IS excesses alienating Sunnis

The Islamic State (IS) is guilty of the most egregious anti-Islamic behaviour since the rise of the radical, repressive Taliban in Afghanistan. While claiming to be purist and imposing Islamic law and practice in conquered areas, the IS (formerly the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) is in flagrant violation of Surah II, Verse 256, of the Quran which states, ‘There is no compulsion in religion.’

The IS - which has proclaimed a modern ‘caliphate’ - first imposed its rule on the northern Syrian city of Raqqa and soon demanded that men grow their beards and perform all five daily prayers in mosques. Shops and work places were compelled to close during prayer times.  Although most already wore headscarves and covering clothing, women were ordered to veil their faces and remain at home.

The IS formed Islamic courts with the aim of installing their version of Muslim canon law, Sharia, and began to carry out corporal punishments. Thieves have had their hands cut off and a woman was stoned to death for adultery. Captured government soldiers and fighters from rival anti-regime militias have been beheaded and people who do not follow IS prescriptions or resist its domination are executed. Defectors and deserters are killed. In the most recent incident of extreme brutality, 50 captured Syrian soldiers were decapitated.

IS has also destroyed statues of lions in al-Rashid park and walled off public places where people used to congregate in the evenings.  Black IS flags fly from public buildings. Black is the colour of mourning in West Asia. The few Christians who remain are forced to pay a tax or convert to Islam.

If they fail to submit to IS demands, they risk death. Raqqa's three churches have been closed and their crosses removed.  The largest, the Armenian Catholic Martyrs Church, has been converted into an Islamic centre.  This is a brazen violation of the Islamic principle that Christians along with Jews and Zoroastrians (Parsis) should be respected as ‘People of the Book.’

While food and petrol are available in Raqqa, water and electricity are a problem. Hospitals and other essential services have had to rely on foreign volunteers to operate.  Gunmen at checkpoints are from Tunisia, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Chechnya and Egypt because IS does not have enough Syrian recruits to fill its ranks. Raqqa is important psychologically for Syrians and Iraqis.

  For 12 years the city was the capital of the Abbasad Arab empire under the great Caliph Haroun al-Rashid, dubbed the ‘Just’ and ‘Enlightened,’ who reigned from 786-809. Under his rule, Raqqa and Baghdad were centres of civilisation where music, medicine, architecture, and science flourished. Haroun's era was seen as the ‘Golden Age of Islam.’

The dark age

The contrast with the dark age headed by self-proclaimed ‘Caliph Ibrahim,’ formerly known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, could not be more stark. When the IS swept across the border into neighbouring Iraq in June, its commanders imposed the Raqqa model on the northern city of Mosul, home to Arabs, Christians, Turkomen  and Kurds, as well as other towns and villages under IS control. 

Christians, who had lived on Mosul for 2,000 years, were given an ultimatum to pay, convert to Islam, or die. They fled and were robbed as they departed. The International Union of Muslim Scholars has condemned their expulsion. "These are acts that violate Islamic laws, Islamic conscience and leave..a negative impage of Islam and Muslims."

Turkomen were similarly expelled from the cities of Tuz Khurmatu, Mosul, Diyala, and Tal Afar.  Women between 16-46 years of age have been told to submit to genital mutilation, a practice observed in Iraq only by Kurds. Following in the footsteps of the Taliban which blew up the ancient Bamiyan buddhas,  the IS has destroyed the iconic Sunni mosque of Jonah, the prophetic figure revered by Muslims, Christians and Jews as he survived being swallowed by a whale.

Jonah is mentioned in the Quran. The tomb of Daniel, the Biblical figure imprisoned with a lion, was destroyed, and the Shrine of Seth, said to be the third son of Adam and Eve, was also blown up. Local people prevented IS from mining al-Hadba minaret of the Great Mosque in Mosul but could not stop the IS from blowing up the 14th century mosque that houses the tomb of St. George.

IS excesses have already alienated Sunni allies who fought with IS forces to seize control of Mosul and other cities in Iraq.  There have been clashes between IS and Naqshabandi Army fighters, 12 of whom have been executed by IS. This is certain to create a blood feud between these factions and anger Iraqi tribal groups that initially backed the IS. Only Sunnis can rout the IS and rescue Syria and Iraq from the heretical ‘Caliph Ibrahim.’