The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) may not be clerics or imams, but they are the self-proclaimed heads of what they call an Islamic caliphate stretching across the majority of Iraq and Syria.
They have committed horrible crimes against humanity in name of what they say is Islam, drawing a harsh rebuke from imams and Muslim scholars.
Even if the majority of their claimed religion may disagree with their tactics or interpretations, the leaders of this organization are religious fanatics. To deny the truth about their religious motivations, however far outside the norm, is to shut our eyes to the dark side of Islam and indeed all religions.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS, has declared himself the world leader of Muslims and says he wants to spread his “caliphate” to Rome. Normally these sort of grand religious claims would be dismissed as nonsense, but al-Baghdadi is the head of a group that controls more territory than the governments of Israel and Belgium combined.
That’s the fundamental difference between al-Qaeda and ISIS. Whereas al-Qaeda operated as an underground network of agents wreaking havoc with isolated, coordinated attacks ISIS has quickly and ruthlessly gathered territory. Our idea of terrorists who hide in caves and mountains has given way to a group that puts out annual reports, directs traffic and picks up garbage.
All of this is not to say they have a legitimate claim over this territory or are a legitimate organization. Many of the citizens in this hellscape live in constant fear of torture or death, and no government or world organization recognizes their leadership except to condemn it.
President Obama is in a tremendously difficult geopolitical situation when it comes to ISIS. To accept them as Muslims carrying out an extreme vision of Islam would undermine the institution of sharia law, the harsher aspects (stonings, beheadings, etc.) of which are still practiced in many Muslim countries with questionable leadership. We need help from those countries to combat ISIS.
However, we must call a spade a spade. ISIS represents some of the ideas and practices of Islam — albeit ones not shared by the vast majority of Muslims.
Some argue that we only call out Islam. While in the past Christians and Jews have slaughtered and rampaged, today it is a small, twisted group of Muslims that see fit to use religion as a cudgel against humanity.
Religious sensitivity be damned — we must confront religious extremism, including in Islam. Hiding from this reality by denying the role of religion in ISIS’ recruiting, motivation and leadership is not helping to solve the problem.