Current Events & Trends: Islamic State explains to West: “Why We Hate You”

In addition to glitzy videos regularly distributed via social media, they produce an eye-catching color online magazine, Dabiq—named after a town in northern Syria where, according to Islamic writings, Muslim armies will meet and defeat the forces of the West in an Armageddon-like battle leading to Islamic rule over the entire world.

The issue published in July 2016, titled “Break the Cross,” encourages Christians to do exactly that—arguing that this is what Jesus Himself (whom they  call Isa and believe to be a true Muslim) will do at His return (along with converting the world to Islam). The cover shows an Islamic State fighter breaking a cross from the top of a church building.

The magazine urges Christians to abandon Christianity and convert to Islam, since Jesus himself was “a slave of Allah” who upon returning to earth will “wage jihad” upon all non-Muslims.

The magazine’s editorial explains why Westerners—including “pagan Christians,” “liberal secularists” and “skeptical atheists”—“must abandon their infidelity and accept Islam, the religion of sincerity and submission to the Lord of the heavens and the earth.” It states that recent terror attacks that killed and injured more than 600 should cause those in the West “to pause and contemplate the reasons behind the animosity and enmity held by Muslims for Westerners”—enmity rooted in the West’s refusal to worship Allah and submit to him (Islam means “submission [to Allah]”).

An article titled “Why We Hate You & Why We Fight You” mocks Western political and religious leaders who say the Islamic State is not Islamic. “Muslims have been commanded to terrorize the disbelieving enemies of Allah,” it explains. “One would think that the average Westerner, by now, would have abandoned the tired claim that the actions of the mujahidin [martyrs for the cause of Islam] . . . don’t make sense.”

It goes on to explain that politicians will say the actions of the Islamic State have nothing to do with Islam “regardless of how much it stands in opposition to facts and common sense just to garner as many votes as they can for the next election cycle.”

The article blasts Western media for the lie that the attacks on Westerners are not Islamic, saying “the analysts and journalists will say it in order to keep themselves from becoming a target for saying something that the masses deem to be ‘politically incorrect’ . . . It’s foolish, but they keep repeating it regardless because they’re afraid of the consequences of deviating from the script.” (Source: Dabiqmagazine).