Arab News | Jordan must remain a beacon of interfaith harmony

Within four days, Jordan’s security forces managed to arrest three militants suspected of having carried out the heinous attack on a funeral at a Greek Orthodox Church in the village of Hmoud, Karak governorate, that left nine Christian Jordanians dead and 34 people injured.

This terrorist act was not the first in Jordan’s history, not even the first in Karak, but it was certainly the first to have sectarian motives, aimed directly at both creating rifts within Jordan’s socio-demographic fabric and tainting the country’s image as a beacon for interfaith harmony.

Indeed, the attack in Karak came amid Jordan’s preparations for the 2030 bimillenary of the baptism of Jesus Christ, hindering the kingdom’s efforts to attract 1 million Christian pilgrims and visitors to mark the historic milestone. It also cast a shadow over the positive image of Jordan as a model for interfaith harmony, as highlighted by American journalist Tucker Carlson during his visit to the baptism site Bethany Beyond the Jordan.

In the wake of the attack, commentaries echoed two longstanding narratives regarding violent extremism in Jordan. On one hand, there remain voices who inflate the magnitude of the issue, depicting it as the single most debilitating problem facing the country. On the other hand, there are those who see no issue at all. In fact, the truth and reality of the matter lie in the middle.

Since 2016, NAMA Strategic Intelligence Solutions has periodically monitored and quantified the extent of violent extremism in Jordan. Historic benchmarks indicate that between 1 and 5 percent of Jordanians have sympathies with Daesh, for example, and would also say that similar groups align with their personal convictions.

Despite Daesh having carried out or claimed responsibility for several terror attacks on Jordanian soil, NAMA’s May 2025 data reveals that 1.3 percent of Jordanians view the extremist group as a “legitimate resistance movement.” When asked about Al-Qaeda, a group responsible for the 2005 Amman bombings, the figure rises to as high as 8.8 percent.

Jordan should enact a communications strategy that debunks online hate speech.

Mohammed Abu Dalhoum

Geographically, the data appears evenly spread across the north, center, and southern regions of Jordan. In central regions, sympathizers were concentrated in urban areas, unlike the north and south, where rural areas appear to have more sympathizers.

The incubating environment and underlying factors differ drastically between regions. For instance, while unemployment is a prominent reason in urban areas, poor public service provision, including weak education, is more pronounced in rural areas. As a result, there is no single, one-size-fits-all policy to address the issue.

As Jordan prepares to put the latest attack behind it, there are several questions the kingdom should address. Where does the country go from here? How should it preserve its place as a beacon of interfaith harmony? And how should it prevent similar acts from happening?

Careful, strategic planning is imperative. In the immediate future, Jordan should proceed with a trial for the alleged perpetrators. While many Jordanians are calling for their execution, it is important that Jordan, as a state of institutions and with a strong judiciary, observes the rule of law. Indeed, the judiciary enjoys a high level of public trust among Jordanians. Any sentence should be delivered through strict adherence to statutory law that ensures justice is delivered by the state and not dictated by popular outrage.

Beyond the immediate response, Jordan’s mid-term priority should be controlling reputational damage and reaffirming its standing as a safe place for Christians. With only four years until the bimillenary of the baptism of Jesus Christ, it should enact a communications strategy that debunks online hate speech and malign foreign content, and controls the narrative concerning its own image. The ultimate goal should be to reassure the global Christian community that Jordan remains not only a safe destination, but also a resilient sanctuary where religious freedom and historic heritage are guarded by both the state and its people.

In the long run, this strategy must be accompanied by revamped efforts to prevent the spread of violent extremism by addressing the underlying factors that create fertile ground for radicalization. As the data shows, these factors are neither uniform nor geographically consistent, necessitating targeted, evidence-based interventions that account for the distinct socioeconomic, educational, and institutional realities of different communities. Crucially, such efforts must move beyond reactive security measures toward a comprehensive, preventive approach that addresses the conditions enabling extremist ideologies to take root, while strengthening social cohesion and fostering a shared sense of national identity.

Jordan’s response to the terrorist attack in Karak will be measured not only by its ability to bring the perpetrators to justice, but also by its capacity to prevent future atrocities without compromising the very values that the attack sought to undermine. Preserving Jordan’s standing as a beacon of interfaith harmony requires more than reaffirming its reputation; it requires sustained, deliberate efforts to ensure that shared living, national unity, and mutual respect remain defining features of the kingdom’s social fabric.