ISIS is a Salafi group within Sunni Islam, which originally operated in areas inhabited by Sunnis (Stanford, par.14). More precisely, the creators of the Islamic State were Sunni Muslims, who primarily adhered to Hanbali, the most distinguished among the four existing schools of Islamic law in Sunni Islam, known for its rigor and discipline. They have played on these fundamentalist sentiments, which allowed them to get support of the Sunni population. Not because ISIS banned the teaching of biology, physics, music, social sciences (in particular, those connected with democracy), not because the members of this group cut off the heads of their enemies and declared a global jihad, but simply because they are Sunni fighting against Shiite domination (Stanford, par. 12). Supporters of ISIS hate Shiites and members of other branches of Islam, whom they consider their internal enemies. However, many Sunnis “took issue with [Al Qaeda’s] use of suicide bombings and other violent attacks like assassinations” (Stanford, par. 13), which means the Sunnis are not automatically supporters of ISIS.
ISIS’s ideology is extremely reactionary even among the Salafis, who are calling for a return to the first century of Islam, and the first righteous caliph (Hassan, par. 1). At the same time, not all Salafis support the physical destruction of infidels or kafirs (Stanford, par. 2). And if you look at the actions of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, it becomes clear that the people of other religions are actually being hunted there. In fact, ISIS has been fighting for the supremacy over the Sunnis and the strict adherence to Sharia Law (the movement automatically imposes the Law on the occupied territories). In addition, according to the Islamists, all this is only a step on the way of the Ummah, a huge community of believers (Warner 3). The leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who has been announced a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, calls himself Caliph of the Islamic State. Once the ISIS leads his troops into the territory of any Muslim country, the local government is immediately declared "illegitimate" and everything should be subject to the ISIS Caliph (Stanford, par. 13). Worldwide Sharia is declared to be one of ISIS’s primary goals and they are intolerant of any leniency. For example, “ISIS has accused Hamas [another Islamic organization] of not enforcing Islamic law stringently enough” (RT; par. 1).
ISIS members call themselves the followers of Ibn Taymiyyah. This radical theologian of XIV century, a representatives of the extreme Hanbalism, was a fierce opponent of the religious innovations, a supporter of the idea of spreading the ideas of Islam by the sword, while not denying the importance of preaching (Crooke, par. 3). Ibn Taymiyyah emphasized the importance of jihad, the role of the group of the faithful (muminun), "the victorious group" (al-Taifa al-Mansoura), the Mujahedeen (jihad fighters).
The global jihad is the main goal of ISIS (Stanford, par. 13). This ideology is a ruthless struggle for the establishment of the caliphate, for the reunification of all the lands where once ruled by the Muslims, as Islamists say – from Andalusia to Bukhara, including Central Asia, Tatarstan, etc. Thus the civilizational code, which drove the Arabs to conquer the whole world half a thousand years ago, is being brought back to existence. Encouragement of violence takes place, leading to the transition from contemplation to active participation. Those times are once again in trend, and fight with other nations and peoples is being interpreted as a return to the origins of Islam, purification from the filth of its godless developments, which led to the decline of Arab civilization. Being the killer of the infidels becomes fashionable, and now exploits of fighters of the faith are beginning to force out all other images in the Muslim world.
ISIS leaders fall into two categories – military and ideological. If ideologists are classic Islamic dogmatists, the military wing mostly consists of secular people who are not particularly familiar with the intricacies of Muslim theology. This symbiosis allows ISIS to remain stable: warlords have nothing to say in the ideological field; the ideologists do not interfere in purely military matters. Moreover, the pragmatic military wing created a powerful ideological framework used for the impact on the minds of their followers as well as for the psychological attacks on the enemy. Thus, a powerful mechanism of ideological influence has been created, which helps resolve the issues of information war, as an integral part of warfare in a global world.
Most Muslims have disowned the Islamic foundation of ISIS-proponed ideology as contradicting the Koran, but is it really so? Is the notion of “moderate” Muslim corresponds to the reality of Islam? Moderate Muslims are considered kafirs by radical Islamists. ISIS claim that all their actions, including decapitations and attacks on women and children, are in strict accordance with the religion. It is all the more difficult to check as there is a notion of “Taqiyya”, or sacred deception, in canonical Islam (Warner 27). It means that any Muslim is entitled to pretense and lies if he’s dealing with kafirs, which brings up the questions of weather the Muslims who declare themselves non-violent are being truthful. Bill Warner from the Center for the Study of Political Islam came to the following conclusions. Sharia Law is mandatory to all Muslims (Warner 27). Jihad is a sacred mission of all Muslims (Warner 3). Sharia law dictates that every Muslim pays part of their income to Sharia financial institutions that support jihad (Warner 3). Those who are against jihad are considered kafirs. Kafirs (in the strict sense – those who conceal true Islam) and non-believers are inferior and can be deceived and killed (Warner 3).
Thus, the reconstruction of Islam based on primary sources shows that ISIS ideology conforms to the ideology of political Islam. And that is a strong argument against Muslim scholars who claim ISIS has nothing to do with Islam.
Works cited
Crooke, Alastair. You Can't Understand ISIS If You Don't Know the History of Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia. 2014 Retrieved at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alastair-crooke/isis-wahhabism-saudi-arabia_b_5717157.html
Hassan, Hassan. “Isis: a portrait of the menace that is sweeping my homeland”. 2014.
Retrieved at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/16/isis-salafi-menace-jihadist-homeland-syria
Warner, Bill. “Sharia law for the non-Muslim”. Center for the study of political Islam. 2010. Retrieved at http://www.qsociety.org.au/Sharia_Law_for_Non_Muslim.pdf
“Islamic State”. Updated May 15, 2015. Retrieved at https://web.stanford.edu/group/mappingmilitants/cgi-bin/groups/view/1
“ISIS threatens Hamas – but move could bring Israel & Palestine closer to fight common enemy”. 2015. Retrieved at http://rt.com/news/270952-hamas-isis-israel-threat/
