The Islamic State is a terrorist state with almost all governing elements. Over the last four years, it has developed from an extremist fringe and marginal faction to become the strongest, most ferocious, best-funded and -armed militia in the religious and ethnic war which is being waged today in Syria and Iraq.

ISIS rules today over a swath of land bigger than the United Kingdom with a population of almost 10 million. ISIS changed its name to the Islamic State to illustrate that its goals are not limited to Iraq and the countries of the Fertile Crescent.

Since the fall of Muslim empires and supremacy, Muslim scholars and philosophers have tried to understand the reasons behind its collapse. The conclusion of most was that Muslim civilization had drifted away from the teachings of the Koran and adopted foreign and heretical inputs which destroyed its fabric. The remedy they proposed was to return to “pure Islam” and reconstruct Muslim society.

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