Islamic Leadership + the war on ISIS

Few Facebook feeds earlier in the weekend extended solidarity for the 44 dead and 200 injured by two Islamic State suicide-bombings in a Shia suburb of Beirut, or the 18+ people that were killed in a Baghdad community earlier the same Friday as the ISIS attacks in Paris. Ironically, this empathetic dissonance has broadened the realization that ISIS’ hateful extremism is not uniquely targeting European, American, Hindu or Judeo-Christian values.

Like much in this world, this is a nuanced discussion that can’t be dominated by incendiary and ideological stump speeches from xenophobic positions like UKIP’s nor from an overly embracing liberal bias for acceptance and tolerance. This is difficult, messy, painful, uncomfortable and frankly quite scary stuff to deal with.

Western ignorance is, unfortunately, the root of why Western led solutions have proven so fruitless. Islam has a terrible PR problem and an association with violence that won’t be solved overnight but the majority of the billion Muslims I could count as friends are better suited for identifying and leading the solution. Islam needs unifying and tolerant leadership, fast.

To be clear: it is not Muslim people’s responsibility to “kick ISIS out of Islam” – ISIS has done that for themselves – but rather that it is in Muslims practitioners best interest to lead the offensive against ISIS since they are disproportionately suffering from their actions. Tolerant Muslims suffer directly and ultimately indirectly from associations amplified by people pandering to frustrated xenophobic populations, and of course locals suffer from the collateral damage to the infrastructure of their communities. Most importantly though, people of Islamic faith have a better understanding of what makes ISIS so abhorrently different, and it is because of this understanding that people of Islam can most effectively lead the solution this very global problem. A huge ancillary benefit will be the interfaith dialogue needed to coordinate a response.

To date, credible leadership from predominantly Muslim countries and non-state entities has been sorely lacking. Any efforts have been disjointed, misdirected and often tainted by nuanced inter-islamic differences and prejudices that I won’t pretend to understand despite spending over a decade of my life in Muslim countries and 8 years married into a Muslim family that I love very, very much.

Unfortunately a targeted and well-led military response to this familiar cycle of violence is critical; and an outspoken coalition of coordinated Inter-Islamic leadership will bring exponentially more sustainable results than the drone strikes and military assaults by non-muslim entities that will likely occur in the weeks to come.

The broader perception, rightly or wrongly, of Islam is also at stake – Muslim leaders ignore this unwanted burden at their and the World’s peril.