[This is the seventh part of a ten-part series. To read more, see Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 here.]

Caffè Italiano: The two meet again and over coffee, and talk.  

EU bureaucrat: My boss said we’re wrong to see terrorism as a law-and-order problem. Its root causes are poverty and socio-economic deprivation.

Islamofactist: She’s off the mark. First, the fact is that there are many examples of educated terrorists. Another fact is a European Union research paper on “The root causes of violent terrorism” categorically states, “Terrorism research has indicated that neither poverty nor socio-economic deprivation are direct root causes of terrorism.”

EU bureaucrat: Then, what is? It certainly can’t be religion.

Islamofactist: Regrettably, it can.

EU bureaucrat: I think I know where you’re going. We can’t single out one religion when it comes to terrorism.

Islamofactist: That’s precisely what the EU has done. The fact is that the early version of the same paper mentions only one religion in connection with terrorism.

EU bureaucrat: Really? Which religion?

Islamofactist: It specifically mentions “a salafi-jihadi interpretation of Islam.”

EU bureaucrat: That’s not Islam! 

Islamofactist: Why not? An interpretation of Islam is still Islam. By way of analogy, if for centuries, Christianity has been “a mixed bag of diverse theological beliefs, practices and traditions,” then why can’t there be a “salafi-jihadi interpretation of Islam”? A language like English is spoken in different dialects, but it’s still English. So, a Salafi-Jihadi interpretation of Islam is still Islam.

EU bureaucrat: I don’t find that convincing. Moderate Islam is real Islam. 

Islamofactist: Unfortunately, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan would not agree with you. For the fact is that in 2017, he said,  “Islam cannot be either ‘moderate’ or ‘not moderate.’ Islam can only be one thing.”   

 EU bureaucrat: You’re a troublesome fellow. I don’t want to get into that. Terrorism has nothing to do with Islam. These terrorist acts are only political.

Islamofactist: Incorrect. The fact is, the same EU report mentioned earlier makes it clear that terrorists or potential terrorists are motivated both by political and religious factors. It states, “Political seekers are usually seeking support and driven by political engagement. They tend to view themselves as saviours defending the people of ‘the nation’ or ‘the umma’.” They are motivated by their sense “that Islam is under siege” and a desire to protect the ummah under assault. As you know, the ummah is “both a religious community and a political congregation.”  Muslim scholars assert, “The Umma constitutes one of the key political concepts of the Quran.” 

EU bureaucrat: That’s very troubling. Are you implying that acts of terrorism are politico-religious in nature?

Islamofactist: That is the fact established by this EU document.

EU bureaucrat: The vast majority of Muslims are peace-loving. You can’t blame all Muslims.

Islamofactist: I am not. But I do want to recall facts we’ve established earlier. First, Muslims are overrepresented in prisons, and 11% or 5.39 million Muslims in the EU consider physical violence as “sometimes or always acceptable” because “someone has insulted their religion.” Correct?

EU bureaucrat: Correct. But how’s the situation in the UK?

Islamofactist: The same. The fact is that a quarter of British Muslims sympathized with the Charlie Hebdo Islamic terrorists. Of the 3.37 million Muslim population in the UK, 11%, or 371,026, thought that magazines that publish images of the Islamic prophet “deserve to be attacked.” The former Muslim Home Secretary of the UK, Sajid Javid, called on fellow British Muslims to challenge “non-violent extremists” who support the ideology of groups such as the Islamic State.

EU bureaucrat: How’s the situation in the US?

Islamofactist: The same. The fact is, in 2017, 12% of US Muslims said that “targeting and killing civilians can be justified in order to further a political, social or religious cause.” The Muslim population in the US in 2017 was 3.45 million. Thus, 414,000 US Muslims believed that such actions were justified.

EU bureaucrat: And elsewhere in the world?

Islamofactist: The fact is, in 2013, 1% of Pakistanis, 1% of Indonesians, 2% of Nigerians, 3% of Jordanians, 5% of Tunisians, 3% of Turks, 11% of Senegalese, 10% of Egyptians, 5% of Malaysians and 9% of Lebanese believed that “suicide bombings can be justified.”

EU bureaucrat: These percentages are meaningless. What matters is the actual number of terrorist attacks.

Islamofactist: You’re spot on. 

The fact is that there have been an enormous number of Islamist terrorist attacks between 1979 and April 2024. Specifically, there were 66,872 Islamist terrorist attacks worldwide that caused the deaths of at least 249,941 people. Today, Islamist attacks around the world are more numerous than ever before. Within the European Union, France was the country most affected by Islamist terrorism. Between 1979 and April 2024, there were 85 attacks committed on its soil, with at least 334 people killed in the attacks.

EU bureaucrat: Highly regrettable, but these terrorists are a small minority.

Islamofactist: OK. So, let’s consider that point about a “tiny minority.” How many hijackers destroyed the World Trade Center and killed about 3000 people?

EU bureaucrat: (replies after Googling) 19.

Islamofactist: How many people beheaded Samuel Paty in France?

EU bureaucrat: One.

Islamofactist: How many people attacked the Charlie Hebdo office, murdered 12 people and injured 11 others in 2015?

EU bureaucrat: Two.

Islamofactist: And how many persons were involved in the killing of the British Member of Parliament, Sir David Amess, in 2021?

EU bureaucrat: One. 

Islamofactist: And how many people launched the terror attack during the Ariana Grande concert in 2017 that killed 22 people?

EU bureaucrat: One.

Islamofactist: And how many persons were involved in the terror attack in New Orleans on 2025 New Year’s Day in the US that killed 15 people and injured dozens of others?

EU bureaucrat: One.

Islamofactist: The fact is, even these terrorist acts, committed by a “tiny minority,” sowed fear in the general population and indeed changed history. In the case of 9/11, it has been correctly pointed out that the US attack on Iraq was possible only because the American public was afraid and believed the false allegations that Saddam Hussein had connections with Al Qaeda. The worldwide airline industry was compelled by fear after 9/11 to introduce drastic new measures that continue to this day. So your argument about a “tiny minority” is superficial, as it fails to consider the whole-of-society impact of terrorism that includes many aspects of health and health care: acute and chronic symptoms of anxiety and depression, changes in health-related behaviors and long-term strain and tension.

EU bureaucrat: I agree that terrorism does indeed terrorize. But these people aren’t Muslims! How do you know they were Muslims?

Islamofactist: Easy. We adopt the methodology followed by your survey, which surveyed “immigrants who indicated that they are Muslim when asked about their religion.” If a person says he’s a Muslim, that’s all the proof needed.

EU bureaucrat: You don’t get it. They are not true Muslims.

Islamofactist: Your survey has no such distinction between “true” Muslims and “untrue” Muslims. Furthermore, the fact is “with many Muslim scholars declaring other Muslims as non-Muslims in this day and age, it can be difficult to ascertain as to who is a true Muslim.”

EU bureaucrat: Becoming a true Muslim is very difficult. It’s a long process.

Islamofactist: It’s precisely the opposite. The fact is that becoming a Muslim is very simple. Any person who believes that there is only one God, Allah, who created the entire universe and that Muhammad is his final messenger on earth is a Muslim. If a person wants to become a Muslim, all they have to do is recite this, with total sincerity, in front of two witnesses, and they have become a Muslim. And the Qur’an “does not allow anyone to declare another person a disbeliever if he recites the Kalima (declaration of faith).”

EU bureaucrat: But how do you know the people involved in these terrorist acts did so because of their religious Islamic feelings?

Islamofactist: Easy. Because the fact is, they said so themselves. In the attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Day 2025, the attacker had joined ISIS and had posted on social media that he wanted the media coverage to be seen as “a war between the believers and the disbelievers.” This is not new. Mohammad Atta, the ringleader behind the 9/11 carnage, wrote to himself to “Read al-Tawba and Anfal [traditional war chapters from the Qur’an] and reflect on their meanings and remember all of the things God has promised for the martyrs.” The gunmen in the Charlie Hebdo attack shouted, “We have avenged the Prophet Muhammad.” Ali Harbi Ali, who killed Sir David Amess, told the court he wanted to travel to Syria to join the self-styled Islamic State, but it was too “difficult,” so he decided to “help Muslims here” instead. He said he had no regrets or shame about killing Sir David, telling the court: “If I thought I did anything wrong, I wouldn’t have done it.”

EU bureaucrat: All these may be facts, but I’m really concerned about far-right movements taking advantage of these acts. I really blame them. Elon Musk tweeting his support for the far-right German political party AfD is too much.

Islamofactist: You’re putting the cart before the horse; the effect before the cause. If there had been no terrorist attacks committed by persons who state they are Muslims, the “far-right,” as you call them, would have no platform to agitate upon and no one to listen to them. They would be political non-entities instead of having an increasing number of people listening to them. In statistical terms, the terror attacks and other factors are the independent variable, and the “far-right” is the dependent variable. Europe finds itself in this situation because the left refuses to acknowledge the causation between them.

EU bureaucrat: You are making it sound as if the “left” is responsible for the rise of the “right”!

Islamofactist: I couldn’t have put it better myself. Did our talk make sense today?

EU bureaucrat: My takeaway is that the Islamofactist method has allowed us to establish Islamic terrorism as not caused by poverty or socio-economic deprivation; it is politico-religious in nature, has killed more than a quarter of a million people since 1979 and even when carried out by one or a handful of individuals, it can have history-changing consequences. Correct?

Islamofactist: You got the essence. 

EU bureaucrat: Well, I confess I am troubled. All of what you’ve said seems grounded in facts, but despite all that, it might amount to hate speech.

Islamofactist: Well, then, why don’t we discuss that now? 

EU bureaucrat: Tomorrow. After I report all that you’ve said to my boss, I must say she seems more thoughtful recently, after all that I’ve told her. 

Islamofactist: Tomorrow then.

EU bureaucrat: (to the server) L’addition, s’il vous plaît. 

They tussle over who will pay the bill and decide to split it.  Outside, each goes their way, melting into the crowds. 

[Cheyenne Torres edited this piece.]

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy.