An article found elaborating the contradicting ideology of ISIS, thought should share.
HOW DO WE KNOW, WE KNOW?
When Daesh’s leader declared Caliphate in Mosul in summers 2014, the question whether it is so or not rose in many minds. A young mind whether trained in modern academic institution or in a madrasah naturally turned to internet as a source for the latest news. What newspapers and electronic channels were shying away from reporting, perhaps owing to information policy was being freely shared on the internet. As electronic and print media were not the first ones to report, rather it was ‘hearsay’ through which the news spread, most people turned to social media to ‘confirm’ the news of such an occurrence. This was all ‘normal’, governments covering up, news channels and newspapers knowingly looking the other way, and social media exposing reality, just like wiki leaks. Information was travelling fast through twitter and facebook accounts. Daesh-specific Webpages were attracting more surfers while chat-rooms and watsApp groups had picked up the gossips and were sharing video links. By the time international media jumped in, shortly followed by national media; it was well known on the streets that the world didn’t want the news to be out, and if that were the case, ‘there must be something good about it’. Silently, social media had outperformed the formal news sources, and the youth thought they could make better sense of reality through their own ‘sources’ on information highway!
What ‘formal’ news networks were labeling as too to ‘ugly’ to show, youth, not necessarily with religious tilt, were seeing all, even as a respite, from poor and corrupt governance, and social injustices spread all around them. Before state apparatus could saddle up, vulnerable mind had already been touched. When ‘credible’ media was reporting brutalities of the new state, people on street knew or at least they thought they knew that there was another side of the coin, ‘the social media side of it’; where violence was the new ‘taste’.
Question is how do we know who’s side of the story is true? How do we know ‘we know the reality’? Is government right or are the private and international news channels reporting the truth or is it the social media that delivers us from ignorance? And all this is not just about any news but regarding an ‘important news item’. As a test case, let us analyze what Daesh claimed and demanded, and how to take the news source for judging the authenticity of the news? Let us see what route Islam asks us to follow.
As for the first part, Allah (SWT) in Quran says, ‘O you who believe, if a sinful person brings you a report, verify its correctness, lest you should harm a people out of ignorance, and then become remorseful on what you did’ (Al-Hujarat:6). Explaining this verse Ibn-e-Kathir has reported an incident which has been narrated widely by various mufasareen (commentators) with slight variations. In a nutshell, the incident was regarding collection of zakat from Bani al-Mustaliq when the tribe embraced Islam, the Holy Prophet sent a man to collect zakat from them. When he arrived in the territory of the tribe, he remembered about the old enmity he had with the tribe since the days of jahilyya (days before Islam). He became scared, lest they should harm him and without visiting the people of the tribe returned to Medina and complained to the Holy Prophet that they had refused to pay the zakat and had even wanted to kill him. On hearing this Holy Prophet (SAW) dispatched a contingent, led by Khalid (RA), with clear instructions, i.e., a) not to be hasty and b) investigate and confirm the news first. Following the instructions of his master, Khalid (RA) stationed his troops outside the town and sent spies to confirm the news. The spies reported back that the tribe was on faith and there was no evidence to blame them for any wrong action. The next morning, Khalid (RA) went himself to further verify the news of his spies and found that they were right and thus reported back to the Messenger (SAW), the verse was thus sent down. A great blunder would have occurred had the news not been verified and had there been haste in acting upon the news. So, it was instilled upon Muslims that ‘Whenever you receive important news bearing upon a vital matter you should not accept it immediately but should first examine the man who has brought it. If he is an evil-doer be cautious and do not be hasty in taking any actions.’ And remember, this is not about every news; the Arabic word used in the verse, naba particularly means an ‘important news’. Therefore, the rule does not apply on ordinary matters.
From the verse many legal principles have been deduced and have been practiced by the faithful for centuries. For example, you will find the collectors of ahadees (sayings of the Prophet SAW), avoiding taking ahadees from fasiqun (evil-doers/transgressors). Similarly, it became mandatory for the state to verify the report brought by its spy whose character was doubtful. Another rule drawn is that news should not be acted upon if received from the person whose character cannot be evaluated for fisq (evil doing), like in the case of an unknown person. Imam Abu Bakr al Jasas has concluded that acting upon news form a fasiq (evil-doer) concerning the rights or duties of Muslims or regarding a Shari’ah commandment is prohibited.
Daesh’s claims that as people in some occupied territories of Iraq and Syria have given willful baya (covenant of allegiance) for Caliphate to their leader and that Islam is being implemented in the occupied territory therefore, all Muslims are under compulsion to obey the Caliph. These claims of Daesh have been reported through social media tools. Applying Islamic principle to accept news requires verification of the ‘reporter’ first before taking any action in obedience to the Caliph. As information received through twitter and facebook accounts comes from unknown persons belonging to unconfirmed country of origin, the verification of reporter authenticity cannot be made. The principle is that if reporter of ‘important news’ (entailing Shari’ah obligation regarding rights or duties of Muslims) cannot be evaluated for fisq (evil-doing) the news item must not be acted upon. This means that all those who believe in Islam would not accept the claim of Daesh and neither would they opt for giving baya to the proclaimed Caliph, based on the social media or internet tools or reported by electronic or the print media.
It does not end here; as important news was verified by the Prophet (SAW) by sending a contingent to the area so, could we send a wise confidant of ours to Daesh controlled territory? It is the answer to this question that further pushes one back, for Daesh did not allow visitors to tour around their state for evaluating their claims of Shari’ah implementation. Daesh would charge a person with espionage, if the person visited them with the intent to return back to his people for reporting what he had seen. Needless to say, what the punishment for a spy is? So it is banned by Daesh to visit their state for some time and return to one’s hometown for informing the people about reality. In the city-state of Medina, Tribal elders used to meet the Prophet (SAW), ask questions about Islam and learn about matters concerning duties.They would stay in the city for couple of days only to return to their tribes.
As Daesh does not allow envoys in their area to evaluate their claims, there is no means to confirm their claims, eventually none of their demands can be acted upon. It is this Shariah which is rehmah (blessing) of Allah. It saves the faithful from following vane desires and becoming a victim of seditionists and the ignorant.