Warning To ISIS Their Attacks May Spark Islamophobia Oddly Ineffective

Pundits across the region have noted that not just ISIS, but militant Islamic groups in general, appear not to heed warnings that their activities put the lives and welfare of Muslims at risk.

Raqqa, formerly in Syria, November 16 – Leaders who say they warned the Islamic State that attacks on Western targets might cause an increase in Islamophobia report that the admonition fell on deaf ears, and they are at a loss to explain why.

Tribal elders and military commanders in regions controlled by ISIS reportedly predicted that the bombing of the Russian airliner in the Sinai Peninsula at the end of October, and the series of coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris last Friday night, ran serious risk of provoking mistreatment of Muslims in the countries or regions affected by those attacks, and that perhaps a concern for Muslim welfare dictated not greenlighting those operations. Strangely, say those elders, the senior leadership of the organization appeared unconcerned that Muslims may suffer as a result of the attacks, a phenomenon that the elders and commanders consider out of character for people who otherwise claim to care deeply about Muslims.

A tribal leader from a cluster of villages north and east of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Islamic State, shook his head as he recalled advising several senior ISIS strategists to account for the welfare of Muslims in the areas targeted by terrorist operations abroad. “I said they better watch out, because the first people to suffer after the immediate victims would be Europe’s Muslims, when the local population inevitably reacts with hostility,” said Alday Sakr. “They sort of smiled and nodded, as if that’s exactly what they were hoping for. So I repeated myself, to make sure they understood I was describing something bad, and they said, basically, ‘Yeah, we know – that’s fine.’ I’m a little surprised. Don’t know what to make of it.”

Indeed, pundits across the region have noted that not just ISIS, but militant Islamic groups in general, appear not to heed warnings that their activities put the lives and welfare of Muslims at risk. “It’s almost as if they don’t actually value the lives of Muslims in and of themselves,” observed Turkish commentator Mekingyit Avyis. “Which is bizarre, I would say, considering ISIS claims to be the sole legitimate representative of all Muslims, so you’d think the well-being, safety, and relative freedom of Muslims everywhere wold be of prime concern to them. They have a funny way of showing it.” He noted that the vast majority of victims of Islamic terrorism are Muslims, a fact that merely indicates the curious phenomenon is not restricted to ISIS.

“It’s like they’ve never even heard of Islamophobia,” he added. “Bizarrre.”