ISIS: Feeding Terror More Than Faith

It takes little effort to picture how terrorism poses a grave threat to anyone involved since
it robs an individual or community not only of its existence, but also of its rights and convictions.
Just like most religions, Islam has several denominations or branches. Based on the study
conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2010, Sunni and Shia are among its two major sects
with Sunni predominantly comprising 85% of the total 1.6 billion Muslim population worldwide.
A significant factor towards the emergence of the Islamic State (ISIS) in the Middle East
and Muslim countries dates back to the ancient religious conflict between Shias and Sunnis. ISIS
is made up largely of fundamentalist Sunni Muslims (The Sunni-Shia Divide). The group
officially rebranded as Islamic State and proclaimed itself as a worldwide caliphate on 29 June
2014, with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as its caliph (Isis announces caliphate). ISIS renounces all
innovations in the Islam religion, which it believes damages its fundamental spirit (Kirkpatrick).
In its adherence to takfiri doctrine, ISIS is committed to purifying the world by killing whoever it
considers as infidels or apostates. As caliphate, it claims the power to charge Muslims who do
not live by or non-Muslims who stand against its ideology of apostasy (Islamic State).
ISIS makes unconvential and compelling use of the media to market terror and lure more
fighters, Muslim or non-Muslim, into the organization (Mosendz). It regularly posts its gruesome
methods of executing its hostages in various social media sites (Gardham and Hall). ISIS holds
notoriety in UNESCO for culturally cleansing Iraqs ancient treasures (Iraq's heritage needs
protection). In the recent years, it is unfortunate that terrorist movements had tarnished the
name of Islam as a religion of peace and goodwill.
The struggle to carry out objective reporting within the Islamic State makes the actual
scale of its murders uncertain as violence continues to escalate across the territories. But

observing the groups regional social media posts, according to Graeme Wood of The Atlantic,
suggest that individual executions happen more or less continually, and mass executions every
few weeks. Based on its published penal code, executions may take the form of stoning to
death, crucifixions, beheadings, amputations, and throwing off people from tall buildings (Saul).
Foreign Policys Kate Brannen reported about the encounter of Ivan Simonovic, the U.N.
assistant secretary-general for human rights, in the latters visit to Iraq some time in 2014. He
learned that some [Iraqi] youngsters perceived the [ISIS] fighters as having an image of being
victorious and were being offered by the militant group with the promise that those who fall in
battle will go straight to heaven. The mothers of these children, confined by fear and terror of
their circumstances, can not keep their child from volunteering to the organization. As Abu
Ibrahim Raqqawi, founder of Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently who used to live in Syria,
added: "The Islamic State destroys their childhood, destroys their hearts.
Didier Franois, a French journalist who was formerly hostaged by ISIS in Syria,
recounted his experience to CNNs Christiane Amanpour: There was never really discussion
about texts. It was not a religious discussion. It was a political discussion. Marc Sageman,
author of Understanding Terror Networks and Leaderless Jihad, expressed that the Islamic State
is using religion to advance a political vision, instead of using politics to advance a religious
vision. To give themselves a bit more legitimacy, they use Islam as an excuse (Hasan).
If ISIS is serious about its faith, I personally find it hard understand how it came to trust
foreign recruits, who only witnessed its acts of terrorism online, more than its fellow Muslims.
Shouldnt that be a deviation from the original spirit of Islam? Some people may find instilling
fear entertaining but one cannot draw or grow faith from fear. Life is not something to be taken
lightly. It is a gift we were all given that no-one can simply decide to take away from us.