A Muslim’s reaction to ISIS

I’m not really sure where to start with this. Forgive me if my thoughts are all over the place because this is such an emotive subject for me that it’s hard to marshal them into some sort of coherent order.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve gone from being completely ignorant of the existence of ISIS to being vaguely aware that there was another new pack of jackasses shooting the place up in Iraq, to being starkly aware that these guys are different. The more I watch the news, the more my gut twists because I really feel as though these people are worse than anything I’ve seen before, even the Taliban or Al-Qaeda. The stories of crucifixions, beheadings and casual executions are almost too terrible to be believed.

I’m a practicing Muslim and I want nothing to do with them - they are a perversion of everything I believe in and in their grotesque brutality, they’ve twisted my faith into something unrecognisable to me. These are the guys who not only hold the heads of their enemies aloft while they pose smiling for pictures, but who also encourage their children to do the same. These are the guys that gleefully shout “Allahu Akbar” in praise when they kill innocents and who are deadly serious about carving out an entire nation based on their perverted form of “Islam”. It’s like someone has taken a checklist of all the most disgusting, medieval stereotypes about what Muslims are believed to be, and ticked them off one by one, saying “yup, done that, done that, killed them…”

The recent footage of fleeing Yazidis really got to me. The look of sheer, animal fear and desperation in their eyes as they swarm onto helicopters, begging for safety is something that will probably stay with me forever.

I’m saying all this partly because I hope that getting it off my chest will be cathartic, but also partly because I know there are people out there who say that moderate Muslims aren’t condemning this sort of thing loud enough or publically enough. So I’m saying it – these absolute frothing lunatics have nothing to do with me or the faith that I live my life by or the faith that I teach my children. I shudder to think of what will happen if they succeed. I hope they fail. And I truly, truly hope that other Muslims around the world will not suffer from an Islamophobic backlash because of what these barbaric thugs are doing.

Here is another muslims’ reaction to ISIS. Those guys are fucking crazy. They make Ramsey Snow sit up and say “ok chaps, that was a bit much”. But, thats war for you. It is rather fertile for assholes like these guys. You should not be surprised at the levels human beings can fall to.

I don’t see why it should be incumbent on me to condemn them (FYI, I do, wholeheartedly), since I have had precisely zero to do with ISIS creation and rise, just because I happen to share the dame faith as them? Anymore than say Frenchmen should have to apologise for violence in Francophone Africa. The US and UK and their citizens? Maybe, after all it was that god forsaken invasion which started this whole mess, and the US capture of the future leader in 2004 probably helped in the man’s rise. Maybe, maybe not.

End of rant, don’t mean to threadshit more than necessary.

Fight them. Denounce them. Support their enemies. Organize a community response. Show the West that nearly all Muslims are peace-loving and tolerant. The more ISIS demonstrates the contrary, the harder for you to live in peace with your Western neighbors.

Don’t wait for the West to strike them down. Get the moderates in Iraq to show some backbone and settle their foolish Shia/Sunni differences for the sake of peace and defense.

If ISIS recruiters show up in your community, do the right thing…tie them to a bumper and drive them around town to be hospitable.

Dude, I live in the UK and I’m denouncing them publicly and will happily march in the streets to denounce them again, but I’m not about to fly off to Iraq any time soon to organise resistance there. I’ve had my fair share of warzones in Libya, thanks very much. I just wanted to get this all off my chest.

I know you’re joking but they’re unlikely to be knocking on doors in the green and pleasant part of the UK where I live. Even if they did, I wouldn’t stoop to their level by emulating their tactics.

:rolleyes::mad:

Why the fuck should muslims (or anyone else) have to “demonstrate” anything to the “west” or vice versa?

He just did denounce them. As for the rest, He doesn’t have to run his life on the basis of fighting nutbars in the Middle East, any more than I have to run my life for the sake of fighting Westboro Baptist, just because I (apparently) share a religion with them (FTR, I denounce them too, just in case you were wondering. And ISIS and all other murderous thugs)

There’s been considerable flack over here over a crazy dude (probably actively mentally ill) from Sydney who went off to fight in Syria recently, dragging his school-age kids with him (you may know the specific image I’m talking about that has generated most of the revulsion). Naturally, local Muslim leaders have condemned his actions. It’s been instructive to see how different media have reported the issue. Some lead off with the local Imams’ denunciations before talking about his actions … to others, they might never have said a word. (Some choose not to mention his diagnosis, either, or hint that he was ‘faking it’)

So, yeah, encourage people to denounce these bastards. But for all you know, there may be a whole lot of denouncing around already that you don’t even hear about.

Thanks Aspidistra. I know I don’t *owe *it to anyone to apologise for the actions of every fundie loon out there, but I felt I had to make my feelings known anyway. And i know the guy you’re talking about - those images turned my stomach as well.

No, you certainly don’t owe it to anyone. I’ve known, worked and socialized with muslims for decades, and am fully aware that the ISIS maniacs are a) complete outliers and b) freakin’ lunatics.

And why should anyone bother? No True Scotsman denounces Muslim violence. To hell with ISIS, and to hell with people who expect Muslims everywhere to apologize for people they have nothing to do with.

I don’t think there’s any sort of obligation on any Muslims to denounce ISIS or other Muslim terrorists to Western audiences. (The only real impetus to do this is for your own purposes - so that people should not associate you with that type of terrorist or way of thinking.)

But what is important is what they say to Muslim audiences.

A lot of people like to pretend that the sum total of fanatic terrorists is the people actually fighting somewhere or bombing people. But this is obviously impossible. For every actual terrorist there are many many symphathizers, who provide money, logistical, or even moral support.

I don’t think they’re crazy, and that’s even more scary. I think they have some very capable leaders and are getting excellent military help from former members of SH’s army. And they’re getting a ton of money from rich Sunni Arabs in the Gulf States (IIRC).

Doesn’t it all boil down to this: even the al-Qaeda types might agree that the Caliphate should return, but who died and made Ibrahim [del]King[/del] Caliph? Hopefully their extremism will isolate them, although they are getting some support. Not sure if it’s mostly an “enemy of my enemy” thing.

When Christians say that Pat Robertson or whoever doesn’t speak for them, I have to roll my eyes. Of course he doesn’t speak for all Christians, but pointing it out seems embarrassing.

Also, I think it’s funny that they share a name with a strong female pagan god.

I’d rather see an ex-Muslim denounce the religion as a whole.

Like all other faiths are allowed to do without being condemned to death.

But this is a good start, I guess.

And the name of a semi-incompetent secret agency

And why, pray tell, would you rather see that?

It must simply be a human foible to hoist another’s actions onto a group as a whole. As a Christian, I am not responsible for the evils of others nor are Muslims responsible for the actions of ISIS.

I hate any group that promotes such violence, but realistically, I am a small fry in a large ocean.

And for extra irony, they also share a name with this particular organization.

It is quite terrible to see what has been going on. I truly hope that the way they have over-extended themselves and the slow congealing of decided opposition to them will end up leading to their defeat.

I also feel rather upset when I think that the many crimes they have perpetrated will in all likelihood never be punished; I doubt that any of them will ever be put on trial at The Hague.

I guess the only thing I can hope is for this nightmare to be over at some point.

(I also don’t think that Iraq will emerge from this as a unified entity anymore. In my opinion, after this is over, Iraqi Kurdistan will emerge as a new country).

There are plenty of those types of folks in the West. We just hear about the ones where their family has a ridiculous overreaction. That doesn’t mean that’s the only reaction to Muslims who leave the faith and denounce the religion.