In FrontPage today, I discuss new gruesome details that have emerged of life inside the Islamic State.
The Islamic State’s caliphate turns one year old on June 29, and few inside its domains, aside from the true believers who have traveled all over the world to live in the Islamic promised land, are likely to be celebrating. Like all totalitarian states, it has swiftly established for its citizens an environment of oppression and fear, supported (in a new twist) not by a personality cult centered upon the specter of a ubiquitous, all-seeing, all-knowing leader, but by the guilt-manipulation of religious duty. Obey the Islamic State’s dictates, no matter how egregious, or else you’ll not just be tortured and brutally murdered, but you’ll burn in hell besides.
And so those deemed to be ideologically deviant are not labeled “counterrevolutionaries” or “imperialist running dogs” or “capitalist roaders,” but “heretics,” and are made to carry “repentance cards.”
A repentance card is not a get-out-of-jail-free card, however. Everyone in the Islamic State must show signs of his or her repentance and devoutness in Islam every day, or else. Breaking the law in the Islamic State can get you lashed or even beheaded – even for “infractions” such as these, many of which are classic Sharia provisions and thus are found in Saudi Arabia, Iran, and elsewhere as well:
- Women must cover their entire body except face and hands. (According to some reports, they must cover their faces as well.)
- Women may not leave the house without a male accompanying them.
- Only women may sell clothing to women.
- Women must not wear high heels, but only flat-soled shoes.
- Not only drugs and alcohol, but cigarettes are forbidden.
- Those who leave Islam are to be killed.
- Graves and shrines are forbidden, and are to be destroyed.
There are other rules as well – many recalling Woody Allen’s Republic of San Marcos. Women may not wear makeup or sit in a chair. Men may not cut their hair, put gel in it, or wear it in a “modern style.” Men may not wear low-hanging jeans (okay, for that one I’m booking my ticket to Raqqa now). Just as postwar Vietnamese were forbidden to utter the name “Saigon,” in the Islamic State no one may refer to the ruling group as “Daesh,” the Arabic acronym for the group’s former name, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Those wearing soccer jerseys will receive 80 lashes. And several weeks ago, Islamic State clerics banned pigeon breeding: the sight of the birds’ genitals as they flew overhead was un-Islamic.
That’s right: this is a state that legislates about pigeon genitals. But no one is laughing, as it commands respect at the point of a gun.
That’s also how it inspires Islamic piety. A deserter from the Islamic State has recounted that Islamic State prisons in Raqqa are filled with people were not sufficiently reverent during prayers or who have uttered the name of Allah in a way that Islamic State authorities deemed blasphemous. Their Islamic State captors torture them with sticks and cattle prods, and occasionally even burn prisoners to death.
Sharia forbids music, and so playing music on your car radio can get you ten lashes. Just as in Saudi Arabia, stores must close during the time for Islamic prayers.
And there is no recourse within the Islamic State itself. No political parties or armed groups are allowed other than the Islamic State. The ruling elites exert control over their people so tightly as to arouse the envy of Hitler, Stalin, Mao or Pol Pot: inside the caliphate’s capital of Raqqa, in the experience of one man who lived there, “the once colorful, cosmopolitan Syrian provincial capital has been transformed…Now, women covered head to toe in black scurried quickly to markets before rushing home. Families often didn’t leave home to avoid any contact with the ‘Hisba’ committees, the dreaded enforcers of the innumerable ISIS regulations.”
Raqqa’s central square is now known as Hell Square, as it is where the Islamic State carries out public executions, often leaving the dead bodies on display for days, as a warning to the living.
There is no end in sight. “People hate them,” said one man whose family lives in the Islamic State, “but they’ve despaired, and they don’t see anyone supporting them if they rise up. People feel that nobody is with them.” In fact, lots of people are with them: Barack Obama, who has vowed to “degrade and ultimately destroy” the Islamic State, but done little to make good on his vow; the Iranians, the Shi’ite regime in Baghdad, the Assad regime in Damascus, the Kurds, and a host of others. None of them, however, have the will or the means so far to deliver the knockout blow to this evil state. And so the citizens of the caliphate are in for, at very least, a second year of misery.
Angemon says
I’d like to say “Enjoy the pinnacle of your religion”, but there are probably non-muslims in the mix.
Rod says
No, not really. Non muslims are murdered. You think they have Christians or Jews or even non affiliated people down the block? Absolutely not. You’re an infidel and subject to death. They kill their own, so what do you think is done with those who do not profess the belief in their satan-allah. Enjoy your religion wouldn’t be an inaccurate curse. But a better thing to ask is why is our president not so offended? Why does he lie to cover for them? He says ISIL (as he calls them) isn’t Islamic. They’re no doubt surprised at that. Their striving is to be Islamic for real and only they with their strict and narrow interpretation of the alleged words of the mad prophet Mohammad are truly practicing the religion of peace. Do you remember that Obama has made those statements too? We have an evil president who spends all his time, when not indulging in recreation, self gratification and fund raising (organizing the community of the rich and powerful) — contriving ways to rob us of our freedoms as if that’s his job and his destiny. The totalitarian nature of his political philosophy is not dissimilar to Islam’s — and therein lies his (and the Democrats) natural affinity for his most murderous and perverse sect of the unwashed. The article says that raising pigeons is illegal because the birds fly over exposing their genitals. I’ve seen millions of pigeons and rescued a few. Their genitals are not exposed and in fact are internal. But those who will copulate with any animal project a vision of genitalia onto anything. They probably object to the flagrant display of fish and reptile genitalia too, neither of which are visible. In order to “sex” some birds, ie. determine their sex, requires a good deal of expertise, as the characteristic of aviary sexual identity are not readily visible except in birds where the colors are the differentiating factor. Doves all look the same, for example. Anyway, my point is that these self repressed and suppressed muhammadins are literal vile perverts. They rape children, let’s not forget. That’s not a crime to them nor deviance but a virtuous act of the truly religious. And yet our president is importing as many muslims into America as possible. He makes no announcement of this, permits no debate, and yet actively seeks to pollute our culture with the worst of the worst. This is the act of a malevolent madman, almost as bad as his Islamic brothers. Bend the tree when it’s young and it grows up crooked. He’s bent to hell, toward hell, toward Mecca. The idea that we should have such a president at this moment in history is proof in itself that there is a satan. The academics and the media are the pilgrims who celebrated his entry into the place of power and to this day continue to lie to protect and facilitate his rape of America.
EYESOPEN says
Wow Rod! Excellent post. Thank you.
somehistory says
Is it any wonder that Jesus told the Apostle John that it is a *wild beast* and that it would demand such allegiance as to force obedience with control over everything…*buying and selling* and that it would put people to death by the sword?
How can any sane person try to cover for this monster from satan, by claiming it has nothing to do with islam, when knowing full well that it is a carbon copy of the rule of the raper of children, murderer of all who disagreed with him?
(Revelation 13;17;19-21 {chapters}).
Chabuco says
“•Women must cover their entire body except face and hands. (According to some reports, they must cover their faces as well.)
•Women may not leave the house without a male accompanying them.
•Only women may sell clothing to women.
•Women must not wear high heels, but only flat-soled shoes.
•Not only drugs and alcohol, but cigarettes are forbidden.
•Those who leave Islam are to be killed.
•Graves and shrines are forbidden, and are to be destroyed.
“—-
So they’re exactly, 100% like Saudi Arabia, with the addition of honesty.
mortimer says
Exactly like Saudi Arabia…but, we are told, ISIS has NOTHING to do with Islam when they are following what the Saudis have preached for 200 years!
It’s Islamic when the Saudis do it, but not when ISIS does it.
Go figure.
Susan says
“There are other rules as well – many recalling Woody Allen’s Republic of San Marcos. Women may not wear makeup or sit in a chair”. So what are they to do, stand or sit on the ground like dogs?
mortimer says
ISIS is a huge torture chamber.
RonaldB says
Some have claimed that the Ottoman Empire tolerated non-Muslims like Jews and Christians, but by the end of the nineteenth century, the empire was sponsoring systematic pogroms and genocides against Armenians, Assyrians, and other Christians within their reach.
Fortunately, after the collapse of the Ottoman in World War I, the Middle East had the benefit of a number of authoritarian or dictatorial governments that came to suppress the worst of the Islamist tendency. Even the horrible dictators, like Saddam Hussein, turned out to be better than the alternative of political Islam.
Unfortunately, the United States, in it’s naive assumptions that a representative government is always better, regardless of the quality of the electorate, sponsored overthrows of dictators in Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Libya, and Syria. The result is the Islamic State. The dislocations in the Muslim world have not only made millions of non-Muslims and Muslims suffer, but have provided the occasion for hundreds of thousands of Muslim refugees entering the United States and other Western countries.
It’s a tossup to me whether the US officials have acted from sheer incompetence, evil, or perhaps just old-fashioned greed in response to Muslim dollars. But, it’s clear that the United States has no business trying to determine the political process in Middle East countries. The Obama administration even tried to manage the election in Israel.
I’m not in favor of involving the US military in fighting ISIS directly. Eventually, tribal areas such as the Kurds, Shi’ite Iraq, parts of Syria under Assad, will assert themselves and hold ISIS back. The fighting methods of such entities will likely be pretty horrific, as will their treatment of ISIS prisoners. Again, that is a matter the US ought not to be involved in. It may be that ISIS will provide the motivation for the people to finally leave Islam. Again, that’s their affair. The Algerian military killed hundreds of thousands of Muslims when the Muslims rebelled against the Algerian military. Political Islam seems to have had a light touch on Algeria in the past few years, perhaps because the attention of the US was elsewhere. Who knows?
Steph says
Before the Arab Spring everything was under control, the dictators would thump the hell out of anyone that rebelled and for the Middle East that was perfectly normal ..
The Middle East has had dominant control since the begining of time, this is a pretty broad statement but generally they are so dumb they need to be thumped into submission,, the whole system is driven by force under the guise of “peace” or prophet ..
Communications & transport have caused this ethic to go wild, the thing I can’t get to grips with is how come they are getting all wound up about 7th centuary values and use 21st centuary tools ..
If they were going to follow their own beliefs they should stay away from pickup trucks, machine guns & cellphones …
Dan says
I don’t know how many commenters here have actually lived in a Middle East country for more than a couple tourist vacation weeks but I promise you, as one who has lived there longer than that, nobody in the West knows the half of it, just how incredibly rotten women are treated.
It’s like anyone who visited a Nazi concentration camp saying, “I know just how bad the Holocaust survivors had it.”
They simply can’t.
And that’s all there is to it.
EYESOPEN says
I DO believe you Dan!
David says
How come if music is forbidden that in their video productions online they use Arabic songs??
Where is the world? So to the rest of the world innocent people who are not of the same nationality are not worth saving?
Or are the arms sales much too lucrative to intervene or are they waiting till everything is destroyed to get the rebuilding contracts?
Whatever it is humanity has no humanity anymore and that’s very sad.
duh_swami says
Exactitude is important in Islam, if you do not follow sharia and other rules exactly, you are not pious, or not pious enough, and are subject to punishment. How much punishment depends on the seriousness of the violation, and what kind of mood the punishes are in. When walking on egg shells, or through a field of poisonous snakes, be careful where you step…
Walter Sieruk says
The reign of terror in the area of land that are now controlled by ISIS is terrible and heinous to the extreme.. The native people of those cities that ISIS now has total power in will ,very much,understand the truth from the Bible which teaches that “All the days of the oppressed are wretched.” Proverbs 15;15. Likewise, they because of the ISIS tyranny they now have to endure they would also understand the Wisdom found in the Bible which teaches “When the wicked rule, the people groan.” Proverbs 29:2. [N.I.V.]
John Stefan Obeda says
It is also very true that they who worship a false god which in reality is a “nothing” which Scripture itself calls it will indeed suffer and suffer greatly at times. King David had it right: “The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply.” (Ps 16) The true God is He Who created us and promised us a Saviour Who came and rescued us from sin and eternal damnation. He who believes in Him has the Holy Spirit that will help him to obey God’s commandments and to love God and to love man. The Islamists have none of this and so they are suffering and suffering greatly. Very sad.
EYESOPEN says
That is true enough. Muzlims are the FIRST victims of izlam – the “religion” from Hell.
Uncle Vladdi says
Re: ” Men may not cut their hair, put gel in it, or wear it in a “modern style.”
NONSENSE! Muhammad ordered muslims to shave their heads and wear their beards long but to have no moustaches!
Uncle Vladdi says
Re: “In fact, lots of people are with them: Barack Obama, who has vowed to “degrade and ultimately destroy” the Islamic State, but done little to make good on his vow; the Iranians, the Shi’ite regime in Baghdad, the Assad regime in Damascus, the Kurds, and a host of others. None of them, however, have the will or the means so far to deliver the knockout blow to this evil state. ”
OH, THEY ALL HAVE THE MEANS, BUT NONE OF THEM WILL EVER HAVE TH WILL! – AND HERE’S HOW AND WHY:
From:
http://vladdisblog.blogspot.ca/2015/06/so-is-al-quaeda-now-our-friend.html
So, Is Al-Quaeda Now Our Friend?
Zombie Wars
A new item in the Wall Street Journal tells us that our enemy’s enemy is becoming our friend.
In the three-way war ravaging Syria, should the local al-Qaeda branch be seen as the lesser evil to be wooed rather than bombed?
This is increasingly the view of some of America’s regional allies and even some Western officials. In a war now in its fifth year, in which 230,000 people have been killed and another 7.6 million uprooted, few good options remain for how to tackle the crisis.
These are not real wars. There are no real war aims, no enemy worthy of the name, and no real victories.
Instead, they are zombie wars. They go on and on… with changing targets and shifting alliances.
Why do we never win?
Because too many people benefit from losing… The media, the military, the contractors, the politicians, the lowlife defense contractors in Northern Virginia, the grandstanders in Congress, the CIA, the NSA… all have been zombified.
Jon Basil Utley in the American Conservative:
America doesn’t “win” its wars, because winning a war is secondary to other goals in our war making. Winning or losing has little immediate consequence for the United States, because the wars we start, Wars of Choice, are not of vital national interest; losing doesn’t mean getting invaded or our cities being destroyed.
Instead, the contracts get rolled over. The promotions keep coming. The money flows. Politicians get elected. And the zombies prosper.
In some ways, these zombie wars are better than real wars. Fewer people are killed – at least fewer of our people.
But it must be hard for a real soldier to fight a zombie war and retain his self-respect.
Davit says
From what I understand, the “coalition” will not strike their headquarters in Raqaa (I’ve read they’ve taken over a Church), turn off their electricity and water or blow-up the roads leading in and out of the city. What exactly are they willing to do to “degrade and destroy” “Daesh”?
Guess the days of an A-10 “warthogs” “Highway of Death” (like we saw in “Operation Desert Storm”) are over. In fact they retired that lethal A-10 low-flying plane which is what they need to be using instead of their high flying fighters against these savage neo-nazis.