Advisor Note:  World Studies teacher Kevin Christie received this essay as an assignment and asked the student if she would be comfortable having it published.  The student said, “Yes.” The Talon welcomes guest opinions.

“The values that we are fighting against ISIS for are precisely that we don’t want to discriminate against people based on their faith.”- Barack Obama.

In other words this means that just because people are Muslim doesn’t mean they support ISIS and they should not be judged about it. The acronym of ISIS stand for the Islamic State of Iraq & Syria, but do they really represent Islam? Religion plays an important part in ISIS. The actions are used as an explanation for their doings, and their actions have been incredibly overdone.

ISIS was founded in Iraq in 1999 by Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi. The leader used to be Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi and now it’s Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. Before this terrorist group was known as ISIS they were known as Jama’at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad (en.wikipedia.org/) which is translated to Organization of Monotheism and Jahid in English. They operate from Iraq and Syria. Their headquarters are in Raqqa, Syria and they are ruled by their modern leader.

The role of religion in ISIS is trying to bring the Middle East back into an Islamic State. Religion plays a big part in ISIS, because it’s what they believe they stand for. What ISIS wants to do is re-establish the previous Islamic State (called caliphate) and slowly expand until they take over the world (www.cnn.com/2015/12/11). This is a mission in the process that ISIS has been planning and they use religion as a justification for their actions! ISIS has made the entire Middle East reputation and image look bad.

ISIS is targeting the world. In 2015, they attacked Paris and killed 130 people and wounded 494 people. The attack happened near a sports stadium while the president of France, Francois Hollande was there.

Their methods of violence are bombings and executions. Usually the way they recruit new members is through social media and some by force. The only allegiances they have is Al-Qaeda because that’s how the organization was developed. Government operations against this group is the United States and they’ve been trying to take down ISIS for a pretty long time.

Apparently Abu Omar was assassinated by Americans, so that was his cause of death and that was a success. One opposition ISIS faces is residents chafing under the harsh laws being imposed there and the world fighting against them!

An overall opinion on ISIS is that they’re disliked and we want them to be stopped. A blogger blogs in the time of ISIS’s occupation of Mosul says, “There is no support for ISIL in Mosul. They are left only with weapons that they will use to kill themselves once the liberating forces make the decision to raid the city.”

ISIS may think that they represent Islam, but they actually don’t. Islam doesn’t believe that ISIS’s actions are acceptable in their religion. The Quran states, “Kill them where you find them,” which refers to terrorist groups like ISIS, the people that kill and exile innocent people for their “religious beliefs” when that’s not what muslims are trying to say.

Do you believe that ISIS has taken their actions too far? Well all together they’ve had 90 attacks in 21 countries and they’ve killed about 1,400 people.

ISIS has taken their actions beyond far!

On September 02, 2014 ISIS posted a video that went viral showing the execution of the US journalist Steven Sotloff. ISIS has gone way too far to the point where many people are getting angry at all Muslims.

ISIS is looking to prove they will take over the world to the people of the Middle East, but in the procedure of doing that they’ve lost control in themselves and now they don’t know when to stop. Some people tend to do foolish things, but this is over exaggerated!

The religion of Islam is about “Peace.”  What ISIS does isn’t peaceful so therefore they should not represent Islam. What ISIS is doing is very disrespectful to a Muslim.

Resources

ISIS Fast Facts. (2019, January 21). Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2014/08/08/world/isis-fast-facts/index.html

Who’s Who in the Fight Against ISIS? (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/whos-who-in-the-fight-against-isis/

Wood, G. (2018, June 22). What ISIS Really Wants. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/03/what-isis-really-wants/384980/

2015 Paris Terror Attacks Fast Facts. (2018, December 19). Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2015/12/08/europe/2015-paris-terror-attacks-fast-facts/index.html

Prajuli, W. A. (2019, March 10). On social media, ISIS uses fantastical propaganda to recruit members. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/on-social-media-isis-uses-fantastical-propaganda-to-recruit-members-86626

Michaels, J. (2015, January 28). Islamic State faces growing opposition in Mosul. Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/01/27/mosul-iraq-islamic-state/22425269/