Muslims are indispensable to the fight against extremism

What the Arabic media is saying about the Berlin lorry attack.

Candles, flowers and messages are placed at a makeshift memorial for the victims of the attack in Berlin. John MacDougall / AFP

On the evening of December 19, a lorry ploughed through the Christmas market next to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church at Breitscheidplatz in Berlin, leaving 12 dead and nearly 50 injured. ISIL admitted the attack, saying that the assailant carried out the operation in response to its calls to target citizens of international coalition countries.

President-elect Donald Trump issued a statement blaming the Berlin attack on “Islamists who slaughter Christians in their communities”.

In the pan-Arab daily Asharq Al Awsat, Mishari Al Zaidi wrote that some media had reported that Mr Trump vowed to "wipe out Islamist terrorists from the face of the Earth". However, they left out an important part of his statement: that the United States would carry out this mission "with all freedom-loving partners".

According to Al Zaidi, the death toll of terrorism in its ISIL, Al Qaeda and Iran-sponsored versions is highest in Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Turkey, Jordan, Tunisia, Libya, Algeria, Morocco and Indonesia.

This realisation, he continued, is not altered by the increase in terrorist attacks in Europe and other western countries.

“Therefore, the global battle against terrorism should be waged by expanding the base of allies and partners in this war,” he wrote. “Muslims are indispensable to win the war, first to defend their religion and second because they are the most harmed from these crimes.”

Al Zaidi concluded that terrorism is an evil that targets all humanity. “As such, all people should join forces to fight it and understand the big picture, away from any political utilisation.”

Writing in the pan-Arab daily paper Al Hayat, Mohammed Salah noted that throughout the years of religious violence witnessed in the final three decades of the previous century in Egypt, Takfiri ideas have been behind the lack of harmony among so-called Jihadist groups.

But times have changed. “Due to international developments and conflicts, Takfiris have garnered a public from all over the world. Their sympathisers have formed a reserve of suicide bombers who firmly believe that they are headed to heaven while their victims are going straight to hell,” Salah said.

According to the writer, poverty is not the only driver of extremism nor is lack of education or dictatorship.

“There are many underlying reasons, the most dangerous of which is countries resorting to terrorism, whether openly or in secret, and dealing with terrorists day and night to achieve their political agendas.”

He said that Takfiri ideas were by no means a novelty, and such groups had appeared throughout history.

“In modern times, Jama’at Al Muslimin, known in the media as Takfir wal-Hijra, was by far the most important, or at least a model for other groups,” he wrote.

Its founder, Shukri Mustafa, was executed in 1978 because of his involvement in the killing of a former Egyptian minister of religious endowments.

But the writer said Mustafa’s ideas did not die with him, “rather, they remained like splinters that penetrated into Egyptian society every now and then”.

He said that the war in Afghanistan offered extremists a favourable environment to transform their “Jihadist” ideas into Takfiri beliefs.

“Every country in Europe that has become party to the regional equation is a target for terrorists and suicide bombers who are not only immigrants from countries devastated by the Arab Spring but are also citizens of the countries they are bombing,” Salah said

“One only need look at some reactions vis-à-vis the Berlin or Ankara attacks to notice that some take pride in them and regret that they were not the perpetrators of these crimes.”

The writer added that some countries describe terrorists as “opposition groups” and have even negotiated and coordinated with them to harm other parties.

“Norms are lost, Jihadists have disappeared and suicide bombers are now at the forefront,” he concluded.

Translated by ­Jennifer Attieh