(Photo by Fabio Teixeira / Pacific Press/Sipa USA) (Sipa via AP Images)
On Saturday afternoon, news broke that ISIL (also known as ISIS) had uploaded yet another video of one of their members beheading an innocent civilian. The victim, David Haines, was a British aid worker who was captured in Syria last year. According to reports, the video is similar to the brutal murders of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff. The news of this latest execution, and its grisly video, comes on the heels of President Obama's primetime speech on his strategy for combating the terrorist group last Wednesday night.
During his address, Obama outlined the U.S. strategy for fighting ISIS but he also included a pointed statement. "ISIL is not Islamic." Former Bush aide Ron Christie, immediately took to Twitter to criticize Obama. "#ISIS isn't Islamic? What kindergartner briefs the President on terrorism?" And Christie was definitely not the only public figure expressing that sentiment.
The following evening, Fox News' Megyn Kelly argued with Hassan Shibly, a representative of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, declaring that saying ISIL is not Islamic is denying reality; Kelly also demanded that Shibly prove that he's a moderate Muslim.
Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, that shocked the nation and launched the War on Terror, legislators, TV personalities and pundits alike have been scapegoating Muslims, making sure millions of Americans believe that the religion is just a breeding ground for terror and bigotry. From bills to ban Sharia law to outrage over the construction of mosques, the vitriol spewed at those who practice Islam is widespread, from brave keyboard warriors in comment sections to people with actual influence on policymaking.
But no matter what the fear-mongers say, Obama's statement was factual
. ISIL is a terrorist group; their actions have been denounced by local, national and international Muslim leaders. In the wake of the James Foley video, the Muslim British Council stood firm in their beliefs. "ISIS does not speak for Islam, and has been repudiated by all Muslims. Their message only appeals to those who are easily duped by their twisted message purporting to be Islam."
"The criminal actions of ISIS are antithetical to the faith of Islam," read the statement released by the Birmingham Islamic Society in the aftermath of the video of Steven Sotloff. Just before Obama's ISIS speech, several leaders in the American Muslim community held a press conference in Washington. During the conference, community leaders condemned the violence ISIL is inflicting upon innocents in Iraq and Syria and urged young Muslims to resist joining up with the terrorist organization.
Of course, despite the number of Muslims who have come out and renounced ISIL and everything it stands for, the skeptics remain. The anti-Islam crowd frequently points to terrorist attacks carried about by those who claim to be Muslims in order to stoke fears. But just because a terrorist claims to be a Muslim, it doesn't make it so. After all, the leaders of the Westboro Baptist Church claim it to be Christian, but few accept its message of hatred as having anything to do with the traditional Christian faith.
So, while Senator Lindsey Graham is raising an alarm, proclaiming that ISIS is going to create a master religion, take solace in the fact that if Graham's delusions were to somehow come true, that religion will look nothing like Islam.
An earlier version of this article misstated the name of the civil liberties advocacy organization that Hassan Shibly is a representative of. It is the Council on American-Islamic Relations, not the Council on Islamic Relations. It has since been corrected.
