The Brookings Institute published a study on where the pockets of ISIS support are around the world. They analysed the sources of supportive Tweets and found that the majority emanate from Muslim countries.
It’s no surprise to me that ISIS sympathisers are within our Arab communities. Their major support comes from the land of the birth of Islam, Saudi Arabia, as well as from war-torn Syria and Iraq. It’s somewhat surprising to see the United States ranking fourth in this infographic and I would like to know why this is and who those sympathisers are in actual fact.
The same goes for sympathisers from the UK and the rest of Europe. It is intriguing, and baffling, if those supporters turn out to be Muslims. Intriguing because I presume they and their parents escaped their Muslim countries and sought refuge in the Western world which embraced them. How they now turn to support ISIS is quite perplexing.
In any case, the fact remains that with this kind of support, ISIS is not going to go away any time soon.
To eradicate that support will take seismic change of our very culture and mindset. These are no easy tasks of course, but make no mistake; ISIS is an existential threat to our way of life as well as world peace. They are also a threat to our very Islam. I believe that if we want Islam to actually survive, a cultural shift must be allowed to happen. Immediate plans and actions must be put in place to cease the policies of hate and sectarian strife. Wars must stop in this area and a concerted effort at developing our education, healthcare and infrastructure must sincerely be made. So must the inculcation of democracy, democratic values and the respect for human rights. These must take precedence and all be made part of our culture.
Yes, of course this is a seismic change which will take generations to accomplish, and the journey must start immediately. The alternative of maintaining the status quo will see the end of our culture and our religion. Our future generations will simply be discounted and forgotten by history.
