Many people are asking about Islamic State, its threat to non-Muslims and its aim for global domination and worldwide caliphate.
Here are some answers.
1. What is Islamic State?
Islamic State (IS) is a group of Sunni militants who set up a self-pronounced caliphate (a Muslim state led by a political and religious leader called a caliph) at the end of June 2014, in Iraq.
The group stems from radical groups formerly affiliated with al-Qaeda and aims shari’a to impose a strict form of law. According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory of Human Rights, IS has 50,000 fighters in Syria and 30,000 in Iraq. Many of IS’s fighters are from the region but, for example, an estimated 11,000 to 12,000 jihadis are said to have come to Syria from abroad, of which about 3,000 are from Western countries, according to the New York-based Soufan Group and the London-based International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation. After the declaration of the caliphate, the number of foreign jihadis rose considerably.
2.How does Islamic State fit into a process of global Islamisation?
IS is not an isolated ‘lone wolf’. It is an integral part of a well-established Islamist spectrum. This spectrum bridges mainstream Islamic groups who cherish the same key concepts, even though they often do not actively wish to push them to their extremes. That is what makes IS so dangerous.
IS is a typical example of ‘violent rejection-ists’, the most radical expression of Islamism.The other two expressions of Islamism are the ‘non-violent rejectionists’, such as Salafists, and the ‘participationists’, such as the Muslim Brotherhood. (Note, therefore, that the violent rejectionists are just one end of the spectrum which includes ‘political’ groups. Violent rejectionists are often referred to as jihadists and they reject the political system.)
3. How does IS fit into the picture of Christians under pressure for their faith worldwide?
The regime of IS is the strongest possible expression of Islamic extremism, which is the most global ‘engine’ of persecution. All people under this regime are subjected to an absolute application of shari’a law. This is done by an excessive use of violence, which adherents believe is sanctioned by the Qur’an.
Once IS has established itself, the high level of violence should, in theory, drop, because Christians will either have been killed, or will have fled or conformed to a hard-core dhimmi contract – by which they pay a ‘protection tax’ and are treated as second-class citizens with restrictions on every area of their lives. Muslims who convert to Christianity would undoubtedly be killed.
4. Why is IS so successful?
Currently, IS holds an area as large as the country of Jordan. The advance of IS through Iraq did not come as a big surprise. It was a time when the parliament was preoccupied with forming a new government after the elections and when the army was demoralised due to low salaries and previous IS attacks. In this vacuum, IS seemingly could march to Baghdad without real opposition.
5. How might IS advance in the region?
For the near future it is likely that IS will experience difficulties expanding further south in Iraq, since this area is majority Shi’ite.
Nevertheless, hindering IS’s advancement in Iraq might actually trigger it to open up new horizons in the region, for example in Jordan and Lebanon. Already, IS elements are present in those countries, shown by the IS murders of two Lebanese soldiers and a pro-IS rally held in the Jordanian city of Ma’an at the end of June.
It turns out that IS is not only holding its ground but also has ambitions going beyond the Iraqi and Syrian borders. This was indicated by IS’s previous name: ISIL, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which covers Syria and Iraq but also Jordan, Lebanon and Israel, including the Palestinian Territories. This region seems to be IS’s first priority. But IS is also making clear that it wants the caliphate to reign over the entire globe. This is expressed by the name change to IS, meaning ‘Islamic State’, which exceeds geographical boundaries.
6. What does this mean for Christians in the region and world-wide?
IS itself has made no secret of its intentions, as is shown by a statement of IS after conquering regions where large communities of Christians had been living for hundreds of years: ‘We offer them three choices: Islam, the dhimmi contract (involving paying a security tax called jizya), and if they refuse this they have nothing but the sword’.
Moreover, the IS movement has a strong potential to spread beyond Iraq and Syria through the foreign jihadis. Jihadis are returning to their home countries and there are real fears they will continue to spread their ideas or actions there.
