Do you know the origins of the doctrine used by radical groups?

"Know thy enemy" Understanding your enemy can only aid in knowing how to deal with and ultimately defeat them. This is why it is important that we understand what the forces are that gave rise to radicals within the Arab community.

The doctrine of groups such as al-Qaeda is Salafism, a movement that began in Egypt and spread to Saudi Arabia where it merged with Saudi Arabia's official religion, Wahhabi.

Salafism and Wahhabism began as movements, intended to reform society. They were distinctly different from each other as Salafism promoted the use of technology while Wahhabism shirked all modernization. A cross-pollination occurred between the two resulting in more radical teaching and followers picked what they wanted to follow from each.

Wahhabism became more prominent and the followers of it began to issue threats against traditional believers, decreeing that the traditional believers would be counted among the nonbelievers (Justification for killing muslims even though it is forbidden in the Quaran). Those who resist were and are being killed or pushed out.

Wahhabi mentality asserts that Islam can be "saved" by the use of the sword. This mentality is what brought about the weaponization of it's followers and this ideology is flourishing among some groups in the Middle East.

Now we have an armed movement using religion as it's justification for enforcing rule, domination, murder, rape, enslavement, theft, "social reform", participation in the creation and selling of drugs.... They do not tolerate any one who opposes them or does not follow their brand of religion. They reject any form of compromise. They use religion in this case, Islam to justify their actions. They abuse the word Islam. They issue proclamations (Fatwa), legitimizing their illegal actions by claiming these actions help further the movement (spread of their brand of religion). They believe they have a duty and message to deliver. If the government or society of an area is weak they forcefully impose their message on the population.

In addition to their armed approach they also use a scholarly approach, infiltrating organizations, places of theological learning, and mosques, where they begin establishing themselves as leaders and indoctrinating religiously minded people with their beliefs.

To understand this movement we must understand how these ideological movements became armed and entered the psychology of muslims through the scope of Islam. To summarize this happened through force and indoctrination.

How do we counter this? Containment.