Islamic Terror: What Muslim Americans Can Do

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• published: 28 Mar 2016
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What must the United States do to prevent more Islamist terror attacks like recent ones in Brussels, Paris, and San Bernardino? Khurram Dara, a Muslim American activist, author and attorney, explains why it is Muslim Americans who must take the lead in identifying and combating Islamic extremists within their communities, before what's happening in Europe comes to our shores. You can support PragerU by clicking here: https://www.classy.org/checkout/donation?eid=60079. Free videos are great, but to continue producing high-quality content, contributions--even small ones--are a must! Do you shop on Amazon? Click http://smile.amazon.com/ch/27-1763901 and a percentage of every Amazon purchase will be donated to PragerU. Same great products. Same low price. Shopping made meaningful. VISIT PragerU! http://www.prageru.com FOLLOW us! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/prageru Twitter: https://twitter.com/prageru Instagram: https://instagram.com/prageru/ JOIN PragerFORCE! For Students: https://www.prageru.com/student-ambassador-program For Educators: https://www.prageru.com/educators Sponsor a Student: https://www.prageru.com/become-pragerforce-sponsor Script: I am an American Muslim. And I, along with my mainstream Muslim brethren, in America and abroad, must come to terms with an ever more apparent truth: that we are the only ones who can lead a winning fight against the radicalism crippling our faith. If there was ever any doubt of this, just look at the nature of the terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California in December of 2015. What’s most troubling about the San Bernardino massacre is that Syed Farook, the husband half of the terrorist couple, seems to have been, by almost all accounts, an ordinary American. His was not a crime born of poverty or lack of opportunity, or an inability to integrate into American society. Just the opposite. He was raised in a middle class environment by first generation Pakistani immigrant parents. He was educated and earned a good living. I too, like many American Muslims, come from a background that is very similar, as the son of Pakistani immigrants, which makes the attack all the more concerning. It seems unthinkable that someone in such a position could be susceptible to radicalization. Yet we have seen it happen time and again among younger Muslims in the Middle East, Europe and now America. Attacks like San Bernardino underscore the importance of countering extremist propaganda. While sophisticated attacks by terrorist groups can be effectively prevented by law enforcement and national-security measures, the truth is there isn't much that can be done by any government—not even stricter gun-control laws—to eliminate the possibility of a radicalized lone wolf wreaking havoc. Only defeating the ideology that inspires these attacks can do that. A propaganda war must be waged against this radicalism and American Muslims have to be on the front lines for it to be credible. Merely condemning Islamist terror is not enough. We must actively engage in counter-extremism messaging. We must build an intellectual and theological case against radical Islam. Our religious leaders have to educate and warn our youth about the dangers of searching for spiritual guidance on the Internet. They must make it perfectly clear that anyone who engages in any act of terrorism is not doing God's work, they're doing the work of the devil. For the complete script, visit https://www.prageru.com/courses/political-science/islamic-terror-what-muslim-americans-can-do