Analysts 'miss the boat' on causes of violent jihad

Secular analysts err when they attribute the causes of violent jihad to poverty, social victimization or disenfranchisement, according to a former Muslim, reports Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

In fact, Mateen Elass writes for Jihad Watch, jihadis themselves plainly “ascribe their actions to their religion … quoting copiously from the Quran, reciting authoritative martial accounts of their peerless prophet, slavering over the sensual delights of paradise promised to those who kill and are killed for Allah.”

Elass says “our elite analysts know better.”

“‘Islam,’ they say, ‘has nothing to do with terrorism and militancy and conquest. It is a religion of peace. These militants have hijacked Islam and perverted it – they don’t really believe it, but are using it as a front for their real agendas – economic advancement, destruction of political enemies and so on.'”

Elass, who posts writings on his blog as well, was born to a Muslim father in Saudi Arabia. He was schooled in Western philosophy and psychology and Eastern mysticism.

He frequently encountered Christians and began studying the New Testament, which cost him isolation from his father for more than a decade.

He eventually graduated from Stanford, Fuller Seminary and Durham University in England.

He now works with Voice of the Truth in Colorado Springs, which is dedicated to reaching Arabic-speaking peoples around the world.

Secular Western analysts, he says, “miss the boat when seeking the root causes spurring Muslims to engage in violent jihad.”

“Since the analysts themselves have no galvanizing religious faith upon which they build their lives, they can’t imagine that religious faith could be a serious motivater for anyone else – they are blinded by their own bias,” he writes.

For the rest of this report, and more, please go to Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

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