Military Review English Edition March-April 2016 | Page 35

ISLAMIC STATE ACTIONS

(Image from UNTV)

Nadia Murad BaseTaha, a twenty-one-year-old Iraqi woman of the Yazidi faith and a victim of abduction for purposes of sex slavery by
the Islamic State, speaks 16 December 2015 at the United Nations Security Council meeting on human trafficking in situations of conflict.

this stipulation is abrogated in the case of retaliation
in accordance with a verse in the Quran (2:194). He
notes that Muhammad himself on one occasion gouged
out his enemies’ eyes with a heated iron, and that there
were a number of occasions on which the prophet’s
companions also punished their enemies by burning
them; he cites five separate examples. Thus, he argues,
in burning the Jordanian pilot IS was simply following
the example of Muhammad and his co mpanions.

Scriptural and Historical Precedents
Throughout IS’s mouthpiece, Dabiq contributors
justify what can only be described as the organization’s acts of depravity and inhumanity by citing texts
from the Quran, the sayings and deeds of Muhammad
and, occasionally, by referring to events in Islamic
history—particularly to events surrounding the
prophet’s companions. (As previously mentioned, fundamentalist groups take the founding days of a faith
as normative and authoritative in addition to its holy
texts.) Articles that aim to justify events and practices
are always well argued, often containing numerous
quotations from the Quran and multiple hadiths.
Where there is room for debate because of conflicting
texts or sayings, there will be a careful and detailed
MILITARY REVIEW  March-April 2016

analysis. The magazine, which is always very professionally produced, contains numerous photographs
of prisoners—particularly as they are about to face
execution or, occasionally, of the executions themselves. It also includes pictures of dead bodies—usually of those who have been executed but sometimes of
Syrian and Iraqis killed as a result of airstrikes.
Using Islamic texts and traditions, the magazine calls upon Muslims everywhere to migrate to
Iraq and Syria to become members of the khalifate (Muslim state). Those who are unable to join
are encouraged to undertake jihad in their own
countries. “If you can kill a disbelieving American
or European—especially the spiteful and filthy
French—or an Australian, or a Canadian, or any
other disbeliever from the disbelievers waging war,
including the citizens of the countries that entered
into a coalition against the Islamic State, then rely
upon Allah, and kill him in any manner or way however it may be … Kill the disbeliever whether he is
civilian or military, for they have the same ruling.”16

Is It Really Islamic?
Many Muslims around the globe are keen to distance themselves from the philosophy and actions of
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