MEMRI July 25, 2016 Inquiry & Analysis Series Report No.1261
Following ISIS Attacks, Arab Journalists Call To Acknowledge Existence Of
Muslim Extremism; Reexamine Religious Texts
By: D. Hazan*
http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/9345.htm

Introduction

The large number of terrorist attacks carried out by ISIS in Western
countries over the past year – including the July 14 truck attack in Nice,
France (84 dead, some 100 wounded), the June 12 shooting at a nightclub in
Orlando, Florida (49 dead, over 50 wounded), the March 22, 2016 combined
attacks in Brussels, Belgium (32 dead, over 300 wounded), and the combined
attacks in Paris, France in November 2015 (129 dead, 350 wounded) – has
sparked a wave of harsh criticism in the Arab and Islamic world, both due to
the fear of Western responses and the increase of Islamophobia, and due to
the torrent of youths who flock to the extremist organization.

Alongside the many articles that stressed that terrorist attackers do not
represent Islam and operate out of outside interests, there have been an
increasing number of articles in the Arab media calling to acknowledge that
Islam, and the obsolete interpretations of it that are still applied today,
are indeed related to the wave of global terrorism. Writers called on
Muslims to be honest and admit the existence of Muslim religious extremism
instead of blaming others, and to uproot it. The writers argued that the
source of ISIS's extremist ideology is the Muslim social and cultural
structure and that Muslims must therefore declare a war on this "cultural
affliction" in their midst. According to them, this war requires fundamental
reforms in Islamic interpretations alongside reforms in cultural,
governmental and education patterns in Arab countries, which, they say,
cause many Muslims to harbor covert sympathy for ISIS.

Many writers argued that most of ISIS's religious practices are drawn from
the most important Islamic law books, while stressing that these laws do not
reflect explicit Koranic dictates, but rather the opinion of jurisprudents
that lived in a certain reality that is no longer relevant today. Therefore,
they explained that in order to rescue the universal values of Islam from
the culture of ignorance, backwardness, and violence, the Islamic
jurisprudents of today must critically and rationally review the history of
Islam and its religious texts, and adapt Islamic interpretations and laws to
the spirit of the times, while taking into account the current circumstances
and the greater good. In their opinion, some Islamic dictates should even be
cancelled altogether to conform with universal progressive values such as
liberties and human rights.

The writers harshly criticized the passive response of Muslims to ISIS
crimes. According to them, clerics make do with condemning the crimes of
terrorist organizations, and some even take part in spreading extremist
ideologies themselves. They argued that "ideology can only be combatted with
ideology" and that no one other than clerics can "defeat and eliminate
terrorism based on uncompromising ideology." Therefore, the clerics must
combat extremist religious discourse that captures the hearts of many
youths, and systematically refute its ideas and rulings as part of
ideological, practical, and informational programs. In this context, some of
the writers mentioned the silence of the Muslim Brotherhood, which they said
begat these extremist takfiri organizations and now refrains from coming out
against them and their ideology.

The writers also pointed to the confusion afflicting the common Muslims
today, whether due to the refusal of Islamic religious institution to accuse
ISIS and its ilk of apostasy, or whether because matters that were once
uncontroversial in Islam – such as offensive jihad and slavery for prisoners
of war – are currently forbidden according to modern world norms.

The writers stated that changing the religious discourse was a vital and
urgent step, since the ongoing political and cultural situation in the Arab
and Muslim world is "a wonderful recipe for extremism and backwardness," and
that preserving and sanctifying ancient Islamic heritage would birth groups
even more extreme than ISIS and lead Muslims to their doom.

The following are excerpts from these articles:


Aftermath of Paris shooting (Image: Alarabiya.net, November 13, 2016)

Palestinian Writer: We Must Admit That Terrorism Is Tied To Islam And That
Muslim Education Inculcates Implicit Support For ISIS

In a July 17, 2016 article in the London daily Al-Hayat following the July
14 truck attack in Nice, France, Khaled Al-Hroub, a Palestinian writer and
academic living in Britain, called on Muslims to admit that terrorism
perpetrated by Muslims is indeed tied to Islam, and that education in their
schools and mosques establishes implicit support for ISIS, and then to work
to uproot this phenomenon, as it does them great harm: "The terrorism in
Nice deals another blow to our collective consciousness... [This is]
terrorism that attributes itself to the religion [of Islam] and savagely and
barbarically strikes everywhere [in the world]... Our repeated claims that
the perpetrators of [this] terrorism are nothing but 'a gang' that does not
represent us are no longer effective, because why is it that the 'gangs' of
others do not do what our gangs do? And what culture, education, and
atmosphere gave rise to our gangs and motivated them to perpetrate
indescribably horrible crimes?...

"Why can't our resistance to oppression be respectable, honest, and
chivalrous, rather than contemptable and immoral?... What is the source of
this contemptable resistance that currently controls our arenas,
[resistance] that targets only civilians and behaves in a cowardly manner
when confronted face-to-face with the enemy? We must deal with reality... as
it is, without flinching... The moral superiority of a just cause is the
main source of its strength and the reason for its survival and for people
to flock to it... Experience has proven the failure of barbarism and
terrorism...

"Bin Laden and Al-Zawahiri's madness in blowing up the World Trade Center in
New York did not defeat the U.S.; on the contrary – it delivered Afghanistan
and Iraq as compensation. The resistance of [Abu Mus'ab] Al-Zarqawi and his
group in Iraq... using terrorism, led to many disasters including:
establishing the American presence [in Iraq] and extending it; releasing the
sectarian demon in Iraq and exporting it; dividing and dismantling Iraq; and
ingraining terrorism in the heart of the Arab world... The strategy of
suicide operations that Hamas used for years gave Israel the justification
to construct the separation fence, increased global sympathy for [Israel]
and caused countless disasters to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the
West Bank...

"Is terrorism attributed to religion related to the religion itself? The
answer is yes, because the religion – any religion – is nothing but [a sum
of all] explanations and interpretations of sacred texts by clerics...
Religious interpretations that can easily be understood to mean that
martyrdom means a cheap suicide [inside] a café or club frequented by
'infidels' are very common in our religious, educational, and mosque
culture, and must be dealt with... What view [can] we develop regarding
non-Muslims if every week we hear thousands of preachers call on Allah to
'not leave a trace of them'? Every day, our sons read texts and books in
schools that establish nothing but a patronizing and disrespectful view
regarding non-Muslims...

"We must first of all admit that education in [our] schools and mosques lays
the foundations for 'implicit ISISism'... [This implicit ISISism] is the
largest and most important source feeding the [explicit] barbaric ISISism
that has managed to acquire weapons and implement large parts of the
implicit ISISism that [previously] was not given a chance to express itself.
The ISIS phenomenon [that emerged] here over the past decades is not
restricted to a certain town, society or sect, but rather cuts across
countries, curricula and sects, and burns among the Shi'ites just as it
burns among the Sunnis, and its proponents compete in destroying our
societies.

"The future of this region and of its peoples and societies depends on
uprooting the 'implicit ISISism.' It takes great courage to admit its
existence and work to deal with it strategically. [This must be done]
patiently, for it is no easy task to fix the damage it has caused with a
short-term policy."[1]

Moroccan Writer: Arab World Must Change The Religious Discourse, Deal With
Islamic Extremism

Sa'id Nasheed, a Moroccan writer and intellectual, also responded to the
Nice attack with an article in the London-based daily Al-Arab calling on
Arabs and Muslims to reform their religious discourse in order to deal with
extremist takfiri thought in their midst, and to undermine it in a
methodical and critical way – lest the world lose its patience with all
Muslims: "The truck that ran over... dozens of French people as they
celebrated their national holiday in Nice in Southeast France, it does not
matter where it came from or what route it took. It doesn't matter whether
the truck was laden with weapons or explosives, since we know that the
[real] explosives were in the mind of the driver. We are likely facing a new
strategy of global jihad that aims to kill as many people as possible, by
all possible means. This has made the security task even harder and more
complex, and so the important question is: Where did all these mines
scattered in the brains [of terrorists] come from, and how did they end up
in the truck driver's head?...

"The basic problem of the Islamic world is the lack of sufficient courage to
pose the most important and relevant question: From where do we draw this
ability to be resentful and filled with hate, to disregard human life and to
permit the shedding of blood? We lack sufficient courage [to answer this
question]; in fact, we seem to lack even minimal self-integrity when we
insist on ridiculously blaming others.

"We must understand that the ideas of takfiri [jihad], which have sparked
civil wars and schism in most Arab and Islamic countries... currently
threaten many Western capitals and place all of us [Muslims] in the
defendant's seat. What have we done to methodically and critically counter
these charged views that spread like a plague from mind to mind?...
Intellectuals, media personalities, and politicians of other faiths combat
their own religious extremism. What [do we do] about our [religious]
extremism?

"Terrorism is not embodied by a truck and nothing else – it is first and
foremost an idea and a concept. Therefore, we cannot eliminate extremist
thought without reforming the religious discourse – a reform Muslims
themselves must enact... without beating around the bush. This means that
the ball is in our court and that the world will not wait on us forever,
especially not now, when the threat has spread everywhere. We are bound to
be strongly pressured on this front. Instead of resisting the pressure,
which would spark the fires of extremism, wisdom requires us to not avoid
[our] obligation."[2]

Palestinian Writer: Every Muslim Anywhere May Have Some Measure Of Sympathy
For ISIS; We Must Make Islam Compatible With Universal Values

Following the attack at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida in June
2016, Ihlam Akram, a Palestinian writer and human rights activist living in
the U.K., published an article in the liberal Saudi website Elaph calling on
Muslims to conduct a comprehensive review and research of Islam in order to
enact reforms and make it compatible with 21st century universal values. She
wrote: "The last conversation between [Orlando attacker Omar Mateen] and the
U.S. [police] emergency dispatcher, in which he swore fealty to [ISIS], is
just another proof that any Muslim anywhere might harbor some sympathy [for
ISIS] in his heart, even [Muslims] thousands of miles away. This reflects a
failure by Western education systems to impart humanitarian values to its
Muslim [pupils], including those born in the West...

"All worlds' armies, as modern and sophisticated as they may be, cannot
defeat and eliminate terrorism originating in uncompromising ideology. This
[task] must be carried out first of all by the bodies that presume to be
[Islamic] religious institutions. Yes, we must rewrite and reinterpret
Islamic history and amend the religion in accordance with universal
values... This change is not the responsibility of Western countries, but
rather our own [responsibility as Muslims], both in the West and in the Arab
region. This change cannot begin without enacting fundamental reforms in the
Arab region, as part of which all [Arab] regimes must relinquish their
clandestine patronage over religious institutions and enact reforms in the
legal and educational systems in order to substantially improve [Arab and
Muslim] society so it conforms with the 21st century and plays an active
role in the world. As for Western countries, [like the one] in which I am a
citizen – they must reexamine their domestic policies regarding their new
citizens and completely abolish religious schools belonging to all faiths,
and also reconsider their foreign policies and ties with Islamic countries,
for better or worse...

"The refusal of religious institutions to accuse the false [Islamic] State
of apostasy increases the confusion of all Muslims anywhere. It may also
prove that there is no such thing as extreme religious ideology versus
moderate ideology, but that there is some flaw [in Islam] and that the time
has come to bring it all under intense scrutiny for the purpose of
reform."[3]

Egyptian Writer: Culture Of Arab Societies Produces Violent Islam Whose
Followers Murder Anyone Who Disagrees With Them

Egyptian writer and animation screenwriter Amr Hosny published an article in
the Egyptian daily Al-Tahrir accusing Arab and Muslim society of being
oversensitive regarding the honor of Islam, leading to them being violent
and murderous towards others: "Every time an extremist Muslims commits a
horrifying crime against humanity, some people come out and shriek that he
has nothing to do with Islam, while ignoring the fact that views and
ideologies do not exist as abstract entities, but rather take shape in the
minds and behavior of those who believe in them in accordance with the
surrounding culture that defines the nature of their relations with the
other. The culture of our Islamic societies in this generation, particularly
Arab societies, produces a violent Islam whose believers simply murder
anyone who disagrees with them under the pretext of being offended. This,
while they [the Muslims] never consider anyone else's feelings but their
own...

"Omar Mateen, the young American Muslim of Afghan origin who massacred 50
homosexuals, was offended because he saw two men kissing, but was not
[offended] by [the act of] murdering 50 people. After all these crimes,
members of other cultures more readily accept extremism on behalf of their
governments and people against Muslims [in general] and Arabs in particular,
since [in their eyes] they are [all] potential terrorists who must be
uprooted from their societies.

"We must recognize the existence of a flaw in the Islamic culture –
particularly the Arab [Islamic culture] – that beats in the heart of the
Muslim... and causes him to become convinced that the other deserves to be
killed if he offends [the Muslims'] religious sensibilities..."[4]

Jordanian Writer: We Must Urgently Reexamine Islamic Religious Texts;
Clerics Not Fulfilling This Duty

In an article in the London daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, Jordanian researcher
and pundit Muhammad Barhouma called to enact urgent and radical religious
reforms in the Arab and Islamic world that fit the times and revoke the
legitimacy of violence and killing in the name of Allah. According to him,
Muslim clerics are not fulfilling their duty on this front: "Though we
appreciate the condemnations [of the November 2015 Paris attacks] by the
Council of Senior Scholars [in Saudi Arabia] and Al-Azhar [in Egypt], true
religious reform in the Arab and Muslim world still hasn't happened, because
one of the [necessary] pillars for it are the clerics, the vast majority of
whom do not fulfill their duty when it comes to reform. [Apparently] they
are not yet convinced that the religious texts we possess, as well as the
interpretations and explanations of these religious texts, require urgent
reexamination, criticism, dismantling, additions, omissions, and development
so that they match the spirit of the times and human progress; that is, the
values of liberty, human rights and respect for the principle of equality
among all people and of strengthening trust among them. The policy currently
undertaken [in the Arab and Muslim world] is based on tyranny and
corruption. In our current culture, philosophy, art, and morality wither
away, and clerics avoid the realization that there is a need to reexamine
religious texts, remove vagueness from them, and revoke the legitimacy for
violence that they contain, as they constitute a wonderful prescription for
extremism and backwardness. Dealing with this will gradually increase the
progressive content of the religion, and provide meaning that does not
marginalize life, development, and human rights...

"This call is addressed not just to the Arab and Muslim world, but also to
[Islamic] institutions in the West, since we can no longer excuse extremism
and terrorism by citing the problems of immigration and Muslim integration
into Western societies, feelings of isolation, and the younger generations'
search for an identity there. One of the first stages of the solution lies
in religious reform that revokes the religious legitimacy of interpretations
of religious texts permitting 'killing in the name of God.'"[5]

Senior Saudi Journalist: Muslim Clerics Should Completely Disprove Takfiri
Jihadi Ideological Arguments

Qinan Al-Ghamdi, a senior Saudi journalist and former editor of the
government daily Al-Watan, penned an article arguing that condemning
terrorism was not enough, and the situation required critically reading the
texts of takfiri jihadi ideology and systematically disproving them: "Are
condemnations and repudiations enough to forever rid ourselves of terrorism
on both the ideological and the practical levels? I believe they are
absolutely not enough... We can, for example, order the Shura Council [the
Saudi parliament] to reexamine and debate the law to combat racism,
sectarianism, takfir, incitement and suborning crime, which it opposed [in
the past], since this can have a broader and deeper impact than [mere]
condemnation and repudiation, and it would be best for the present and
future of our country that this be done as soon as possible.

"As for the other elements and Islamic institutions, chiefly the Council of
Senior Scholars... I wish they would [accompany their] repeated
condemnations following every terrorist attack with practical and
informational ideological programs in order to erode the ideology of
terrorism that Al-Qaeda relied on and now ISIS is relying on. [These groups]
have seduced sons of the homeland, led them astray, and recruited them using
takfiri sectarian ideologues and inciters who are members of a stream that
[originally] branched out from the Muslim Brotherhood organization...

"It is the duty of the Council of Senior Scholars, and specifically the
preachers at the Ka'ba Mosque in Mecca and the Prophet's Mosque in Medina,
to review this entire [takfiri jihadi] ideology, critically read its texts,
and respond to them. These are not Koranic texts but rather various
interpretations and fatwas that terror theoreticians and prominent figures
have exploited for their earthly goals, turning our youth into kindling for
their fires in the heart of our homeland and elsewhere... This is the only
way to dry out the swamps of terrorism. As for the mosquitos already bred by
the swamps, the security personnel and loyal sons of the homeland are
clearly committed to eliminating them, but this must be accompanied by a law
that defines sectarianism, racism, takfir, and incitement as crimes, and
with [efforts to] dry out all the ideological swamps – otherwise it will all
be pointless, as incitement will continue and the ideological swamps will
breed more mosquitos, thus keeping the homeland trapped in the cycle of
terrorism."[6]

Saudi Journalist In Series Of Articles: Actions Of Al-Qaeda, ISIS Originate
In Past Islamic Religious Texts And Interpretations; We Must Issue Fatwas In
Line With The Times

Writing in the Saudi daily Al-Jazirah, Saudi journalist Muhammad Aal
Al-Sheikh argued that ISIS faithfully represents the texts from Islamic
heritage, which reflect a reality that is no longer relevant today, and that
there was therefore a need to update Muslim law to fit the times: "Today, it
is more urgent than ever to renew the [Islamic] religious discourse in form,
content, and goals... since Muslims have become confused, as many issues
that were once considered uncontroversial principles are now banned in
accordance to the norms set by the modern world, such as slavery for
prisoners of war, offensive jihad, and so on. ISIS and its actions, for
example, did not fall from the sky and are not new; on the contrary, they
draw most of their religious laws from the most important religious texts
and from interpretations by religious scholars regarding those texts and
their practical implementation... How can we operate according to the words,
rulings, and attitudes of [past] jurisprudents [on matters not explicitly
mentioned in the Koran] who did not experience our reality...? This is our
fundamental problem, which initially birthed Al-Qaeda and later ISIS. These
two groups are the best examples of what I am saying. We cannot dismiss
their actions by saying that they 'do not represent Islam' when most of
their actions originate in books from our past heritage, [books] that dealt
with matters of the day in accordance with the conditions and norms of that
period, which are different from the conditions and norms of our own period.
Therefore, in order to deal with the current discourse, there is no choice
but to issue fatwas that match our time and not ancient periods...

"Those who examine the history of Islam will find that many issues in
religious texts, and rulings regarding them, were meant to deal with
problems that did not exist during the time of the Prophet... [In the same
manner,] we must generate a modern religious discourse that matches new
developments and [deals with] earthly problems, otherwise the entire world,
both Muslim and non-Muslim, should expect ISIS, or even newer takfiri
groups, to [continue] leveling charges of apostasy against anyone who
commits even the most minor infractions and call to kill them."[7]

Sanctifying Old Islamic Heritage Will Breed Groups More Extreme Than ISIS,
Lead Muslims To Doom

Aal Al-Sheikh made similar remarks in articles following the November 2015
Paris attacks, warning that cleaving to violent Muslim heritage would be
disastrous for Muslims: "We must not let conspiracy [theories] make us
forget that the heritage passed down to us – specifically regarding
offensive jihad, slavery, and capturing prisoners, for example – are not in
line with the times, and that the insistence on cleaving to it due to its
[supposed] status as a sacred heritage that must remain unharmed will lead
us Muslims and Arabs to doom – literally, and not metaphorically... Just as
Al-Qaeda begat ISIS, so will ISIS and its suicide culture beget even more
cruel, barbaric, and dangerous [groups]..."[8]

Muslims Should Learn From The West, Which Rescued Itself From Medieval
Culture And Became Enlightened

In another article, Aal Al-Sheikh called on Muslims to stop making excuses
for their heritage and deal with it critically and rationally, just as
Western societies had done, or else they would continue to be "invading
barbarians and murderers." He wrote: "Those who read the history of today's
leading Western societies will see that the reason they emerged from
medieval culture and entered into the age of enlightenment, which led them
to cultural superiority in all scientific and theoretic fields, is that they
dealt with their heritage in a critical, rational, and substantive way. They
legislated rational laws enabling the principles of pluralism and diverse
opinions without making them absolute and without reservations... They led
their people to view rationality and scientific standards as crucial factors
in their daily considerations. If, instead of dealing [with their heritage],
they would have made excuses for their culture and used them to explain
their situation and place blame for it on the culturally-superior other, as
some of our intellectuals do today; and if they had [adopted] conspiracy
[theories], as some other intellectuals do, they [too] would have remained
invading barbarians and murderers...

"Our mental problem... is that we read our history, specifically its
glorious parts, in an unscientific manner, and view our own period using the
rationale of yesteryear while refusing to read it according to today's
rationale and using current critical tools. This is what has eventually
caused us to fall into the trap of this terrible disaster that currently
afflicts us, which is the terrorism whose best representatives are ISIS and
its ilk, [organizations] that use history, statements made by [ancient]
jurisprudents, and certain [historical] events as evidence [that their way
is correct], and take things out of context, circumstance, and time period,
and superimpose them on our era, believing that these historic testimonies
are proof enough that their actions are religiously proper."[9]

Caliph ‘Omar Ibn Al-Khattab Also Adapted His Rulings To The Times And To The
Benefit Of All Muslims

Aal Al-Sheikh also penned an article condemning clerics for not disproving
ISIS's religious ideology, as early Islamic generations did regarding the
Kharijites[10] and thereby eliminated them: "Why don't our clerics come out
against [ISIS], disprove the religious justifications they use to establish
[their claims], and respond to them using evidence and explanations, thus
saving the masses from them and their damage? Ideology can only be combatted
with ideology. Early Islamic generations succeed in eliminating the
Kharijites, for example, and other wayward groups that caused suffering to
Islam, only after they confronted their clerics, and read, addressed and
disproved their ideas and writings, causing them first to wither and
eventually to disappear...

"To date we have yet to deal with ISIS's ideology in a comprehensive, brave
and serious manner. We have not disproved its evidence or addressed what it
says in a substantive manner, based on proof and while [stressing] that
statements made by clerics in the near or distant past do not necessarily
apply to our period, its circumstances, its upheavals and its disasters. By
the way, this was one of the most important attitudes utilized by [Caliph]
Omar ibn Al-Khattab [ruled 634-644] in his religious rulings on worldly
matters. This supreme genius caliph excelled in adapting the considerations
in his rulings to the circumstances and in seeking the greater good of the
Muslim public in all matters. Thus, for example, he suspended the Koranic
punishment for theft [having one's hand cut off] during the Year of
Al-Ramada (a period of famine during his rule). He was also the one who
stopped giving [alms money] to people whose hearts had be brought closer [to
Islam][11] because he believed that this money [had been given them] due to
political considerations during the time of the revelation [of the Koran],
but that in his own time, when the [Islamic] state was already strong, it
was no longer justified to continue paying money to this group of Muslims.
Additionally, he was the one who banned marriage to Christian or Jewish
women [at a certain period], for a social reasons and in pursuit of the
greater good, as he saw it.

"Why, therefore, can't we see his way as a custom and a path for us [to
follow]?... If we follow texts [literally] and heed the words of and rulings
of [past] clerics... and their rulings on matters that do not have explicit
laws, while taking things out of their historical context and ignoring the
requirements of the public interest in our current time and not their own,
then we must not condemn the members of ISIS for taking the [same] path in
their own religious conduct..."[12]


Arabs have their sights set on "the 21st century" but run in the opposite
direction (Al-Rai, Jordan, December 10, 2015)

Moroccan Journalist: We Must Rescue Religious Values From The Culture Of
Ignorance, Backwardness, And Violence

Taoufik Bouachrine, a Moroccan journalist and editor of the online daily
Alyaoum24.com, penned a scathing article following the November 2015 Paris
attacks. He called on Muslims to adapt Islamic heritage to modern times, and
argued that one of the three factors leading to the birth of ISIS and its
ilk is the lack of religious reform in the Islamic world for over a century.
According to him: "From the days of Jama Al-Din Al-Afghani[13] and to this
day, Muslims have not seen a new plan to rescue the values of the global
Islamic faith from the culture of ignorance, backwardness, and violence – [a
culture that has] surrounded [the Muslims] since they absconded from the
throne of modern culture centuries ago and went from producing values of
progress to consuming them. We Muslims have yet to discover the formula for
adapting the religious lifestyle to the values of the modern era, and we do
not steer ourselves towards a historic reconciliation between Islamic
heritage and modern democracy. The narrow understanding of texts and violent
interpretation of the religion, as well as the political use of the Koran
and the exploitation of the Sunnah of the Prophet have [all] become
ingrained in the structure of fundamentalist organizations. And because the
political and economic climate in the Arab world is rife with tyranny,
poverty, dearth, and ignorance, ISIS and Al-Qaeda before it... found
gunpowder and ammo for their guns and canon."[14]

Palestinian Writer: No Justification For Clerics' Silence In Light Of ISIS
Crimes And Their Refusal To Declare ISIS Non-Muslim

Muhammad Yaghi, a columnist for the Palestinian Authority daily Al-Ayyam,
condemned the silence of Muslim clerics and urged them to wage ideological
war against extremist thought by refuting the foundations on which it is
based: "We must search for the real reasons for extremism, and not suffice
with repeating the refrain that the West is responsible [for it], because
this alone cannot explain the phenomenon... Some attribute the phenomenon of
extremism or the spread of madness to poverty, unemployment, the blocking of
the horizons of millions of Muslim youths, tyrannical regimes, and the
Israeli occupation. Undoubtedly, these causes are all real... and we can
obviously show examples of cases where people joined ISIS for these reasons.
But these reasons are not the [true] root of why people join ISIS and its
ilk. Thus, for example, ISIS media does not discuss poverty or unemployment
or the Israeli occupation, but rather focus on the war against the infidels,
Shi'ites, and Crusaders, building the caliphate state, and jihad for the
sake of Allah.

"ISIS focuses on a narrow interpretation of Islam: it presents a discourse
of Islamic interpretation that captures the hearts of dozens of its
recruits. This discourse is precisely the factor that must be combatted –
yet it is the one topic that is never discussed. Those who call themselves
jurisprudents see ISIS distorting all human values [in the name of Islam],
yet they do not stand up and say that its actions are crimes that have
nothing to do with Islam. None of them say that the phenomenon of taking
hostages and slaves has nothing to do with the shari'a and that its time has
past. On these matters, clerics are as silent as the dead...

"There is no explanation for the silence of the Muslim Brotherhood and for
the so-called Council of Senior Scholars’ refusal to remove ISIS from the
fold of Islam. There is no excuse for the Muslim Brotherhood's refusal to
protest against the bombing of a mosque, while they fill the streets every
time some newspaper publishes a cartoon that offends Islam. ISIS can only be
defeated... by destroying the ideological foundations on which it is
based... This is the mission of those who claim to be versed in Islam, and
it is their moral duty to their peoples. However, unfortunately, they turn
their backs on [their peoples]."[15]

Saudi Writer: ISIS Culture Ingrained In The Hearts Of Many Muslims; We Must
Combat This Ideological-Cultural Affliction

Mashari Al-Dhaidi, a Saudi journalist and senior editor in the London-based
daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, called on Muslims to stop denying reality and
launch a war against ISIS ideology in order to defend Islam and the majority
of Muslims. Al-Dhaidi said that terrorist attacks committed by Muslims
around the world have become a nearly daily occurrence and that each attack
"inspires other sick and lowly people around the world" to emulate it.
According to him: "This [ISIS] culture is ingrained in the hearts of many
Muslims, and [we] do not lay a finger on the hiding places of this
ideological-cultural affliction. On the contrary – every time a researcher
or intellectual tries to neutralize these ideas [and remove them] from
public education, mosques, and preacher pulpits... they are accused of
spying and Westernization, are ignored by the authorities in Arab and Muslim
countries, and become prey to opportunists and the rabble they lead.

"A true and fundamental start [in combating terrorism] is confronting this
culture and facing the consequences, difficult as they may be. Those who say
that ISIS, Al-Qaeda before it, and other ideological abscesses like them,
are products of some intelligence apparatus, or the result of political
oppression or economic or cultural deprivation, are denying the clear truth,
namely that this is a cultural-educational problem. True, ISIS and its ilk
undoubtedly do not represent the majority of the world's Muslims, and they
harm Muslim countries and interests even more than they harm the West. But
the fact is that refraining from declaring an ideological-psychological
war – and not just a security-military war – on the culture that birthed
Al-Qaeda, ISIS, and their ilk, will harm all Muslims in the world, including
those with Western citizenships. In fact, this is a war of the Muslim
majority to defend Islam and the majority of Muslims."[16]



* D. Hazan is a research fellow at MEMRI.



Endnotes:





[1] Al-Hayat (London), July 17, 2016.


[2] Al-Arab (London), July 16, 2016.


[3] Elaph.com, June 16, 2016.


[4] Tahrirnews.com, June 14, 2016.


[5] Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), December 9, 2015.


[6] Al-Watan (Saudi Arabia), February 3, 2016


[7] Al-Jazirah (Saudi Arabia), April 5, 2016.


[8] Al-Jazirah (Saudi Arabia), November 20, 2015.


[9] Al-Jazirah (Saudi Arabia), November 24, 2015.


[10] The first sect to break away from Islam.


[11] A term originating in Koran 60:9, referring to people who converted to
Islam but whose faith did not run deep. Due to their influence and status in
the Quraysh tribe, the Prophet Muhammad gave them alms money to please them
and strengthen their faith so that they would not come out against Islam,
which was still weak at the time.


[12] Al-Jazirah (Saudi Arabia), November 27, 2015.


[13] A pioneer of the modernist movement in Islam in the 19th century.
Called to break free of the bonds of traditional Islam, abandon
superstitions that became ingrained in it, and enact educational, but mostly
political, reforms to unite Islamic countries against the Western world,
which he saw as a threat.


[14] Alyaoum24.com, November 19, 2015.


[15] Al-Ayyam (PA), November 20, 2015.


[16] Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), December 9, 2015.


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