Contemporary Interreligious Conflicts

Abstract

Over one hundred terrorist attacks have been carried out from 1993 through the first quarter of 2016 by nongovernmental groups claiming an Islamic basis. (This discussion excludes attacks on the armed forces of the United States in Iraq and NATO in Afghanistan.) The primary instigator most recently has been the organization that calls itself The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) but is also known as The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). It is a Salafi jihadist militant group that follows an Islamic fundamentalist Wahhabi doctrine of Sunni Islam. It appears to have replaced Al Qaeda as the most serious threat. As of May 2016, the group controls a large, landlocked territory in Iraq and Syria, where it enforces its interpretation of sharia law. Related groups are active in North Africa and the Arabian peninsula. A similar group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, is active in Pakistan, and Abu Sayyaf operates in the southern Philippines. Most of the attacks have occurred in countries that are almost total Muslim. Attacks in these countries have specifically targeted different groups on various occasions and may be categorized as follows:

• 1. Assaults against other Muslims who were members or supporters of the local national government

• 2. Attacks specifically targeting adherents of a different sect or ethnic group of Islam

• 3. Attacks targeting local citizens who were Christian; Pakistan’s Minister for Minority Affairs was assassinated in March 2011

• 4. Attacks directed against local citizens who were Jewish; these have occurred in Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey

• 5. Assaults against citizens of Christian-majority nations who were visiting or working in these countries; victims have included tourists, journalists, employees of private companies, military personnel, diplomats, and other government workers