ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) or ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant: Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine and Jordan) is a terrorist movement that has taken territory in Iraq, Syria and Libya. Most of the world has felt dread and disgust at their tactics. Why does something like this even exist on our planet? The short answer is sin and evil. The longer answer is more detailed.
The Islamic State, which was announced in June 2014, is brutal, and while it may represent a radical component in Islam, it is still Islamic.
Islam is made up of Sunnis (roughly 85 percent) and Shia or Shiites (approximately 15 percent). The terrorists occupying territory in Iraq, Syria and Libya are Sunnis. Both branches trace their founding to Muhammad, a so-called prophet who lived from A.D. 570 to 632. He was born in the pagan city of Mecca and began to have what he called “revelations.” As he taught about his “revelations,” he gained a following — the beginning seeds of Islam. He left Mecca and traveled to Medina, where he consolidated his new religious movement by claiming that Allah (the name for his god) had given him the final book for mankind, superior to both the Old and New testaments of the Bible. Furthermore, he presented himself as the last of the prophets, superior to Jesus Christ. This illiterate man told his “revelations” to followers, who later wrote down the often contradictory sayings. The Quran was the result. When contradictions in the Quran appear, Muhammad’s “revelations” in Medina take precedence over the ones during the Mecca period.
Chapters, called surahs, divide the Quran. Both Sunni and Shia Muslims developed their beliefs from their religious book. The two groups have been fighting off and on since the beginning of their religion.
They disagree on who should be qualified to be a caliph (religious and political leader) of a caliphate (state and territory), which, in theory, would unite all Muslims. In the beginning of the Islamic movement, the Sunnis chose Abu Bakr, Muhammad’s friend, to be first caliph to follow the founder, Muhammad. The Shias favored Ali ibn Abi Talib, Muhammad’s cousin, to be the caliph. The first three caliphs were Sunnis. In A.D. 656, Ali (a Shia) became the fourth leader. He was assassinated five years later. These first four caliphs are called the “Four Rightly Guided Caliphs” in Islam.
Sunnis believe the caliph should be a qualified leader, although not necessarily from the bloodline of Muhammad, while the Shias believe the caliph should be from the tribe of Muhammad.
The last caliphate was the Ottoman Empire, which was divided by the West following World War I. Since June 2014, a radical core of Muslims has been fighting a jihad, or holy war. Now that they have occupied territory and established a capital, the number of jihadists coming to join the Islamic State has grown significantly. Most of them believe they are chosen by Allah to bring about the apocalypse, and they are willing to die for their beliefs, confident they will be rewarded in the afterlife for fighting a “holy war.”
Today, executions are believed to be occurring almost daily. This latest group of Islamic terrorists does not regard the Ottoman caliphate as legitimate because it did not fully extend Islamic law (sharia), which, according to their interpretation of the Quran, should include executions, slavery and amputations. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is the leader of this new caliphate and considers himself to be the commander of all Muslims — or, more specifically, all the faithful. He is a Sunni. Muslims have overwhelmingly rejected his proclamation. Even the jihadist group al-Qaeda has refused to acknowledge the caliphate thus far.
In an interview with the Boston Globe, Philip Jenkins, Baylor University history professor and author of “The Great and Holy War: How World War I Became a Religious Crusade,” said, “The modern caliphate is not just saying that Shia aren’t real Muslims, they’re saying that many Sunnis aren’t real Muslims either. They’d say any Sunni who doesn’t go along with them is not a real Muslim. It’s an extremely exclusive, elitist, narrow idea.”
Graeme Wood, writing in The Atlantic, said, “Al-Qaeda is ineradicable because it can survive, cockroach-like, by going underground. The Islamic State cannot. If it loses its grip on its territory in Syria and Iraq, it will cease to be a caliphate. Take away its command of territory, and all those oaths of allegiance are no longer binding.”
The war that is being waged in Iraq is a religious war. Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Dallas, recently observed that while some are saying the U.S. is not in a religious war against Islam, “radical Islam is in a religious war against us.” He called on Christians everywhere to demand that President Obama “do whatever is necessary, including boots on the ground, to eradicate this cancer of ISIS and radical Islam before it destroys us.”
Islam is a false religion, and it is growing. While Christians would not accept their book or their founder as legitimate, Muslims do. We must understand that Islam is not simply a religion but a legal system, as well. The radical wing of Islam, whether Sunni or Shia, is committed to establishing Islamic law worldwide and killing Christians, Jews and even other Muslims who do not agree with them.
Concerns have been raised about jihads in other parts of the world. Thousands of Nigerians have been murdered by the group called Boko Haram (which, loosely translated, means “Western or non-Islamic education is a sin”). In at least 31 countries or territories, Islamic terrorists (including Boko Haram) have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.
The possibility of an attack by one of the Islamic terrorist groups by way of the southern American border has been discussed in congressional meetings. Discussions in Italy indicate at least the possibility of an Islamic State attack launched from Libya.
Christians are called “people of the book” in the Quran. These trying times call for us to truly be the people of God’s Book. David Garrison, a global mission strategist for the International Mission Board, has pointed out that there is a connection to these Muslim-on-Muslim atrocities and Muslims coming to faith in Christ. Terrorists attacks, he says, “reveal the worst in that religion and often wake Muslims up to say, ‘This is not my religion; this cannot be God’s perfect will.’ In the grip of this crisis, many Muslims are finding hope in Christ.”
The Islamic State must be stopped. The gospel must be preached. This may sound like a paradox, but it is the reality of our time.