TEL AVIV – An article in a pro-Iranian Iraqi daily denounced the widespread notion that Islamic State terror has nothing to do with Islam, stating IS’s belief that “a day will arrive when Muslims inundate Europe and subdue it to Islam,” continuing, “Is this not enough to convince us that terror does have a religion?”
The article, titled “Does terror truly have no religion?” translated by MEMRI, was published in Al-Akhbar and authored by Iraqi journalist Fadel Boula. In it, Boula objects to the claim frequently repeated in the Arab world that IS atrocities are the result of “insanity” and are unrelated to Islam.
Boula asserts that IS and other terror organizations are motivated by an extremist Salafi ideology and their members maintain the belief that their actions represent Allah’s will and directives.
He condemns the idea that IS’s actions are unrelated to Islam as naïve and ignoring the facts, “as though there are no religious goals or values behind [the terror], but only a state of insanity that causes those afflicted with it to run amok, unaware of what they are doing or what [they seek] to achieve by their actions.”
Boula adds that the terror being carried out all over the world is not the work of “savage tribes,” but committed by conscious human beings who are “inspired by a religious ideology” that “espouses religious extremism” and subscribe to the “force of the sword.” These people are trained to kill themselves and others in order to attain martyrdom.
Boula then outlines the history of modern terror groups that act in the name of religion, claiming that their inception occurred around the time Islamic militants declared jihad on Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
Boula traces IS’s Al Qaeda origins and notes the terrorist group’s aspirations to emulate early Islamic conquests by establishing a Caliphate for Muslims.
“Thus, a scary organization [namely IS] suddenly appeared, which advertises itself as the bearer of Islam’s message and banner,” writes Boula.
IS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi aimed to show the Iraqi people, and specifically the IS stronghold of Mosul, what it’s like to be ruled by a government that is a throwback to 1,400 years ago.
“The invaders attacked the populace of Mosul and eastern Syria, arrested them by the hundreds, and took a sword to their necks, and later singled out the Christians among them and offered them two options: either convert to Islam or pay the poll tax, as happened to their forefathers when the Arabs attacked their lands in the days of the Caliph ‘Umar Al-Khattab [583-644 AD],” notes Boula.
He adds that the plight of the Yazidis is “a historic disaster that was inflicted upon them by the God-fearing Caliph [Al-Baghdadi].”
Terrorists “who butcher their victims while crying out in the name of Allah the merciful and ‘Allah akbar’ is a testament to their belief that they are carrying out Allah’s will.
“All these crimes are carried out with Allah’s approval, and they are perpetrated by those who praise Allah day and night and who pray fervently and do everything according to His will.”
Noting the Paris attacks that were “done with Allah’s approval,” Boula reiterates IS’s threat that the next attack will be on U.S. soil.
Boula concludes that terrorists pray that “in the wake of this terrorist momentum, a day will arrive when Muslims inundate Europe and subdue it to Islam. Is this not enough to convince [us] that terror [does] have a religion?”
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