The world watched in horror on Friday as a series of coordinated attacks unfolded in Paris, leaving close to 130 people dead. It was the worst attack on the city since World War II. The attacks signal a new chapter in the battle against ISIS, and without a doubt, the military, intelligence, and law enforcement responses to these attacks will be felt for years to come, and not just in France.
“We stand with France,” insisted President Obama on Friday evening, adding that the Paris attacks are an assault “on all of humanity and the universal values we share.” He is right. The attack on Parisians is an attack on us all. We stand with Paris.
But standing with Paris doesn’t mean standing against Muslims. Recent history shows us, however, that when attacks like this take place, the impulse is to do just that, to single out Muslims for suspicion and hostility. Hate crimes, intrusive surveillance programs, restrictions on civil liberties, demands to do more to combat terrorism – all of this is pretty typical of what Muslims endure after domestic attacks from violent extremists. From 9/11 to the London bombings to Charlie Hebdo, the pattern is the same. The Muslims in our midst become the stand-ins for all terrorists, and all too often, we treat them as such.
It’s important to remember that domestic terrorism is a much more complex phenomenon than events like Paris suggest. Most terrorist attacks in Europe and the U.S. are not carried out by Muslims. According to Europol, between 2009-2013, less than 2% of terrorist attacks in Europe were religiously inspired. Many were carried out by separatist organizations motivated by nationalist sentiment or ethnic beliefs.
In the U.S., between 1980-2005, only 6% of domestic terrorist attacks were carried out by Muslims according to the FBI. New America, a Washington-based research center, reports that nearly twice as many people in the U.S. since 9/11 have been killed by anti-government activists, white supremacists, or other extremists than by “radical Muslims.” Other reputable studies yield similar findings. The number of Muslims participating in deadly terrorist plots on U.S. soil is incredibly small.
Of course, you don’t need large numbers of terrorists to inflict major casualties. Paris is an indicator of this. So is Norway, where the Islamophobe Anders Breivik single-handedly massacred 77 people in 2011. Countering violent extremism is thus not just about the numbers, but we still shouldn’t forget that perpetrators are more likely to come from outside of Islam than within.
What we also don’t want to forget is that from a global perspective, the majority of ISIS’s victims are Muslims. ISIS is prone to labeling any Muslim who does not agree with its brand of Islam as a kafir or unbeliever and worthy of death, no matter whether that person is Sunni or Shia. In fact, one day before the Paris attacks, 43 people died in Lebanon due to ISIS suicide bombings that targeted Shia Muslims. Many more Muslims have died in Iraq and Syria at the hands of ISIS over the past couple of years.
We also should remember that the current Syrian refugee crisis is in part due to Muslims trying to flee ISIS’s brutality. All of this points to an important truth. Muslims have lots of experience when it comes to suffering at the hands of ISIS. This is why there is such an outpouring of support from Muslims near and far for the people of Paris. Muslims stand with Paris too!
We must be careful in the weeks, months, and years to follow not to perpetuate the bigoted habit of branding our Muslim neighbors as terrorist sympathizers, as guilty until proven innocent. To stand with Paris, to stand with victims of terrorism, is to stand with Muslims as well. Our fight against ISIS is their fight too. If we lose sight of this, if we turn on our Muslim neighbors, we give ISIS a far greater victory than it ever could have imagined.
Photo credit: "Arc de triomphe Paris" by I, Sese Ingolstadt. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons.
