The IS employment form asked the new recruits to rate their knowledge of Islam on a scale of one to three. And applicants, herded into a hangar somewhere at the Syria-Turkey border, turned out to be overwhelmingly deemed ignorant. The extremist group could hardly have hoped for better.
At the height of the drive by IS for foot soldiers in 2013 and 2014, typical followers included the group of Frenchmen who went bar-hopping with their recruiter back home, the recent European convert who now hesitantly describes himself as gay, and two Britons who ordered ‘The Quran for Dummies’ from Amazon to prepare for jihad in Syria. They were grouped in safe houses as a stream of IS imams filled in the gaps, according to court testimony and interviews by The Associated Press.
An AP analysis of thousands of leaked IS documents reveals most of its recruits from its earliest days knew little about Islam.
According to the documents, which were acquired by the Syrian opposition site Zaman al-Wasl and shared with AP, 70 per cent of recruits were listed as having just “basic” knowledge of Shariah -- the lowest possible choice. Around 24 per cent were categorized as having an “intermediate” knowledge, and just 5 per cent were considered advanced students of Islam.
The group preys on this ignorance, because it allows extremists to impose an interpretation of Islam constructed to suit its goal of maximum territorial expansion and carnage as soon as recruits come under its sway.
Patrick Skinner, a former CIA case officer with experience with Mideast extremist organizations, said most who claim allegiance to IS are “reaching for a sense of belonging, a sense of notoriety, a sense of excitement.” IS group’s most active supporters often grapple with questions of identity and lack the knowledge about Islam to challenge its ideologues.
“Religion is an afterthought,” said Skinner, who now works for the Soufan Group security consultancy.
Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan says that a look at top IS commanders shows that many are not accredited scholars, but instead once held senior positions under Saddam Hussein’s secular Baathist government. Ramadan, who teaches Islamic Studies at Oxford University and has written numerous books on Islam and the integration of Muslims in Europe, says Islamic scholars must challenge the radical discourse of groups such as IS.
