Thursday, October 16, 2014

ISIL: The Messenger of Hate and Terror




ISIL: The Messenger of Hate and Terror

Ali Asghar Kazemi

16 October 2014
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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.
[2] Quran 6:125, Quran 61:7, Quran 39:22 cf.:  L. Gardet; J. Jomier. "Islam". Encyclopaedia of Islam Online.

 



* 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.‎