What really causes people to join ISIS? Professor debunks myths on extremist recruitment

A foreign policy professor at Prager University believes he knows what really triggers some to subscribe to religious extremism. Common elements, like poverty and the lack of education, are usually cited as instigating aspects, but Haroon Ullah, the professor, claims that is not the case. Ullah suggests that these myths need to be dispelled.

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MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - According to the professor, in his video lesson, he believes there are commonly two answers for why some choose religious extremism: poverty and ignorance.

People in severe and seemingly inescapable poverty, with seeding resentment against those who have more, are believed to ultimately choose martyrdom, like dying as a suicide bomber, rather than death as a beggar. In relation, ignorance is fostered by poverty, which leads to the lack of education thus susceptible for manipulation and easy indoctrination.

"Poverty had little to do with who became an extremist - lack of education even less. Many of those that I met who subscribe to religious extremism and are prepared to murder and die for their cause are from the middle class, and many had a university education," said the professor, describing his observations during the time he spent living in Pakistan.

Professor Ullah explained that this "toxic brew" is made up of the following: desire for meaning and order from being submerged from deep chaos and corruption.

There is also the continuous search for change, which is being used by the propagandists to instigate violence, as they reasoned it is the only way to overthrow the corrupt. He stated that they also possess the sense of victim, that others had done the things that caused them to suffer.

According to Ullah, to combat extremism, first there's a need to dismiss the false notion that it is about poverty and ignorance. Next, question what these insurgent groups really deliver after promising such tales.

He explained that the media has to stop referring to them as freedom fighters and that parents and teachers have to be vigilant in "instilling moderate pluralist values in their children."

But most importantly, "Islamic religious figures have to stop looking the other way."

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