On the 13th of November in 2015, Daesh attacked the city of Paris. By the end of that weekend Facebook had created an option that would have the French flag appear over one’s profile picture, one of the top hashtags was #Prayforparis, and nations and groups across the world stood in solidarity with the people of Paris. On the other side of the coin, however, there was a rise in Islamophobia to rival post-9/11 levels. Nations such as Poland and States such as South Carolina and Indiana refused to take in refugees from the devastation in the Levant, while the French military responded to the attacks by bombing the Daesh de facto capital of Raqqa. While the responses have been varied and critiqued, the world’s hypocrisy cannot be ignored.
That same day, Baghdad was also attacked by Daesh. Facebook offered no Iraqi flag option, there was no #prayforbaghdad, and the world showed no massive shows of support for the people of Iraq. The day before, Beirut was attacked by Daesh. Like Iraq, Lebanon was given no sympathy. Friends countered my outrage over the world’s overlooking of the Arabs by referencing our alliance with the French and that such attacks happen in those countries daily. the truth is that Beirut has enjoyed a relative peace since the end of the 2006 Lebanon War and while Baghdad has unfortunately been the subject of frequent attacks following the 2003 Iraq War, each attack is a tragedy nonetheless.
On the 12th of January in 2016, Daesh attacked Istanbul’s historic Sultanahmet Square and killed 10 German tourists and 1 Peruvian. While there were statements made by Western powers including the United States and Germany, media coverage was sparse at best. Two days later, Daesh attacked the Indonesian capital of Jakarta with a much less successful result than their confederate in Istanbul. Four civilians were killed in the attack as well at four militants. Multiple people were arrested on charges of conspiracy in the following days. This attack garnered much more attention from the world, including statements from the United Nations, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and the United States, yet media coverage remained minimal.
These attacks and the ensuing reactions show some upsetting trends. When a European country suffers at the hands of terrorists, the world rallies around them. However, when there are attacks by the same group in Eastern nations there is no outcry, no shows of support whatsoever. It is imperative that, to beat organizations such as Daesh, love must be shown to all of those who are affected by the group’s barbarity.
This is more apparent in majority-Muslim nations such as Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon, and Indonesia. Daesh, commonly supported by the media–whether this support is conscious or not is the subject of another article and another discussion–claims Islam and the restoration of the Caliphate as its goal. However, the group is anything but Islamic. It violates the Achtiname of Muhammad, a treatise written by the Prophet Muhammad that not only protects the rights of Christians in Muslim territories, but that also promises to fight on their behalf. Most jarring, however, was the testimony of French reporter Didier François. He stated, “It was more hammering what they were believing than teaching us about the Koran. Because it has nothing to do with the Koran… They didn’t even have the Koran; they didn’t even want to give us a Koran.” This is the group has frequently been compared with the American terrorist organization the Ku Klux Klan, a group that claimed to be soldiers of God. It does not take much research to know that the KKK is far from a Christian organization, just like it will not take much research to realize that Daesh is far from a Muslim organization.
Despite the obvious fact that Daesh does not represent Islam, it is still attractive to Muslim youth who feel ostracized by society and who are looking for a place to belong. The Western media’s neglect of the plight of Muslim-majority nations at the hands of groups like Daesh–created by the misdeeds of the West–only serves to increase the group’s ranks. It sends the message, “The West does not care about you.” It is a war of us versus them that they are trying to play and our reactions are playing in accordance to their plans.
#prayforbaghdad #prayforbeirut #prayforistanbul #prayforjakarta #prayforpeace
