The traditional Islamic roots of “Islamic State”
NOVANEWS
By Magdi Abdelhadi*
While the debate in Western capitals has focused on the wisdom of being sucked into another Middle East quagmire, in the Arab world the brutality of the self-styled “Islamic State” (IS) has sparked some unprecedented soul searching.
Departing from the usual conspiratorial discourse that sees foreign plots in all that befalls Arab societies, a growing number of voices are laying the blame for the proliferation of groups such as IS squarely on Arab-Islamic culture.
Brutal “utopia”
First to come under attack after the IS leader appointed himself caliph this summer was the hallowed notion that the historical caliphate was some kind of a golden age, a lost utopia, that Muslims should strive to resurrect.
One writer after another exposed the ruthlessness of success...