to justify violence. By doing this, I hope to illuminate some of the ways in which religion can play a role in terrorism. This does not seek to maintain that Islam is the only religion that plays any role in terrorism. It is instead meant to serve as an exploration of the particular phenomena of “Islamist terrorism.” This specific phenomenon has been, and will continue to be a source of scholarly focus in the future. In the following literature review, key terms will first be defined, and then the debate over the role of religion in terrorism will be highlighted. Following this will be the methods that will be used to conduct this study. Literature Review One of the first things that must be done is to define just what is meant by the term Crenshaw notes the variety of meanings that terrorism can encapsulate, and gives a “terrorism.” brief overview of the ways in which the term has changed over time. For the purposes of this paper, the definition that shall be used is: is deliberate and systematic violence “terrorism performed by small numbers of people.” This paper also seeks to deal mainly with Islamist (and, thusly, Islamism) terrorism, so it is necessary to define what is. As with any other there are a number of “Islamism” “-ism”, different definitions of Among these definitions are the idea that Islam is a system “Islamism.” that controls all aspects of life, and that (traditional Islamic law) covers not only life but shari’a also all other areas of human life, from government to ethics. Liebl simply defines an Islamist as a Ayoob offers a more nuanced definition when he says Islamism is form of “fundamentalist.” “a instrumentalization of Islam by individuals, groups, and organizations that pursue political objectives.” Ayoob furthers states that Islamists seek to answer societal problems with ideas
to justify violence. By doing this, I hope to illuminate some of the ways in which religion can play a role in terrorism. This does not seek to maintain that Islam is the only religion that plays any role in terrorism. It is instead meant to serve as an exploration of the particular phenomena of “Islamist terrorism.” This specific phenomenon has been, and will continue to be a source of scholarly focus in the future. In the following literature review, key terms will first be defined, and then the debate over the role of religion in terrorism will be highlighted. Following this will be the methods that will be used to conduct this study. Literature Review One of the first things that must be done is to define just what is meant by the term “terrorism.” Crenshaw notes the variety of meanings that terrorism can encapsulate, and gives a brief overview of the ways in which the term has changed over time. For the purposes of this paper, the definition that shall be used is: “terrorism is deliberate and systematic violence performed by small numbers of people.” This paper also seeks to deal mainly with Islamist (and, thusly, Islamism) terrorism, so it is necessary to define what “Islamism” is. As with any other “-ism”, there are a number of different definitions of “Islamism.” Among these definitions are the idea that Islam is a system that controls all aspects of life, and that shari’a (traditional Islamic law) covers not only life but also all other areas of human life, from government to ethics. Liebl simply defines an Islamist as a “fundamentalist.” Ayoob offers a more nuanced definition when he says Islamism is “a form of instrumentalization of Islam by individuals, groups, and organizations that pursue political objectives.” Ayoob furthers states that Islamists seek to answer societal problems with ideas
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