“We will conquer your Rome, break your crosses, and enslave your women… If we do not reach that time, then our children and grandchildren will reach it, and they will sell your sons as slaves at the slave market.”
These are words from Abu Mohammad al-Adnani, the spokesman for ISIS. Adnani illustrates what some in the western world may label as the radical un-Islamic behavior of a group committing genocide.
In reality Islamic State followers represent a truly Islamic ideology through their adherence to ritualistic guidelines.
The Koran calls Islamic people to enslave the secularists and condemn Muslims who neglect to pledge allegiance to the caliphate to the “death of disbelief,” understood as the death to those Muslims who neglect to follow their literalist version of Islam.
“And kill them wherever you find them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out.
And Al-Fitnah [disbelief or unrest] is worse than killing but if they desire, then lo! Allah is forgiving and merciful. And fight them until there is no more Fitnah [disbelief and worshiping of others along with Allah” (Koran 2:191-192).
AP Photo / Anmar Khalil
The acts listed are all requirements in the Islamic holy book, requirements, which ISIS strives to satisfy.
Those who deny the Islamic veracity of ISIS are as Bernard Haykel a Princeton scholar on Islam, said are “embarrassed and politically correct, with a cotton-candy view of their own religion” that neglects “what their religion has historically and legally required.”
The author of “What ISIS Really Wants,” Graeme Wood, expresses the truth that its adherence to Islamic practices reveals
However, after dramatic murders like the burning of the Jordanian Air Force pilot, Muath al-Kasasbeh, in January 2015, the group’s violence seems to be classified as acts of terror rather than the systematic obedience to Islamic creeds.
Through this understanding of the Islamic State, it is possible that the western world discounts the severe reality of the Islamic State’s future plans.
Plans to: establish a caliphate, under the caliph, a leader who must be a direct descendent of Ishmael from the Quraysh tribe, to fight the enemies Rome and through this battle, induce the end of the world.
Disregarding the ideological views as un-Islamic leads to misunderstanding the intentions of the ISIS.
This misunderstanding appears to emanate from the highest office in the United States as President Obama described ISIS as the Jayvee team.
“If a jayvee team puts on a Lakers uniform that doesn’t make them Kobe Bryant.”
Conversely to the statement from President Obama, ISIS may persist as the “Kobe Bryant” of the Muslim world if its adherence to the literalist version of Islam is the determining factor to religious success.
Their loyalty to literalist Islam is apparent as they are the first group since the Ottoman Empire to establish a Muslim Caliphate, which is a primary aspect of Muslim belief.
According to Abu Bakr al-Baghadi, the leader of ISIS, the caliphate is a fundamental aspect of Islam, “This is a duty upon the Muslims, a duty that has been lost for centuries …. Muslims sin by losing it, and they must always seek to establish it.”
If recognized as legitimate followers of Islam, rather than a terrorist group, we may be able to counteract their premeditated actions through attention to the Islamic ideology.
Wood further legitimizes the importance of acknowledging ISIS when he said, “The ideological purity of the Islamic State has one compensating virtue:
“It allows us to predict some of the group’s actions.” It is imperative that the United States and other western nations understand that the Islamic State “holds the imminent fulfillment of prophecy as a matter of dogma…[the official doctrine that is unreservedly true] at least tells us the mettle of our opponent.”
Anna Glassman can be contacted at aglassman@kscequinox.com
