Ebrahim Moosa, a professor of Islamic Studies at Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana, spoke of the recent collapse of the IS caliphate in the Middle East and said it would be a mistake to assume that it had caused the terror group to give up its struggle.
In a public lecture at Nottingham University here, he said the terror threat could get worse in countries where people were disaffected because of poor governance.
“We do not have responsible governance in the majority of Muslim countries,” he said.
“In most Muslims societies – in Somalia, Egypt, Algeria, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Kurdistan and Afghanistan – you are talking about millions of people who are miserable.
“All you need is 10,000 coming out and creating havoc on a global basis. When they get to be 15,000, it will be further trouble and when they get 50,000 foot soldiers, it can possibly be an apocalypse.”
He said IS militants were desperate to keep their struggle alive.
“They think they have a strategy and their strategy is to intimidate supporters of the West. They want to hit as hard as possible so that they can take over and set up their caliphate.”
Ebrahim spoke of the likelihood of IS recruiting fighters among innocents affected by Western military attacks on suspected terrorist positions in such countries as Afghanistan.
“Many of those killed in drone attacks are innocent people and their children have memories of these killings,” he said. “In Afghanistan, their children have memories, in Pakistan their children have memories. These children are ready to join the IS army.
“And none of us are doing work with those who have suffered, telling them there is a better chance. They need to be told not to enter that cycle of violence because it can benefit neither them nor their community.”
Ebrahim advocated the re-education of Muslims as a measure against the spread of terrorism.
“The way to go forward and develop an authentic understanding of Islam is to make sure we invest in institutions to re-educate Muslims,” he said. “We need to educate them with contemporary literacy in Islam so that they feel comfortable in the world they are living in.
“We must engage them with knowledge that they find meaningful and ensure that they don’t feel their Islam is inferior to any other version of Islam.”
He said the kind of education he was advocating should aim to eliminate from the minds of Muslims the idea that they were living in a world in which it was hard to live as good Muslims because their governments were not shariah-compliant.
“They feel guilty for taking their salary from such a government. At some point, they want to cleanse the money by going for two hajs and 10 umrahs, thinking they can do better, when this money should go to the poor.
“All these kinds of cookie ideas constitute religion for them because there is no good literacy. What we need to do is to advance a new literacy.”