A COALITION of imams and organisations representing British Muslims has written to UK Prime Minister David Cameron asking him to stop using the phrase “Islamic State” when talking about the new country carved out of Iraq and Syria by Islamist terrorists.
That’s what Abu Baqr al Baghdadi, who has proclaimed himself “the caliph of all Muslims and the prince of the believers,” calls his newly conquered territory, but it’s giving ordinary Muslims a bad name.
The British Muslim leaders declared that “the media, civic society and governments should refuse to legitimise these ludicrous caliphate fantasies by accepting or propagating this name. We propose that “UnIslamic State” (UIS) could be an accurate and fair alternate name to describe this group and its agenda – and we will begin to call it that.”
Good luck with that. But meanwhile two more “UnIslamic States” are being created right now, on Libyan and Nigerian territory: same black flags, same fanaticism and cruelty, even the same ski masks. Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state in northeastern Nigeria, is now surrounded by the forces of Boko Haram (the name roughly translates as “Western education is forbidden”). In fact, the whole north-eastern corner of Nigeria is passing out of the government’s control.
Boko Haram wants to impose an Islamic state in Nigeria, even though only the northern half of Nigeria’s population is Muslim. 3600 people have been killed in its attacks in the four years 2009-13, including bombings in the Christian parts of the country, but recently there has been a major acceleration: 2000 more people have been killed in just the first half of this year.
From about mid-July, Boko Haram’s leader Abubakar Shekau also changed tactics: instead of hit-and-run raids, he started to take and hold territory.
In August, after his fighters captured the town of Gwoza in Borno, he released a video declaring that the area was “now part of the Islamic Caliphate.”
He now rules over about three million people in northeastern Nigeria and neighbouring Cameroon.
Libya is considerably further down the same track. Shortly after last June’s parliamentary election, civil war broke out between the various militias that fought in the 2011 campaign to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi, the former dictator. It has got so bad that almost a third of Libya’s population, 1.8-million people, has fled the country, mostly seeking shelter in Tunisia.
A number of them have adopted extreme Islamist ideologies, partly because it guarantees a flow of arms and money from certain governments in the Gulf.
These Islamist militias have emerged as the winners both in the savage fighting in western Libya around the capital, Tripoli, and also in the other major city, Benghazi, in the east. In fact, Islamist militias with ISIS-style ideologies now control every city along the Libyan coast except Tobruk, a short distance from the Egyptian border. That is where the new parliament elected in June has taken refuge, and the parliament’s members are living on a hired Greek car ferry that is serving as a floating hotel. The front line starts just west of town – and the next town along the coast, Derna, has been declared an Islamic caliphate.
A lot of this is just ideological fashion, of course. The various “caliphates” are in touch with one another, after a fashion, but there is no master plan. However, the results are truly nasty both in Nigeria and in Libya – and the risk of over-reaction by those who feel threatened by these developments, especially in the West, is quite large.
Gwynne Dyer is an independent journalist whose articles are published in 45 countries
Two new ‘unIslamic States’ in Africa
That’s what Abu Baqr al Baghdadi, who has proclaimed himself “the caliph of all Muslims and the prince of the believers,” calls his newly conquered territory, but it’s giving ordinary Muslims a bad name.
The British Muslim leaders declared that “the media, civic society and governments should refuse to legitimise these ludicrous caliphate fantasies by accepting or propagating this name. We propose that “UnIslamic State” (UIS) could be an accurate and fair alternate name to describe this group and its agenda – and we will begin to call it that.”
Good luck with that. But meanwhile two more “UnIslamic States” are being created right now, on Libyan and Nigerian territory: same black flags, same fanaticism and cruelty, even the same ski masks. Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state in northeastern Nigeria, is now surrounded by the forces of Boko Haram (the name roughly translates as “Western education is forbidden”). In fact, the whole north-eastern corner of Nigeria is passing out of the government’s control.
Boko Haram wants to impose an Islamic state in Nigeria, even though only the northern half of Nigeria’s population is Muslim. 3600 people have been killed in its attacks in the four years 2009-13, including bombings in the Christian parts of the country, but recently there has been a major acceleration: 2000 more people have been killed in just the first half of this year.
From about mid-July, Boko Haram’s leader Abubakar Shekau also changed tactics: instead of hit-and-run raids, he started to take and hold territory.
In August, after his fighters captured the town of Gwoza in Borno, he released a video declaring that the area was “now part of the Islamic Caliphate.”
He now rules over about three million people in northeastern Nigeria and neighbouring Cameroon.
Libya is considerably further down the same track. Shortly after last June’s parliamentary election, civil war broke out between the various militias that fought in the 2011 campaign to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi, the former dictator. It has got so bad that almost a third of Libya’s population, 1.8-million people, has fled the country, mostly seeking shelter in Tunisia.
A number of them have adopted extreme Islamist ideologies, partly because it guarantees a flow of arms and money from certain governments in the Gulf.
These Islamist militias have emerged as the winners both in the savage fighting in western Libya around the capital, Tripoli, and also in the other major city, Benghazi, in the east. In fact, Islamist militias with ISIS-style ideologies now control every city along the Libyan coast except Tobruk, a short distance from the Egyptian border. That is where the new parliament elected in June has taken refuge, and the parliament’s members are living on a hired Greek car ferry that is serving as a floating hotel. The front line starts just west of town – and the next town along the coast, Derna, has been declared an Islamic caliphate.
A lot of this is just ideological fashion, of course. The various “caliphates” are in touch with one another, after a fashion, but there is no master plan. However, the results are truly nasty both in Nigeria and in Libya – and the risk of over-reaction by those who feel threatened by these developments, especially in the West, is quite large.
Gwynne Dyer is an independent journalist whose articles are published in 45 countries
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