Part 26
Ehsan Arab
The ISIS Khawarij, through their brutality, ignorance, and projection of a distorted image of Islam, created the perfect conditions for the suppression of moderate Islamic movements across the Muslim world. At a time when millions of Muslims were striving to revive the true values of Islam through political, intellectual, and civil activism, the disbelieving world seized upon the fear generated by ISIS as a powerful tool to silence these voices.
In many Muslim countries, particularly in the Arab world, moderate Islamic parties were banned and repressed under the accusation of “sympathizing with ISIS.” In Palestine, the legitimate resistance of the Palestinian people against the Zionist occupation came under heightened restrictions and pressure due to the international climate shaped by ISIS’s actions.
In Afghanistan, the Taliban’s Jihadi movement, which called for ending the foreign occupation and implementing Islamic governance, was also subjected to intense pressure from foreign institutions and media outlets following the emergence of ISIS. Exploiting the prevailing conditions, opponents sought to equate Islamic Sharia with violence and terrorism, instilling fear of the Islamic system among the public.
In Western media, every Islamic voice, no matter how moderate, reasonable, or logical, was placed alongside ISIS. This systematic association linked legitimate and just Islamic political movements with terrorism in the minds of the global public. While the West claimed to be engaged in a war against ISIS, undeniable evidence and intelligence reports raise serious and troubling questions:
How was ISIS able, in an era of satellites and drones capable of tracking every movement, to freely establish bases in the deserts of Iraq and Syria, organize armed forces, and acquire advanced weaponry?
Why were the vast majority of ISIS attacks not directed against the Zionist regime or Western interests, but rather against Muslims, targeting worshippers, mosques, and ordinary civilians?
These questions, reinforced by documents disclosed by journalists and analysts, give rise to a credible and disturbing hypothesis: Was ISIS, in reality, a calculated project intended to crush the Islamic awakening? Was it used, whether deliberately or indirectly, as a tool to distort and manipulate the Islamic mindset?
A close and honest examination of ISIS’s record leaves little doubt that this group not only failed to serve the interests of the Muslim Ummah but actively undermined them. It disfigured the image of Islam, facilitated the execution of Western anti-Islamic agendas, diverted awakening movements from their true objectives, and discredited or sidelined prominent Islamic figures through baseless accusations and defamation.
The movement plunged Muslim countries into destructive proxy wars, where Muslims shed each other’s blood while the enemies of Islam looked on with satisfaction. It provided Western intelligence services, security agencies, and media outlets with a ready-made pretext to launch campaigns, under the banner of “counterterrorism,” against mosques, religious scholars, activists, and Islamic institutions.
In reality, although ISIS appeared to be an enemy of the West, it served as one of the most effective instruments for advancing Western hostile objectives. Cloaked in the guise of Islam, ISIS drove its blade deep into the heart of the Muslim Ummah, paving the way for oppression, espionage, division, and the spread of Islamophobia.