Islamic State owes Donald Trump a debt of gratitude

Mohamad Bazzi
Published : 11 Dec 2015, 06:18 PM
Updated : 11 Dec 2015, 06:18 PM

Donald Trump likes to instigate controversy and keep media attention focused on his campaign for president. In a speech on Dec. 7, Trump, who is leading national polls for the Republican nomination, shocked the world when he called for "a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States" — until American leaders "can figure out what the hell is going on."

Despite widespread condemnation, Trump is standing by his proposal, saying it would not apply to Muslim American citizens and would be a "temporary measure" in response to the threat of attacks from jihadist groups. He invoked one of America's darkest periods: President Franklin D. Roosevelt's decision during World War Two to classify more than 100,000 Japanese, German and Italian immigrants as "enemy aliens." That decision paved the way for the internment of tens of thousands of noncitizens and American citizens of Japanese descent.

Trump's proposal is reprehensible, and it is part of a growing undercurrent of Islamophobia that is making life difficult for the approximately three million Muslims in the United States. Hate crimes against Muslim Americans have increased since the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris and the Dec. 2 massacre in San Bernardino, California — with the Anti-Defamation League logging at least two dozen anti-Muslim attacks over a three-week period.

And Trump is not the only presidential candidate who has fanned the flames of anti-Muslim hysteria. After the Paris attacks, Ben Carson, a retired neurosurgeon who is also a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, described Syrian refugees as "rabid dogs." He has also falsely claimed that Islamic law, sharia, requires that "people following other religions must be killed."

The stereotypes and xenophobia perpetuated by Trump and other demagogues have more subtle effects than outright violence. They shape a social climate in which most Muslims and Arabs are treated as potential terrorists. On Nov. 17, four days after the Paris attacks, a community meeting over plans for a new mosque in Virginia turned into a frightening example of the anti-Muslim sentiment sweeping parts of the United States. Samer Shalaby, an engineer and mosque trustee who was trying to explain the building plans, was heckled and shouted down by audience members.

"Nobody, nobody, nobody wants your evil cult in this county," one man shouted while pointing his finger at Shalaby, as others in the audience clapped and cheered. "I will do everything in my power to make sure that this does not happen," the heckler, who identified himself as a former Marine, continued. "Because you are terrorists. Every one of you are terrorists. I don't care what you say. I don't care what you think." Later, the man added, to cheers from the crowd, "Every Muslim is a terrorist, period. Shut your mouth."

One national poll released in September found that more than half of Americans — and 83 percent of Republicans — believe that Muslims should be barred from seeking the presidency. Another poll last month found that 56 percent of Americans view Islam as at "odds with American values and way of life." (The poll found that U.S. public perceptions of Islam have turned more negative in recent years; in 2011, those interviewed were more evenly divided.)

Of course, it is Trump's proposed ban on Muslim immigration that is at odds with the historic American ideals of religious freedom and tolerance. Beyond the damage he is causing to America's image and values, Trump is also handing a propaganda victory to the militant forces that he supposedly wants to defeat, especially Islamic State.

Trump's latest antics play perfectly into Islamic State's hands, confirming its message that the West is an evil, hostile land where Muslims are unsafe and where they will be persecuted simply for being Muslim. One of the pillars of Islamic State's ideology is that it is the true — and only — defender of Sunni Muslims, who are being persecuted in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt and everywhere else where the group has carried out attacks, either directly or through its affiliates.

In its slick propaganda, Islamic State emphasizes two major themes: a righteous and idyllic life for "true" Muslims in its self-declared state in parts of Syria and Iraq, and an ideology that sanctifies violence as the only means for Sunnis to achieve political power. The group is highly sophisticated in its use of social media to sow fear among its enemies, and to entice alienated Muslims living in the West to "emigrate" to Islamic State-controlled territory.

Never mind that, like other militant Islamic movements, especially al Qaeda, Islamic State selectively uses the teachings of a group of clerics and scholars from across Islam's history. These clerics advocated declaring fellow Muslims as infidels or apostates, and justified their killing. The majority of the world's 1.6 billion Muslims reject this notion of takfir. But it is central to the ideology of most of today's militant groups, who have killed far more Muslims than non-Muslims. That fact becomes obscured as long as Islamic State has new opportunities to portray itself as the defender of Muslims.

One reason why Islamic State and other jihadist groups have had greater success in recruiting Muslims living in Europe, as opposed to the United States, is that Muslim communities are more alienated in Europe. In America, Muslims immigrants tend to be more educated, diverse and affluent than their counterparts in Europe.

In a report released on Dec. 7, the Soufan Group, a New York-based security consultancy, estimated that between 27,000 and 31,000 foreign fighters have travelled to Syria and Iraq to join Islamic State and other extremist groups. About 5,000 of those fighters came from Western Europe, mainly from Britain, France, Germany and Belgium. By contrast, according to a study by terrorism researchers at George Washington University, only about 250 Americans have tried to join jihadist groups in Syria and Iraq.

But thanks to Trump and other demagogues who are using the San Bernardino attack to whip up anti-Muslim fervor, a new backlash against Muslims in America will breed a greater sense of resentment. And Islamic State knows well how to exploit the resulting fear and alienation.