ISIL’s attempt at division will not succeed

The extremists seek to divide communities in order to promote their own agenda

Saudi Shiite worshipers frisked by members of security as they make their way to a hussainiya in the mainly Shiite coastal town of Qatif. Hussein Radwan / AFP

The attack by an ISIL-affiliated group in Saudi Arabia on a group of Shiite worshippers on Friday was typically cowardly. A gunman in Saihat, in the kingdom’s eastern province, opened fire while the community was celebrating a religious festival. The attack came on the same day that Boko Haram, which pledged allegiance to ISIL back in March, targeted a mosque and a village in north-east Nigeria, killing dozens of people.

In both cases, the group focused on soft targets, civilians who were going about their daily lives. And in both cases, the aim was to divide communities from their government, whether religious communities, as in Saudi Arabia, or poorer communities, as in Nigeria.

The strategy in Saudi Arabia is particularly pernicious. In their initial surge into Iraq, ISIL focused on splitting religious communities, posing as the “defenders” of the Sunni Iraqis against a then sectarian government in Baghdad. The result has been chaos and instability.

The same thing occurred in Syria and Libya, where the group and its affiliates attacked religious and ethnic minorities (Christians, Yazidis and Kurds), in the hope that sowing division would open the door for their warped ideology to take hold. That is why vigilance is required. The propaganda from these groups is constant, and can be easily absorbed by those without an understanding of religious matters. Moreover, ISIL discourages those who read its online propaganda from seeking corroboration from competent religious authorities – well aware that anyone who has actually read the Quran would not find in it anything in its message to support ISIL’s barbarism.

The fight against ISIL is being won, albeit too slowly. In Iraq, the government this week retook the Baiji refinery from ISIL – a crucial victory, since the terrorist group has been using oil smuggling as a key part of its financing strategy.

But this battle is not merely about territory, about cities and towns. It is also about ideas, about hearts and minds. Too many people have absorbed warped ideas about the supremacy of one religious group over another – ignoring the centuries of coexistence and collaboration. That spirit of tolerance and cooperation needs to be rediscovered and emphasised, so that ISIL’s mania does not afflict more people.