According to Samuel Huntington, in his book, The Clash of Civilizations, Some Westerners…, have argued that the West does not have problems with Islam but only with violent Islamist extremist.” Huntington is quick to add: “Fourteen hundred years of history demonstrates otherwise” [my emphasis]. Huntington makes a good point. Huntington goes on to say, “The twentieth-century conflict between liberal democracy and Marxist-Leninism is only a fleeting and superficial historical phenomenon compared to the continuing and deeply conflictual relation between Islam and Christianity.”
Do we get it? A core dynamic within the Islamic faith is the spirit of jihad, which gives rise to Islamic activist such as ISIS. Viewed as yet one more minority party of radical Islamic extremists, we may overlook the real potential threat that ISIS represents. If one considers the fourteen hundred years of conflictual history between Islam and the West, as Huntington suggests, one should not be surprised by the rise of militant Islamic groups such as ISIS, seeking to reestablish a hegemonic Islamic rule in the Middle East and beyond—to regain their old glory days. There is a consistent pattern here.
Islamic states and parties are often very quick to remind Christians of the Crusades that took place in the 11th and 12th centuries, to make Christians feel guilty and become apologetic for attacking and forging into Islamic territory, cruelly killing and plundering along the way. What is never mentioned is the Islamic jihad that took place in the reverse direction some five hundred years before the Crusades during the 6th and 7th centuries. And later, in the 15th century, Islamic forces conquered Byzantium (when Constantinople became Istanbul).
ISIS wants to reconquer the old territories that the great Islamic Ottoman Empire once held. (For example, there was a day when the Ottoman Empire was powerful enough to besiege the Austrian city of Vienna smack in the middle of Europe, back in 1683.) Whether ISIS, as ISIS, succeeds or not, in this lofty goal of recreating an Islamic Empire, is not the issue. The issue is that ISIS is acting on a consistent understanding of an Islamic worldview: The historical and ideal Muslim worldview for Islam is that Islam should be a transcendent all-encompassing social-political-religious and earthly power ruling over all others, where sharia law is the law for all.
That is, in answer to the question, “who is to rule,” their answer is: “Muslims are to rule!” Or, put another way, “who is to define right and wrong, good and bad, in effect who is to define reality?” Their answer: Islam! Hence, there will always be an ISIS kind of movement within present day Islamic territories—somewhere, and in some form or other, by whatever name—as long as the Islamic vision and worldview is upheld by staunch fundamentalist Islamic believers. And whenever they believe that they have enough power and the means to possibly succeed in that endeavor, they will take action and become active militants toward that end. Thus, it should not really be surprising that, in the midst of Iraq’s instability, a group like ISIS has taken a foothold in the area and is taking militant action to realize such a vision.
This is why it has been and continues to be extremely difficult, if not next to impossible, to establish peace and stability in Iraq, Afghanistan, and in the Middle East in general. As Samuel Huntington has already pointed out so well in his 1996 book, we are facing a clash of civilizations—a conflict arising out of opposing worldviews, contradictory visions for human society, and a clash between core-faith values and principles. It is a battle for the very definition of government, society, and culture—for its ownership and control.
I sometimes wonder whether we in the West really grasp the depth of this truth. Note: In Iraq, in areas where ISIS is in control, ISIS jihadists have given three options to Christians and other non-Muslim people groups: (1) convert at gunpoint (2) leave your home and all your belongings and flee the country, or (3) stay, be executed and die. This is historical Islamic jihad at its worst.
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