Political Islam in the News

CSPII Commentary: Naik’s clip sells Islam as the only “practical” path after listing virtues every faith already claims, which is dawa that omits the harder texts. Pickthall’s Koran 3:54 says they schemed and Allah schemed, “and Allah is the best of schemers,” so the pitch can feel like help for Islam even when the method is concealment.

CSPII Commentary: Chants of “Allahu Akbar” at City Hall on the 9/11 anniversary cannot simply be dismissed as a generic religious expression. The takbir is a doctrinally multi-purpose formula, used in prayer and ordinary religious life but also in jihad. In Sahih al-Bukhari 610, Mohammed approaches the Jewish settlement of Khaibar with his army and, immediately before its conquest, exclaims: “Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Khaibar is ruined.” Thus, when the same cry is shouted at a politically charged demonstration on the anniversary of a jihadist attack, its martial meaning is part of the phrase’s Islamic textual precedent—not something invented by its critics.

CSPII Commentary: The number is higher then TROP/CSPII's count, which shows that our figures are quite conservative. This is due to our methodology and the fact that we count attacks that have been covered by the media. The figure discussed in the article is probably based on Fondapol's 2024 research.