What ISIS Really Wants

[Fozzie_DeBear]

A very in-depth article from the Atlantic on the motivation behind ISIS

This threat takes a sophisticated response..

[underGRADFlame]

Spice Girls reunion?

[northcrunk]

Originally Posted by underGRADFlame

Spice Girls reunion?

This is the first thing that came to mind with the thread title.

Tell me what they want wht they really really want

[flames_fan_down_under]

That is a great article Fozzie. I think Nik posted this in the other ISIS thread, but everyone should put some time in and read that article. Get a little knowledge in ya brain!

[Huntingwhale]

Very interesting article. Also, religion is ####ed up.

[CaptainYooh]

There is, however, another strand of Islam that offers a hard-line alternative to the Islamic State—just as uncompromising, but with opposite conclusions. This strand has proved appealing to many Muslims cursed or blessed with a psychological longing to see every jot and tittle of the holy texts implemented as they were in the earliest days of Islam. Islamic State supporters know how to react to Muslims who ignore parts of the Koran: with takfir and ridicule. But they also know that some other Muslims read the Koran as assiduously as they do, and pose a real ideological threat.


Baghdadi is Salafi. The term Salafi has been villainized, in part because authentic villains have ridden into battle waving the Salafi banner. But most Salafis are not jihadists, and most adhere to sects that reject the Islamic State. They are, as Haykel notes, committed to expanding Dar al-Islam, the land of Islam, even, perhaps, with the implementation of monstrous practices such as slavery and amputation—but at some future point. Their first priority is personal purification and religious observance, and they believe anything that thwarts those goals—such as causing war or unrest that would disrupt lives and prayer and scholarship—is forbidden.

This was my favourite paragraph from the article. So, these are the good guys. The viable alternative...

[Dan02]

Some people just want to watch the world burn.

[WCW Nitro]

Kind of a strange article in that the author admits that most Muslims reject ISIS, but does not interview the many scholars who oppose ISIS on religious grounds. If ISIS is justifying their actions based on religion, then so are many Muslims who oppose the group. You can't just take the testimony of ISIS supporters and one "expert" and not include the views of the other 99% as to why the group is twisting religious teachings.

[Teh_Bandwagoner]

What ISIS really wants:

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f08_1424123423

[blankall]

Originally Posted by WCW Nitro

Kind of a strange article in that the author admits that most Muslims reject ISIS, but does not interview the many scholars who oppose ISIS on religious grounds. If ISIS is justifying their actions based on religion, then so are many Muslims who oppose the group. You can't just take the testimony of ISIS supporters and one "expert" and not include the views of the other 99% as to why the group is twisting religious teachings.

I don't think that would add much to the article. I think it's pretty obvious that most Muslims don't support ISIS's views. A major point of the article is that religion has infinite interpretations. I don't think the author needs to provide evidence for the other infinite views to prove that ISIS is indeed inspired by religion.

[WCW Nitro]

Originally Posted by blankall

I don't think that would add much to the article. I think it's pretty obvious that most Muslims don't support ISIS's views. A major point of the article is that religion has infinite interpretations. I don't think the author needs to provide evidence for the other infinite views to prove that ISIS is indeed inspired by religion.

Perhaps I just read it wrong, but it did not come across as religion having many interpretations but that most Muslims don't really understand their own religion.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by WCW Nitro

Perhaps I just read it wrong, but it did not come across as religion having many interpretations but that most Muslims don't really understand their own religion.

I think it was more about ISIS being inspired by theological belief that cannot be reasoned or negotiated with. Yes that belief happens to be Islam. I don't think the author was suggesting anything about Muslims in general though.

He also likens ISIS to Christian religious fanatics like Koresh and Jones, but on a much larger scale.

[Red Ice Player]

It is a very informative article. Going from the article's conclusions, and contrary to what I have believed and stated previously, ISIS has actually established a real Caliphate. The problem for ISIS in creating a Caliphate today is that a Caliphate cannot sustain itself in the modern world. The Ottoman Empire, historically the last true Caliphate, withered and was ultimately dissolved internally when it couldn't gain new territory by force. The expansion of ISIS has already effectively been stopped. They still need to be eradicated though, and their recruiters need to be thrown into a deep hole.

[Patek23]

Originally Posted by blankall

I think it was more about ISIS being inspired by theological belief that cannot be reasoned or negotiated with. Yes that belief happens to be Islam. I don't think the author was suggesting anything about Muslims in general though.

He also likens ISIS to Christian religious fanatics like Koresh and Jones, but on a much larger scale.

I think the jist of what the author is getting at is thata ISIS interprets every word of the Koran as fact and carries things out as so. Kind of like if some crazy form of Christianity uprised and tried to implement the Old Testament word for word.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by WCW Nitro

Kind of a strange article in that the author admits that most Muslims reject ISIS, but does not interview the many scholars who oppose ISIS on religious grounds. If ISIS is justifying their actions based on religion, then so are many Muslims who oppose the group. You can't just take the testimony of ISIS supporters and one "expert" and not include the views of the other 99% as to why the group is twisting religious teachings.

This is more a reactionist reaction and fairly irrelevant.

Why does any of that matter? This article is not about whether or not ISIS is accepted by the majority of Muslims. The article attempts to illuminate the goals, motivations and global/local impact. This isn't about Islam or an attack on it

[WCW Nitro]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

This is more a reactionist reaction and fairly irrelevant.

Why does any of that matter? This article is not about whether or not ISIS is accepted by the majority of Muslims. The article attempts to illuminate the goals, motivations and global/local impact. This isn't about Islam or an attack on it

It just may be that I'm being overly sensitive because I'm Muslim myself, but the tone of the article seems to be, for me at least, that while most Muslims reject ISIS it's because they practice a watered down version of their religion, not a different interpretation. The only non-ISIS person he interviewed says as much. It just struck me as odd that he only presents one-side of whether or not this is real Islam being practiced basically taking as truth the opinions of ISIS supporters and one expert on the group.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by WCW Nitro

It just may be that I'm being overly sensitive because I'm Muslim myself, but the tone of the article seems to be, for me at least, that while most Muslims reject ISIS it's because they practice a watered down version of their religion, not a different interpretation. The only non-ISIS person he interviewed says as much. It just struck me as odd that he only presents one-side of whether or not this is real Islam being practiced basically taking as truth the opinions of ISIS supporters and one expert on the group.

I got the tone that while religion is central to the ideology of what they are doing, it's the methodology that's accomplishing the task.

The "correctness" of their doctrine in the spectrum of Islam isn't really discussed and is pretty tangential to the statement it seems to make about ISIS. At least that's how I read it

[WCW Nitro]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

I got the tone that while religion is central to the ideology of what they are doing, it's the methodology that's accomplishing the task.

The "correctness" of their doctrine in the spectrum of Islam isn't really discussed and is pretty tangential to the statement it seems to make about ISIS. At least that's how I read it

I guess it depends on how one, ahem, interprets the article.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by WCW Nitro

I guess it depends on how one, ahem, interprets the article.

I actually lol'd

[1stLand]

Nm