IS (Daesh), since its inception has been accused of forwarding American and Israeli interests. Despite of this, it is considered as an organizations formed by Muslims against Non-Muslims, by the West. Although this claim has been rejected by leaders of the Muslim world based on the grounds that the likes of IS are targeting Muslims only and their acts are not in line with the teachings of Islam. The teachings of IS and their operations have been rejected by Muftis (Islamic Scholars) from all over the world. Most recently, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia Sheikh Abdulaziz Al-Asheikh, claimed the Islamic State is actually a part of the Israeli army. This statement was issued in response to a recent threat made against Israel by the Islamic State.

“ This threat against Israel is simply a lie. Actually, Daesh (IS) is part of the Israeli soldiers,” the Grand Mufti told the Saudi Gazette.

“ They cannot be considered as followers of Islam. Rather, they are an extension of Kharijites, who rose in revolt against the Islamic Caliphate for the first time by labeling Muslims as infidels and permitting their bloodletting.”

This fatwa is fairly significant as it clearly delineate Muslims from IS. Also, the fact that Saudi’s Grand Mufti is considered a well-respected authority among all Islamic countries means that the activities of IS cannot be linked to Muslims.

This fatwa is not the first of its kind. On August 19th 2014 he pronounced the militants of ISIS and Al-Qaeda as the foremost enemy of Islam in the following words:

” The ideas of extremism, radicalism and terrorism … have nothing to do with Islam and (their proponents) are the enemy number one of Islam.”

The fatwa of the Saudi’s Grand Mufti has come at a crucial time when ISIS is attracting Muslim support by raising the sensitive issue of Israel’s atrocities against the unarmed and innocent civilians of Palestine. By rightly labeling ISIS militants as the soldiers of Israel, the Grand Mufti has clearly drawn a line which Muslims cannot cross if they wish to remain in the circle of Islam. Anyone who doesn’t heed this warning and still sides with ISIS, cannot be considered as the followers of Islam in light of this declaration.

In order to counter the growing threat of Israeli militancy, the Grand Mufti expressed his confidence in the 34 country Muslim alliance that has been formed. According to him this Saudi led alliance is capable of dealing with the growing ISIS threat. The members of this alliance include:

1. Bahrain 2. Egypt 3. Malaysia 4. Pakistan 5. Sudan

6. Bangladesh 7. Gabon 8. Maldives 9. Palestine 10. Togo

11. Benin 12. Guinea 13. Mali 14. Qatar 15. Tunisia

16. Chad 17. Jordan 18. Mauritania 19. Saudi Arabia 20. Turkey

21. Comoros 22. Kuwait 23. Morocco 24. Senegal 25. United Arab Emirates

26. Cote d’Ivoire 27. Lebanon 28. Niger 29. Sierra Leone 30. Yemen

31. Djibouti 32. Libya 33. Nigeria 34. Somalia

The combined strength of the alliance presents a formidable force. This strength is further bolstered with inclusion of a nuclear power like Pakistan which possesses a wide variety of nuclear capable ballistic missiles like Shaheen II which has a range of 2750 km. In addition Pakistan also has land, air and sea based delivery systems for the launch of such missiles. Another notable mention of the alliance is the United Arab Emirates which has the world’s most advanced F-16s i.e F-16 E/F Block 60s which are a half-generation ahead of the F-16 C/D Block 50/52+ aircraft that form the backbone of the US Air Force.

Kashif Mirza Mirza Kashif Baig is a MBA from IoBM and has been actively contributing for Monthly Interaction for over a year.