Unpacking the Islam in ISIS

Daniel Greenfield does it with great insight and élan:

To understand ISIS, we have to unlearn what the media tell us. The media tells us that terrorists only represent an extreme edge of the population. If they have popular support, it’s only because the civilian population has somehow become radicalized. (And usually it’s our fault.) 

And yet that model doesn’t hold up. It never did. 

The religious and ethnic strife in the Middle East out of which ISIS emerged and which has become its brand, goes back over a thousand years. If support for terrorism emerges from radicalization, then the armies of Islam were radicalized in the time of Mohammed and have never been de-radicalized. 

The Caliphate, like the Reich, is a utopia which can only be created through the mass murder and repression of all those who do not belong. This isn’t a new vision. It’s the founding vision of Islam. 

What is wrong with ISIS is what is wrong with Islam. 

We can defeat ISIS, but we should remember that its roots are in the hearts of the Sunni Muslims who support it. ISIS and Al Qaeda are only symptoms of the larger problem.

If we can't come to terms with that reality, we're sunk.

Update: Justin Trudeau, ninny nonpareil, defends his visit to a Wahhabi mosque:

Speaking in front of an audience of Muslims Tuesday, Trudeau portrayed himself as the white knight in shining armour trying to protect Canada’s Muslims. 

He said: “Regardless of the attacks on me, be it for attending RIS [Revival of Islamic Spirit], or simply visiting a mosque in my riding, I want you to know that I will always stand up to the politics of division.”

Alas, he will never stand up to--or even understand--Islamic supremacism. Indeed, he will court it like crazy in an effort to make it pay off for him and his power-crazed handlers. Woe betide us all when this twit becomes our low information prime minister.