The Complete Infidel's Guide to ISIS

by Robert Spencer

  Justifying the Declaration

  Before Islam, according to “This Is the Promise of Allah,” the Arabs were weak and disunited; once they accepted Islam, Allah granted them unity and power. Then followed success unprecedented in world history.

  THEY DID IT BEFORE, THEY CAN DO IT AGAIN

  “Our dear ummah—the best of peoples—Allah (the Exalted) decrees numerous victories for this ummah to occur in a single year, which He does not grant others in many years or even centuries. This ummah succeeded in ending two of the largest empires known to history in just 25 years, and then spent the treasures of those empires on jihad in the path of Allah.9 They put out the fire of the Magians (fire-worshippers) forever, and they forced the noses of the cross-worshippers onto the ground with the most miserable of weapons and weakest of numbers. . . . Yes, my ummah, those barefoot, naked, shepherds who did not know good from evil, nor truth from falsehood, filled the earth with justice after it had been filled with oppression and tyranny, and ruled the world for centuries.”

  —from “This Is the Promise of Allah,” released June 19, 2014, by the Islamic State10

  As far as the Islamic State was concerned, nothing had changed—or at least nothing should have changed—since the conquests of Islam’s early days: “The God of this ummah yesterday is the same God of the ummah today, and the One who gave it victory yesterday is the One who will give it victory today.”11 Accordingly, “The time has come for those generations that were drowning in oceans of disgrace, being nursed on the milk of humiliation, and being ruled by the vilest of all people, after their long slumber in the darkness of neglect—the time has come for them to rise.”12 The “vilest of all people” is a Qur’anic epithet for the “unbelievers among the People of the Book”—that is, Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians who do not become Muslims (Qur’an 98:6).

  A PLACE FOR EVERYONE, AND EVERYONE IN HIS PLACE

  “Here the flag of the Islamic State, the flag of tawhid (monotheism), rises and flutters. Its shade covers land from Aleppo to Diyala. Beneath it, the walls of the tawaghit (rulers claiming the rights of Allah) have been demolished, their flags have fallen, and their borders have been destroyed. Their soldiers are either killed, imprisoned, or defeated. The Muslims are honored. The kuffar (infidels) are disgraced. Ahlus-Sunnah (the Sunnis) are masters and are esteemed. The people of bid’ah (heresy) are humiliated. The hudud (Sharia penalties) are implemented—the hudud of Allah—all of them. The frontlines are defended. Crosses and graves are demolished. Prisoners are released by the edge of the sword. The people in the lands of the State move about for their livelihood and journeys, feeling safe regarding their lives and wealth. Wulat (plural of wali or ‘governors’) and judges have been appointed. Jizyah (a tax imposed on kuffar) has been enforced. Fay’ (money taken from the kuffar without battle) and zakat (obligatory alms) have been collected. Courts have been established to resolve disputes and complaints. Evil has been removed. Lessons and classes have been held in the masajid (plural of masjid) and, by the grace of Allah, the religion has become completely for Allah. There only remained one matter, a wajib kifa’i (collective obligation) that the ummah sins by abandoning. It is a forgotten obligation. The ummah has not tasted honor since they lost it. It is a dream that lives in the depths of every Muslim believer. It is a hope that flutters in the heart of every mujahid muwahhid (monotheist). It is the khilafah (caliphate). It is the khilafah—the abandoned obligation of the era.”

  —the description in “This Is the Promise of Allah” of how life in the Islamic State fulfills the conditions for restoring the caliphate

  And so the Islamic State announced, “The sun of jihad has risen. The glad tidings of good are shining. Triumph looms on the horizon. The signs of victory have appeared.” It made its case that ISIS could rightfully embody the caliphate because in its domains the Muslims were exalted and the infidels were humiliated, paying the Qur’anic tax (jizya) and submitting in humiliation to the Muslims, as specified in the Qur’an (9:29)—in the process sketching out a chilling picture of non-Muslims subjugated under the supremacy of Islam.

  So ISIS would turn what they claimed was every Muslim’s dream into a reality and restore the caliphate. And “the khalifah [caliph] Ibrahim (may Allah preserve him) has fulfilled all the conditions for khilafah [caliphate] mentioned by the scholars.” And from that point on, all Muslims would owe allegiance to the Islamic State’s caliph: “We clarify to the Muslims that with this declaration of khilafah, it is incumbent upon all Muslims to pledge allegiance to the khalifah Ibrahim and support him (may Allah preserve him). The legality of all emirates, groups, states, and organizations, becomes null by the expansion of the khilafah’s authority and arrival of its troops to their areas.”

  Thus the Islamic State exhorted:

  So rush O Muslims and gather around your khalifah, so that you may return as you once were for ages, kings of the earth and knights of war. . . . By Allah, if you disbelieve in democracy, secularism, nationalism, as well as all the other garbage and ideas from the west, and rush to your religion and creed, then by Allah, you will own the earth, and the east and west will submit to you. This is the promise of Allah to you. This is the promise of Allah to you.

  Answering the Critics

  What of those Muslims who doubted that the Islamic State’s claim to have restored the caliphate was really legitimate?

  We—by Allah—do not find any shar’i (legal) excuse for you justifying your holding back from supporting this state. Take a stance on account of which Allah (the Exalted) will be pleased with you. The veil has been lifted and the truth has become clear. Indeed, it is the State. It is the state for the Muslims—the oppressed of them, the orphans, the widows, and the impoverished. If you support it, then you do so for your own good. . . . It is time for you to end this abhorrent partisanship, dispersion, and division, for this condition is not from the religion of Allah at all. And if you forsake the State or wage war against it, you will not harm it. You will only harm yourselves.

  ISIS warned Muslims that “they will look for something to criticize and will attempt to raise misconceptions. So if they ask you, ‘How can you announce the khilafah when the ummah has not rallied behind you? For your authority is not accepted by the groups, factions, detachments, brigades, corps, banners, sects, parties, assemblies, councils, institutions, coordination teams, leagues, coalitions, armies, fronts, movements, and organizations.’”

  The answer to all this dissension is a Qur’an verse: “But they will not cease to differ except whom your Lord has given mercy” (11:118–119). The document added: “They have never united on a single issue, nor will they ever unite on any issue except for those whom Allah has mercy upon. Furthermore, the Islamic State will bring together those who want unity.”

  NOT THAT THIS HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH ISLAM

  In its declaration of the caliphate, the Islamic State asserted that when Muslims are obedient to Allah, they will be granted a successor of Muhammad to lead and unify them—and lose that successor when they are disobedient. This is a standard jihadist understanding of the disunity and weakness that they regard as besetting the Islamic world after the abolition of the caliphate in 1924.

  Succession, establishment, and safety—a promise from Allah reserved for the Muslims, but with a condition. {They worship me [Allah] and do not associate anything with me} [An-Nur: 55 (that is, Qur’an 24:55—ed.)]. Having faith in Allah, keeping far from the gateways to shirk (polytheism) and its various shades, along with submitting to Allah’s command in everything big and small, and giving Him the level of obedience that makes your lusts, inclinations, and desires to be in compliance with what the Prophet (peace be upon him) came with—only after this condition is met will the promise be fulfilled. For by fulfilling this condition comes the ability to build, reform, remove oppression, spread justice, and bring about safety and tranquility. Only by meeting this condition, will there be the succession, which Allah informed the angels about.13

&nb
sp; The implication is that without total submission to the will of Allah, there can be no ability to build, or reform, or removal of oppression, or justice, safety, and tranquility. This makes the restoration of the caliphate all the more imperative.

  The Islamic State anticipated a further question from skeptics: “If they tell you, ‘You have stepped over them and acted on your own judgment. Why did you not consult the other groups, pardon them, and tolerate them?’” Again ISIS supplied the answer: “Then say to them, ‘The issue is too urgent.’”

  This argument was buttressed with another Qur’an quote: “And I hastened to You, my Lord, that You be pleased” (20:84), and then followed with criticism of other Muslim groups: “And say to them, ‘Whom would we consult? They never recognized the Islamic State to begin with, although America, Britain and France acknowledge its existence. Whom would we consult? Should we consult those who have abandoned us? Those who have betrayed us? Those who have disowned us and incited against us? Those who have become hostile towards us? Those who wage war against us? Whom would we consult, and whom did we step over?’”

  And yet another objection was anticipated and dismissed: “And if they tell you, ‘We do not accept your authority’. Then say to them, ‘We had the ability to establish the khilafah, by the grace of Allah, so it became an obligation for us to do so. Therefore, we hastened in adherence to the command of Allah (the Exalted): ‘It is not for a believing man or a believing woman, when Allah and His Messenger have decided a matter, that they should [thereafter] have any choice about their affair’ [Al-Ahzab: 36 [Qur’an 33:36]].” In other words, they were able to restore the caliphate, and so they considered it their obligation to do so: if they hadn’t, they would have been shirking their responsibility before Allah.

  Meet the New Caliph

  Less than a week after declaring itself the caliphate, the Islamic State gave the world a look at the new caliphate, releasing a video on July 5, 2014, of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi speaking in the twelfth-century Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul.14 Around the same time, the Islamic State published “A Message to the Mujahedin and the Muslim Ummah in the Month of Ramadan,” a statement from al-Baghdadi that appears to be the text of his inaugural speech as caliph.

  Al-Baghdadi began with a pious effusion:

  Truly all praise belongs to Allah. We praise Him, and seek His help and His forgiveness. We seek refuge with Allah from the evils of our souls and from the consequences of our deeds. Whomever Allah guides can never be led astray, and whomever Allah leads astray can never be guided. I testify that there is no god except Allah—alone without any partners—and I testify that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is His slave and Messenger.15

  The new caliph followed that up with several quotations from the Qur’an, exhorting the believers to fear Allah (3:102; 4:1; 33:70–71; 2:183; 2:185). He then embarked upon an extended disquisition on the blessings of the month of Ramadan, which in 2014 began on June 28, the day before the declaration of the caliphate. The caliph’s point was to exhort the faithful to jihad:

  And there is no deed in this virtuous month or in any other month better than jihad in the path of Allah, so take advantage of this opportunity and walk the path of your righteous predecessors. Support the religion of Allah through jihad in the path of Allah. Go forth, O mujahidin in the path of Allah. Terrify the enemies of Allah and seek death in the places where you expect to find it, for the dunya (worldly life) will come to an end, and the hereafter will last forever.16

  This, too, was buttressed with Qur’an quotes exhorting Muslims to wage war and not to prefer this life to the next, including: “So do not weaken and call for peace while you are superior; and Allah is with you and will never deprive you of [the reward of] your deeds. This worldly life is only amusement and diversion” (47:35–36).

  Al-Baghdadi exhorted jihadis to “be monks during the night and be knights during the day”—that is, to devote their nights to prayer and their days to warfare. For “by Allah, we will never be mujahidin as long as we are stingy with our lives and our wealth. By Allah, we will never be truthful as long as we do not sacrifice our lives and wealth in order to raise high the word of Allah and bring victory to the religion of Allah.” He then quoted another Qur’an verse—the one that promises Paradise to those who “fight in the cause of Allah, so they kill and are killed” (9:111).17 “So take up arms, take up arms, O soldiers of the Islamic State! And fight, fight!”18

  According to the new caliph, this warfare was necessary because Muslims are everywhere oppressed, being afflicted with “the worst kinds of torture. Their honor is being violated. Their blood is being spilled. Prisoners are moaning and crying for help. Orphans and widows are complaining of their plight. Women who have lost their children are weeping.” He added that mosques were being “desecrated and sanctities are violated.”19

  All this was happening worldwide: “Muslims’ rights are forcibly seized in China, India, Palestine, Somalia, the Arabian Peninsula, the Caucasus, Sham (the Levant), Egypt, Iraq, Indonesia, Afghanistan, the Philippines, Ahvaz, Iran [by the rafidah (shia)], Pakistan, Tunisia, Libya, Algeria and Morocco, in the East and in the West.”20

  What to do in response? Fight: “So raise your ambitions, O soldiers of the Islamic State! For your brothers all over the world are waiting for your rescue, and are anticipating your brigades.”21

  OSTRICH ALERT

  “Isil’s so-called caliphate has no moral legitimacy; it is a regime of torture, arbitrary punishment and murder that goes against the most basic beliefs of Islam.”

  —British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond22

  Al-Baghdadi predicted that the oppression would soon be over, and Muslims would rule everywhere:

  Soon, by Allah’s permission, a day will come when the Muslim will walk everywhere as a master, having honor, being revered, with his head raised high and his dignity preserved. Anyone who dares to offend him will be disciplined, and any hand that reaches out to harm him will be cut off.23

  That great day was now dawning:

  So let the world know that we are living today in a new era. Whoever was heedless must now be alert. Whoever was sleeping must now awaken. Whoever was shocked and amazed must comprehend. The Muslims today have a loud, thundering statement, and possess heavy boots. They have a statement that will cause the world to hear and understand the meaning of terrorism, and boots that will trample the idol of nationalism, destroy the idol of democracy and uncover its deviant nature.24

  (Apparently the caliph is not a big fan of democracy.)

  It was therefore time for the Muslim community worldwide to “free yourself from the shackles of weakness, and stand in the face of tyranny, against the treacherous rulers—the agents of the crusaders and the atheists, and the guards of the jews [sic].”25

  After the fall of the last caliphate, al-Baghdadi said, “the disbelievers were able to weaken and humiliate the Muslims, dominate them in every region, plunder their wealth and resources, and rob them of their rights”—by “attacking and occupying their lands, placing their treacherous agents in power to rule the Muslims with an iron fist, and spreading dazzling and deceptive slogans such as: civilization, peace, co-existence, freedom, democracy, secularism, baathism, nationalism, and patriotism, among other false slogans. Those rulers continue striving to enslave the Muslims, pulling them away from their religion with those slogans.”26

  (Peace and ence don’t seem to appeal to him either.)

  Justifying Terrorism

  Al-Baghdadi said this state of affairs presented Muslims with an unhappy choice:

  So either the Muslim pulls away from his religion, disbelieves in Allah, and disgracefully submits to the manmade shirk (polytheistic) laws of the east and west, living despicably and disgracefully as a follower, by repeating those slogans without will and honor, or he lives persecuted, targeted, and expelled, to end up being killed, imprisoned, or terribly tortured, on the accusation of terrorism.27

  According to the caliph
, it’s not such a bad thing to be labeled a terrorist:

  Because terrorism is to disbelieve in those slogans and to believe in Allah. Terrorism is to refer to Allah’s law for judgment. Terrorism is to worship Allah as He ordered you. Terrorism is to refuse humiliation, subjugation, and subordination [to the kuffar—infidels]. Terrorism is for the Muslim to live as a Muslim, honorably with might and freedom. Terrorism is to insist upon your rights and not give them up.28

  He then retailed a list of supposed infidel atrocities, concluding bitterly:

  Terrorism does not include the insulting of the Lord of Mightiness, the cursing of the religion, and the mockery of our Prophet (peace be upon him). Terrorism does not include the slaughtering of Muslims in Central Africa like sheep, while no one weeps for them and denounces their slaughter.

  All this is not terrorism. Rather it is freedom, democracy, peace, security, and tolerance! Sufficient for us is Allah, and He is the best Disposer of affairs.29

  But now Muslims could be proud again:

  Raise your head high, for today—by Allah’s grace—you have a state and khilafah, which will return your dignity, might, rights, and leadership. It is a state where the Arab and non-Arab, the white man and black man, the easterner and westerner are all brothers. It is a khilafah that gathered the Caucasian, Indian, Chinese, Shami, Iraqi, Yemeni, Egyptian, Maghribi (North African), American, French, German, and Australian. Allah brought their hearts together, and thus, they became brothers by His grace, loving each other for the sake of Allah, standing in a single trench, defending and guarding each other, and sacrificing themselves for one another. Their blood mixed and became one, under a single flag and goal, in one pavilion, enjoying this blessing, the blessing of faithful brotherhood. If kings were to taste this blessing, they would abandon their kingdoms and fight over this grace. So all praise and thanks are due to Allah.30