Brand Islam

In the language of modern marketing, Islam is becoming an attractive brand to those of ethnic backgrounds distant to the Judaeo-Christian tradition who also feel alienated, disenfranchised or repressed. This brand remains consistent when applied to Palestinians, British-Pakistanis or Bangladeshi-Australians. In the same way that marketers are not ultimately interested in truth, this kind of Islam does not respect rationality and logic, but prefers emotion.

This brand can then be used to satisfy the jihadists' acts. Suicide is actually illegal in Islam but if Islam is deemed to be under direct threat from an outside force, Muslims are justified to fight back as they see fit. By coating a wide variety of conflicts under the same brush, jihadists can convince themselves that Islam is under attack on all fronts.

Only this week, days after I returned from London, a group of Bangladeshi elders argued the bombings may have been orchestrated by the Americans because this would give them a reason to attack Pakistan. This was of course part of the wider fight against Islam. What is more frightening is that the men who had decided upon this crackpot theory would generally be considered moderates.

Rather than feed a growing sense of victimhood, Australian and British authorities need to encourage Muslim communities to purge themselves of their extremism. The communities from the subcontinent in particular, from which the first London attacks stemmed from, can be accused of lukewarm desires to integrate into Australian society. While most of their members will argue terrorists are a fringe element, it is within communities where extreme views are relatively common that jihadists can exist with a degree of comfort. From this relative comfort, they are in a position to launch attacks.

If Muslim communities do not take this responsibility now, both here and in Europe, future “encouragement” may be far less gentle.