Source: Belfast Telegraph

‘Bomb and be done with it. Destroy the enemy, and all will be well.’ This seductive voice cannot go unchallenged.

ISIL must be defeated, but it will have no meaning to destroy ISIL today if another ISIL springs up 5 years from now. If we truly want to live in a world without terrorism, we cannot continue to treat it as a phenomenon that is self-existing, divorced from a global geopolitical landscape that is shaped largely by our own actions. Our focus should not just be on defeating ISIL- it must be on establishing a lasting peace.

The attacks were perpetrated by ISIL, but ISIL themselves are the offspring of extremist philosophy and foreign support. We must reflect on each of these in turn.

Islamic State does not deserve the name. The Qur’an that extremists like ISIL brandish in their videos disavows their clutch, warning that the murder of an innocent is tantamount to the murder of the whole of mankind (5:33). It teaches Muslims to live in peace with people of all faiths, in ‘equity and kindness.’ (60:9-10).

Muslim extremism is not the result of Prophet Muhammad’s teaching any more than Buddhist extremism is the result of Buddha, Christian extremism of Christ, or atheist extremism the result of secular philosophy. Regardless of the ideology from which it claims inspiration, extremism represents a willingness of a few to trample upon the rights of the many.

It is abhorrent to most people’s nature, meaning that its influence will only flourish with external support. The case of ISIL demonstrates this clearly. Short-sighted actions by western governments supported their dramatic rise to power in several ways.

First, through providing opportunity. It is no coincidence that ISIL has strongholds in Iraq and Libya, two nations left crippled by widely condemned western intervention. It seems that in the minds of our social elite, the financial and geopolitical fruits of those invasions completely outweighed any regard for the lives of the native people. With millions left dead and traumatised, the resulting power vacuums imposed a double injustice on indigenous civilians, whose nations were a walkover for ISIL’s territorial ambitions.

Then, through physical support. Arms, funding and training have for years flowed readily to nameless, faceless ‘moderate rebels’ in an attempt to overthrow Assad.

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