Research reported in late February found that most of those who join jihadist groups are converts to Islam.
In Germany, one in every 6,000 Muslims has travelled to join jihadist groups, but among converts to Islam it’s one in every 750. In the USA, 40% of arrests in 2015 for links with IS were converts to Islam.
Two of a recently convicted group from Walsall involved women who had received threats from their jihadist husbands, one being told she needed to travel to Syria with her children or her husband would send someone to kill both her and her parents. (One of those convicted included a vicar’s son and all had attended a Church of England secondary school.)
Further research shows that attacks on Christians – including beheadings – have been carried out by Western converts who have joined groups such as IS and al-Shabaab. The motivation for this is complex. Often people have been failed by the church, by family, the West’s corruption or are just looking for a cause and do not easily see it in Christianity. Others are motivated by perceived attacks on Islamic countries by ‘Christian’ nations.
There are others that gain hatred of Christians from Islamic ideology, and this is what makes politicians and policy makers uncomfortable as they claim that Islam has nothing to do with violence.
