We are all aware of the barbaric acts of ISIS, al Qaeda and the others flying the Black Flag. Sadly their violence continues to kill innocents around the world and here at home. They fight in the cause of Jihad to impose their totalitarian religion on all people. But they are not the only ones working toward that goal. There are other Islamist groups who seem much less dangerous on the surface, but actually represent an even more insidious threat to free western society. They seek to use our very freedoms as weapons against us.
A new report claims that hundreds of women have been murdered by the Islamic State (ISIS) for refusing sex slavery. ISIS justifies the practice of slavery according to its interpretation of sharia law. They go so far as to claim that any Muslims who object to the restoration of slavery are guilty of apostasy, because the practice is so well-established in sharia law. According to one of their official publications:
[T]aking their women as concubines is a firmly established aspect of the Shari’ah that if one were to deny or mock, he would be denying or mocking the verses of the Qur’an and the narration of the Prophet … and thereby apostatizing from Islam.
It is thus no surprise to read a report that women captured by ISIS are “sold on a macabre sexual slavery market – governed by ancient laws from almost 1,500 years ago.” That law is sharia law, which ISIS has been proclaiming to follow all along. The new report has details on the many women who have refused to be turned into sex slaves. These women are killed. At least 250 have been murdered in recent months according to Kurdish officials near the ISIS-held town of Mosul.
Hundreds more victims have escaped to one clinic in northern Iraq alone, where they have been treated for rape and shock. Stories coming out of the ISIS-held lands include a report in the Spanish press that ISIS is killing prisoners to harvest their organs for sale. Wounded fighters may also be killed for parts, which are worth large sums on the black market.
One girl was raped so often by ISIS that she set herself on fire to stop it. Miraculously surviving the attacks, she is now being treated in Germany.
The moral horrors of ISIS’s sharia law call out for international intervention. The United States is engaged in operations in Iraq in support of the Iraqi campaign against ISIS. However, the pace of the war is slow, with President Barack Obama claiming that he hopes the city of Mosul will fall “eventually,” possibly by the end of the year. A more robust strategy against ISIS is offered by Cut Down the Black Flag: A Plan to Defeat the Islamic State. Published last year, this book was ahead of its time in endorsing the use of special operations forces to train and support tribal and other Sunni forces against ISIS. However, the State Department has not followed through with a political agenda designed to win the support of Sunnis. The State Department’s determination that Iraq needed “a Shia strongman” is behind the success of ISIS in western Iraq, as their chosen strongman betrayed promises to Sunni tribes negotiated under the aegis of the US military.
The women who have fallen under the shadow of ISIS deserve their human rights. A more robust strategy is needed to combat this scourge, and replace the law of slavery with laws of dignity and freedom.
According to Islamic law, one of the areas in which lying is permitted, and sometimes required, is where it will be advantageous in dealings with attempts to gain the submission of non-believers.
The UK's system of sharia courts seems to be undermining the criminal law against domestic violence among British Muslims, while the Saudis introduce a new innovation in whipping.