America and its Muslims

Americans are increasingly alarmed—and rightly so.

A recent wave of violent incidents carried out by Islamic extremists has made it harder to retreat into familiar reassurances. The claim that Islam is the religion of peace—and that only a “tiny” unrepresentative Muslim minority bears responsibility for violence done in its name—grows more difficult to sustain with a straight face. Denying observable reality has become its own intellectual crisis.

How should Christians think about these matters, and what practical steps should we urge our government to take?

The answer requires something more honest than a blanket narrative of “radical Muslims” waging war against America—but also something more courageous than pretending the problem does not exist.

The recent incidents demand to be named clearly. On March 12 at Old Dominion University in Virginia, Mohamed Bailor Jalloh—a convicted ISIS supporter released from federal prison in late 2024—opened fire in a classroom, killing one and wounding two while shouting “Allahu Akbar.” The FBI is investigating it as terrorism. That same day in Michigan, Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, a naturalized citizen born in Lebanon, rammed his truck into Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield and opened fire before being shot dead by security. On March 1 in Austin, Texas, Ndiaga Diagne—also a naturalized citizen—opened fire at a bar, killing three including himself and wounding fourteen, wearing clothing that read “Property of Allah” alongside an Iranian flag design. Then on March 7, near Gracie Mansion in New York City, Emir Balat, 18, and Ibrahim Kayumi, 19, threw improvised explosive devices at an anti-Islam protest citing ISIS inspiration and aiming for mass casualties. Federal prosecutors charged both with terrorism-related offenses.

These are verified cases. Others remain under investigation.

Geopolitical unrest following the Iran strikes and Lebanon conflict almost certainly accelerated radicalization—but a theological layer is directly connected to the timing.

These attacks unfolded during Ramadan, and that is not incidental. Islamic sources present Ramadan not only as a month of fasting but as a month of action in Allah’s cause. Muhammad launched the Battle of Badr during Ramadan, and years later led 10,000 Muslims in the conquest of Mecca during the same “holy” month.

For some Muslims, Ramadan is not quiet piety but holy war. As they absorb what they perceive as the humiliation of fellow Muslims in the Middle East, a subset strike back wherever they stand—targeting non-Muslims, and Jews especially, since Israel is framed in Islamist ideology as Islam’s eternal Jewish enemy.

The battle cry “Allahu Akbar” demands examination too. It isn’t merely praise—it asserts Allah’s supremacy over every other god and has historically declared that an act is carried out in his name and cause. Muhammad’s biography records him shouting it while attacking the Jewish settlement at Khaybar, declaring, “Allahu Akbar—Khaybar is destroyed.” When today’s attackers shout it while opening fire, they are not departing from tradition. They are invoking it. These are not simply ISIS-driven outliers—they are men acting on what they understand to be divine mandate rooted in Islamic sources.

Yet the Muslim community bears a heavy cost from all of this, and we need to be fair.

Painting every Muslim with the same brush is not only theologically and morally wrong—it is strategically counterproductive.

These attacks invite suspicion, backlash, and policy overreach that treats an entire community as a radical monolith. Clearly, many American Muslims reject violence, condemn terrorism, and have been its victims. For Christians, broad-brush condemnation undermines our biblical call to love our neighbors and erodes the social trust most effective at countering radicalization from within. The radicalized minority damages its own community just as it damages everyone else.

So what should we demand practically?

Immigration vetting must be strengthened, with rigorous ideological screening for applicants from high-risk regions—not discrimination, but due diligence. FBI and DHS counterterrorism programs must be fully funded to track known threats, lone actors, and online radicalization without politically motivated defunding. Incitement to violence must be prosecuted aggressively—calls for America’s destruction don’t qualify as protected speech when they cross into credible threats or material support for terrorism. Mosques or Islamic centers with court-verified ties to hate speech, terror financing, or radicalization must be shut down immediately. California, New York, and Michigan have already surfaced preachers whose messaging is explicitly anti-American. Such messages cannot hide behind religious freedom.

Equally, we must partner with Muslims willing to reject jihadist ideology. These voices—unlike Muslim Brotherhood agents and CAIR representatives—exist in think tanks, community organizations, and deradicalization programs, and deserve active support—especially in densely Muslim-populated communities where radicalization risk runs highest. Community reporting should be normalized, mosque leaders publicly called to reject jihadist ideology by name, and modernist Muslim voices elevated rather than ignored.

The solution is neither naive denial of Islamist extremism nor indiscriminate suspicion of all Muslims. It is vigilant, evidence-based law enforcement paired with precise policy—and the moral clarity to insist on both. Americans rightly demand safety. Christians are called to love their neighbors, including their Muslim neighbors, while refusing to pretend a deadly ideology does not run through certain expressions of Islam. Watchfulness, not witch hunts, protects the republic. Only the truth, spoken plainly, gives us any real hope of getting this right.