Islamic extremism in the United States: what Wikipedia removed

This article covers Islamic extremism within the United States, tied to the September 11 attacks and subsequent domestic jihadist networks. Through 2020 the opening said “Islamists, however, believe Islam is the only basis for the legal and political system that governs the world’s economic, social, and judicial mechanisms,” set against liberal democracy and civil liberties. Today the opening still describes Islamic extremism and terror attacks generally, but that definitional statement is gone; islamist appears 0 times in the opening today though it survives 13 times in the body. A reader today learns Islamic extremism promotes violence to achieve political goals, and not what Islamists themselves say those goals are: that Islam alone should govern a society’s legal, political, economic and judicial system.

The word “islamist” appeared 4 times in this article’s opening at its peak, in 2020. Today the opening carries none; the body carries 13. Checked against the full current article on 2026-08-01.

Where this comes from

We saved this article’s opening paragraph at 4 moments between 2015 and 2025. Everything below is Wikipedia’s own text, quoted from those saved copies. The interactive version, with every snapshot side by side and each removal marked in place, is at ilroot.com/case/islamic-extremism-in-the-united-states.

The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot

word	2015	2020	6 October 2023	2025
islamist	2	4	0	0
terror	3	3	14	16
jihad	1	2	1	1

Counts are of the opening paragraph only, the part most readers, search engines and AI training sets ever quote.

What was taken out

• The parenthetical noting the article also covers ‘Islamist extremism’ is reworded but retained in substance.
• The cross-reference pointing readers to the term ‘Jihadism’ is gone from the opening, though the underlying definition survives.
• The description of the September 11 terror attacks is retained with minor rewording.
• The contrast between liberal democracy and civil liberties on one hand, and Islamism’s claim that Islam alone should govern a society’s legal, political and economic systems on the other, is gone from the opening.

How it opened then, and now

2015 (revision 661438680):

Islamic extremism is adherence to a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam (see Islamic fundamentalism ), potentially including the promotion of violence to achieve political goals (see Jihadism ). In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks , Islamic extremism became a central national security concern of the United States. The focus was on foreign terrorist groups, particularly Al-Qaeda , but in the decade since 9/11 the threat has evolved and Islamic extremism within the United States is a growing concern. The number of American citizens or long-term residents involved in extremist activity is not large, but “the sustained and growing number of individuals heeding” the call …

2025 (revision 1292164883):

( Learn how and when to remove this message ) Islamic extremism in the United States comprises all forms of Islamic extremism occurring within the United States . Islamic extremism is an adherence to fundamentalist interpretations of Islam , potentially including the promotion of violence to achieve political goals . In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks , Islamic extremism became a prioritized national security concern of the U.S. government and a focus of many subsidiary security and law enforcement entities. Initially, the focus of concern was on foreign Islamic terrorist organizations , particularly al-Qaeda , but in the course of the years since the September 11 terr…

Related

• The drift report: what changed across all 61,944 watched articles
• The case file for this article, with every snapshot and every marked removal
• Who made the cuts: removals grouped by the account that made them
• The live article on Wikipedia

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