, even when it comes to terrorism.
Kurzman also addresses the claim that anti-Americanism fuels Islamist terrorism. Kurzman notes that much Islamist terror is based on anti-American rhetoric; Bin Laden, for example, claimed that his actions were in response to American foreign policy. Since this is the case, we should be surprised at why acts of terrorist violence have not been higher, since, Kurzman says, the Arab world is full of anti-American sentiment. Should we be (or, have been) worried at the pro-Osama sentiment in the wake of 9/11? Should we be worried that Muslim kids in France have posters of Osama on their bedroom walls? No, Kurzman says, for this is just an embodiment of the "radical sheik", little different from college students who hang posters of Che Guevara on their dormroom walls. Concerning the anti-American sentiment more generally, Kurzman says that this sentiment cannot go any lower; in economics-speak, American foreign policy can do nothing to change consumer sentiment, for the way in which the Arab/Islamic world responds to our foreign policy is inelastic. Only in Turkey and Indonesia do we see a noticeable change in "consumer sentiment". In contrast, "anti-Americanism may be so entrenched that changes in U.S. foreign policy do not make much difference. In Pakistan, for example, only 23 percent of respondents expressed a favorable view of America in 2000. At this low level there wasn't much room for decline during the Bush administration. So even though favorable responses dropped by more than half in 2002, this change only amounted to 13 percent of the sample---a far smaller proportion than the 50 percent of Turks and 60 percent of Indonesians who changed their minds... during the same period."
Thus it is a little confusing when Kurzman later praises Greg Mortenson (author of Three Cups of Tea and, unfortunately for Kurzman's book, a persona non grata as of recently) as an example that U.S. foreign policy should take if it is to win the hearts and minds of the Arab and Islamic world. Also confusing are Kurzman's meanderings into various other topics such as sociological meta-theory (the theory of how to do sociology). Despite such detours, Kurzman's book is a nuanced look at Islamist terrorism, and should be read by those in policy positions. His overarching theme and the data he conveys are a valuable addition to any honest discussion about the topic at hand.The Missing Martyrs: Why There Are So Few Muslim Terrorists Overview
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