West Must Absorb: For Islamic State, 'End of Days' has Begun (de Volkskrant, The Netherlands)
"According
to IS, the prophesied period of the second Caliphate has now begun. Importantly,
this also marks the beginning of the 'End of Days,' which is accompanied by a
massive, apocalyptic battle between the forces of the Caliphate and the non-believers.
… IS must be fought with violence. To negotiate a truce, as Italian terrorism
expert Loretta Napoleoni proposed, is not an option,
and moreover, is quite naive. As mentioned before, it is the duty of a caliph
to set the world on fire and continue to gain territory. … The source of IS is Islam … whether we like it or not."
Sure, most Muslims want nothing to do with IS [Islamic
State]. In the end, it is mostly they who fall prey to the violence,
notwithstanding all the beheading videos. But that doesn't mean that IS isn't
Islamic. Islam has sects, such as IS, as does Christianity, which has always had
its share of sects that turn against the mainstream faith from which they originated.
It is only from this starting point that sects can be understood.
Last year IS proclaimed the "Caliphate," with gang
leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as caliph. This is crucial
to understanding the religious motivations of IS. A "caliph" is the
successor of the Prophet Muhammad, and under a Caliphate, Islamic law is in
force in its purest form, as recorded in the Quran and the Sunnah.
Apocalypse
According to Islamic tradition, the world will know two
periods in which the Caliphate exists, in between which tyrants will rule. The
first Caliphate came to an end with the fall of the Ottoman Empire
(1299-1923), after which in the Islamic world, despotic regimes came to power.
According to IS, the prophesied period of the second Caliphate has now begun. Importantly,
this also marks the beginning of the "End of Days," which is
accompanied by a massive, apocalyptic battle between the forces of the Caliphate
and the non-believers.
We knew that such apocalyptic thinking existed, particularly among Shiites,
who traditionally believe in the End of Days followed by the coming of the Mahdi - the Islamic equivalent of the Messiah. Now Sunnis,
too, with the rise of IS, have embraced the Apocalypse. Their videos of decapitation
are essentially advertisements of the End of Days.
With the return of the Caliphate, the jihad, too, is alive
and kicking again. It is the duty of a caliph to conduct war and continue to
conquer territory until a select group of chosen believers establish utopia on
earth. An important part of this jihad is the terror presented to us through
the propaganda videos with beheadings, burnings and even crucifixions. The goal
is to sow fear among the enemy and provoke military intervention. To achieve
the End of Days, a massive confrontation between believers and non-believers is
required. The goal is the shedding of as much blood as possible of non-believers.
Cruelty
This is the religious world of IS, which is based on verses
from the Quran, according to the Sunnah and in the Hadith.
The difference between this sect and earlier sects of Islam is that previously,
conquests emerged from a certain optimism about the
future. Now comes a terrorism stemming from nihilism. A bloody apocalypse realized
through the practice of immoral savagery is what IS wants. Then will come the
Messiah and their mission will be accomplished.
Those who think like [D66 leader] Alexander Pechtold in our country don't recognize the
phenomenon, and hence the West has no response to this new fascism that for the
first time in 70 years poses an existential threat to us. After 70 years of peace
and prosperity we've become soft and spoiled. We don't know how to deal with
such brutal violence and therefore make wrong decisions.
IS must be fought with violence. To negotiate a truce or
peace, as Italian terrorism expert Loretta Napoleoni
proposed on the current affairs program “EenVandaag” is not an option, and
moreover, is quite naïve [English-language video of Loretta Napoleoni
below]. As I said, it is the duty of a caliph to set the world on fire and continue
to gain territory. The Middle East, parts of Africa and Europe, and to a lesser
extent North America, will experience the jihad over the next few years. Europe
is seen as extremely easy prey: aging, risk-averse, without any fighting
spirit, soulless in the post-Christian era and led by weak politicians.
According to jihadist ideology, borders are there to be
crossed and treaties are meant to be broken. A caliph can make a temporary
treaty, but only with one enemy at a time. A truce with the West means
inevitably that the violence continues elsewhere, for example in Africa.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
Territory
By attributing to itself the status of Caliphate, IS has
also made itself vulnerable. Specifically, a caliphate cannot exist without a
territory, or even with a territory that is fixed and not being extended. Take
that territory now and the Caliphate disappears like snow in the sun. Unlike
al-Qaeda, for example, IS cannot exist underground. Without territory IS fighters have nothing more to fight for. This also means
that the military struggle against IS must continue in full force.
At the same an ideological struggle must be joined to
prevent young Muslims who feel left out in the West from seeking refuge in IS.
IS indoctrinates recruits so that they have access to a solid theological foundation
to debate dissenters in which Quranic quotes fly
around your ears. Eloquent imams and other representatives of the Muslim
community could counteract this, provided they finally recognize that the
violent teachings of IS are indeed Islamic. As Rotterdam
Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb said, "Identifying the
source of the problem is the first step toward a solution."
Egypt President Al-Sisi recently
pointed to mainstream Islam as the breeding ground for a sect like IS and
called for a revolution within Islam [video, bottom, right column]. He has nothing good to say about the way
many Muslims live their religion and he attributes that largely to Islamic
scholars. He's right. The source of IS is Islam … whether
we like it or not.
*Adjiedj Bakas is an
author and speaker with roots in India, Latin-America and Europe. He researches
financial, social, cultural, economic, technological and spiritual trends and
interprets these for an array of clients.
