Moral vulnerability

The weak, or complete lack of, commitment to a conventional moral framework (that which rejects violence), or indeed the commitment to an unconventional moral framework which accepts violence, is a theme which appeared in all of the interviews conducted. The role of religion as that moral framework was highlighted by all participants, with interviewees talking about a lack of a religious upbringing or a lack of understanding or practice of that religion leaving individuals vulnerable to the radicalising narrative. Interviewee 7 put forward a profile of individuals who may be vulnerable to the advances of a radicalising agent:

‘if it’s somebody from the local mosque who’s from a relatively low educational background, just knows what Islam is to him but can’t quote the hadiths and the Qu’ran and can’t quote various passages and evidences of scholars and all that sort of thing, then they’re a piece of

putty in the hands of somebody’

In his experience of working with individuals at risk of radicalisation, he also noted that ‘somebody who’s brought up in a strong Muslim environment, a strong theological Muslim environment, we’ve not had too many at all’. These notions that a lack of knowledge of the religion as a moral framework can lead to vulnerability, but equally that a greater knowledge of it can act as a protective factor, were echoed by interviewee 8, who noted that when working with vulnerable individuals:

‘there were one or two individuals that were brought up fairly orthodox, but I guess that’s rare. On the whole they usually had a secular Muslim framework or a non-imposing religious framework. On the whole I would say that the majority haven’t had religious instruction’ On the role of religious instruction as a protective factor, he explained that ‘wherever there was strong, English speaking, well versed Muslim clerics, even if they’re from Deobandi background, HT [Hizb ut-Tahrir] weren’t strong’. The implication that the more accessible religious instruction given in the native language, alongside the knowledge of the cleric themselves, led to resilience amongst the Muslim community is worth noting.

The idea of seeking the true meaning of religion later on in life, often after an upbringing which did not involve a heavy emphasis on religious education, was one factor which was highlighted as contributing to ultimately leading individuals to be exposed to a radicalising narrative in various settings. For example, not being raised with this strong moral framework led individuals to seek it according to interviewee 5: ‘They were looking for the true meaning of Islam, which they believed their parents didn’t have’. Interviewee 8 echoed this sentiment, giving the example of his own experience: ‘I was sort of exploring learning more about my religion in general’, while interviewee 11 noted that one of the reasons that women were attracted to attending Al Muhajiroon circles was that: ‘they would generally want to come and find out about Islam’.

The experience of multiple conflicting moral frameworks contributing to an individual’s vulnerability was something interviewee 6 highlighted when discussing his childhood:

‘what I’m looking at is three value systems and where they overlap and where they contradict. The army cadet peer grouping, very security friendly, pro-government etc. A religious culture at

home, at the mosque. Friends at high school, hedonistic lifestyles… I didn’t know which one I was supposed to belong to, which one makes my self-identity’

Such conflicting frameworks can lead to the framework which is eventually adopted as the dominant one being taken to an extreme level in order to compensate for perceived previous failings. Interviewee 6 mentioned that: ‘I felt I was such a bad Muslim that I had to become really good just to break even’.

The lack of imposition of an existing moral framework affected interviewee 3 during his formative years. Discussing his parents’ approach to preventing his increasingly disruptive and violent behaviour, he stated that: ‘their ethic was more not to face things head on and not to talk about things… most of the time they just ignored it and they closed their eyes and they hoped that everything would turn out ok’. This unwillingness to tackle the issue meant that when things came to a head and his parents tried to re-impose a state of conventional morality upon him, his reaction was: ‘by that point I’d already been of the mental state that ‘where have you been up til now, there’s no way you’re gonna tell me what to do now’’.

In some cases the lack of commitment to a conventional moral framework resulted from exposure and eventual commitment to an unconventional moral framework at an earlier point in the individual’s life. This need not be a religiously-inspired morality, as interviewee 2

explained when discussing his childhood. Having suffered abuse at home and leaving home to live on the streets at the age of 11, a life of crime and further violence ensued as he became part of a street gang. The leader of this gang soon exposed the interviewee to a moral

framework in which violence was embedded: ‘he ended up killing a man and he wanted me to help him do that’. Such indoctrination to violence on a daily basis ended up leaving the interviewee devoid of conventional morality: ‘I had turned off the ability to have empathy for anyone, to have shame, guilt or even self-disgust for what I had done, which are basic

deterrents which is what keep a lot of people from doing things’. Years of violence and multiple incarcerations ensued.

In the case of some of the individuals who were vulnerable to right-wing ideologies, their parents were actually part of such ideological groups and were passing on these moral frameworks to their children. Interviewee 4 noted that in 10-12 of the 80 individuals with whom he had been tasked to intervene: ‘you’ve got people who have literally been radicalised, for want of a better description, by their parents. So I’ve worked with guys whose dad was in the National Front or C18 and they’re just following that’. One high-profile terrorist case in the UK involved such a situation, with a young man and his father being convicted for right-wing related terrorist offences committed together (The Guardian 2010).

A commitment to unconventional moral frameworks was mentioned by interviewees with regard to Islamist or Al-Qa’ida-inspired narratives. Interviewee 5 gave the example of an 8 year

old child who had been referred to him for an intervention after exclaiming that: ‘I think all Christians should be killed… Anyone who touches the Bible should be slain’. When the child’s mother was questioned about whether she had taught him those views, her response was: ‘yes, that’s what I teach him, that’s what I believe’. The indoctrination of a young child with such beliefs was also reported by interviewee 11, who mentioned that while she was still a member of Al Muhajiroun, she was called into school by her child’s teacher who told her that: ‘your child came out with something that oh, it’s ok to kill non-Muslims’. Interviewee 10 mentioned manifestations of ultra-orthodox Islamist teachings from youths that she had intervened with, such as: ‘women teachers shouldn’t teach male kids… they’re taught you shouldn’t mix with this person or you shouldn’t mix with non-Muslims for example’. While these may be extreme examples of overtly publicised views in young children who are particularly susceptible in their acceptance of such narratives or repetition of things heard from authority and care-giving figures like their parents, the adoption of unconventional moral narratives was something which reverberated throughout all of the interviews. Interviewee 6 mentioned a case of a young man he intervened with who ‘would say things like 'well we’re allowed to rob the kuffar'’.

In summary, with regards to the relationship between susceptibility to a radicalising moral change and prior commitment, or lack thereof, to a moral framework, the interviews suggest notably that a weak commitment to a conventional moral framework can lead to vulnerability within individuals who lack the information or education to contest challenges to this

framework by those who appear more knowledgeable. Seeking more knowledge about these frameworks can lead individuals to stumble across extremist narratives, to which they are susceptible. The interviews also suggest that exposure to multiple moral frameworks can lead to a lack of adherence to any of them or, more worryingly, the extreme adoption of one at the expense of the others. Adherence to an unconventional moral framework was frequently reported by the interviewees, notably among young people. In several cases, the

unconventional morality was transmitted by family members, who also adhered to this framework. This finding appeared consistent across ideological and geographical boundaries amongst interviewees.