Muslims More Often Victims Than Perpetrators of Terrorism and Genocide, Experts Say

Recent analysis reveals that Muslims worldwide are disproportionately victims rather than perpetrators of terrorism and genocidal violence, challenging prevalent media and political narratives that often associate terrorism primarily with Muslim communities.

A recent article titled “Muslims Are More Often the Victims of Terror and Genocide Than Its Perpetrators”, published on Daily Kos, presents two prominent examples to illustrate this reality. The author, Alyson Chadwick, speaks of the Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar who endured a brutal military campaign starting in August 2017, involving mass killings, village burnings, and widespread sexual violence. Over 700,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh, where they remain in overcrowded refugee camps. The United Nations has characterized these acts as ethnic cleansing, while independent investigators have classified them as genocide. The perpetrators in this case are Myanmar’s military forces, not Muslim militants.

Similarly, Chadwick explains, atrocities occur in China’s Xinjiang region, where more than a million Uyghur Muslims and other Turkic peoples have been detained in so-called “reeducation camps.” Survivors report forced labor, systematic torture, and coercive policies including forced sterilizations aimed at eradicating Uyghur cultural and religious identity. International experts have labeled this campaign as genocide, with Chinese authorities identified as the perpetrators.

These cases, among others, highlight a global pattern of Muslims being targeted rather than instigators of terror. As noted by Alyson Chadwick, Muslims in India, the Central African Republic, Bosnia, and even in Western countries have faced violence, discrimination, and massacres motivated by Islamophobia.

Chadwick’s analysis underscores how the dominant narrative linking Muslims to violence perpetuates exclusionary policies and justifies military interventions in Muslim-majority countries, while obscuring the reality of Muslim victimization. She advocates for a reframing of this discourse to recognize Muslims primarily as victims, emphasizing the need for accountability and solidarity with oppressed communities.