India: Games Gogoi Played In Assam Polls – Analysis

In the last year or so, many countries, either within coalitions, or on a solitary basis have been striking at ISIS where it is supposed to be based. An American strike, even, blasted their money hideout and apparently starved them of the much-needed cash for their world operations.

 But, the truth of the matter is that the more you hit ISIS, the stronger it becomes and the more lethal and dangerous it gets. So, what is the secret of its strength that world security forces and world intelligence community are unable to understand, up to now?

First and foremost, it must be said that ISIS is a religious school of thought that preaches the return to the glorious past of Islam: the unified religious “commandership of the faithful” imarat al mu’minin that is itself the foundation of the concept of ummah “nation of Islam,” stretching around the globe among all Muslims irrespective of their color, culture or creed.

The dismemberment of the ummah into countries is, according to the traditionalists, a ploy used by the enemies of Islam to weaken its resolve.

A proof of that is that when Islam was represented by the Caliphate system of government, it ruled the world from Spain to China, between the 8th and the 16th century: the Golden Age.

For ISIS, the West is responsible for the demise of Islam, since the fall of Grenada in 1492. After the Reconquista, the European nations became more aggressive vis-à-vis Muslim countries: Spain and Portugal attacked the Maghreb to deter any future design on its part to re-conquer the Iberian Peninsula and reestablish the lost al-andalus.

However, the question that comes to mind right away is: what is the difference between ISIS and al-Qaeda, both nebulous violent organizations bearing in mind that ISIS has a fixed address, the proto-state of ISIL whereas al-Qaeda is to be found everywhere and nowhere?

 Al-Qaeda, from the word go wanted to rid the Muslim world from the corrupting influence of the “Crusaders” salibiyun i.e. the Christian West, and, then, set up the unifying system of governance: Caliphate khilafa that will bring the whole Muslim world under the banner of Islam or rather al-Qaeda.

As for ISIS, it founded the Caliphate from the start, called all Muslims to show allegiance to the self-declared Caliph al-Baghdadi and set about to fight the West afterwards, with the ultimate goal to unify Muslims. This is argued quite clearly by Bruce Hoffman:i

“Their dispute, however, seems to be predicated mostly on timing and process. In a nutshell, Zawahiri still argues that the far enemy has to be eliminated and Muslim lands completely cleansed of Western and other corrupt local influences before the caliphate can be established. Baghdadi, as the events of June 2014 showed, saw no reason to wait and instead took the offensive by attacking near enemies both in Syria and Iraq and declaring himself caliph.”