Claiming to be on a mission to establish God's law on earth, the Islamic State organisation, variously referred to in the media as ISIS, IS and ISIL, swept from Syria into Iraq and has now penetrated into other countries. Experts are unsure whether or not it has established cells in Egypt. Mohamed Ali Hassan, an expert on Islamist movements, says that while IS began with the avowed aim of establishing Islamic Sharia, it has become mired in a fiendish triangle of anarchy, destruction and bloodshed. Wherever the organisation's members have set foot in Iraq and Syria, on the pretext of championing the Sunni faith, whether against the government of former Iraqi prime minister Nouri Al-Maliki or against the forces of Bashar Al-Assad in Syria, their actions have shown the falseness of their avowed aim. The moment Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi proclaimed himself “leader of the faithful” and the Muslim Caliph, says Hassan, ISIL revealed its real scheme — to fragment the Arab world in the name of its caliphate project. The organisation would dearly love to annex Egypt to its so-called Islamic state. Towards this end, it has been trying to recruit Egyptians. Once a person joins the ranks of IS he must tear up his passport, renounce his affiliation with his country forever, and declare nationalism and Arab nationalism heresies. His sole creed is the spread of Islam on earth. Every recruited Egyptian has to renounce his nationality and totally erase it from his life. Sheikh Sabra Al-Qasemi, a jihadist who broke away from IS, says that the organisation is present in Egypt. “There are around 3,000 Egyptian fighters in IS. Most of them were in the Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya camp in Syria,” he says. “Afterwards they refused to return to Egypt with the others and, instead, chose to join the IS front.” IS owes many of its military successes to the Egyptians in its ranks, especially in Iraq, says Al-Qasemi. “Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi has promoted many Egyptians to command positions in IS. They formulate the ideas and beliefs of the so-called Islamic State.” IS, Al-Qasemi argues, successfully exploited events in Egypt following the removal of Mohamed Morsi, to recruit Egyptians. “The anger some Islamist youths felt towards the state grew so strong that, if given the chance, they will burn Egypt,” he says. “The campaign to recruit Egyptians began through Facebook. It exploited their rage at the 30 June revolution and the dismissal of Morsi and began to channel them towards destroying Egypt from the inside. “IS will continue to manipulate the minds of Egyptian youth and to recruit them unless measures are put in place to stop them. Ideological and religious discourse needs to be overhauled to draw young people away from extremism and takfiri thought.” Yehia Abdel-Hamid, another researcher on Islamist movements, agrees. “IS grew quickly before it proclaimed itself the founder of an Islamic Caliphate,” he says, adding that IS cells have begun to spread in Egypt. “They will make targeted strikes and generate a state of terror among Egyptians as they seek to undermine tourism and the Egyptian economy. The Libyan situation contributes to sowing confusion.” Some experts say reports that IS has entered Egypt are based on nothing more substantial than rumour. One source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that IS is not yet present in Egypt though it is in contact with takfiri groups in Sinai and with the Ajnad Masr and Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis organisations. “Egypt differs in form and substance from Iraq, Syria and Libya. The Egyptian state is capable of bringing terrorist groups under control. Egypt is a leading power,” he said, adding. “The deeply rooted state cannot be threatened by the issuing of proclamations. IS methods are primitive and will not affect the Egyptian wheel of production.” Islamic affairs scholar Mounir Adib believes the number of Egyptians said to have joined IS is being exaggerated. Six terrorist jihadist organisations emerged in Egypt following the ouster of Morsi on 3 July 2013 with the purpose of defending the Muslim Brothers and restoring them to power. These groups are: Ajnad Misr, Ansar Al-Sharia, Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, Junud Al-Islam (Al-Furqan), Lone Wolves and The Land of Egypt. “Most Egyptians returning from Syria joined one of these six organisations, though they may be being helped by IS in their open war on Egypt,” says Adib. “IS is in a position to offer these groups logistic and media support to help them disseminate statements and videos of their operations.” Regardless of whether or not IS has an established a presence in Egypt, is Egypt's religious establishment capable of providing a counterbalance to extremist thought? Last week Dar Al-Ifta Al-Misriya, the office of the Mufti of Egypt, launched a media campaign to counter the ideas being spread by IS. The campaign opened by accusing IS of distorting and tarnishing the image of Islam. Ibrahim Nigm, an advisor to the Mufti, says the campaign will seek to discourage regional and international media from using the term “Islamic state” when referring to IS. The campaign will also include a Facebook page in English dedicated to countering erroneous interpretations of Islam advocated by IS and to transmitting the opinions of moderate Islamic leaders and scholars from all parts of the world. Sheikh Abdel-Baqi Al-Gizawi, a member of the department of legal research at Dar Al-Ifta, says the campaign will engage with the press and social networking websites, especially Twitter and Facebook. Information, commentary and the fatwas of Muslim scholars responding to the ideas and actions of IS will be broadcast in both Arab and English on the campaign's Twitter and Facebook accounts. A guide is also being planned, which will be published under the title “Dismantling the Ideology of Al-Qaeda Dissidents in Iraq and Syria.” The Dar Al-Ifta initiative, says Fouad Barazi, a member of the Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America (AMJA), will help correct the image of Islam by refuting notions that associate Islam with terrorism and IS. The initiative will “build channels of communication by bridging points of view and clarifying the truth about the spurious fatwas issued by IS and similar groups which have turned the Muslim into an enemy of all peoples.” Al-Azhar, a bastion of Sunni Islam and beacon of moderation, has yet to issue an official response to indicate that it is girding itself to confront IS. However, Mohamed Al-Ishari, an advisor to the rector of Al-Azhar, says the institution “will continue to preach against terrorist and takfiri ideas.” Opposing the criminals of IS is a “religious, national, Arab, regional and, indeed, humanitarian duty,” says Al-Ishari. Al-Azhar University Professor Sayed Bakri says the process of weeding out destructive and extremist ideas from the curricula is already well advanced. Such ideas, he says, crept onto the campus and made it “a fertile environment for the growth of extremism.” He noted that countering IS requires a comprehensive strategy “which Al-Azhar has not yet begun to devise.” A source at the Ministry of Awqaf told Al-Ahram Weekly that the ministry is working to assert its control over mosques and prevent unqualified persons ascending to the pulpit. The ministry is also working to raise public awareness of destructive and extremist ideas and to promote notions of patriotism and national affiliation. But the ministry's attention, he added, remains exclusively fixed on fighting terrorist Muslim Brotherhood thought and preventing unqualified salafists from preaching in mosques. The political tensions that followed the removal of Morsi, combined with the feeling among young people that nothing has changed despite the announcement of national mega-projects, have fed the sense of frustration felt by Islamist youth who find themselves excluded from politics. It is a problem, says the source, that demands a political solution, “and preparing the climate for national reconciliation is one way forward.” Some non-governmental initiatives have been launched to target young people over the Internet. One seeks to force youths to confront the ideas that facilitate their recruitment or indoctrination into militant takfiri organisations. Abdel Rahim Othman is the general supervisor of Basaer (Insights), a project that seeks to combat violence and extremism. The programme, which is based in Nasr City, claims to use “ideas to battle ideas” in Internet forums. It focuses on speaking with young people in their own language and in a calm and rational way. Basaer, says Othman, uses the services of volunteers who have experience of the fanaticism and violence associated with Islamist activities. They try to engage extremists in dialogue while avoiding all forms of disparagement, vilification and prejudice on the more than 400 websites and Facebook pages employed by jihadists and other Islamist fanatics. They also organise classes for Muslim preachers and clergymen with the aim of better equipping the participants with the skills necessary to confront extremist organisations. But grappling with IS and its sisters is no picnic. It requires a comprehensive strategy that engages with all shades of Egyptian opinion. To be successful, any campaign must be able to think outside the box of existing political and religious approaches.
