Routine Muslim religious practices trigger FBI terrorism suspicion under radicalization theory

Evidence

One of the intended objectives of the racialization process is making the stakes of practicing Islam high in terms of liberty and dignity. The FBI’s counterterrorism mandate, thus, is informed by specious theories of radicalization associating Islamic practices with terrorist tendencies. Praying frequently at mosques, growing a beard, refraining from drinking alcohol, and criticism of the US war in Afghanistan or Iraq triggered FBI suspicion of terroristic plans. Thus, law enforcement attention is directed at Muslims with ideologies the government deems “radical”—the same reasoning that criminalized Black Muslim civil rights activists decades earlier. Only by secularization and assimilation into White Protestant norms, that is, by becoming a model Muslim minority, can a Muslim evade the heavy hand of the security state. — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 936

Categorization

• XREF: Draws the explicit parallel between FBI treatment of Black Muslims (NOI) in earlier decades and Muslim Americans today — same radicalization logic across eras. — connects to: Law enforcement agencies operationalize the ideology that Islam is inherently violent; US security agencies split between Islam-centric and complexity-based radicalization models.
• DEFINE: Clearly articulates the ‘model minority’ escape valve: secularization into White Protestant norms as the price of freedom from state surveillance.