Muslim world must shun brutal Islamic State

Just when the world thought the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) had reached the limits of brutality, with all their beheadings and senseless killings, the group has shown even more bestiality.
The manner in which a Jordanian air force pilot was burnt alive by ISIS was meant to dissuade Arab countries from participating in the coalition against them.
It worked, with at least one Gulf state deciding to pull out of the Western-led coalition that has been pounding ISIS positions with airstrikes.
Overall, the Arab world has been incensed by the sheer brutality of this “Islamist” grouping.
The beheadings of kneeling hostages, whose images and footages are posted on the Internet, has already brought worldwide condemnation. Unfazed, the group has shown that it could sink even lower with the murder of Jordan’s First Lieutenant Maaz al-Kassasbeh, who was locked in a cage and burnt alive.
Al-Kassasbeh was most likely killed some weeks before the video was released. But the group managed to show the world how cynical it could be by suggesting that the Jordanian pilot could be swapped for prisoners locked up in Jordanian prisons.
The fact that such an act itself violated Islam’s rules of battle may have been a factor in the outpouring of anger among the world’s Muslim population. But it does not require a religion to tell us that such a despicable act is beyond all norms and decency.
Jordan responded quickly by
carrying out the execution of
two jihadists on death row. The country’s jets were unleashed this past Thursday on a mission to take out ISIS positions. “This is just the beginning,” Jordan’s Foreign Minister said.
One day after Jordan unleashed its wrath on ISIS, the group claimed that the attacks had killed an American woman held hostage by the group and that none of their fighters were killed or injured. There was no way, of course, to verify the ISIS claim.
But the outpouring of support for Jordan’s King Abdullah from his people, coupled with the region-wide condemnation, suggested that more and more Arab people are no longer ignoring ISIS’ atrocities.
While al-Qaeda’s terrorist acts were largely billed as a fight between a Muslim group and the West, ISIS’ heinous behaviour is placed in an entirely different context. It is no longer “other people’s war” but a conflict that directly involved them as a people and as a nation.
Moreover, the fact that terrorist organisations like al-Qaeda are coming out to condemn ISIS’ brutality says something about how low and morally bankrupt the group has become. Of course, al-Qaeda may have said the right thing but for the wrong reason; its motive could be to spruce up its own image and gain more sympathisers.
In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks against the United States, T-shirts bearing Osama Bin Laden went on sale in various cities around the world, including Bangkok.
But nobody is selling T-shirts bearing the images of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. And the man has been in the world attention for some time now.
The outpouring of condemnation throughout the Arab world against ISIS suggests that the people there have come to the understanding they cannot be indifferent to this barbaric conflict.
It is unfortunate, however, that a man had to be burnt alive for the people of the region to come to this realisation.
However, if this realisation translates into a broader fight against this despicable group, then Lt al-Kassasbeh and the American woman, who ISIS claimed had died from the Jordanian airstrikes, would not have given their lives in vain.