The world’s Muslim population is estimated to be 1.6 billion. Various polls, surveys and analyst project that of that amount only 7% are categorized as “extremist.” The definition of an “extremist” varies from study to study. Some Muslims are identified as an extremist based solely on their views toward the United States’ foreign policy while others are categorized by their passive or active support for radical ideology and terrorist activities.

Regardless of the various definitions, and if we assume that the 7% accurately identifies the number of Muslims that provide support to Islamic terrorist organizations and activities, 112 million extremist is a staggering amount. Hypothetically, if 1% of the 7% are active terrorist operatives or members of terror cells, there are over 1,120,000 Islamic terrorist worldwide. The “so what?” of the above information is that even though a small percentage of the world’s Muslim population may constitute a formidable number of terrorist, the statistics clearly show that the overwhelming majority of Muslims around the world are not extremist, and thus not radicals nor terrorist. Furthermore, for every percentage shift (toward the positive or negative) we add or subtract 16 million Islamic extremist globally.

The U.S. Government’s counterterrorism focus, especially since 9/11, has been primarily on the 7%. In addition to our kinetics operations to kill, capture or disrupt terrorist cells, U.S. Government programs have also included programs designed to mitigate, rehabilitate and reintegrate extremist. A tremendous amount of government and non-government research and resources have gone towards addressing the 7%.

The US Government also conducts outreach programs targeting the greater Muslim population. However, many of the U.S. Government’s outreach programs are nothing short of campaigns to convince the Muslim population to “like us.” The USG assumes that if you like us, you won’t attack us. I don’t know if this is a unique American peculiarity but we seem to be obsessed with being “liked”. Maybe this is part of our national psyche derived from our high school days where our dominant goal was to be popular and sit at the “cool kids’ table”. Within foreign and defense policy circles, it is common knowledge that in the international environment being respected and slightly feared goes much further than being liked.

While the focus on the 7% is valid and is a key component of a comprehensive counterterrorism strategy, an in-depth analysis of the remaining 93% is required to create a more balanced program that resonates with each Muslim community. Instead of only analyzing why Muslims become terrorist, we should approach the problem in a different manner by asking, “why do the majority of the Muslim population not become extremist?”

The most significant reason I would offer based on my extensive interaction with various Muslim communities around the globe is that the top priority for Muslims and Muslim families is the wellbeing, safety and prosperity of their family. Just like most every person or family around the world, regardless of country or religion, most Muslims are too concerned with providing the basics, such as putting food on the table, to be involved in a global jihad set on world domination.

When we dig deeper and conduct a more in-depth analysis we discover that within various Muslim communities the factors that contribute to the resistance of extremist ideology are deeply rooted in the social, cultural, historical, geo-political and demographic composition of an individual country or ethnic group. While some of these factors may transcend national boundaries or even be global in nature, the largest percentage will be unique to a particular county or geographical area. This assumption is supported by the fact that certain countries tend to have a greater percentage of extremist within their population. US Government statistics on the backgrounds of Islamic terrorist clearly show that the national origins of terrorist are not even across the globe.

The Case for Bangladesh. Despite being one of the poorest countries of the world and possessing all of the factors that one would associate with a Muslim population that is vulnerable to being exploited by extremist ideology (poverty, corruption, lawlessness, unemployment, overpopulation, lack of education, etc), Bangladesh’s population of over 134 million Muslims (Bangladeshi Muslims constitute approximately 84% of a population of over 160 million), dating back to the era of the British Raj onward has consistently rejected Muslim extremist ideology. This fact is supported by the election outcomes since Bangladesh returned to democratic elections in 1990. Since that period, the Islamic fundamentalist parties of Jamaat Islami and the IOJ have never received more than single digit support in any national election. This is further supported by the very small numbers of global Islamic terrorist that have Bangladeshi origins.

On different occasions, my Bangladeshi friends conveyed to me that there is an inherent conflict in educated Bangladeshis – “am I Bengali first or am I Muslim first?” They pointed out that there are several aspects of Bengali culture such as art, song, dance, respect for women and (of course) poetry that stand at odds with the extreme or fundamentalist teachings of Islam. The world has clearly seen that one of the first targets after Islamic extremist take control of an area is the destruction and suppression of art and culture.

The internal conflict between Bengali culture and Islamic self-identity was best demonstrated during Bangladesh’s struggle for independence. In the 1950’s, the Pakistani Government controlled by the Punjabis of West Pakistan attempted to make Urdu the national language. In East Pakistan, resentment to the subjugation of their Bengali language led to the language movement in 1951 and then ultimately to the War of Independence in 1971, resulting in the establishment of the country of Bangladesh. This revealed that social and cultural factors could not only override the bonds of religion but serve as an antibody to counter extremist ideology attempting to invade and harm the identity and prosperity of the nation.

Through my own observations and analysis, I would assert that Islam and Bengali culture can and do exist peacefully and equally. Only when an external force exerts pressure on Bangladeshis and attempts to compel them choose one identity over the other does this internal conflict manifest itself.

All nations have cultural traits that make them vulnerable to extremist ideologies, be they religious, political or ethnic. Likewise, every society has cultural traits that serve to reject or mitigate the invasion and spread of this extremist disease. While some of these cultural traits may be found in every Muslim population, their prominence may vary. In many cases, these cultural traits may be unique to a particular culture or ethnic group.

The US Government should place more effort on working with each Muslim community to determine the cultural traits that counter Islamic extremism. This research will uncover a multitude of reasons as to why the extremist ideology is resisted and rejected. The identified reasons can then enable the development of indigenous programs that will strengthen the internal immune system, harden the resistance against the continued onslaught of extremist ideology, serve to prevent the radicalization of future generations and potentially be used to rehabilitate and reintegrate Muslims with extremist views back into mainstream society.

Find the factors that worked for the 93% and then replicate and exploit them to reduce the 7%.