For many Islamist radicals the internal enemy takes priority over foreign ones

Evidence

For the most consequent of these radicals, the fight against foreign enemies is at this point a distraction. The true enemy is at home, and only when he has been conquered will the fight against the alien intruder become necessary and victory against him desirable. In Iran, according to the exponents of the Iranian revolution, the first stage has already been accomplished, and the second is under way. In other Islamic countries, the first task still remains. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1502

Categorization

Category: Causal Relationships

• XREF: Echoes the internal-vs-external enemy priority logic seen in hostage-taking dynamics and current ‘great Satan’ discourse around Iran-US relations.

Related

• Islamic militant literature centers Muslim governments as usurpers more than external enemies (similarity 0.81)
• Internal jihad against apostate rulers is a medieval concept modernized. (similarity 0.79)
• Revolutionary Islam supplied both goals and a taxonomy of enemies for Iran’s revolution (similarity 0.79)