Raja, Ashraf Masood ISIS: Ideology, Symbolics and Counter Narratives

Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2019, pp. 150

Abstract

The phenomenon of “Islamic” terrorism has been on the rise for the last two decades and it gained world prominence with first 9/11 in 2001 and then the ISIS establishment of “khilafat” after their takeover of Western Iraq. Terrorist activities by fundamentalist groups like Al-Qaida and specially ISIS in Europe and the United States has led to the rise of a very strong anti-Muslim sentiment in the non-Muslim world, resulting in Islamophobic incidents all over the globe. Many authors, theorists and journalists have reviewed the history and written extensively about the causes for the rise of such groups with varying degrees of success. Dr Masood Ashraf Raja’s new book ISIS: Ideology, Symbolics and Counter Narratives is another instalment in this tradition. But unlike other books, Dr Raja places ISIS, its narratives and its global reach within a historical, ideological, and symbolic context, explaining and elaborating on the kind of Muslim identity which would be susceptible to its messages.
Dr Raja is a tenure track professor of post-colonial studies in the English department at the University of North Texas. His military background, academic and literary knowledge, Islamic cultural heritage, training in western academic discourse and a deeply humanistic bent towards his subject matter, all combine to provide this book with the theoretical, material and philosophical scaffolding necessary for an analysis of the ISIS discourse and appeal. Furthermore, he provides a deep and layered understanding not only of the ISIS ideology but also of the material conditions created by neoliberal capital and US intervention under which such an ideology can flourish – providing policy makers both in the US and the Muslim world with theoretical weapons to curb this dangerous trend.
The book is divided into six chapters beginning with an introduction and an overview to the historical rise of ISIS and an explanation of ISIS ideological framing within the broader historical discourses of Islam. This in-depth theoretical scaffolding provides readers with the necessary tools to understand ISIS’s ideology, use of historical Islamic symbols, and employment of pre-existing Islamic framing in its mission to recruit soldiers from across the globe. However, the book has been written with a broad audience in mind including people not versed in theory, so it gives the readers the option of skipping the theoretical explanation without compromising understanding. This is extremely pertinent as the book has the capacity for being widely read and understood – which in the present political climate is extremely important.
After the introductory chapters, Dr Raja discusses the terms often employed by the media in discussing “Islamic” terrorism such as “Jihad” “Ummah” and “Mujahid” and provides a detailed understanding of the etymology, history and changing meanings associated with thisvocabulary. This historical contextualization of these terms both within Islamic history and their usage in the Middle East and in various historical phases in the subcontinent (Khilafat Movement and US mobilization of mujahideen against the USSR) explicate the ways in which these terms have been employed during and after the struggle for independence in the colonial era. This explanation paves the way for understanding the ways in which these terms and others are specially designed by ISIS to tap into the pre-existing knowledges of Islamic history in the minds of Muslims to garner sympathy and support for themselves.
The book moves on to explain the ways in which one specific strain in Sunni Islam – the Wahabi-Salafiversion, sponsored by Saudi Arabia provides ISIS with the ideology and discursive framework to declare all other sects of Islam as wrong while simultaneously hailing the followers of the Wahabi-Salafi Islam towards its mission to reinstate the Islamic empire – reclaiming the lost Muslim glory. Dr Raja does not imply that all Wahabi-Salafi Muslims are ideologically driven to support ISIS – rather he explains how their beliefs, extreme puritanical views and rigidity places them on a “metaphorical slippery slope” towards making them prime candidates for ISIS recruitment. Simultaneously, he also explains why ISIS branding would not be appealing to say the Shiites and other moderate Muslims all over the globe. However, he cautions against any extremist religious view by explaining how the Barelvi Islam in the subcontinent has in its turn oppressed minorities. His explanation provides an understanding of why the Muslim world and democratic Muslim states are themselves the first target of Islamist organizations like the ISIS.
The book goes on to analyse the texts produced and utilized by ISIS such as Dabiq (magazine produced by ISIS) and The Management of Savagery to explain the method behind the apparent madness of ISIS brutality, creation of unrest and seemingly random acts of terror all over the globe. This is an extremely enlightening and fascinating read as Dr Raja’s “humanistic” approach to the subject shows ISIS as a disciplined, organized and focused organization (all the more dangerous for it of course) whose senseless brutalities are really not senseless at all. This insight is extremely useful for it explains the difficulty in quelling an apparent rabble of guerrilla fighters and answers the question of why the group repeatedly keeps emerging under various names and the might of the US military force only manages to quell it for a short time. To provide an answer to this question, the book delves into the material reality of war in the region, the impoverishment and disenfranchisement of people due to the entrenchment of neoliberal capitalist policies and the resultant production and proliferation of very specific human subjectivities.
ISIS: Ideology, Symbolics and Counter Narratives is a book which provides both its Muslim readers as well as western audiences with an understanding of the ways in which the world is connected and the reasons why policy makers, moderate religious clerics, and general public needs to change their attitudes and policies if they want to see an end to this dangerous phenomenon. It is a highly sensitive, humane read which despite the seriousness of the subject matter never abandons optimism and hope in humanity. Dr Raja ends the book with a call to the Muslims to “retrieve and proffer the instances of love, care, and compassion from Islamic history, of which the life of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is a true example” to combat the narrative retrievals of violence that have torn the social fabric of lives in Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Middle East.