“Cogent Religious Instruction”: A Response to the Phenomenon of Radical Islamist Terrorism in Australia

Abstract

Over the past 15 years, 47 Muslim Australians have been convicted for terrorism offences. Australian courts have determined that these acts were motivated by the offenders’ “Islamic” religious beliefs and that interpretations of Quranic verses concerning jihad, in relation to shariah, caliphate, will of God and religious duty contributed to the commission of these crimes. This paper argues that these ideas, derived from certain classical-era Islamic jurisprudence and modern Islamist thought, contradict other classical-era interpretations and, arguably, the original teachings of Islam in the time of the Prophet Muhammad. In response to the call for “cogent religious instruction” to combat the phenomenon of radical Islamist terrorism, this paper outlines a deradicalization program that addresses late 20th- and early 21st-century time-period effects: (1) ideological politicization associated with Islamist jihadism; (2) religious extremism associated with Salafism; and (3) radicalization associated with grievances arising from Western military interventions in Muslim-majority countries. The paper offers a counter narrative, based on a contextualized reading of the Quran and recent research on the authentication of the Covenants of the Prophet Muhammad. It further contends that cogent religious instruction must enhance critical-thinking skills and provide evidence-based knowledge in order to undermine radical Islamist extremism and promote peaceful coexistence.

The Views on Terrorism in the Name of Islam Held by Islamic Religion Teachers in Spain

“…All our interviewees concurred with Rane (2019) when understanding jihad in a defensive sense of the word and, therefore, did not envisage the possibility of an offensive jihad. For most of them, the Palestinian resistance was lesser jihad, while none of them considered the attack against Charlie Hebdo in Paris or other similar acts as such, showing themselves to be diametrically opposed to the fairly widespread interpretation of the concept in the West, which confuses it with 'holy war'.…”

“…According to authors like Rane (2019), the Prophet never resorted to offensive jihad and it should be understood as resistance to oppression. Be that as it may, Mohd et al (2017), among others, assert that lesser jihad can be both defensive, when Muslims have been previously attacked, and offensive.…”

The Principles of Islamic Law and the Deradicalization of Convicted Terrorists

“…As a result of this action, non-Muslims can think Islamic law is carried out through criminality and the murder of other people. This is because these acts of terrorism are carried out in the name of Islamic law (Rane 2019).…”

The Impact of Using Mining Technology on the Environment in the Manggarai Mine Circle Community From the Ethical Perspective of Hans Jonas

“…More than that, technology has generally changed all patterns of human work (Patrício, 2018;Shcheblyakov et al, 2019). The development and advancement of technology today cannot be denied that it has brought humans into a new world order that is more sophisticated and advanced (Juul et al, 2019;Rane, 2019). Every day, this development is felt in real life; even every human being is competing to be more advanced than others, even justifying all means can be an alternative to seek and gain profits (Baeva, 2016).…”