The Islamophobe Gad Saad cites more than 48,000 attacks as though the number settles the argument. Even if accurate, it proves only that researchers classified those incidents as Islamist terrorism. Fondapol groups attacks by perpetrators, organisations and declared ideology. This method does not prove that Islam caused each attack or that terrorists interpreted it correctly.
Gad Saad must identify the teaching behind each attack and show that the attacker followed it accurately. He must also distinguish religious motives from political, military and social factors. A global tally cannot perform that analysis. It combines civil wars, insurgencies, occupations and sectarian conflicts into one misleading total.
Fondapol counted 66,872 attacks between 1979 and April 2024. Of these, 96.7% occurred in the Middle East and North Africa, South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Many badly affected countries endured war and political collapse. The Global Terrorism Index links terrorism closely to conflict zones, while UNDP research identifies state violence, grievances, economic pressures and local tensions as recruitment factors.
Fondapol found that 86.3% of the attacks and 88.9% of the deaths occurred in Muslim-majority countries. Most victims were Muslims. It attributes 81.8% of the deaths to five actors: the Taliban, Islamic State, Boko Haram, al-Shabaab and al-Qaeda. The Taliban now govern Afghanistan as its de facto authorities, but Fondapol’s historical category includes their earlier years as an insurgent movement. These figures concern specific actors, not nearly two billion Muslims.
The Qur’an rejects collective guilt: “No bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another” (Qur’an 6:164). Gad Saad may have counted attacks, but he has not explained them. His statistic cannot prove that Islam alone caused every incident or that terrorists represent all Muslims. His argument remains guilt by association dressed in statistical clothing.