Does ISIS Really Have Nothing To Do With Islam - Islamic Apologetics Carry Serious Risks

Does ISIS really have nothing to do with Islam? Islamic apologetics carry ...
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Does ISIS really have nothing to

do with Islam? Islamic
apologetics carry serious risks.
By Shadi Hamid
In this file photo, a Muslim woman releases a dove as a

symbol of peace during a rally against the Islamic State
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group, in Jakarta, Indonesia, Sept. 5, 2014. (AP Photo/Tatan

Syuflana)
Every time the Islamic State commits yet another attack or
atrocity, Muslims, particularly Western Muslims, shudder.
Attacks like the ones in Paris mean another round of
demands that Muslims condemn the acts, as if we should
presume guilt, or perhaps some indirect taint.
The impulse to separate Islam from the sins and crimes of the
Islamic State, also known as ISIS, is understandable, and it
often includes statements such as ISIS has nothing to do
with Islam or that ISIS is merely using Islam as a pretext.
The sentiment is usually well-intentioned. We live in an age
of growing anti-Muslim bigotry, where mainstream
politicians now feel license to say things that might have once
been unimaginable.
To protect Islam and, by extension, Muslims from any
association with extremists and extremism is a worthy cause.
But saying something for the right reasons doesnt
necessarily make it right. An overwhelming majority of
Muslims oppose ISIS and its ideology. But thats not quite the
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same as saying that ISIS has nothing to do with Islam, when

it very clearly has something to do with it.
If you actually look at ISISs approach to governance, it
would be difficult impossible, really to conclude that it is
just making things up as it goes along and then giving it an
Islamic luster only after the fact.
[Why the question of Christian vs. Muslim refugees has
become so incredibly divisive]
It is tempting, for example, to look at the role of former
Saddam-era Baathist party officers in the organizations
senior ranks and leap to the conclusion that religion cant
matter all that much. Yet many younger Baathists came up
through Saddam Husseins late-period Islamization initiative,
and, in any case, just because someone starts as a Baathist
or any other kind of secular nationalist doesnt mean they
cant, at some later point, get religion.
There is a role for Islamic apologetics if defending Islam
rather than analyzing it is your objective. I am a Muslim
myself, and its impossible for me to believe that a just God
could ever sanction the behavior of groups like ISIS.
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But if the goal is to understand ISIS, then I, and other

analysts who happen to be Muslim, would be better served by
cordoning off our personal assumptions and preferences.
What Islam should be and what Islam is actually understood
to be by Muslims (including extremist Muslims) are very
different things.
For scholars of Islamist movements and Islams role in
politics, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, there should be one
overarching objective: to understand and to explain, rather
than to make judgments about which interpretations of Islam
are correct, or who is or isnt a true Muslim.
[Analysis: After the Paris attacks, heres how to think about
the relationship between ISIS and Islam]
In addition to being a Muslim, I am an American, as well as a
small-l liberal. I have written about how, even if we
personally believe liberalism is the best available ideological
framework for ordering society, that should not be allowed to
distort our understanding of mainstream Islamist
movements such as, say, the Muslim Brotherhood and its
analogues across the region.
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It makes little sense to compare Islamists to some liberal

ideal, when they are a product of very different contexts than
our own.
The is ISIS Islamic? debate can seem circular and
exhausting. But its an important one nonetheless. Islamic
apologetics lead us down a path of diminishing the role of
religion in politics. If the past few years of Middle Eastern
turmoil have made anything clear, its that, for Islamists of
various stripes mainstream or extremist religion matters.
Often, religion matters a great deal. It inspires supporters to
action; it affects the willingness to die (and, in the case of
ISIS, the willingness to kill); it influences strategic
calculations and even battlefield decisions. Insisting
otherwise isnt even effective at countering Islamophobia,
since, to the unpersuaded, claims that Islam and ISIS are
unrelated sound entirely divorced from reality.
[In light of the Paris attacks, is it time to eradicate religion?]
Instead, we can and should have a debate hopefully a
nuanced, informed one about how religious motivations
and political context (such as civil wars or governance
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deficits) interact in the case of ISIS and other religiously

influenced movements. It is tough to have that discussion
when the starting premise is to disregard the importance of
religion as an explanatory factor.
The analytical approach Im proposing comes with its own
risks. Underscoring the power of religion in general, and
Islam in particular, may provide fodder for bigots who might
latch on to our statements and misuse them for their own
ends.
In the end, though, its not my job to make Islam look good,
or to argue that Islam is a religion of peace, when the reality
is more complicated. We have to be faithful to our findings
and conclusions, even if or perhaps particularly when
they make us most uncomfortable.
Want more stories about faith? Follow Acts of
Faith on Twitter or sign up for our newsletter.
Frances Muslims fear fresh backlash after terrorist attacks
Would Jesus take in Syrian refugees?
23/Nov/2015 4:11 PM
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Pope Francis condemns Paris terrorist attacks: Using Gods

name to justify this path is blasphemy
23/Nov/2015 4:11 PM

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Does ISIS really have nothing to do with Islam? Islamic apologetics carry ...

Does ISIS really have nothing to

In this file photo, a Muslim woman releases a dove as a

group, in Jakarta, Indonesia, Sept. 5, 2014. (AP Photo/Tatan

same as saying that ISIS has nothing to do with Islam, when

But if the goal is to understand ISIS, then I, and other

It makes little sense to compare Islamists to some liberal

deficits) interact in the case of ISIS and other religiously

Pope Francis condemns Paris terrorist attacks: Using Gods

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