ISIL:
The Messenger of Hate and Terror
Ali
Asghar Kazemi
16 October
2014
_____________________
Fourteen
centuries after the advent of Islam in the Arabic Peninsula that thoroughly
changed the face of the Middle East, North Africa and later the whole world, a
new waves of Islamic invasion is taking place against the 21st century‘s
modern civilization. Amid various
internal and regional conflicts in the crisis-ridden Middle East particularly
in Syria and Iraq, the sudden emergence of what was initially called “Islamic
state of Iraq and the Levant” (ISIL) and later changed into a wider term i.e. “Islamic
Caliphate,” engulfed the region into a catastrophic situation that alarmed the
international system as a whole.
With
the prolongation of crisis situation in Syria, factions of Al-Qaida and other
Islamic Jihadists, who were supposed to assist Syrian opposition groups to
fight against Assad regime, formed a coalition with a view to take over the
whole territory of Syria and Iraq as a bridge-point to expand to the East. They
have issued maps and plans of their territorial ambitions that expand from
Atlantic Ocean to the South East Asia. They are calling on all people including
Christian and non-Sunni Moslem (i.e. Shi’a etc.) to submit to the rules of
Islamic Caliphate. Atrocities that they
have committed so far are beyond explanations; arbitrary killings of people, beheading
of foreign journalists, slave taking of women and children in the cities and towns subjugated, are only
parts of carnage they have committed so
far.
Some
commentators expressed the opinion that Western powers have paved the way for
the creation of this fundamentalist
group which in fact is the most radical and aggressive faction among Islamic cults. Some others have put the blame on countries
that have helped Syrian regime to resist opposition groups and survived horrendous
internal uprisings that caused the lives of hundred thousand innocent people
who were inspired from “Arab Spring” and wanted to change their regime. Still
some other believe that whole story relate to Iran’s nuclear ambitions and the conception
of this radical Vahabi ( Takfiri or Salafi) group associated with
Saudi-Arabia and arch-enemy of Shiism is to neutralize Iran’s threat to the majority
Sunnis of the Middle East.
Whichever hypothesis we adhere with makes no
difference on the consequence of this formidable and complex phenomenon which
is the emergence of a extremely radical
group that preach the fundamental Islam and wants to expand its norms to the
whole world by way of terror and hatred. The fact of the matter is that despite
a large military coalition under the United States of America against this
group they are fighting to gain more lands on daily basis and so far there is
no sign of halt in their rather fast expansion.
In
a religious context “Islam” means “voluntary submission to God.”[1]
Even, in some verses of the Qur’an,
there is stress on the quality of Islam as an internal conviction:
"Whomsoever God desires to guide, He opens his heart to Islam."[2]
But, it all appear that the ISIL is using not the power of discourse and conviction
to attract people to their religious precepts rather they use fire arms to
obtain their weird objectives./
[1] Lewis, Barnard;
Churchill, Buntzie Ellis (2009). Islam:
The Religion and The People. Wharton School Publishing. p. 8.
* Ali Asghar Kazemi is professor of Law and -International Relations in Tehran-Iran. Students, researchers, academic institutions, media or any party interested in using all or parts of this article are welcomed to do so with the condition of giving full attribution to the author and the Middle East Academic Forum. ©All Copy Rights Reserved.
