The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is not Islamic at all because its militants are committing massacres and atrocities against innocent Muslims and non-Muslims in Iraq and Syria. They act against Islam which teaches the respect and the sanctity of the human life.
The ISIS has no legitimacy because it was proclaimed and imposed upon people by force and terrorism. It has no approval from the people of Iraq and Syria.
ISIS is a group of extremists and terrorists who use the religion to seize the power and wealth from the people.
They hijacked Islam and defamed its true teachings and produced the worst horrible image of it. They create Islamophobia and hatred against Islam and Muslims in the world. If the barbaric murderous version of Islam produced by ISIS is the true one, I will be the first to abandon Islam. ISIS is an enemy of Islam and Muslims. The Iraqi Christians and Yazidis are Iraqi citizens. They have been living in Iraq even before the mission of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon Him) to this very day. They have the right to live in their homeland and nobody has the justification to terrorize and expel them. Nobody has the right to force them to convert to Islam because embracing Islam is based on conviction and the free will and not imposed by threat and force. The Holy Quran stated fourteen (14) centuries ago: “There is no compulsion in religion” (2:256). Muslims through the ages never forced the non-Muslims to embrace Islam. God created us all free to choose and practice the religion of our choice. Those who want to force the Christians and Yazidis to declare Islam against their will are acting against the will of God and against the true teachings of Islam which advocates, love, tolerance and peaceful co-existence of different faiths.
The rapid growing of ISIS is the outcome of the sectarian policies of the ousted Prime Minister of Iraq Nouri Al Maliki who persecuted the Sunnis and deprived them from having their appropriate share in the administration of the country. Some poor Sunnis who experienced injustices at the hands of Al Maliki and his security troops joined ISIS to take revenge for the injustices and atrocities committed against the Sunnis. Also, there are brainwashed misled foreigners who joined ISIS because they thought that it represents Islam. The growth of ISIS and its fast expansion is the result of the United States and other superpowers’ reluctance to strike the bases of ISIS and put an end to its atrocities.
The readers may ask: Why did not the Arab Governments do the job? My answer is: The Arab Governments are so weak, they lost the sense of the collective Arab Security. In fact, they are not independent. They do not act unless they receive the green light from US. The question is: Why ISIS was permitted to commit its horrible crimes against humanity under the eyes of the superpowers? Why does the US and its allies interfere in Iraq and destroy the strongholds of ISIS and not do the same with the ISIS in Syria?
Why are the ISIS and Hizbollah, both considered terrorist groups, left to kill the fighters of the moderate Syrian Free Army which is supposed to be supported by US and EU countries? Why is there no serious pressure on Israel to end its aggression and atrocities against the Palestinian people? Where is the moral responsibility for justice and peace in the world?
Certainly, ISIS has no future in the Middle East. It is a suicide project based on bloodshed, terror and plunder. It has no prolife ideology. It is just an episode of what is called the creative anarchy in the region. I hope that the recent world awakening to the danger of the ISIS and the positive actions against it put an end for its destructive existence.
As long as there is no real democracy, justice and stability in the Middle East it is expected, unfortunately, to continue to witness such kinds of extremism and terrorism.
Imam Mohammad Elsadi