In the Daily Caller today I discuss the ongoing and stupid controversy over whether or not the Islamic State is Islamic.
Is the Islamic State (ISIS) Islamic? The question would be on the order of “Is the Pope Catholic?” were it not for the fact that Barack Obama, Joe Biden, John Kerry, David Cameron, and virtually every other authority in the Western world insist that the answer is no.
A steady stream of articles by Muslim and non-Muslim academics and commentators maintain that, despite appearances to the contrary, ISIS has nothing to do with Islam. But this avalanche of reassurances only leads a new question: if the Islamic State so brazenly violates the Qur’an and outrages Muhammad’s example, why is it so appealing to the most devout young Muslims that over 20,000 Muslims from all over the world have now joined it in Iraq and Syria, with 5,000 joining its Libyan wing?
The answer is not complicated, despite intense and ongoing efforts to complicate it. These young Muslims have Qur’ans. They read them. They believe them. When they see the Islamic State beheading people, they read in the Qur’an: “When you meet the unbelievers, strike the necks” (47:4). When they see the Islamic State kidnapping infidel women and pressing them into sex slavery, they read that Muslim men can take “captives of the right hand” (4:3, 4:24, 33:50) and that these captives can specifically be used for sexual purposes, as men are to “guard their private parts except from their wives or those their right hands possess” (23:5-6).
When the world recoiled in horror at the Islamic State’s burning alive of Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kaseasbeh, young Muslims who had joined the Islamic State might have mused that al-Kaseasbeh had dropped incendiary bombs on Islamic State holdings, and the Qur’an directs Muslims: “So whoever has assaulted you, then assault him in the same way that he has assaulted you” (2:194).
They might have noted with approval that the Islamic State was enforcing upon the Christians of Mosul and elsewhere the Qur’anic directive that they “pay the jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued” (9:29). To those who protested that ISIS was killing Muslims, in apparent defiance of the Qur’an (4:92), pro-ISIS Muslims might have responded that the Qur’an also directs Muslims to kill those who “turn away” from Islam (4:89), which the Islamic State reasoned that those they had killed were doing by rejecting its authority.
Those who glibly dismiss these numbers as only a minuscule percentage of the billion-plus Muslims worldwide are missing the point, perhaps deliberately. If 25,000 young Christians had flocked from all over the world to join a terror group, no one would wave the phenomenon away by pointing out that there are over a billion Christians in the world.
Clearly, if the Islamic State is not Islamic, it represents a massive failure on the part of Muslim authorities. They have failed, and failed spectacularly, to communicate the true, peaceful tenets of their religion, teachings that are so obvious to non-Muslims such as John Kerry and Joe Biden, to tens of thousands of their young people. They are presiding over a catechetical disaster of proportions unknown in the history of the world: never before has such global havoc been wrought by people acting upon a massive misunderstanding of what they claim as their core beliefs and primary motivation.
Read the rest here.
Samuel Ryu says
UNM senior agrees: http://www.dailylobo.com/article/2015/03/16-ryu-letter
Linde Barrera says
Excellent article. Would you please email it to the President, Vice President, and CIA, as well as every major newspaper in the country? A few of them will print it. Statistics will prove me correct, I HOPE.
Seamus says
“Is the Islamic State (ISIS) Islamic? The question would be on the order of “Is the Pope Catholic?” were it not for the fact that Barack Obama, Joe Biden, John Kerry, David Cameron, and virtually every other authority in the Western world insist that the answer is no.
Ah, yes. The “no true Muslim” fallacy.
mortimer says
Is Sharia law Islamic? Is the caliphate Islamic? What do 65% of Muslims worldwide constantly ask for in opinion surveys? Sharia and a caliphate.
Does ISIS provide strict Sharia and a caliphate? Yes.
On what criterion do critics claim ISIS is not Islamic? They have no valid criterion for that claim.
Shane says
The shame of the West is that we do not call out Islam for being the religion of war that it is for fear of offending our Muslims. Why did we allow so many Muslims to immigrate into the West when we are terrified of offending them? This is freaking insane. American public schools teach the propaganda that Islam is a religion of peace and that Jihad does not mean holy war. Teach our children the truth about Muhammad and Islam!
mortimer says
http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2015/02/what-isis-really-wants/384980/
The Atlantic – “What ISIS Really Wants” By Graeme Wood
Quotes: “The Islamic State is no mere collection of psychopaths. It is a religious group with carefully considered beliefs, among them that it is a key agent of the coming apocalypse. Here’s what that means for its strategy—and for how to stop it.”
“The reality is that the Islamic State is Islamic. Very Islamic. Yes, it has attracted psychopaths and adventure seekers, drawn largely from the disaffected populations of the Middle East and Europe. But the religion preached by its most ardent followers derives from coherent and even learned interpretations of Islam.”
Mike says
Another sign that ISIS really is Islamic is that Arabs are doing very little against it. In 1948 Arab countries immediately joined forces against Israel.
We should see the same thing against ISIS. But we do not see that. On the other hand, we did see what efficively was an Arab commando unit dispatched to France to wipe out several unarmed artists and journalists. We then saw Muslims from all over the place condoning the executions carried out by this commando unit.
mortimer says
Soddy Barbaria and Turkey jointly created ISIS with the help of Hillary.
Jaladhi says
I think its smoke and mirrors trick that out administration and the “moderate” Muslims are trying to play on us thinking we will believe them. When ISIS chief caliph quotes extensively from Quran justifying his mayhem on non-Muslims where is there any doubt that he or entire ISIS is not Islamic!! This is totally Islamic way that Muslims have practiced for last 1400 years. If these administration idiots say ISIS is not Islamic then Mohammad is not Islamic, allah is not Islamic because allah himself asks Muslims to kill non-Muslims and says he has been made victorious by terror.
ISIS is totally Islamic and all Muslims are proud of them and secretly hoping for their victory!!
Mike says
Well said.
gordon miller says
How can our Mullah-in- chief and his entourage get away with calling the Islamic State non-Muslim? Does he think we are imbeciles? If we had a strong congress, this person would already be out on street where he belongs.
He is doing so much to hurt this country, it should occur to most Americans that we are living in a farce.
Jaladhi says
The majority of people who elected this mullah twice are…(add your own adjectives)
Lioness says
Is the Islamic State Islamic? Is a duck a duck?
Anglosaxon says
The Dhimmi BBC now refers to ISIS as “so called islamic state”.
sidney penny says
“if the Islamic State so brazenly violates the Qur’an and outrages Muhammad’s example, why is it so appealing to the most devout young Muslims that over 20,000 Muslims”
“If 25,000 young Christians had flocked from all over the world to join a terror group, no one would wave the phenomenon away by pointing out that there are over a billion Christians in the world.”
“Clearly, if the Islamic State is not Islamic, it represents a massive failure on the part of Muslim authorities”
Your logic is spot on .
Why do not people not read and reply to what you write if they disagree.
sidney penny says
Why aren’t other Islamic countries fighting IS if it is using Islam to give Islam a bad name.
Why is it left to western or non Islamic countries to take action against IS
Ash says
This article was a breath of fresh air!
Having read the Qur’an and Hadith myself, I have been heavily disappointed in the willingness of world leaders and academics to blame everything except the ome source that ISIS admittedly draws its inspiration from for their deeds, either for the sake of political correctness, religious pride or unethical diplomatic agreements.
Thank you for this pristinely to-the-point article 🙂