Extremist groups deliberately provoke Islamophobia to recruit disaffected Muslims

Evidence

ISIS is even more grotesque than al-Qaeda, but both groups—and all such extremist groups—share one fundamental characteristic: These extremists constantly seek to foster as much hatred and division as possible between Western societies and their Muslim minorities. Such a strategy deliberately furthers their agenda of triggering a global war between Muslims and non-Muslims, while also enabling their hunt for new foot soldiers among the disaffected for their immoral campaigns. ISIS and their ilk are not fighting Islamophobia. Rather, they are profiting from it. — Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being…, 1004

Categorization

• XREF: Parallels the mechanism Khalil describes where extremists weaponize Western hostility to radicalize — echoes themes in Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Naqvi’s Home Boy about the push toward radical identity. — connects to: Images of co-religionists under attack recruit young Muslims into militancy — Ryan Andrew Brown, Todd C. Helmus, Rajeev Ramchand, Alina I. Palimaru, Sarah Weilant, Ashley L. Rhoades, and Liisa Hiatt (RAND Corporation), Violent Extremism in America:…, 341; Extremist recruitment recruits through belonging and fellowship, not hatred — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 2020; Most extremists radicalize alone before seeking out groups rather than being recruited top-down. — Ryan Andrew Brown, Todd C. Helmus, Rajeev Ramchand, Alina I. Palimaru, Sarah Weilant, Ashley L. Rhoades, and Liisa Hiatt (RAND Corporation), Violent Extremism in America:…, 40 (+1 more)