The Danger You Haven't Heard About

Abigail R. Esman, IPT News

 

Most people can tell you who the potential jihadists are, especially the ones in Europe and the USA.

You can point them out in a group: they are immigrants, or more often, the children of immigrants, who came from the Middle East or North Africa.

 

They often converse among one another in Arabic. Many want to join the Islamic State and other terror groups in Syria, or have gone and since returned. They are mostly men, usually around age 20 or less, and have grown up feeling alienated from the societies in which they live.

Most of this is wrong.

 

In fact, the UK-based Henry Jackson Society has found that "those who convert to Islam are four times more likely to become terrorists than those who are born Muslims." And in 2015, the Washington Post warned that converts have emerged "as some of the most dangerous and fanatical adherents to radical Islam."

 

Now a recent study in the Netherlands shows that "the share of converts to Islamist extremism tends to be significantly higher" than those born into the faith. As many as 17 percent of Dutch converts have joined the caliphate, the study's authors claim – seven times more than the percentage of converts to the entire Dutch Muslim community. And most of those are women.

 

That study is supported by previous reports that show that as many as 25 percent of the French Muslims who have made hijrah to Syria are converts from other faiths. Figures are slightly lower – one in six, or about 17 percent– in Germany. In the UK, according to the Economist, though converts comprise fewer than 4 percent of all Muslims, they account for 12 percent of "home-grown jihadists." And in America, while one-fifth of Muslims are converts, two-fifths, or 40 percent, of those arrested on suspicion of ISIS ties in 2015 had converted.

 

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The Danger You Haven't Heard About

Abigail R. Esman, IPT News

Most people can tell you who the potential jihadists are, especially the ones in Europe and the USA.

You can point them out in a group: they are immigrants, or more often, the children of immigrants, who came from the Middle East or North Africa.

 

They often converse among one another in Arabic. Many want to join the Islamic State and other terror groups in Syria, or have gone and since returned. They are mostly men, usually around age 20 or less, and have grown up feeling alienated from the societies in which they live.

Most of this is wrong.

 

In fact, the UK-based Henry Jackson Society has found that "those who convert to Islam are four times more likely to become terrorists than those who are born Muslims." And in 2015, the Washington Post warned that converts have emerged "as some of the most dangerous and fanatical adherents to radical Islam."

 

Now a recent study in the Netherlands shows that "the share of converts to Islamist extremism tends to be significantly higher" than those born into the faith. As many as 17 percent of Dutch converts have joined the caliphate, the study's authors claim – seven times more than the percentage of converts to the entire Dutch Muslim community. And most of those are women.

 

That study is supported by previous reports that show that as many as 25 percent of the French Muslims who have made hijrah to Syria are converts from other faiths. Figures are slightly lower – one in six, or about 17 percent– in Germany. In the UK, according to the Economist, though converts comprise fewer than 4 percent of all Muslims, they account for 12 percent of "home-grown jihadists." And in America, while one-fifth of Muslims are converts, two-fifths, or 40 percent, of those arrested on suspicion of ISIS ties in 2015 had converted.

 

CONTINUE READING...