Saturday, November 22, 2014

November 20, 2014 | 7:30pm

The not-so-Islamic State: ISIS’ huge debt to the infidel

Protesters hold what is believed to be an ISIS flag in Kashmir. Photo: Umer Asif / Demotix

Ever since its emergence a few months ago, the declared ambition of the startup caliphate of the Islamic State has been to “wipe out every trace of Infidel influence” in areas under its control.

Yet, with each passing day, it becomes more clear that, its deadly fantasies notwithstanding, the IS can’t escape from a world created and dominated by the Infidel.

Start with the name that the IS, or Daesh in Arabic, has chosen for itself: ad-dawlat al-Islamiyah, or “Islamic Government.”

The concepts of “state” and “government” are entirely Western, not adopted by Muslim peoples until the 19th century. The very words “state” and “government” are never mentioned in the Quran.
Daesh’s “caliph” has also appointed a number of vizirs. This, too, is un-Islamic.

Of Persian origin, the word vizir designated high officials of the pre-Islamic Sasanian Empire overthrown by Arab Muslim warriors in the 7th century. Mohammad had no vizirs, nor did any of his four immediate successors, the so-called “Well Guided caliphs.”

The startup caliphate, making lavish use of cyberspace, has also launched its own “halal” currency with the declared aim of replacing “Infidel” currencies such as the dollar and euro.

But here, too, the IS has made a number of mistakes that would be comical were it not for the group’s almost unprecedented savagery.

To start with, the new currency is called dirham, an Arabic corruption of the Greek drachma, which was the Byzantine currency for centuries.

Admittedly, the IS did not have an easy task. For the Prophet and his immediate successors didn’t develop a monetary system of their own. In fact, in primitive Arabia, barter trade was the norm for decades after the appearance of Islam.

Since then, various Islamic dynasties have adopted various currencies, always using “Infidel” names.
Some used, and still use, the dinar, from the Greek denarius auri. Others used, and still use, the riyal from the Spanish real (royal).

Still others used the jeniyah from the British guinea and the qiran from the German and Scandinavian krone (crown). The Indian roupee and piaster have also been used by different Muslim societies at different times.

Another problem: The IS’ new-minted coins declare their weight of gold and silver in grams, an “Infidel” measurement, rather than the Islamic measure, mithqal.

This is because Daesh has adopted the “Infidel” system of measures systems, using kilograms, kilometers, etc., instead of Islamic equivalents such as qantar, owqiah, zir’a and al-ba’a.

The value of the coins, notably almost $700 for the gold one, is based on the valuations published by Reuters last September. Once again, the “Infidel” set the tune.

One side of the coins shows an image of what is described as Al-Masjed al-Aqsa, or the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. This is clearly meant to send an anti-Israel message.

Otherwise, one might have expected the image of the Ka’aba in Mecca, supposed to be the most important Islamic site in the world.

While the Ka’aba is supposed to be a timeless symbol of belief in the One God, the Al-Aqsa building as it is today is what remains of a series of edifices built and destroyed over the past 2,500 years.

(The edifice’s main frame was built by Christian engineers in the 8th century, based on the measurements of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.)

Even then, the supposed image of Al-Aqsa seems to be the work of an artist who hasn’t actually seen the edifice. In the image, the famous dome is mislocated on the left-hand side and in the back of the octagonal building and (compared to the real proportions of the actual edifice) appears much larger.
The Islamic State’s most noteworthy embrace of the works of the “Infidel,” however, is surely its use of the satanic Internet.

Its personnel, including converts from Europe and North America, regularly display across the Web what seems to be the main, if not the only, thing they’ve learned from Islam: cutting the throats of defenseless captives.