Whether you’re a college student, a stay-at-home mom or simply someone without the patience or time to watch the news, you’re not alone: ISIS is an extremely confusing group and the recent events have only made it more difficult to understand. But before opinions are formulated and judgments are made, take the time to get the answers to the “dumb questions” you have: they’re not dumb.
1. What is ISIS?
ISIS is the terrorist group that has claimed responsibility for the recent attacks in Paris, Beirut and Baghdad. ISIS is also responsible for the attack on the Russian airline in Egypt that killed and injured so many innocent people.
ISIS began as a part of Al Qaeda, but the two groups didn’t agree on the same things after some time, and the ISIS that we know now broke away from Al Qaeda in 2014. Now, Al Qaeda and ISIS are rivals competing for power in various places.
ISIS controls a large portion of Syria and Iraq after taking power of these countries following civil wars. They’re known for executing prisoners of war, enslaving various people and raping women.
2. Why are they doing all of this?
ISIS wants to set up a “pure” Islamic state; they see the world as those who are with them and those who are against them, and will go to all measures to conform the world to their standards.
3. The relationship between ISIS and Islam — what does that mean?
Even though ISIS stands for “Islamic State of Iraq and Syria,” there is a drastic difference between the Islamic culture and ISIS itself. It is so important to note that most Muslims hate ISIS with a burning passion; in fact, Muslims are often the victims of the attacks by ISIS. ISIS believes in punishing those who do not exist with their beliefs of religion, while the Muslims believe in peace and co-existence. There is no way one can say that all those who practice Islam are related to ISIS. However, there is a relationship between the religion and ISIS. It’s simply that ISIS’s interpretation of the Islam religion is extreme and goes against moral fundamentals.
4. Why are people voluntarily joining ISIS?
It’s the same question that we ask our students in history class; why did people join the Nazis? There are people who do have hatred towards particular groups (this will never change, unfortunately), and there are also people who simply want to be in a group that stands for something bigger than itself, something that can bring adventure, purpose and even sometimes power.
5. So what do we do?
The best thing to do is to not give in. Do not give up your freedom by living in fear of them; that’s what they want. They want us to fear for our lives, to scrutinize those who they are scrutinizing. They want us to broadcast their acts of terrorism in the hopes that we will retaliate back with even stronger hatred. They want to replace our brave people with fearful people and take away our freedom. Yes, the attacks are horrific, so sad that it physically pains me to watch the news sometimes. But this is a time for countries to unite to take down this global threat, and to do all in its power to make sure that no more innocent lives are taken.
