A prominent Chechen militant in the Islamic State (IS) group has given an explanation of why, in his view, the entire world, including the United States, the Persian Gulf states, and even actors, musicians, scantily clad women, and those who make "bawdy TV series" are opposed to the militants in Syria and Iraq.
Musa Abu Yusuf al-Shishani is a member of the predominantly Chechen IS faction Katibat Al-Aqsa faction, which fought in Kobani. Musa Abu Yusuf al-Shishani gained notoriety when he appeared in a video in October calling on Chechens in Europe to either join the fighting in Syria or commit acts of terror in Europe.
The Chechen militant gives frequent lectures via social media on various matters connected with the IS group and its extremist version of Islam.
In his latest lecture, titled Allah Is Sufficient For You and shared via pro-IS accounts on the Russian-language social network VKontkakte on February 5, Musa Abu Yusuf al-Shishani offers some interesting insights into the worldview of a Chechen militant fighting in IS.
The lecture appears to be intended as a rallying cry to Russian-speaking IS militants, some of whom are likely despondent after the group's defeat in Kobani.
Haters Gonna Hate
Musa Abu Yusuf al-Shishani explains that the U.S.-led coalition against the group is a reaction to the threat posed by the militants. "Infidels and pagans from around the world have gathered against you in a single coalition because you have trampled the border with which they had divided the Muslims and you declared a caliphate [the term used by the IS group to refer to the lands under its control], which is a direct threat to their Taghut [idolatrous] world order," he declares.
The Chechen militant says that "democrats" (a term used by IS to describe proponents of a democratic system as opposed to a system based on Shari'a law) and "nationalists" had "ganged up" on the IS group, alongside "idolatrous agents from the Persian Gulf countries."
The reason for this, according to Musa Abu Yusuf al-Shishani, is that the IS group had "declared a caliphate and shattered all their plans and dreams to build on Muslim blood a secular system or an 'Islamic' republic on the Saudi model."
In addition to this, the "heathens, Sufis, Shi'a, and Habashites" had also declared war on the IS group, Musa Abu Yusuf al-Shishani says in a reference to other, non-Sunni groups in Syria and Iraq who opposed the militants.
These groups, as well as the Western "infidels," are against the IS group because the militants have "deprived them of their ability to trade alcohol and tobacco, drugs, and women's bodies," the Chechen militant says.
If it were not enough that infidels from around the world, Sufis, Shi'a, and Saudis were against the IS group, Musa Abu Yusuf al-Shishani says that the Sunni militants have yet another enemy: "adulterers, drunkards, thieves, men who do not pray, eunuchs, men who look like women, women who love going around half-naked, musicians, actors, and those who sell CDs of bawdy TV series -- they are all as one, they hate the forces of the caliphate, because you have deprived them of the meaning of life," he explains.
According to him, even other Islamic groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir and the Muslim Brotherhood are opposed to the IS group, because they are jealous of the militants' success. While "eternal talkers" from groups like Hizb ut-Tahrir had tried for years to "turn the heads of naive youth," the IS group had gone ahead and established a "caliphate," Musa Abu Yusuf al-Shishani explains.
"You have achieved such results that they could only dream about for another couple of decades," the Chechen militant reassures his fellow Russian-speaking extremists.
-- Joanna Paraszczuk