The topic I will be writing about is the nature and possible threat to democracy and freedom of Islamic Fundamentalism/Extremism. I feel this topic is highly relevant to the common American being the current status of the War on Terror in the middle east and the 9/11 attacks. The questions I want to aim to answer are what differentiates fundamental Islam from any other form of extremism, and why is this specific form of extremism a threat to global freedom and democracy. I want to go in depth as to why fundamental Islam goes beyond conflicting with just the U.S. or western ideas, and actually is something that should concern the planet. I do not want to be offensive, as the Pope devotes himself to the Church but is not an extremist or fundamentalist Catholic, I only want to focus on the one violent stem of a peaceful religion that is enveloping the middle east, and the nature of its existence and danger level. My audience would be anyone who has been a victim to or currently fears ISIS and other terrorist organizations that claim Islam is their motive, along with those of the Islamic faith who wish to know more about why anyone would turn to violence from the religion they practice. I feel I will be most persuasive in looking to historical sources of violent events that involved Islam, and also in looking to information about current terrorist organizations and their motives and past actions. I cannot make any assumptions of even logical deductions myself, as I will seem prejudice, so I will be dependent on sources that are as objective as possible.

Expansion of Islamic Fundamentalism

1. Claim of Fact

Islamic Fundamentalism is Expanding

2. Claim of Definition

Islamic Fundamentalism is a growing threat to democracy.

3. Claim of Cause

Moderate ideals of Islamic Fundamentalism has been around since the creation of the Islamic religion itself.  Aggression and the threat Islamic extremism proposes has been apparent since the Cold War era Palestine Israeli wars and Iran Hostage Crisis.

4. Claim of Value

Islamic Fundamentalism is unethical.

5. Claim of Policy

Awareness should be spread about the difference between the religion of Islam and Islamic Fundamentalism, along with dispelling stereotypes around the Islamic faith to show Islamic Fundamentalism is not part of the religion.

Right now I am still trying piece everything together and develop my arguments. I’m trying not to be ambiguous or too objective with my project, but I also don’t want to be offensive. One concern I have is I do not know if my issue is too ambiguous as it is, as it does not really have a counter argument. I am planning on creating a research paper around the backgrounds and origins of Islamic fundamentalism and the justification of Islamophobia. I have no intention of backing up bias or stereotypes, I only want to elaborate on why a person may be afraid of someone of the Islamic faith based on current hostilities in the middle east. Essentially, I want to go into detail why a person may be afraid of seeing a man with a turban and a trench coat on an airplane.

The article takes an in depth analysis of the reasoning, past, rise, and myths of Islamic extremism in the middle east. Mauro discusses how terrorism does not have to be affiliated with Islamic extremism, and attempts to clarify specifically what exactly Islamic extremism is. He also goes into detail of how the world has reacted and what might be a better way in dealing with threatening Islamic Extremism, and gives examples on terrorist organizations that have held Islamic extremism as the sovereign priority.

Mauro’s analysis on fundamental Islamic on every aspect from stereotypes that are affiliated to the culture, to the impact of the extremism on the world. He specifically talks about the rise and origins of Islamic extremism, what groups have brought the culture to a level of terrorism, and literally what Islamic fundamentalism entails.

I believe everything we are doing currently will allow us to understand and look into sources as we do research in the future. Rather than blindly trusting sources, we are learning to research the sources we find, take notes on them, and eventually be able to piece together what can be used for our purpose and what can be disregarded.