Marrakech- To Western observers, ISIS seemed to emerge almost out of nowhere. All Arab states united to denounce Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi when he proclaimed himself caliph of the Islamic State. Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates have all participated with the US in its air attacks on ISIS bases in Syria. In fact, the emergence of ISIS has united the Arab Sunni leaders. ISIS clearly bases its claim to establish a caliphate on Wahhabism, the 18th century teachings of the scholar Muhammed ibn Abd al-Wahhab. However, al-Baghdadi’s attempt create a new caliphate based on principles developed hundreds of years ago does not take into account the development of modern Islamic states and institutions and the true, peaceful nature of the Muslim faith. Just because a group claims to be reformist does not give it the right to commit barbaric acts and murder on a large scale. By trying to turn the clock back to when states were being created, ISIS is actually making war against Islam itself, using religion as a means of creating a caliphate based on the past.. Their firm stance against ISIS confirms that modern Islamic states have developed their own societies based on peace and an ordered structure. Unfortunately, ISIS has accumulated vast wealth through illicit sources, and experts are saying that it could take years to eliminate an organization that relies on foreign fighters. Those who will survive the US-led coalition against ISIS may try to return to their country of origin to commit further acts of violence and destabilization. This approach forms the basis of Al Qaeda’s philosophy. They use targeted violence to kill unbelievers and seek to overthrow and “redeem” Muslim states, which they believe have lost their true Islamic faith. Al Qaeda grew out of a radical tradition that believed Muslim states and societies have fallen into sinful unbelief, and embraced violence as a tool to redeem them. “Violence is part of their [ISIS’s] ideology,” says Bernard Haykel, a scholar at Princeton University in the US. He adds, “For Al Qaeda, violence is a means to an end; for ISIS, it is an end in itself.” ISIS believes that members of Al Qaeda are not true Muslims because they will not adhere to their proclaimed caliphate. In his latest New York Times column, Thomas L. Friedman says that the Islamic world has to rethink the current status quo, which has led to ISIS and Al Qaeda, and find a solution that will restore order and peace to the Islamic world, hopefully ending the long-running Sunni Shia confrontation.
Posted on: Fri, 26 Sep 2014 13:24:20 +0000
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