One of the prominent aspects of the terror activities perpetrated by various radical Islamic groups is the wide variety of countries from which volunteers come to carry out attacks, whether these are Islamic countries or countries in which Muslims are a minority group.

For example, in the 9/11 attacks, “representatives” of four predominantly Islamic countries − Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates and Lebanon − took part, while in other attacks Muslims living in Western countries or in other parts of the world participated.

Moreover, the source of the volunteers is apparently not necessarily related to the religious identity of the countries serving as targets of attacks, since in addition to Western states they include various countries in Africa and Asia, such as Nigeria and the Philippines. And of course we mustn’t forget that most of the Islamic terror attacks are perpetrated in clearly Islamic countries, such as Afghanistan and Iraq, with the attackers coming from inside or outside.

This situation, which the world will probably have to deal with in the foreseeable future, raises the question of the source of the remarkable success of the various streams of radical Islam in encouraging acts of terror, and in serving as a kind of “ideological umbrella” that gathers Muslim volunteers from all corners of the world under its wing, some of whom are even willing to sacrifice their lives as “shaheeds.”

Comparative studies done in recent years about the prevailing viewpoints and values in the Muslim world indicate that this phenomenon is due to a number of characteristics that distinguish Muslim believers from members of the other monotheistic religions in our times.

The most outstanding characteristic indicated by these studies is the central place of religion in the individual and public space in the Muslim world. This centrality is also demonstrated by an up-to-date survey recently published by the Pew Research Center. “A new Pew Research Center survey of Muslims around the globe finds that most adherents of the world’s second-largest religion are deeply committed to their faith and want its teachings to shape not only their personal lives but also their societies and politics.”

In addition, in a normative sense Islam sees itself as one nation, in which all the believers are members. As such, they have obligations that take precedence over any national, family, political or other affiliation. As expected, the attachment to religion among Islamic communities worldwide is not uniform. However, even in countries where the percentage of Muslims who describe themselves as religious is relatively low − for example Turkey and Iran − it is still higher than the parallel percentages in most of the countries in the Western world. In addition, various studies show that the attachment to Islam and its values remained very strong even among the Muslim diasporas in Western countries and other regions in the world, which may explain the involvement of Muslim minorities in terror attacks.

Along with religion, in large parts of the Muslim world, with all its variety and its rifts, we can identify a shared core of conservative viewpoints and values that are reflected in an opposition to “modernity” and to absorbing Western liberal values, especially the principles of the rights and freedom of the individual, without discrimination based on origin, religion or gender.

Such conservative attitudes, including in their fundamentalist version, can of course also be found in various denominations of Christianity and Judaism, but with the exception of the State of Israel, the influence of these religions on the public and private spheres is not as dominant as in the Muslim world. As opposed to Jewish communities worldwide, the Jewish community in Israel is subject to an Orthodox religious hegemony that leaves its mark on various aspects of state and society. Cooperation between the secular right and extremist circles in Orthodox Judaism have led to the growth of Jewish terror such as “price tag” attacks against Muslim, Christian, left-wing Jewish and even Israeli army targets.

In light of all this, we can understand at least to some extent the success of radical Islam in recruiting volunteers from varied and distant places for the struggle against the West, as well as against rival denominations within Islam. That is why, as reported recently by Anshel Pfeffer in Haaretz, in the war being waged against the Alawite regime in Syria and its Shi’ite allies, there are Sunni volunteers who come “not only from the Middle East but more and more from distant Muslim countries like Chechnya, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and even from Western countries.”

Although in a significant proportion of cases, such as in Syria, the conflicts are also ethno-nationalist in nature, branding them as religious battles strengthens their legitimacy among the community of believers all over the Muslim world, and increases their ability to recruit Muslim volunteers for the battle against external enemies or against rival camps inside the country.