Critical Thinking of Muslim Societies: A Terror-Based Perspective

Abstract

After the declaration of war on terror, especially the events of September 2001 in the United
States, we see that the terrorist organizations that made the Islamic religion a cover for them
in their work have begun to reconfigure themselves intellectually based on the Islamic
heritage, especially about the Qur’anic verses and the hadiths related to fighting. The
organizations went to consolidate their fighting ideology by confronting the whole world,
using a set of fatwas and rulings that were issued by Muslim religious scholars several
centuries ago, especially during the era of the Mongolian invasion of the Islamic state and the
accompanying calls for resistance by Muslim scholars, especially Ibn Taymiyyah. To facilitate
their task of legislating the declaration of war on the whole world, they rejected any ideology
opposing them. As the organizations resorted to strictness in adopting these fatwas and
religious rulings, and in their explanation of texts, excluding any interpretation other than
their objectives. Therefore, these organizations rejected critical thinking about religious texts,
considering it a departure from Islam. The lack of maturity of this thinking approach among
the general population of Muslims in the various countries made the task of the organizations
in rejecting this approach easier. As we see that a critical approach to thinking in various
scientific fields, including religion, does not exist in education in Islamic countries. That is why
religious texts, including their interpretations, rulings, and fatwas, remained unchanged for
centuries. Thus, it provided an appropriate environment for these organizations to expand
within Islamic societies through thought related to the past that is not related to the present
in anything except that it carried the same rulings, fatwas, and interpretations of religious
texts.