The Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham: Notoriety in the Midst of Volatility
The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, also known as ISIS, is a revolutionary jihadist organization that has had an active role in the Middle East since it was established by Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi in 2004. Based in Iraq, they have claimed responsibility for over six thousand civilian fatalities between 2004 and 2012. In their relentless efforts to create a Sunni Islamic state in every region in which they fight, ISIS changed the face of the Iraqi war, and more recently the Syrian civil war. The organization become known for their merciless attacks on civilians through car bombs and video taped executions and have achieved an infamously fearsome reputation through out the Middle East. ISIS has exclusively targeted non-combatant Shia Muslims, often considered off limits to most Jihadist organizations. Amnesty International has recently brought to light the scale of their human rights violations, and is calling on the international community to put pressure on ISIS to end their war crimes. ISIS’s ruthlessness, as well as the central targeting of their terrorist attacks, is motivated by their draconian interpretation of Islam. This has significantly differentiated them from other jihadist groups, most notoriously al Qaeda. ISIS’s pursuit of its own goals has caused infighting in Iraq and Syria, and has led to a major rift amongst the organizations.
To understand their ruthless nature, even when compared to al Qaeda and other jihadist groups, one must understand the role religion plays within their organization, and how religion is the driving force behind their goals. The members of ISIS are motivated by extreme religious ideology and a draconian interpretatio...
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...terror tactics to further their ideological goal of creating a Sunni Islamic state in Iraq, and now in Syria. Their violence toward Shia Muslims and merciless attacks on civilians, as well as other rebel brigades, has caused clashes with the other al-Qaeda factions in Iraq and Syria. This, along with ISIS’s public disrespect toward the organization, has resulted in Al-Qaeda announcing their split from the group earlier this year. ISIS’s human rights violations have gathered the attention of the international community, who are being pressured to take action against the group for their war crimes. ISIS’s pursuit of its own goals has caused extreme infighting in Iraq and Syria, as well as massive casualties. Their reckless behavior has caused rifts with al Qaeda and the jihadist rebels in Syria, and will continue to detach them from their counterparts in the future.
The Puritans were a religious group of early American settlers. ISIS, or the Islamic State, ISIL, or the Daesh, is a militant group of religious extremists in Iraq and Syria. It may seem odd to compare the Puritans to the Islamic State, but both shared religious ideologies that led to horrible atrocities committed in the name of their respective god. Both the Islamic State and the Puritans are groups that use or used their divine status as an excuse to dehumanizing, torture, and kill innocent people without emotion or regret. This paper will show that both groups shared similar behaviors that ultimately led to great atrocities being committed by the groups as a whole and by their members.
Throughout Junot Díaz's novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, the text poses concerns with narrative viewpoints, familial history of the Dominican Republic, and most importantly, specifies characters. Díaz introduces characters who are present throughout the entire novel, and others who appear only briefly. Isis, in particular, holds a special place in the novel. Before Díaz introduces Isis, we are introduced to many of her family members who maintain family traditions in both the United States and the Dominican Republic. The order of the text enhances our understanding of Isis as a character. Isis stands out as the next generation of her family by living in a familiar place, New York. Isis, a minor character in The Brief Wondrous Life
Likewise, Goodwin illustrates how the use of categorical terrorism can be seem being used by Al-Qaida during the attacks of 9/11. Nonetheless, it is evident that Al-Qaida is unusual in terms of using terrorism to influence the rise of unity rather than trying to overthrow a standing state. For the purpose of instigating a pan-Islamic revolutionary movement, Al-Qaida tries to unite all Islamic people under one state to develop umma, or Muslim community. The logic of Al-Qaida remained that if their “revolutionaries” could illicit a reaction from the powerful US state, resulting in oppression of the middle-eastern region, that Al-Qaida could, as a result, unite all Muslims to counter this suggested oppression. Although the end goal of Al-Qaida clear failed, it does suggest the organization’s attempt at implementing categorical terrorism.
Lewis clearly and entirely pointed out key events explaining the choices to be made by the people of the Islamic faith. This paper highlighted just a few of the many key events. Lewis says, “Most Muslims are not fundamentalists, and most fundamentalists are not terrorists, but most present-day terrorists are Muslims and proudly identify themselves as such.” He also expertly points out, “Terrorism requires only a few. Obviously the West must defend itself by whatever means will be effective. But in devising means to fight the terrorists, it would surely be useful to understand the forces that drive them.”(Lewis. Introduction) In the end, I agree with and commend Bernard Lewis on pointing out that a single religion cannot be blamed for the acts of small groups of radicals.
For approximately the past three decades, a terrorist group has come to plague the world with its activities (Gunaratna, 2002). This group is known as Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda, when translated means “The Base”. It is a terrorist organization that seeks to remove western influence from the Middle East and spread its radical Islamic views. Al Qaeda’s most prominent leader was Osama bin Laden, until his death during a raid upon his compound in Pakistan. The Al Qaeda’s motivation stems primarily from extreme and deeply rooted religious beliefs. Their most used method of attack is through suicide bombers and improvised explosive devices. This organization has also used chemical warfare and at this time is believed to still actively seek to utilize chemical and biological agents as means to battle.
Violent Jihad as a struggle against one’s enemies has its root in [these] situations. When the Islamic religion spread over the region, Jihad became a religious tenet and assumed the form of a peaceful, internal struggle to strive for the good and reject the evil in one’s action. Violent, external conflict was never r...
ISIS started as a break away group of al-Qaeda, one of the most terrible Islamic groups in the world. The stated goal of ISIS is to start a worldwide Islamic caliphate. The areas it controls are ruled under strict
According to the Quran and supporting Islamic texts, jihad means striving. However, there are several words and phrases, that when coupled with jihad, display a variety of sentiments. The phrase fi sabil Allah, "in God's path," can be interpreted as fighting for the sake of God. When paired with the word ribat, jihad is related to warfare or pious doings/activism (Bonner 2006). Jihad represents a fight that has provided Muslims with a solid base of military efficiency demonstrated historically in early Islam.
Al-Qaeda is an international Islamist extremist terrorist network founded in the late 1980s by Osama bin Laden. Al Qaeda practiced an extreme version of the religion of Islam. The group is intensely opposed to the United States and other Western, democratic nations. They are especially against the military presence of these countries in Arab nations. Since the group’s creation by bin Laden in the late 1980s, Al Qaeda has helped coordinate and fund numerous bombings worldwide. Their aim had been to overthrow governments in the Middle East, and elsewhere in the Muslim world, which do not strictly enforce a religiously sanctioned political and social order. Attacks against the United States were intended to cut American support for many of these governments; U.S. support was viewed by al-Qaeda as a major obstacle to creating a global order under Islamic
ISIS, or the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, began as Al Qaeda in 2004. Some
In its most literal form, the term “jihad” is an Arabic term meaning, as a noun, ‘struggle’ or, as a verb, ‘to exert effort’ toward a goal” (International Encyclopedia 1). However, in Mary Pat Fisher’s book Living Religions, the chapter on Islam discusses how the definition of the term jihad is “commonly mistranslated as ‘holy war’ (Fisher 148). While the media frequently portrays jihad consistent with the idea of “struggle,” the media almost always flips the definition on its head by suggesting that this struggle is a malicious struggle between two groups of peoples, each of whom believes that righteousness, and in many cases God, is on their side and evil is on the other side. Suggesting that jihad and violence are in connection with each other has been the case since pre-modern times. In fact, Fisher suggests that the primary associations of the word jihad are religious, specifically with reference to the Prophet Mohammad and to the religion of Islam, but also invoke a sense of violence or resistance against an opposing force.
The key to identifying the threat posed by a particular terrorist group is its basic tenets, and the level of violence thereof. “Groups that model themselves on an avenging angel or a vindictive god…are more likely to lash out than those whose core myth is the suffering Messiah,” (Stern, p.72). For example, the element that may be both the most prevalent and violent in the world today is fundamental Islamic extremism. With its emphasis on violent martyrdom and conquest on “infidels,” Islam is a religion based on values that are easily twisted to an extreme. Due to their religious ...
Terrorism has been around for centuries and religion-based violence has been around just as long. (Hoffman, 2). The violence was never referred to as terrorism though. Only up to the nineteenth century has religion been able to justify terrorism (Hoffman, 2). Since then, religious terrorism became motivated and inspired by the ideological view (Hoffman, 3). Therefore, it has turned against the main focus of religion and more towards the views of the extremist and what is happening politically (Winchester, 4).
Many terrorists believe that their religion is the only true religion, and they use it to justify violence (“Islamic Terrorism”). Most Muslim terrorists follow Jihad. Jihad is an Islamic perception that the way to integrate their religion is by massive force (“Of True Muslims and Terrorists”). Jihad is considered the “sixth pillar” of faith in Islam because it is the constant fight towards good. It is the idea of focusing on God and turning away from those that oppose God (David E. Long, 91). The terrorists believe that their religion is what everyone should follow, so they would naturally require personnel in power in Muslim states to either convert to their religion or resign from their terms. They will first threaten a leader that if they do not change, the terrorists will use violence. Sometimes, violent acts come about without any warning or previous threats (“Of True Muslims and Terrorists”). Islam is a proselytizing religion, which means it uses violence to convert people to its faith. This is because, in the ...
Political violence is the leading cause of wars today. Personal agendas have led to many of the political objectives that cause violence today this has caused many problems throughout the world and will continue to do so until a solution to this issue is found. Political objectives have been advanced involuntarily dependent upon the kind of government a nation exercises. For instance, in a democratic nation political groups must worry about convincing the majority in order to advance ethically. Those who try to influence the majority through acts of violence are considered today as “terror” organizations. Though perhaps if it were not because of the recent 9/11 terror attacks that maybe such warrants would not be seen as terror attacks, but instead the result of partisan advancement. Acts of terrorism have been around throughout the evolution of mankind. Terror attacks have even been traced back as far as the religious roots of an ancient middle east (Ross, Will Terrorism End?, 2006). However as man evolved, so did terrorism. Today’s extremism involves some of the main characteristics of ancient terrorism, but much more developed. Political advancement is no longer the root cause of terrorism acts. Instead influxes of “holy” wars have been appended the prior definition of terrorism. Mistakably modern terrorism has been confused for Political violence with political objectives, but research will establish that the nature of terrorism is fundamentally different from other forms of political violence.