Since we see so many Islamic terrorist attacks around us we need to understand what is happening. How are these people being “radicalized?” Another question we must ask is; Are the things they are doing consistent with Islam, or are they, as the media and our political leaders like to say, “radicalized?” The use the term “radical” to say that this is a radical version of Islam and there is a peaceful version of Islam is false. They want us to believe that if we could just get the terrorists to buy into the peaceful version we wouldn’t have the problems with terrorism and terrorists. We need to understand that we have had these problems through all of the 1,400 year history of Islam.

Using the word “radicalize” to describe the jihdis is wrong. They are being “fundamentalized,” not “radicalized.” They are being made scriptural and militant because they are trying to model what they do after what their Prophet did.

What we want to do is look at how we can look at Muslims, be it a neighbor, a coworker, a family member, or someone in the community, and tell if they are becoming a fundamentalist Muslim. Everyone, our law enforcement, our political leaders, everyone, needs to hear this message. We need to know the steps someone goes through to become a terrorist.

There is a lot of confusion about the motivation of these terrorists. Every time we have one of these attacks, the first question is, What is the motive? We ask what led them to do this? How did young Ali, or young Muhammad, get to point where he wants to do something like this? We are going to go through 10 things that make an individual into a scripturally based Muslim and become what we call “radicalized.”

I originally wrote these 10 steps after the San Bernardino attack. I think they help us understand why this terrorism is going on. After the San Bernardino attack people were saying; We had no idea this guy was radicalized. We though he was a moderate Muslim. The same was said about the shooter in Orlando. There is a public face and a private face for Muslims.

We really don’t like the word “radicalized,” we are only using it today because that is the politically correct term for what is going on. We are only using it so we can answer the question, how did this person get “radicalized?”

Radical means something outside of the norm. It shouldn’t be normal for someone to go kill someone, however, if it is the true teaching of a religion, and someone is going to follow that religion, they are not acting radically, they are just being faithful. They are following the fundamentals of that religion. From this time forward we are going to use the word “fundamentalized” rather than “radicalized.”

Let me give you an example from Christianity. I believe what the Bible teaches about marriage. I believe what the Bible says about one man, one woman for life. God created a man and a woman, and He created marriage. Today, as a Christian, I stand for biblical marriage and biblical sexuality. I don’t believe that God was confused about gender. Many say that I am a fundamental Christian because I believe these things. They usually say it in a derogatory sense. The truth is, I am a fundamentalist because I believe the fundamental teachings of the Scriptures.

I hope this will help you understand, from what we are going to cover today, that these are fundamental beliefs for a devout Muslim. To be a devout Muslim, you must follow these teachings. If you don’t follow the 10 steps we are going to outline today, then you are outside the norm of historical Islam because since the beginning, we have the example of the Prophet of Islam, we have the example of who followed him.

If you are going to be a devout follower of a faith, you are going to be a fundamentalist. This term has been turned into a negative.

We are fighting this even in the political arena. Many on the Republican side use the terms “radical Islam” and “radical Islamic terrorism.” Hillary Clinton finally came out and used the term “radical Islam” a few weeks ago. Obama still won’t use it. They say that it doesn’t matter what we call it. They are afraid that these terms will inflame Muslims.

I think it would be better to call it “militant Islam,” rather than “radical Islam.” Everyone is looking for a qualifier to take pressure off the majority of Muslims. On one program a couple of the hosts walked off the stage when Bill O’Reilly said that it was Muslims that attacked us on 9/11. They wanted the qualifier, “radical” because they want us to believe that this is not really Islam.

For our purposes today, it is not radical Islam, it is Islam, and it is not radical Muslims if is faithful Muslims. These are really the terms we should be using. I know they are not politically correct, but you won’t get political correctness from Fortress of Faith, you will get the non-sugar coated truth.

Now lets look at how to “fundamentalize” a Muslim. At the very begging of Islam you have the 5 pillars of Islam. The first pillar is the Shahada. This is the begging of anything that deals with Islam. It is the creed of Islam. It goes like this:

There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet (messenger).

This leads us to the first step, it is establishing in his mind that Muhammad is Allah’s final prophet. The difference between Islam and other religions is that Muhammad believed that he was summoned by Allah to bring the final message. The Shahada makes a non-Muslim into a Muslim. When someone acknowledges that Muhammad is the final prophet, they must accept that Muhammad’s message must be the final message. This means that it denounces every other religion, including Christianity and Judaism.

This leads to the second point of fundamentalizing a Muslim, which is establishing the Qur’an and the Sunna as god’s word. Sunna means the practice in Arabic, and is Muhammad’s teachings and actions. If Muhammad is really the final prophet and the messenger of Allah, it means that what he says goes. He is speaking for Allah.

To understand the Qur’an, Muslims will turn to the Sunna to see how the Prophet lived out the message of the Qur’an. The Sunna is made up of two resources, The first is the Hadith. There are many collectors of the Hadith and the most well received is Bukhari collection. It consists of 9 volumes. In addition to the Hadith, there is the Sirah, which is the biography of Muhammad. We must remember that Muslims don’t only look to the Qur’an, the words of their god, but they also look to the words of their Prophet.

There is a division between the Muslims in America. The Reformed or Moderate Muslims are a sect or cult of Islam. They reject much of the Sunna and say they follow the Qur’an. The truth is, they follow a non-abrogated interpretation of the Qur’an, and not the abrogation.

If we go back to point one, and if Muhammad is the final prophet of Allah, it means that however Muhammad lived, what he did, and how he acted, are models for good Muslims to follow. When there is any question of the interpretation of the Qur’an, they go to the Sunna to understand how Muhammad interpreted the message he received from Allah. The Qur’an says that Muhammad is the perfect man, therefor they are to follow his example.

The point is that those who claim to be peaceful and tolerant have to reject many well established Hadith and Sirah. This puts them outside the norm for Islam. They are the ones who are not scriptural.

The third step in radicalizing or fundamentalizing a Muslim is establishing that Allah is the only god of the universe, and his law, which is the Shariah, is perfect and good for all of mankind. This is important because there are many Muslims in America who openly proclaim that they don’t want the Shariah and they cam live in a pluralistic society. We know that this is not consistent with the teachings of Islam, and with steps one and two.

Groups like the Muslim Brotherhood claim they don’t want Shariah law for America but they are pushing for it. I recently did some street interviews with Muslims, and asked them if you can separate the Shariah from Islam. Most of those I spoke to were “moderate” Muslims, yet they all said you cannot separate the two. Not long ago there was a survey done that showed that more that 50% of the Muslims in America say that they want Shariah law here.

CAIR says that they don’t want Shariah, but every time we try to pass a law to keep Shariah out of our legal system, they lead the fight against it. This shows what they really want. Remember, in Islam it is permitted to lie and deceive for the advancement of Islam.

There is a lot of focus on denouncing jihad. Even Reformed Muslims will say they denounce violent jihad, when you ask them if Shariah should be implemented, the answer, if they are to be a devout Muslim, must be yes.

Shariah cannot be separated from Islam. This is why we reference The Reliance of the Traveller at Fortress of Faith. It is case law of Islamic or Shariah law. It is a compilation of more than 1,000 years of case law, of rulings under Shariah. It is the legal interpretation by Muslim leaders of Islamic law. We will admit that there can be nuanced differences between Muslims on Shariah, but these differences are only superficial.

Even the Islamic State (ISIS) claims it is Islamic. It came out with its 10 page justification for their Islamic law. On the major points we are looking at, the Shariah clearly establishes that Muhammad is the final prophet, Islam is the final message, and the Qur’an is the final testament. It is the Shariah that establishes that the Qur’an is the final testament.

Under Shariah there is no separation between the civil and the religious. Under our law there is a separation, and that which is religious cannot be forced upon people. This is what freedom of religion is about. It doesn’t mean that churches cannot be involved in politics, but it means that no religion can be forced upon someone. We can’t legislate Christianity and say, if you don’t convert I am going to kill you. Islam teaches that you either convert to Islam or die. In the survey I mentioned above, 25% of the Muslims interviewed said that Shariah should be implemented even if violence is required to do so.