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What is ISIL - ISIS - Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant?
ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant), known as ad-Dawla al-Eslamiyya al-3iraaq w'ash-Shaam or the acronym Daa3esh in Arabic, is an extremist Sunni Islamist organization. It is important to clarify what Islamism is. While Islam is a religion, Islamism is a political ideology whose goal is to bring the religious tenets of Islam into the daily functioning of a government and its laws. Islamism is a modern movement whose roots began contemporaneously with the rise of Salafism in the late 1800s and early 1900s in Egypt. ISIL practices a particularly violent form of Islamism called Jihadism, which not only wishes a particularly repressive version of Islamic Law to be instituted, but believes that violence in defense of the faith is the preferred way to do this. Jihadism, like Islamism, is a political ideology rooted in Islamic religious concepts, but distorted. The distortion here is that there are many ways to advocate on behalf of the faith and the choice to exclusively use violence is a misinterpretation of the doctrine.
ISIL used to have links to al-Qaeda before al-Qaeda condemned them for their barbarity. They are fighting to bring the Sunni majority into power, especially in Sunni majority regions of both Syria and Iraq, and impose a more fundamentalist view on politics. They consider themselves to be fighting the injustices and violence of the current Assad regime and the inequalities of the US-supported Government of Iraq. ISIL is primarily supported and armed by Saudi Arabia, but the US and UK have indirectly given ISIL millions of dollars and equipment since US and UK military vehicles and assets left to the Government of Iraq have fallen into ISIL hands (especially with the fall of Mosul). ISIL controls significant amounts of land in Syria and Iraq and conquered much of its Iraqi territory in June 2014.
What is the relationship between Sunni Islam to ISIL?
ISIL is an Internationalist Sunni Islamist organization, meaning that ISIL sees itself as "the True Implementation" of Sunni Islam in the world. (Even though its reading of Sunni Islam is just one of a multitude of readings of Sunni Islam.) As a result, they feel it proper to determine laws based on Sunni Islamic Jurisprudence. For example, Sunni Islamic Jurisprudence holds that drinking and smoking is haram (forbidden). As a result, ISIL has banned alcohol and cigarettes. Another aspect of Sunni Islamic Jurisprudence is that a Non-Muslim adversary must be asked to capitulate to Islamic States before Muslims can declare war on them. It is for this reason that ISIL sent a letter to the Assyrians demanding that they capitulate to Islam before attacking Mosul and surrounding Ninewah Province (which had an Assyrian majority in certain areas).
Since ISIL considers itself in alignment with Sunni principles, Sunnis are not targeted based on being Sunnis, as opposed to Non-Sunnis who are targeted for death, enslavement, conversion, or dhimmi status. However, ISIL does target any Sunni Muslims for elimination if they disagree with the actions of ISIL or provides an alternate Sunni Islamic interpretation (usually a more lenient one) to the one implemented by ISIL.
What is the relationship between Shiite Islam to ISIL?
ISIL as a fundamentalist Sunni group, ISIL sees the Shiite Muslims as tafkiris or apostates and treats them as the "enemies of the Muslims". ISIL attacks and detains Shiite Muslims caught in its territory. (Thankfully, there have not been many Shiites in the area that ISIL controls.) This position towards Shiites has resulted in the Republic of Iraq, which is majority Shiite, and Iran, which is also majority Shiite and ruled by Shiite clerics, aligning together to target ISIL for attacks and violence. Press TV, Iran's state news media, has responded to ISIL allegations that the Shiites are takfiri by naming ISIL as takfiri. Additionally, the Assad Regime is led by the Alawite minority which were granted "honorary Shiite status" by the Iranian Shiite Clerics. As Assad is also opposed to ISIL, it amplifies the Shiite hatred of ISIL and ISIL's hatred of Shiites.
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What sect of Islam does ISIL follow and promote?
ISIL follows and promotes a stringent interpretation of Sunni Islam, specifically part of the Wahhabi subschool of the Hanbali school.
What does ISIS want?
ISIL has explained exactly what they want. They want to create a Salafist Sunni Islamic theocracy throughout the Middle East ruled by an absolute dictator (the Caliph) and repress all dissent, especially from Non-Muslims and Shiite Muslims.
Does ISIL like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or not?
No. ISIL sees Iran as a whole (regardless of its political or factional differences) as an enemy since it (1) is a Shiite-majority state, and (2) is actively assisting Iraq in resisting ISIL incursions.
Does ISIS have Shia and Christians and Kurds within their ranks as well as their Sunni members?
No. For Shiites and Christians, the answer is unequivocally no. ISIL only accepts Sunni Muslims who agree with their particular Islamist and Jihadist views. As for Kurds, while it is possible to imagine a few Kurds being swayed by ISIL arguments, the majority of Kurds would see joining ISIL to be a betrayal of everything it means to be a Kurd because of ISIL's current wars against both Iraqi Kurdistan and Syrian Kurdistan.As concerns the nonsense claim in the Community Answer about Shiites not being terrorists (just like Sunnis), please see this Related Question: Can Shiite Muslims be terrorists?
What can we do to convince all or almost all living inside ISIL controlled areas to either defect or rise up against ISIL without letting ISIL find out and retaliating in the worst way possible?
Islamic State monitors all communications into and out of the areas under their occupation, so convincing the residents to rise up without Islamic State knowing would simply not be feasible. Second, the Islamic State has confiscated all guns in the area save those held by its fighters, so any uprising would result in mass death. Expecting any sort of revolt from the people is unrealistic. Finally, the Shiite-led government of Iraq is currently supporting Shiite militias which are nearly as bad as Islamic State and strongly Anti-Sunni, making the Sunni Iraqis under Islamic State occupation less-than-excited for the prospect of Iraqi "Liberation".
Why does ISIS want to kill Christians?
ISIS is a fanatic organization. It does not want to kill Christians. It wants to establish a state of its own kind of Islam. ISIS people interpret Islam in their own way. They kill even the Muslims who do not agree to their interpretations. They not only dangerous for the Christians, they are equally dangerous to the Muslims.
Who are the three Muslim groups fighting in Iraq?
It depends on what you mean by "groups".Broadly, the three ethno-religious groups in conflict in Iraq are the Sunni Arabs, Shiite Arabs (the majority), and the Kurds (who are a distinct ethnic group - but most are Sunnis religiously).However, if the word "group" is intended to refer to the actual armies or militant organizations, there are a vast number of different groups fighting in Iraq, not just three. However, the three most prominent (and which all others are allied - to one or another) are:1. Government of Iraq: Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is the leader of the Iraqi Government in Baghdad. His government is the only one of the three which has true recognition internationally and is seen as the legitimate leadership of Iraq. However, within Iraq, al-Maliki and his government are seen as Shiite sectarians who promote the interests of Shiite Arab Iraqis over those of Kurds and, especially, Sunni Arab Iraqis. The feeling of marginalization by Iraq's minorities is growing as al-Maliki has made the additional steps of inviting Iranian military assistance and allowing for the inclusion of Shiite militias as allies. The US is strongly considering assisting the Government of Iraq with airstrikes against ISIL. Kurds are nominally loyal to the Iraqi Government and have not militarily engaged with Iraqi national forces. The Iraqi Army is seen as unwilling to vigorously defend Iraq by both ISIL and the Kurds.2. Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL):ISIL is an extremist Sunni Islamist organization which used to have links to al-Qaeda before al-Qaeda condemned them for their barbarity. They are fighting to bring the Sunni majority into power, especially in Sunni majority regions of both Syria and Iraq, and impose a more fundamentalist view on politics. They consider themselves to be fighting the injustices and violence of the current Assad regime and the inequalities of the US-supported Government of Iraq. ISIL is primarily supported and armed by Saudi Arabia, but the US and UK have indirectly given ISIL millions of dollars and equipment since US and UK military vehicles and assets left to the Government of Iraq have fallen into ISIL hands (especially with the fall of Mosul).3. Iraqi Kurdistan and the Peshmerga (Kurds):The Kurds, a Sunni ethnic minority (as opposed to a religious minority), are primarily aligned with the Government of Iraq, but are overall more concerned with protecting their minority in northern Iraq. Iraqi Kurdistan is the name of their autonomous democratically-elected governing council and the Peshmerga is the name of the militias that fight on behalf of that authority. Peshmerga forces, unlike the Iraqi Army, are seen to be incredibly loyal and ISIL has avoided attacking positions held by the Peshmerga for this reason.
What groups are fighting in the Iraqi Insurgency as of June 2014?
There are a vast number of different groups fighting in Iraq, but the three most prominent (and which all others are allied - to one or another) are:1. Government of Iraq: Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is the leader of the Iraqi Government in Baghdad. His government is the only one of the three which has true recognition internationally and is seen as the legitimate leadership of Iraq. However, within Iraq, al-Maliki and his government are seen as Shiite sectarians who promote the interests of Shiite Arab Iraqis over those of Kurds and, especially, Sunni Arab Iraqis. The feeling of marginalization by Iraq's minorities is growing as al-Maliki has made the additional steps of inviting Iranian military assistance and allowing for the inclusion of Shiite militias as allies. The US is strongly considering assisting the Government of Iraq with airstrikes against ISIL. Kurds are nominally loyal to the Iraqi Government and have not militarily engaged with Iraqi national forces. The Iraqi Army is seen as unwilling to vigorously defend Iraq by both ISIL and the Kurds.2. Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL):ISIL is an extremist Sunni Islamist organization which used to have links to al-Qaeda before al-Qaeda condemned them for their barbarity. They are fighting to bring the Sunni majority into power, especially in Sunni majority regions of both Syria and Iraq, and impose a more fundamentalist view on politics. They consider themselves to be fighting the injustices and violence of the current Assad regime and the inequalities of the US-supported Government of Iraq. ISIL is primarily supported and armed by Saudi Arabia, but the US and UK have indirectly given ISIL millions of dollars and equipment since US and UK military vehicles and assets left to the Government of Iraq have fallen into ISIL hands (especially with the fall of Mosul).3. Iraqi Kurdistan and the Peshmerga (Kurds):The Kurds, a Sunni ethnic minority (as opposed to a religious minority), are primarily aligned with the Government of Iraq, but are overall more concerned with protecting their minority in northern Iraq. Iraqi Kurdistan is the name of their autonomous democratically-elected governing council and the Peshmerga is the name of the militias that fight on behalf of that authority. Peshmerga forces, unlike the Iraqi Army, are seen to be incredibly loyal and ISIL has avoided attacking positions held by the Peshmerga for this reason.
Are all Islamic theocracies today Shi'ite rather than Sunni?
It depends on how you define theocracy. If it requires direct authority by clergy, then yes, the only theocracy today is Iran, which is a Shiite theocracy. However, if the term theocracy refers to any regime where religious clergy have an inordinate influence in shaping political policy, then many Islamic States like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, ISIL, Somalia, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates are all Sunni theocracies.
Are the current wars in Syria and Iraq the continuation of a thousand-plus years of Sunni-Shiite wars?
Answer 1: NoWhile this view gets plenty of attention in the Western media (Bill Maher suggests it quite strongly), it is overly simplistic to say that the Syrian Civil War and the Iraqi Insurgency are simply a continuation of Sunni-Shiite confrontations that have pitted numerous different states and proto-states against one another. There are actually two axes that differentiate the parties in these current conflicts: ethnoreligious identities and mosque-state separation.Ethnoreligious identities: The current Middle East conflicts are primarily characterized by the use of religious beliefs as ethnic identifiers. Both Sunni Arabs and Shiite Arabs speak the same language, eat the same foods, and lived in mixed communities and mixed provinces. However, belief in a certain theological structure was seen as a way to discriminate between membership in both groups. As opposed to a typical religious war (like the Thirty Years Wars), religion was not used in the "dogmatic" or "excommunicatory" sense. This is to say that Sunni Arabs do not oppose Shiite Arabs (or vice versa) BECAUSE the Shiites commemorate the Tenth of Ashura, but use this event to identify who was a "fellow Sunni" or "enemy Shiite". Additionally, in these conflicts, there are Assyrians and Maronites who identify as Christians. There are also Sunni Kurds and religious minority Kurds who typically identify with a Kurdish identity rather than with their co-religionists.As a result of the organization of these ethnoreligious groups, the Middle East conflicts are better analogized with the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s than the Ottoman-Safavid conflicts which did have religious conversions as their goal (especially on the Safavid side).Mosque-State Separation: This is a distinct issue that many commentators in the West do not seem to notice. Various groups have different ideas about whether Secularism or Islamism are the proper mechanism by which to run a state with the latter incorporating more Islamic values and religious authority into governance. Some groups, like the Kurds, favor Secularism, prefering to keep religion completely out of the realm of government edicts. Other groups like ISIL, favor Islamism and hold that all things under their rule should be governed by the strictest readings of Sharia Law. These political philosophical views have served to divide ethnoreligious groups. For example, ISIL is made up of Sunni Arabs, primarily from Iraq and Syria. However, many Iraqi Sunni Arabs (especially former Awakening Council Leaders) would rather put their weight behind the Shiite-led government of Iraq than ISIL because they dissent with the political organization and ISIL's extreme Islamism. (Note that these Sunni leaders simply consider the Shiite-led government the lesser of two evils; they are still quite distrustful of that government.)
Who are the parties involved in the current Syria-Iraq Crisis?
In the current insurgencies you have five different parties all fighting for parcels of land in Syria and Iraq and the conflict bleeds over the border since there are Sunni Arabs and Kurds on both sides of the arbitrarily-drawn borders.1. Government of Syria: (Only in Syria) Bashar al-Assad and the Government of Syria come from the Alawite minority which was historically discriminated against because their religion is a post-Islamic religion (even though Iran has "certified them" to be part of Twelver Shiite Islam). As a result, they do not want to cede power to the Sunni majority who will likely discriminate against them again as they had in the past. In contrast to most ethnic conflicts in the Middle East, many other Syrian minorities such as the Christians and Druze (another post-Islamic Religion) and the Shiite Muslims in Syria have thrown their weight behind Bashar al-Assad and the Alawites, preferring moderate Alawite discrimination to possible Islamic fundamentalism. They fear worse will come under Sunni-dominated rule, especially since while Assad was Secular, his opposition was Islamist and will likely rule harshly over non-Sunni religious groups.Currently the Government of Syria controls most of Syria.2. Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL): (In Syria and Iraq) ISIL is an extremist Sunni Islamist organization which used to have links to al-Qaeda before al-Qaeda condemned them for their barbarity. They are fighting to bring the Sunni majority into power, especially in Sunni majority regions of both Syria and Iraq, and impose a more fundamentalist view on politics. They consider themselves to be fighting the injustices and violence of the current Assad regime and the inequalities of the US-supported Government of Iraq. ISIL is primarily supported and armed by Saudi Arabia, but the US and UK have indirectly given ISIL millions of dollars and equipment since US and UK military vehicles and assets left to the Government of Iraq have fallen into ISIL hands (especially with the fall of Mosul).ISIL controls significant amounts of land in Syria and Iraq and conquered much of its Iraqi territory in June 2014.3. Government of Iraq: Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is the leader of the Iraqi Government in Baghdad. His government is the only one of the three which has true recognition internationally and is seen as the legitimate leadership of Iraq. However, within Iraq, al-Maliki and his government are seen as Shiite sectarians who promote the interests of Shiite Arab Iraqis over those of Kurds and, especially, Sunni Arab Iraqis. The feeling of marginalization by Iraq's minorities is growing as al-Maliki has made the additional steps of inviting Iranian military assistance and allowing for the inclusion of Shiite militias as allies. The US is strongly considering assisting the Government of Iraq with airstrikes against ISIL. Kurds are nominally loyal to the Iraqi Government and have not militarily engaged with Iraqi national forces. The Iraqi Army is seen as unwilling to vigorously defend Iraq by both ISIL and the Kurds.The Government of Iraq controls much of the center and southeast areas of Iraq.4. Kurds and the Peshmerga (Kurds): The Kurds, a Sunni ethnic minority (as opposed to a religious minority), are primarily aligned with the Government of Iraq, but are overall more concerned with protecting their minority in northern Iraq and Syria. Iraqi Kurdistan is the name of their autonomous democratically-elected governing council and the Peshmerga is the name of the militias that fight on behalf of that authority. Peshmerga forces, unlike the Iraqi Army, are seen to be incredibly loyal and ISIL has avoided attacking positions held by the Peshmerga for this reason. Syrian Kurds have also organized as a de facto independent polity. While both groups of Kurds support the idea of Kurdish unity, there have been difficulties uniting all of the Kurds under one banner.Iraqi Kurds control areas in the north of Iraq and Syrian Kurds control areas in the north of Syria.5. Free Syrian Army: (Only in Syria) The Rebels of Syria split between those who were more Islamist in their outlook and joined with ISIL (above) and those who are more liberal in their outlook and are considered to be interested in democracy. The Free Syrian Army is composed of those more liberal rebels, but they are weaker in the overall struggle than both the Syrian Government and ISIL. They are fighting to bring the Sunni majority into power and consider themselves to be fighting the injustices and violence of the current Assad regime and the atrocities of his father, including the Hama Massacre of 1982 which may have claimed as many as 40,000 civilian lives. Considering that Sunnis are the majority of the country, they do not understand why the minority Alawites and their Druze, Christian, and Shiite allies should dictate policy.The Free Syrian Army controls limited areas in Syria, mostly near Alexandretta.
What is the War Against Islamic State?
Parties Involved In the current insurgencies you have five different parties all fighting for parcels of land in Syria and Iraq and the conflict bleeds over the border since there are Sunni Arabs and Kurds on both sides of the arbitrarily-drawn borders.1. Government of Syria: (Only in Syria) Bashar al-Assad and the Government of Syria come from the Alawite minority which was historically discriminated against because their religion is a post-Islamic religion (even though Iran has "certified them" to be part of Twelver Shiite Islam). As a result, they do not want to cede power to the Sunni majority who will likely discriminate against them again as they had in the past. In contrast to most ethnic conflicts in the Middle East, many other Syrian minorities such as the Christians and Druze (another post-Islamic Religion) and the Shiite Muslims in Syria have thrown their weight behind Bashar al-Assad and the Alawites, preferring moderate Alawite discrimination to possible Islamic fundamentalism. They fear worse will come under Sunni-dominated rule, especially since while Assad was Secular, his opposition was Islamist and will likely rule harshly over non-Sunni religious groups.Currently the Government of Syria controls most of western Syria.2. Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL): (In Syria and Iraq) ISIL is an extremist Sunni Islamist organization which used to have links to al-Qaeda before al-Qaeda condemned them for their barbarity. They are fighting to bring the Sunni majority into power, especially in Sunni majority regions of both Syria and Iraq, and impose a more fundamentalist view on politics. They consider themselves to be fighting the injustices and violence of the current Assad regime and the inequalities of the US-supported Government of Iraq. ISIL is primarily supported and armed by Saudi Arabia, but the US and UK have indirectly given ISIL millions of dollars and equipment since US and UK military vehicles and assets left to the Government of Iraq have fallen into ISIL hands (especially with the fall of Mosul).ISIL controls significant amounts of land in Syria and Iraq and conquered much of its Iraqi territory in June 2014.3. Government of Iraq: Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is the leader of the Iraqi Government in Baghdad. His government is the only one of the three which has true recognition internationally and is seen as the legitimate leadership of Iraq. However, within Iraq, al-Maliki and his government are seen as Shiite sectarians who promote the interests of Shiite Arab Iraqis over those of Kurds and, especially, Sunni Arab Iraqis. The feeling of marginalization by Iraq's minorities is growing as al-Maliki has made the additional steps of inviting Iranian military assistance and allowing for the inclusion of Shiite militias as allies. The US is strongly considering assisting the Government of Iraq with airstrikes against ISIL. Kurds are nominally loyal to the Iraqi Government and have not militarily engaged with Iraqi national forces. The Iraqi Army is seen as unwilling to vigorously defend Iraq by both ISIL and the Kurds.The Government of Iraq controls much of the center and southeast areas of Iraq.4. Kurds and the Peshmerga (Kurds): The Kurds, a Sunni ethnic minority (as opposed to a religious minority), are primarily aligned with the Government of Iraq, but are overall more concerned with protecting their minority in northern Iraq and Syria. Iraqi Kurdistan is the name of their autonomous democratically-elected governing council and the Peshmerga is the name of the militias that fight on behalf of that authority. Peshmerga forces, unlike the Iraqi Army, are seen to be incredibly loyal and ISIL has avoided attacking positions held by the Peshmerga for this reason. Syrian Kurds have also organized as a de facto independent polity. While both groups of Kurds support the idea of Kurdish unity, there have been difficulties uniting all of the Kurds under one banner.Iraqi Kurds control areas in northern Iraq and Syrian Kurds control areas in northern Syria.5. Free Syrian Army: (Only in Syria) The Rebels of Syria split between those who were more Islamist in their outlook and joined with ISIL (above) and those who are more liberal in their outlook and are considered to be interested in democracy. The Free Syrian Army is composed of those more liberal rebels, but they are weaker in the overall struggle than both the Syrian Government and ISIL. They are fighting to bring the Sunni majority into power and consider themselves to be fighting the injustices and violence of the current Assad regime and the atrocities of his father, including the Hama Massacre of 1982 which may have claimed as many as 40,000 civilian lives. Considering that Sunnis are the majority of the country, they do not understand why the minority Alawites and their Druze, Christian, and Shiite allies should dictate policy.The Free Syrian Army controls limited areas in Syria.Foreign Supporters Already, numerous countries have pledged their armies or funds to support the various groups. Iran, and its paramilitary proxy Hezbollah, have backed both the Iraqi and Syrian Governments since they are Shiite-aligned. Saudi Arabia has thrown its weight behind ISIL since both advocate for Sunni Fundamentalism. Turkey and some Western countries have provided some minimal support to the Free Syrian Army.
