NBC News foreign correspondent Ayman Mohyeldin told MSNBC’s “Daily Rundown” that the recent incidents of lone wolf Islamist terrorism in the United States and Canada was “not a religious issue” and had nothing to do with Islam.
In this case, it’s not a matter of trying to understand Islam. The problem with these individuals is not a religious issue. There are all kinds of both psychological, sociological, perhaps even ideological issues as a result of what we’re seeing overseas play out in these individuals. To try to understand the motivation of the individuals, the focus should not so much be on religious text or the religious aspect of the religion but more on individual aspects.
What we’re seeing in some of these individuals there is the case of the Canadian parliament shooter, a criminal background, a drug problem background, there’s a sense of alienation among them. There’s a reason for their magnetic draw towards groups like ISIS and carrying out the acts. It’s not so much based in the religious aspects of Islam.