Islamic terrorism

== History ==
=== Pre-20th century ===
Others such as [[Ibn Warraq]] claim that from the beginning of Islam, "violent movements have arisen" such as the [[Khawarij|Kharijites]],<ref name="First Terrorists?">{{cite book |last1=Ibn Warraq |title=The Islam in Islamic Terrorism : the importance of Beliefs, Ideas, and Ideology |date=2017 |publisher=New English Review Press |location=London, UK |isbn=978-1-943003-08-2|chapter=9 The First Terrorists? Kharijites, Violence, and the Demand for the Purification of Islam of Its Unpious Accretions |edition=First}}</ref> Sahl ibn Salama, [[Al-Hasan ibn 'Ali al-Barbahari|Barbahari]], [[Kadizadeli]] movement, [[Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab|Ibn Abd al-Wahhab]], etc., "seeking to revive true Islam, which its members felt had been neglected in Muslim societies, who were not living up to the ideals of the earliest Muslims".<ref name=ibn-warraq-violent>{{cite book |last1=Ibn Warraq |title=The Islam in Islamic Terrorism : the importance of Beliefs, Ideas, and Ideology |date=2017 |publisher=New English Review Press |location=London, UK |isbn=978-1-943003-08-2 |page=18 |edition=First}}</ref>  The 7th century [[Khawarij|Kharijites]], according to some, started from an essentially political position but developed extreme doctrines that set them apart from both mainstream [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]] and [[Shia Islam|Shi'a]] Muslims. The group was particularly noted for adopting a radical approach to ''[[takfir]]'', whereby they declared Muslim opponents to be unbelievers and therefore worthy of death,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/fruits-of-the-tree-of-extremism|title=Imam Mohamad Jebara: Fruits of the tree of extremism|author=Mohamad Jebara More Mohamad Jebara|work=Ottawa Citizen}}</ref> and also by their strong resemblance to contemporary ISIL.<ref name="SHEEMA KHAN 2014">{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/another-battle-with-islams-true-believers/article20802390/ |title=Another battle with Islam's 'true believers'|work=The Globe and Mail |last1=KHAN |first1=SHEEMA |date=29 September 2014}}</ref>

=== 1960s–1970s ===
During the era of the anti-colonial struggle in [[North Africa]] and the [[Middle East]], and coinciding with the creation of [[Israel]] in 1948, a series of [[Marxist-Leninist]] and [[anti-imperialist]] movements swept throughout the Arab and Islamic world. These movements were nationalist and revolutionary, but not Islamic. However, their view that terrorism could be effective in reaching their political goals generated the first phase of modern international terrorism. In the late 1960s, Palestinian secular movements such as [[Fatah|Al Fatah]] and the [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine]] (PFLP) began to target civilians outside the immediate arena of conflict. Following Israel's [[Six-Day War|victory over Arab forces]] in 1967, Palestinian leaders began to realize that the [[Arab world]] was unable to defeat Israel in the battlefield. At the same time, lessons drawn from the [[Jewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine|Jewish struggle against the British in Palestine]] and [[revolutionary movement]]s across Latin America, North Africa and Southeast Asia, motivated the Palestinians to turn away from [[guerrilla warfare]] towards urban terrorism. These movements were secular in nature, though their international reach served to spread terrorist tactics worldwide.<ref name=":4" /> Moreover, the [[Arab Cold War]] between mostly US-aligned conservative Islamic monarchies (Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Jordan) and Soviet-aligned secular national-revolutionary governments (Egypt, Syria, Algeria, Libya, Iraq) inspired a growth of religiously motivated Islamic movements in the Middle East, supported by [[Saudi Arabia]], which came into conflict with the predominant secular ([[Nasserist]] and [[Ba'athist]]) nationalist ideologies at the time.<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/45072440 | jstor=45072440 | title=Nasser's Pan-Arab Radicalism and the Saudi Drive for Islamic Solidarity : A Response for Security | last1=Baba | first1=Noor Ahmad | journal=India Quarterly | date=17 November 1992 | volume=48 | issue=1/2 | pages=1–22 | doi=10.1177/097492849204800101 | s2cid=157470830 }}</ref>

The book ''The Revolt'' by [[Menachem Begin]], leader of the [[Irgun]] militia and future Israeli Prime Minister, influenced both [[Carlos Marighella]]'s urban guerrilla theory and [[Osama bin Laden]]'s Islamist [[al-Qaeda]] organization.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://warontherocks.com/2021/07/july-22-a-pivotal-day-in-terrorism-history/ | title=July 22: A Pivotal Day in Terrorism History | date=22 July 2021 }}</ref> Israeli journalist [[Ronen Bergman]] in the book ''[[Rise and Kill First]]'' asserted that [[Hezbollah]]'s 1983 campaign of coordinated terrorist attacks against American, French and Israeli military installations in [[Beirut]] drew inspiration from and directly mirrored the [[Haganah]]'s and [[Irgun]]'s 1946 bombing campaign against the British: both succeeded in creating an atmosphere of widespread fear which eventually forced the enemy to withdraw.<ref>https://theswissbay.ch/pdf/Books/Politics/Rise%20and%20Kill%20First%20The%20Secret%20History%20of%20Israel%E2%80%99s%20Targeted%20Assassinations%20by%20Ronen%20Bergman%20%28z-lib.org%29.pdf</ref> Bergman further asserts that the influence of Israeli-sponsored terrorist operations on the emerging Islamists was also of operational nature: the Israeli proxy [[Front for the Liberation of Lebanon from Foreigners]] had carried out multiple deadly [[car bomb|truck bombings]] in Lebanon long before the emergence of Hezbollah. An Israeli [[Mossad]] agent told Bergman: "I saw from a distance one of the cars blowing up and demolishing an entire street. We were teaching the Lebanese how effective a car bomb could be. Everything that we saw later with Hezbollah sprang from what they saw had happened after these operations."<ref>{{cite web | url=https://medium.com/@djadan/israeli-journalist-ronen-bergman-reveals-his-countrys-terrorist-bombing-campaign-in-lebanon-8a5d9ff7a2f2 | title=Israeli Journalist Ronen Bergman Reveals Israel's Terrorist Bombing Campaign in Lebanon | date=14 August 2019 }}</ref>

The year 1979 is widely considered a turning point in the rise of religiously motivated radicalism in the Muslim world. Several events (the [[Soviet-Afghan War]] and unprecedented support from Saudi Arabia, [[Pakistan]] and the US for anti-Soviet [[Afghan Mujahideen|jihadists]]; the [[Iranian Revolution]] and subsequent [[Iran-Iraq War]] as well as [[Khomeini]]'s active support for [[Hezbollah|Shia groups]] resisting the [[Israeli occupation of Lebanon]]; the [[Grand Mosque seizure]] in Mecca and subsequent [[Wahhabism|Wahhabization]] of the Saudi government; and the [[Egypt–Israel peace treaty]] that was highly unpopular in some sections of the Muslim world) are thought to be crucial for the proliferation of Islamist terrorism in the next decade.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://apnews.com/article/e6a7f7c8963f4cd1b0e27f1e7d484610 | title=AP Analysis: Climactic events in 1979 shaped modern Mideast | website=[[Associated Press News]] | date=19 January 2019 }}</ref>

According to [[Bruce Hoffman]] of [[RAND Corporation|the RAND Corporation]], in 1980, 2 out of 64 terrorist groups were categorized as having religious motivation while in 1995, almost half (26 out of 56) were religiously motivated with the majority having Islam as their guiding force.<ref name="Hoffman-1999-V">{{cite book |last1=Hoffman |first1=Bruce |title=Countering the New Terrorism |date=1999 |publisher=Rand Corporation |page=V |url=https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/www/external/congress/terrorism/phase1/countering.pdf |access-date=12 August 2019 |chapter=Two: Terrorism Trends and Prospects}}</ref><ref name=":4" />

=== 1980s–1990s ===
The [[Soviet–Afghan War]] and the subsequent anti-Soviet mujahedin war, lasting from 1979 to 1989, started the rise and expansion of terrorist groups. Since their beginning in 1994, the Pakistani-supported [[Taliban]] militia in Afghanistan has gained several characteristics traditionally associated with [[state sponsors of terrorism|state-sponsors of terrorism]], providing logistical support, travel documentation, and training facilities. Since 1989 the increasing willingness of religious extremists to strike targets outside immediate country or regional areas highlights the global nature of contemporary terrorism. The [[1993 bombing of the World Trade Center]], and the 11 September 2001 attacks on the [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center]] and Pentagon, are representative of this trend.<ref name=":4">{{cite web|url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/target/etc/modern.html| title=The Evolution of Islamic Terrorism: an Overview|author=John Moore|publisher=PBS Frontline}}</ref>

=== 2000s–2010s ===
According to research by the German newspaper ''[[Welt am Sonntag]]'', between 11 September 2001 and 21 April 2019, there were 31,221 Islamist terrorism attacks, in which  at least 146,811 people were killed. Many of the victims were Muslims, including most of the victims who were killed in attacks involving 12 or more deaths.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://pasteboard.co/IgC7ac6.jpg|title=18 Jahre Terror|date=28 April 2019|website=Die Welt|access-date=18 June 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://jyllands-posten.dk/international/ECE11350481/naesten-150000-har-mistet-livet-i-islamistiske-angreb/|title=Næsten 150.000 har mistet livet i islamistiske angreb|date=1 May 2019|website=jyllands-posten.dk|access-date=4 May 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/danmark/naesten-150000-har-mistet-livet-i-islamistiske-angreb|title=Næsten 150.000 har mistet livet i islamistiske angreb|date=1 May 2019|website=kristeligt-dagblad.dk|access-date=18 June 2019}}</ref>

=== 2010s ===
According to the Global Terrorism Index, deaths from terrorism peaked in 2014 and have fallen  each year since then until 2019 (the last year the study had numbers for), making a decline of more than half (59% or 13,826 deaths) from their peak. The five countries "hardest hit" by terrorism continue to be Muslims countries—Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Syria and Somalia.
{{#tag:ref|An indication that Islamic terrorism has at least paced the general decline in deaths from terror is that  "one of the more worrying trends" in terrorism over the five year period from 2014–2019, is (non-Islamic) far-right terrorism.<ref name="Porterfield-25-11-2020">{{cite news |last1=Porterfield |first1=Carlie |title=Terrorism Deaths Decline Worldwide, But Far-Right Attacks Are On The Rise |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2020/11/25/terrorism-deaths-decline-worldwide-but-far-right-attacks-are-on-the-rise/ |access-date=5 May 2021 |work=Forbes |date=25 November 2020}}</ref> |group=Note}}