Living together in peace must be the goal of all nations on earth, yet currently, it seems, seismic upheavals threaten this ideal. From neighbouring North Africa to the Middle East and beyond, and north to Ukraine, local violence has become a way of life.

While turmoil in the Ukraine seems to have the greatest potential for starting a third world war, it is perhaps the atrocities of Isil, the so-called Islamic State, that have attracted the greatest attention and opprobrium. They have managed to propel themselves to a high level of notoriety through their barbaric actions that civilised countries have long abhorred.

It is easy to blame this behaviour on a group of backward demagogues, hell bent on destroying anyone who doesn’t accept their brand of Islamic teaching. In so doing, they have preferred to put the clock back to the Middle Ages when cutting of heads was indulged in by one combatant against another.

At the very root of this behaviour is an extreme interpretation of a medieval text to justify horrendous retribution. Taking advantage of the turbulent political situation in Syria and Iraq, they have flourished, and have, amazingly, attracted several disaffected youngsters from developed countries like the UK and Australia.

It is very easy for most of us to blame Islam, or even all Arabs for these atrocities and the danger they pose to the rest of the world. This is particularly tangible in places where there have been considerable concentrations of people from various nationalities, who, for most of the time, lived peacefully together. There is a real danger of blaming the lot for the misbehaviour of the few.

Will the long-cherished goals of multiculturalism be under renewed strain?

There are currently more than one-and-a-half billion Muslims around the world, comprising nearly a quarter of all religions. The number of people involved in atrocities in Syria and Iraq currently is no more than several thousand. For every single criminal involved in these atrocities there are 50,000 innocent people, some of whom have been persecuted, made homeless, or killed by Isil.

Even if the American-led alliance against Isil will result in the complete annihilation of this evil force for ever, we would still be left with several disturbing questions that need an answer.

Firstly, what is it that encourages perfectly normal young people to give up a comfortable environment in a developed country to join an organisation like Isil which promises nothing except bloodshed and destruction? What is the future for these young people on returning home empty-handed, threatened as they are by the authorities in their respective homeland with certain justice?

Perhaps more fundamentally, we must ask, what sort of social milieu encourages the appearance of individuals such as these within our community? Where have we gone wrong? Why is it that the social and educational systems of the whole country have failed these individuals and produced misfits?

And thirdly, what is the likely long-term result of these upheavals? Is it possible that, in spite of all the efforts of reasonable-minded people of all nationalities, there will forever be a groundswell of distrust of the Muslim community wherever they happen to be? Will the long-cherished goals of multiculturalism be under renewed strain?

It would be a great mistake to blame the whole for the part, to condemn the tree because it bore a few rotten apples.