The Islamic extremists believe that Jihad is the central duty of every Muslim.

Obviously all Muslims are NOT Islamic extremists and obviously we(the Western world)MUST be mindful of that fact in our words and deeds. BUT like it or not - Islamic extremists insist on speaking for all Muslims. They have forced their power and influence over much of the third world's Muslim population, where they dictate their will and operate through fear - and they are fighting tooth and nail for those third world countries where they have a foothold. Additionally, they have clearly, loudly and widely published their motivations for Jihad. There is NO doubt that they hate non-believers and see it as their sacred duty to kill or enslave all infidels.

Look at these widely published views on the motivation for Jihad:

Source: http://www.islamreview.com/articles/humanrights.shtml

"Jihad ideology separates humanity into two hostile blocs: the community of Muslims (Dar ul-Islam), and the infidel non-Muslims (Dar ul-Harb). Allah commands the Muslims to conquer the entire world in order to rule it according to Koranic law. Hence Muslims must wage a perpetual war against those infidels who refuse to submit. This is the motivation for jihad."
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Source Qur'an (Verse of the Sword):
"Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush. But if they repent and establish worship and pay the poor-due, then leave their way free. Lo! Allah is forgiving, merciful"

Source Qur'an (Sura 9:5): says that "regular worship" and "pay the poor-due" are two primary requirements of every Muslim.

Source: Sahih Bukhari, a most widely known and respected collection Muslim traditions of thoughts of Muhammad attributes to him these words, "Allah assigns for a person who participates in (holy battles) in Allah's Cause and nothing causes him to do so except belief in Allah and in His Messengers, that he will be recompensed by Allah either with a reward, or booty (if he survives) or will be admitted to Paradise (if he is killed in the battle as a martyr)."

Source: Muqaddimah, by Ibn Khaldun (14th Century) another popular source for modern Jihadists says "in the Muslim community, the holy war is a religious duty, because of the universalism of the Muslim mission and (the obligation to) convert everybody to Islam either by persuasion or by force." In Islam, the person in charge of religious affairs is concerned with "power politics," because Islam is "under obligation to gain power over other nations."
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