TIME: Threat of Homegrown Islamic Terrorism May Be Exaggerated

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1952009,00.html

Despite last year's spike in the number of terrorism cases involving American Muslims, fears of growing radicalization in the American Muslim community may be greatly exaggerated, according to a new study. Researchers at Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill say that while homegrown Islamic terrorism is a serious issue, it remains a limited problem.

The report, released on Wednesday, notes that since 9/11, 139 American Muslims have committed violent terrorist acts, been convicted on terrorism charges involving violence or been arrested with charges pending. In a statement, the report's co-author Charles Kurzman, a UNC professor of sociology, points out that fewer than three dozen of the 136,000 murders committed in the U.S. since 9/11 can be attributed to acts of terrorism by American Muslims.

Titled "Anti-Terror Lessons of Muslim American Communities," the report says the community has successfully limited radicalization by policing itself. It cites denunciations of terrorism, internal self-policing, community building, government-funded support services and political engagement as some of the ways the community has limited the spread of radicalization. "Many community leaders have come to recognize that [tackling radicalization] is a matter of survival," says Ebrahim Moosa, a professor of religion at Duke and a co-author of the report. "They know that radicalization threatens the community at large and are working hard to defeat it." [Continue reading]