Former Islamist Maajid Nawas warned Westerners on Monday's Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN about the aftermath of the terrorist attack in Sydney, Australia. Nawas underlined that it was a "mistake" to label perpetrator Man Haron Monis a "lone wolf," as it "doesn't necessary describe the phenomenon correctly....what we're really dealing with here is fundamental inspiration. People are inspired by the ideas; the leaders; the symbols; and the narratives – the iconography behind this ideology."
Host Anderson Cooper noted how Monis's lawyer "says that this is a one-off; random individual; not acting in concert with any one," and asked the former radical, "Do you think its dangerous to...say – okay, well, this is a one-off thing?" Nawas, who is also a contributor for The Daily Beast website, confirmed that this was the case: [video below]
MAAJID NAWAS, DAILY BEAST CONTRIBUTOR: Absolutely. It's very dangerous. I mean, look, we have the school shootings in America as phenomenon. And again, they aren't one-off. But there is a difference here, and the difference is that in the case of Islamist-inspired self-starters, there's a whole bunch of iconography and symbolism and ideology underneath it that inspires multiple one-offs. And at what stage do these multiple one-offs stop becoming one-offs, and we start recognizing that we're dealing with a phenomenon of the atomization of self-starter, Islamist terrorists across – across the world.
Cooper led the segment by pointing out how "law enforcement has been saying that this type of lone-wolf attack is that – is that – the ones, though, they're most concerned with." He asked, "Do you believe it's a mistake to call this guy a lone wolf?" Nawas replied affirmatively: "Yes, I think it is a mistake. I would use the term 'self-starter.'" He then outlined the challenge of the "fundamental inspiration" of the Islamist ideology:
NAWAS: ...People are self-starting, but they are inspired by an ideological phenomenon, and the real challenge is to make it unappealing to them – to be inspired by this phenomenon – and that's a long-term challenge. It's long-term work. We have to start addressing the ideas, and really getting to the essence of this in the modern – modern day and age. For Muslims to sympathize with the idea of creating or resurrecting the so-called caliphate, and instituting theocracy in Muslim-majority countries – and calling it a caliphate – is something we have to make very unpopular, and that's – that's a challenge at the moment, as things stand.
The CNN anchor followed up by noting that his guest has "always said it's not enough...for Muslims to simply say, 'Well, look, I don't believe in beheading hostages' – that – you say people have to go farther than that." Unlike Vox's Max Fisher, who contends that asking Muslims to condemn terrorism is "bigoted and Islamophobic," Nawas asserted that too often, they don't take the initiative to decry such atrocities:
NAWAS: ...There was a Twitter campaign off the back of this attack, and...it's a good campaign – 'I'll Ride With You' – where Australian non-Muslims, saying to their fellow Australian Muslims, don't worry about – about revenge attacks. We'll ride with you in public transport and protect you.
Now, that's – it's a very – you know, it's a commendable thing. But, you know...if we expect non-Muslims to speak out against anti-Muslim bigotry and – as was evidenced in this 'I'll Ride With You' hashtag campaign on Twitter – how many times do we see Muslims starting such hashtags to say, actually, we condemn Islamist and jihadist terrorism? Instead, what we find we find is many of my co-religionists say, I've got nothing to do with this. Why should I condemn it? It's not in my name. But if we have that expectation of non-Muslims to condemn such things as racism; to condemn things such as anti-Muslim hate; likewise, we have to step up to our own responsibilities. And all of us collectively – whether Muslim or not – have to condemn all forms of bigotry, and that does include Islamist-inspired bigotry and terrorism as well.
The former Islamist repeated his point near the end of the segment, as Cooper reminded his viewers that jihadists had previously threatened Australia:
COOPER: And I mean, ISIS themselves issued a statement in September asking for Muslims to kill Australian nationals amongst – amongst others. You have no doubt we are going to see more of this in other places all around the world, because it only takes – again, it doesn't take a well-trained individual with international connections. It can be, as you say, a self-starter.
NAWAS: Yes. And self starter is – I use that word because lone wolf would imply that they weren't in touch with others. But we know from this individual – this man who's just been shot dead in the hostage siege – that he was already radicalized. He had a social media presence. They're already in touch with each other anyway.
And its important to mention that the Australian police conducted a series of raids, because they had intelligence that such an attack would take place. Now, what happened in response to those raids, is that Australian Muslims took to the streets protesting the Australian police reaction, and said it was heavy-handed, and an overreaction. And now, we have this attack. So, all of us collectively have to start getting real with this problem – recognizing that there is, indeed, this challenge of – of these often – you know, pathological individuals who will use this ideology as an excuse – as an excuse to live out their violent fantasies. And we all have to bind together and start challenging this, and make this ideology the stuff of yesterday.
