8 Things You Must Know About ISIS
With so much information swirling around the media about ISIS, it's vitally important to have an informed understanding of what drives the bloodlust of the world's most violent and quickly growing terrorist group.
What started out as a relatively obscure faction of al-Qaeda, ISIS has quickly become a ruthlessly brutal terrorist movement gaining ground and recruiting fighters at disturbingly fast speeds. With their cold-blooded mass executions plaguing Western headlines, little has been published to address the question "why?". With recent attacks on Western soil, It's vitally important to understand the gravity and seriousness that drives the worst terrorist group known to man, which could perhaps offer powerful insight into how they can be stopped.
Who is ISIS?
ISIS is a religious group consisting of Muslim extremists involved in the Sunni Islamic Movement. This terrorist group is currently being referred to by a variety of names but all thrive under the same agenda and belief system: Islamic State (IS), Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL). It is speculated that the birth of ISIS began around 2006 when a group of al-Qaeda members developed ideological differences in their overall strategy and doctrine, particularly relevant to the violent enforcement of Sharia Law. New leadership formed a split amongst the group propagating Sharia Law and thus the beginnings of the Islamic State. An important fact about ISIS is that they demand to be known as a State, and they currently hold a huge territory in Syria and a good portion of Iraq—declaring it a "caliphate" in June of 2014 after seizing control over Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq. ISIS now rules an area larger than the United Kingdom (comparatively in mass size). A caliphate is an Islamic state where Sharia Law is strictly enforced and led by a single supreme religious and political leader called a caliph (see next page). Sharia Law is based on certain teachings of the Qur'an and requires all people under the jurisdiction to abide by these laws which include: flogging, stoning, hanging, beheading, crucifixion, amputation, and other types of violent punishments.
Who leads ISIS?
Following the declaration of the caliphate, followers named Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as it's "caliph". It is believed that Baghdadi holds a doctorate in Islamic studies from a university in Baghdad and is an experienced Iraqi fighter, who took control when the original leader of ISIS, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed in a US airstrike. Having been arrested for street thuggery, he spent 4 years in U.S. detention camp but was released in 2009 as he was believed to be a low threat. With an original, primary focus on gaining and securing regional land to form the caliphate, al-Baghdadi is more recently reportedly calling on ISIS followers to carry out attacks at home on Western soil, as demonstrated by the recent terror attack in Paris, France at Charlie Hebdo and a terrorist attempt at an anti-Muslim event in Garland, TX.
What does ISIS Believe?
The belief system of ISIS is fundamentally and strictly Islamic. The Atlantic journalist Graeme Wood, whom spent countless hours interviewing ISIS supporters, testifies,"The reality is that the Islamic State is Islamic. Very Islamic." It is understood that every strategy, decision and law enforced adheres strictly to "the Prophetic methodology" as detailed by Muhammed in the Qur'an. The ideology and atrocities of ISIS (in particular to Sharia Law) have led to them finding opposition from various Islamic leaders and groups, including terrorist group al-Qaeda. Despite ISIS having roots with al-Qaeda, al-Qaeda has abandoned links to ISIS criticizing their disregard for civilian life, thus overshadowing one of the most notorious terrorist groups in history, making them a shared enemy of the United States.
Where does ISIS get money?
ISIS is shockingly rich. So rich, that it is estimated that they receive upwards of 3 million dollars a day in revenue, with a net worth of 2 billion dollars, making them one of the richest terrorist groups in history. They are funded through means of extortion racket, wealthy donors, human trafficking, kidnapping, looting, taxes, oil smuggling and robbery.
What does ISIS want?
A fundamental goal of ISIS is to eradicate and persecute Christians and other religious groups, with whichever cold-blooded means necessary. This includes genocide towards the following: Christians, Shia Muslims, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Syriac and Armenian Christians, Yazidis, Druze, Shabaks, Mandeans and any people who disobey Sharia law. As seen in recent headlines, innocent civilians are being forced from their homes, fleeing for their lives. Women are enslaved, men are beheaded and children are reported massacred as well. As a "reward" for their work, ISIS fighters receive captured women as young as 13 to rape. In the first 8 months of 2014, it is believed that 10,000 innocent civilians have died from beheadings, crucifixions, gunfire, dehydration, starvation, etc.
How does ISIS recruit followers?
The internet and social media have quickly become one of ISIS's greatest tools and allies. Their armies grow and flourish through social media and online messages. ISIS fighters have tripled from 10,000 to over 31,000 in just a few months. It is estimated that well over 1000 westerners have joined and are welcomed to the group due to their value in being able to use their passports to carry out attacks on Western soil. Hollywood-esque style execution videos are produced and published online, with each video becoming more gripping and grotesque than the previous — attracting disturbed and impressionable followers from the West.
Who else supports ISIS?
ISIS wives are becoming a greater threat than originally anticipated. They are responsible for operations and communications with ISIS fighters, especially because they believe U.S. intelligence pays less attention to them. Another unassuming group has become young Sunni men. With a failing economy, no job prospects and facing poverty, joining the ISIS army is an attractive and easy decision for these young, impressionable and desperate men.
What does ISIS want to happen?
A seemingly small detail that goes largely undiscussed is that ISIS believes that they are in the battle for end times. ISIS is a doomsday-driven movement, consisting of the prophetic belief that they are the central focus of a foreign invasion of infidels to end the world as we know it. These end-times prophesies behold a strategy outlining their path to Judgement Day, that could prove valuable to the West in navigating their behavior. According to The Atlantic journalist Graeme Wood, who spent a considerable amount of time with ISIS defenders, describes the belief in detail, "During the last years of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, the Islamic State's immediate founding fathers, by contrast (to al-Qaeda leadership), saw signs of the end times everywhere….The Islamic State has attached great importance to the Syrian city of Dabiq, near Aleppo. It named its propaganda magazine after the town, and celebrated madly when (at great cost) it conquered Dabiq's strategically unimportant plains. It is here, the Prophet reportedly said, that the armies of Rome will set up their camp. The armies of Islam will meet them, and Dabiq will be Rome's Waterloo or its Antietam. An anti-Messiah, known in Muslim apocalyptic literature as Dajjal, will come from the Khorasan region of eastern Iran and kill a vast number of the caliphate's fighters, until just 5,000 remain, cornered in Jerusalem. Just as Dajjal prepares to finish them off, Jesus—the second-most-revered prophet in Islam—will return to Earth, spear Dajjal, and lead the Muslims to victory."
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