Islam And ISIS (warning: Shocking Images)

Click here to read the ISIS Manifesto: Why We Hate You.

The Islamic State is a political and military organization that holds a radical, fundamentalist interpretation of Islam and seeks to impose that worldview by force on Muslims and non-Muslims alike. It claims to be the legitimate ruler of all Sunni Muslims worldwide (they regard Shia Muslims as having rejected Islam). They have established military control over large though diminishing parts of Syria and Iraq. ISIS claim they are "merely" practicing Islam fully, following the teachings and example of Muhammad and they seem to be doing that quite accurately. Those who disagree with them are takfir (heretics) to be killed at will. In their Salafist-Wahhabist thinking there is a complete unity of religion and politics.

They emulate Muhammad's methods of punishment for "crimes" against Islam.

The origin and evolution of ISIS is far too complex and convoluted to concern anyone but a CIA expert analyst (if such people exist).

ISIS is attempting to return to the government of the 7th century Rightly Guided Caliphs. A caliphate is a divinely sanctioned religious monarchy. The caliph has the sole religious and political jurisdiction over the entire Muslim ummah (nation) and the authority to declare jihad and to interpret Islamic texts. The last Ottoman caliphate was abolished by the secular Turkish dictator Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1924.

ISIS rejects any form of worship through "saints", shrines and icons and anything related to Sufism. This is seen as a form of idolatry, or shirk. This destruction of any subsequent developments to the Islam of the earliest Muslims - the salaf - of Muhammad's time has been ongoing since the 1820s when Wahhabists took over Arabia. It is similar to the destruction of Catholic statues and church decorations of the Protestant Christians of the 16th century.

ISIS is also determined in the first instance to "restore" the Caliphate to all the lands that were once ruled by a Muslim Caliph - the Middle East, North Africa, the Balkans and Spain and after that the sky's the limit. Conquered peoples will be given the 3 choices: death, conversion or pay jizyah (in a humiliating manner). Copts in Egypt are already under violent threat to once again pay jizyah from their fellow Muslim citizens.

ISIS has issued a Dhimma Contract for Christians to sign. Violations of any article results in death (assuming an ISIS member can enfroce the contract).

The following are the contract's 11 articles:

1. Christians may not build churches, monasteries, or hermitages in the city or in the surrounding areas.
2. They may not show the cross or any of their books in the Muslims' streets or markets, and may not use amplifiers when worshiping or during prayer.
3. They may not make Muslims hear the reciting of their books or the sounds of church bells, which must be rung only inside their churches.
4. They may not carry out any act of aggression against ISIS, such as giving refuge to spies and wanted men. If they come to know of any plot against Muslims, they must report it.
5. They must not perform religious rituals in public.
6. They must respect Muslims and not criticize their religion.
7. Wealthy Christians must pay an annual jizya of four gold dinars; middle-class Christians must pay two gold dinars, and the poor must pay one. Christians must disclose their income, and may split the jizya into two payments.
8. They may not own guns.
9. They may not engage in commercial activity involving pigs or alcohol with Muslims or in Muslim markets, and may not drink alcohol in public.
10. They may maintain their own cemeteries.
11. They must abide by ISIS dress code and commerce guidelines.

ISIS' ongoing Reformation of Islam, understandable theoretically, has the unfortunate practical result of barbarism and terrorism and warfare as this is exactly how Muhammad and the early Muslims practiced their religion.

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• God's Terrorists: The Wahhabi Cult and the Hidden Roots of Modern Jihad - Charles Allan
• The Legacy of Jihad: Islamic Holy War and the Fate Non-Muslims - Andrew G. Bostrom
• The New Threat: The Past, Present, and Future of Islamic Militancy - Jason Burke
• Blood and Rage: A Cultural History of Terrorism - Michael Burleigh
• The New Vichy Syndrome: Why European Intellectuals Surrender to Barbarism - Theodore Dalrymple
• Islam and Terrorism: The Truth About ISIS, the Middle East and Islamic Jihad - Mark A. Gabriel
• Inside Jihad - Tawfik Hamid
• Jihad Academy: The Rise of Islamic State - Nicolas Henin
• Empire of Fear: Inside the Islamic State - Andrew Hosken
• Radical: My Journey From Islamist Extremism to a Democratic Awakening - Maajid Nawaz
• Answering Jihad - Nabeel Qureshi
• The Complete Infidel's Guide to ISIS - Robert Spencer
• Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill - Jessica Stern
• Son of Hamas - Mosab Hassan Yousef