Ebrahim Moosa, a professor of Islamic studies at Notre Dame says while striking back is an immediate reaction, it might not be the best solution to ISIS in the long-run.
As we’ve seen in Paris, the Islamic extremist group is targeting civilians.
Moosa says ISIS’ acts are in some ways to draw attention to themselves, but also to strike back on the innocent.
He says imitating them, will only repeat the cycle.
“We are dealing with an adversary that is extremely cruel and extremely oppressive in their conduct and I think we cannot imitate them in annihilating them,” said Professor Ebrahim Moosa, University of Notre Dame, Islamic Studies.
Professor Moosa says Islamic extremists feel oppressed in their homelands.
“And that has caused some of these groups to gather together under the emblem that they are hyper Muslim, better Muslims than others, and they are kind of an Islam on steroids,” said Moosa.
In turn, they have taken countless lives, misconstruing the teachings of the Quran.
“The Quran teaches that all human life is sacred and when all human life is sacred, you cannot take any human being’s life and ISIS is doing the very antithesis of that teaching,” said Moosa.
By taking extreme measures, like suicide bombing, ISIS has targeted young recruits; most of the attackers in Paris wearing explosive belts.
A propaganda video released by ISIS targeting Washington D.C. has caused security to heighten across the U.S.
Moosa says threats from ISIS need to be taken seriously.
“This could be a decoy kind of statement to put attention on Washington and the attack happens elsewhere,” said Moosa.
Moosa says instead of repeating the behavior of terrorists and striking back, leaders of all faiths need to see this as an opportunity for peace building.
“I do believe that religious leaders, people from the Catholic tradition, from the Muslim tradition, a coalition of religious leaders in different parts of the world, can come together and act as firemen and talk to these groups and say, ‘we understand what your grievances are but we also cannot condone your conduct and how you want to achieve this.’ How do we build peace?” said Moosa.
Moosa plans to delve deeper into that question of ‘how to build’ peace at an expert panel later this week at Notre Dame.
The panel is open to the public and will focus on the Paris attacks and the larger background behind them.
