by Brianna Langley | Oct 14, 2014 | News Slider
The Islamic State in Syria and Iraq (ISIS) is the newest extremist terrorist group that has captured our nation’s attention and injected cold fear into our society. Due to the group’s affiliation with Islam, many individuals are condemning the religion. However, a large number of Muslim people detest ISIS’s actions. “ISIS never reflected Islam and never will. These are extremist factions that don’t represent the whole Muslim community,” said Samha Siddiqui, a political science major at Lipscomb. “They don’t even make up one per-cent of the whole Muslim population, so there’s no way that we can say they do reflect Muslim opinions.” Fellow political science major Akim Smith says that ISIS is simply using religious justifications to legitimize the torture, murder and slaughter of anyone (including fellow Muslims) that does not adhere to their specific beliefs for the purpose of gaining political ground. “A lot of people say that ISIS is neither Islamic nor a state, but as a Muslim, I would say that it is Islamic and it is a state, but it doesn’t reflect Islam as a whole,” Smith said. “I want people to know that this is not a reflection of Islam as a whole, but it’s a reflection of a particular, small brand of Islam.” Exercise science major Tahreem Fatima echoed the dangers of associating the ideology preached by ISIS with the ideology of the majority of the Muslim community. “I believe that Islam values all life, so what ISIS and other extremists do is completely wrong,” Fatima said. “I hate everything ISIS stands for, and I realize how important it is to speak out...
