Nov 16th, 2016, 04:31 PM

Deconstructing Daesh

By Melissa Morrow
Image Credit: Flickr/Day Donaldson
An investigation to jihadism and the actions of the so-called Islamic State.

There have been plenty of news stories on what the jihadist group Isis has done in the past years, but not many explaining what exactly they try to represent. Isis is also known as Isil, IS, and Daesh. Isil and Isis are acronyms that stand for "Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant" and "Islamic State in Iraq and Syria/al-Sham", respectively. IS is simply the acronym for "Islamic State", while Daesh refers to their previous name in Arabic. This name, "al-Dawla al-Islamiya fil Iraq wa al-Sham", became the acronym Daesh (Da'ish). The group itself objects to the use of Daesh as their name, and it sounds unpleasant when spoken in Arabic. Because of this, many people continue to use Daesh as the primary term to reference the group — just to shake their linguistic legitimacy. 

Jihadists

Daesh is a jihadist group. Jihad is an Islamic term referring to the religious duty of Muslims to maintain and spread the religion. They are a very small minority in the Muslim world. Some may have heard the term "holy war" in association with terrorist groups like Daesh or al-Qaeda. This is because there is a belief associated with the jihad that sometimes violence is necessary in order to fight for what is "right." Jihadists refer to an extreme interpretation of Sunni Islam known as "Salafism," and believe that anyone who doesn't think the way they do is an "unbeliever" who is trying to destroy Islam.

Hassan Hassan, in his Guardian article, believes ISIS is an "ideological shakeup of Sunni Islam's traditional Salafism." Salafism has been traditionally "inward-looking and loyal to the political establishment" but since the Arab Spring it has increasingly become more political due to jihadists actively playing a hand in polarizing the Salafi identity and eroding traditional Salafi ideals. This is how they justify attacking Muslims and non-Muslims alike: Jihadists do not see other Muslims as truly Muslim unless they share the exact extreme beliefs. 


Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

How did it start?

Daesh is a splinter group from al-Qaeda. Their history starts with the Iraqi war in 2003. When the U.S. army overthrew Saddam Hussein and dissolved the Iraqi army at the end of the war, many of the Iraqi officers became jihadists to fight Americans. They did not appreciate the U.S. dismantling their army, and therefore turned (even more) against America. Some of the officers pledged allegiance to Osama Bin Laden and formed al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). AQI then created this "umbrella organization" called Islamic State in Iraq (ISI). They were not a very strong group until Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi started to rebuild the group's strengths in 2010. By 2013, Daesh was carrying out "dozens of attacks a month in Iraq". Those Iraqi army officers who became jihadist in 2003/2004 are some of the military leaders of Daesh. 

In June 2014, the group declared the establishment of a caliphate. This is a state governed in accordance to Islamic law ('Sharia') by the caliph. A caliph is regarded as the successor to Muhammad, the founder of Islam. Baghdadi is Daesh's caliph, and the group has demanded that Muslims across the world all swear allegiance to him, while also migrating to land under their control. Daesh wants to restore God's rule on Earth, and they are willing to kill to (in their mind) defend the Muslim community ('Umma'). Essentially, Baghdadi wants to be the supreme leader of everything.

Why are they so violent?

Daesh uses a multitude of techniques to attack people and gain global attention. They perform beheadings, crucifixions, and mass shootings, attempting to justify it by citing the Qur'an. They consider violence a political instrument. These beheadings have turned the group into a "globally feared brand," according to the Guardian in their article on the effects of media-covered violence. Daesh continues to use such brutal tactics because they know it will be publicized. Though a small minority, they are an exaggerated one, and they use it to their advantage.

As The Wire states in their article about the media and global inequality, "Our media representations of the world's problems are drawn from a very narrow pool of perspectives. Subsequently, our media systems showcase certain voices while marginalising others, especially people of colour, differently abled people, migrants, women, and girls." In this way, we can see how certain people and groups are "favored" above others. When thinking about it, we start to realize that much of our news is mainly about terrorism and not so much about refugees displaced because of said terrorism.

Daesh gets media publicity because of the way they carry out their business. They know that media will be outraged and spread the word about more "barbaric" murders, so they record the killings, knowing that the news will show it to the world and instill even more fear. A group like this has learned to use their enemies' fear in their favor and expand this fear as much as they can. Currently, Daesh is neither on the side of President Bashar al-Assad nor the rebels in the Syrian Civil war. Read more about the war situation here

You can also learn more about the Syrian conflict and divisions in allegiance in the video below: 

Video Credit: YouTube/Vox