Whereas religion has historically been associated with terrorism it is clear that in current global discourses the notion of terrorism being largely a product of an inherent, inordinate relation between the domain of religion and an overwhelming dominance of Islam and Muslimness continues to persist. The present work probes the veracity of this association: Is it an outcome of, and a reflection of, some empirically evident characteristics of current terrorist activity, or is it constructed primarily by the processes of media, geopolitics and security studies. Concentrating on terrorist organizations affiliated to Islam, its inquiries into the reasons why the practice of invoking religious justifications of violence by some groups takes a significant presence while a similar trend among religiously and ideologically other influenced groups gets less attention. The trend is the same everywhere, whether in the London streets or the Mumbai coastal arteries. The result of a globe that is disoriented with its own image, in which a faith that was worshipped in Mecca is fought over in the markets of Mumbai. It examines instances of terrorism as found in the case of India that has its own strategic location on the global map, diverse societal characteristics and long-term experience with trans-border as well as internally rooted terrorism. Analysis of the main terrorist incidents such as the 2008 Mumbai attacks and later urban terrorist activities aims to provide understanding about organization and structure of terrorist activities, processes of recruitment and the trans-national linkages. It further analyses the role played by sponsorship, funding network, and the dynamics of identity-based mobilization in the survival of terrorism. Further, to understand law’s responses to the categorization of terrorism, it examines Indian anti-terror legislations: UAPA and NIA Act and international frameworks like UNSC Resolutions and FATF standards; analyses the various approaches to preventive detention and national security to gauge the balance struck between state power and citizen’s liberty. Within this context of analysis from the legal point of view, it is argued that although there exist certain contemporary terrorist outfits which have some links to Muslim affiliated groups, it is dangerous to broadly conceive of terrorism being intrinsically linked to Islam as that would lead to oversimplification of various political, strategic and legal contexts shaping current terrorism.