IS don't care about religion, they are politicians according to former hostage

Didier Francois

A French journalist's ISIS captives cared so little about religion they did not even have a Quran, Didier François -- who spent over 10 months as the group's prisoner in Syria -- told CNN's Christiane Amanpour in an exclusive interview on Tuesday.

"There was never really discussion about texts or -- it was not a religious discussion. It was a political discussion."

"It was more hammering what they were believing than teaching us about the Quran. Because it has nothing to do with the Quran."

"They didn't even have the Quran; they didn't want even to give us a Quran."

François was released in April last year, but has only rarely spoken about his ordeal. He is one of the rare ISIS hostages who was freed.

François told Amanpour that he had met her twice. He was reluctant to get into details, lest anything jeopardize her safety.

In general, he said, women "had a bit more freedom of movement," but being an ISIS hostage is "frightening enough," and "being a woman doesn't make it easier."

I find this very interesting, but not surprising.

Through ISIS's brutal executions of Western journalists, one anonymous fighter has seared himself into the world's consciousness -- nicknamed "Jihadi John" for his distinctly British accent.

François knew Jihadi John while in captivity; he was one of the guards.

They were, he told Amanpour, more extreme -- the food the Brits gave them was better, "but the beating was harsher."

Obviously there's more story at the site and it is interesting to say the least! An incredible read. Francois was very lucky to have come home alive.

François was released just before ISIS made its shocking sweep through Iraq, capturing vast amounts of territory.

Indeed, he now says, he does not believe he and his three colleagues would be released were they still in ISIS hands, "especially with France involved in the coalition and bombing in Iraq."

"We were lucky."

Myself I'd call it more than luck, but that's just me. I'm glad he made it home alive, as is his family, I am sure. I'd LOVE to know more about IS not talking about the Quran to hostages (since that is their supposed ideology), but talking politics. This doesn't surprise me somehow either though.

This is the only thing that makes sense. While military/intelligence psyops yells the word "Jihad" over and over and over to raise public support, the truth of the enemy has always been far more pragmatic. This world is not and has never been ruled by idealism, only power, dominion and money.

a reply to: Anyafaj

I was reading an article on The Guardian last month which detailed how members are recruited into IS. Apparently, IS' teachings differ depending on the recruit, but most of their religious stuff derive from strict Sharia sources. It is also interesting to note that politics is taught to recruits, as is the claim that mainstream Islam is false:

Sharia training varies from one member to another, depending on the group’s assessment of his value or loyalty. New recruits join training that ranges from two weeks, one month, 45 days, six months up to one year. Inside the camps, students receive a mix of military, political and sharia orientation, usually given by around five instructors. During training, recruits can be dispatched to checkpoints but not to the frontlines. After they graduate, they will remain under supervision and can be expelled or punished in case of noncompliance – including being lashed if they express reservations. In some cases, new members who struggle with the brutality of the group’s acts will be sent back to receive more training to “strengthen” their faith.

“You first get the basics about religion,” said Abu Moussa, an Isis-affiliated religious cleric in eastern Syria but originally from Aleppo. “They cleanse you from religious innovations and Ba’athist ideas. Issuing fatwas is restricted to clerics and nobody can kill without a fatwa unless in the battlefield. You also study Arabic and learn how to speak in standard Arabic if you don’t know.”

...

In terms of indoctrination, Isis generally steers clear of exposing new members to teachings that are not derived from sharia texts. New members are almost exclusively exposed to religious books, while established members or commanders can study manuals such as Management of Savagery, a jihad book written by an Abu Bakr Naji, who said that you should distinguish between jihad and other religious tenets in that jihad is not about mercy but about extreme retaliatory violence to deter enemies. The restriction of religious training to religious texts is in line with the group’s rhetoric that it is an extension of authentic Islam rather than a new group with its own set of teachings.

Indeed, one of the fascinating insights we found is that Isis presents the “mainstream” Islam practised by Muslims today as one that was “invented” over the past few decades. To unravel this so-called invented Islam, Isis deliberately digs deep into Islamic sharia and history to find arcane teaching and then magnify it. It does so to shock its potential recruits and demonstrate it is preaching a pure and true Islam obscured by the mainstream. Take, for example, the group’s punishment for individuals accused of homosexuality. In a series of incidents in recent weeks, Isis has thrown individuals accused of being gay from the highest buildings. This method as a sharia punishment is unheard of, even in countries where sharia brute justice is openly practised, such as Saudi Arabia.

Unlike previous incidents of stoning adulterers and crucifixion, throwing people from high buildings did not even inspire criticism of sharia in the Middle East because many did not realise it was a sharia penalty in the first place. But it is the obscurity of the punishment that makes it particularly valuable for Isis. The purpose is not to increase the volume of violence but also to raise eyebrows and trigger questions about such practices, which Isis is more capable of answering than mainstream clerics, who prefer to conceal teachings that propound such punishments. Many Isis members were eager to emphasise they were impressed by such obscure teachings, and were drawn to the group by the way Isis presents Islam with absolute lucidity.

www.theguardian.com...

originally posted by: daaskapital
a reply to: Anyafaj

I was reading an article on The Guardian last month which detailed how members are recruited into IS. Apparently, IS' teachings differ depending on the recruit, but most of their religious stuff derive from strict Sharia sources. It is also interesting to note that politics is taught to recruits, as is the claim that mainstream Islam is false:

Sharia training varies from one member to another, depending on the group’s assessment of his value or loyalty. New recruits join training that ranges from two weeks, one month, 45 days, six months up to one year. Inside the camps, students receive a mix of military, political and sharia orientation, usually given by around five instructors. During training, recruits can be dispatched to checkpoints but not to the frontlines. After they graduate, they will remain under supervision and can be expelled or punished in case of noncompliance – including being lashed if they express reservations. In some cases, new members who struggle with the brutality of the group’s acts will be sent back to receive more training to “strengthen” their faith.

“You first get the basics about religion,” said Abu Moussa, an Isis-affiliated religious cleric in eastern Syria but originally from Aleppo. “They cleanse you from religious innovations and Ba’athist ideas. Issuing fatwas is restricted to clerics and nobody can kill without a fatwa unless in the battlefield. You also study Arabic and learn how to speak in standard Arabic if you don’t know.”

...

In terms of indoctrination, Isis generally steers clear of exposing new members to teachings that are not derived from sharia texts. New members are almost exclusively exposed to religious books, while established members or commanders can study manuals such as Management of Savagery, a jihad book written by an Abu Bakr Naji, who said that you should distinguish between jihad and other religious tenets in that jihad is not about mercy but about extreme retaliatory violence to deter enemies. The restriction of religious training to religious texts is in line with the group’s rhetoric that it is an extension of authentic Islam rather than a new group with its own set of teachings.

Indeed, one of the fascinating insights we found is that Isis presents the “mainstream” Islam practised by Muslims today as one that was “invented” over the past few decades. To unravel this so-called invented Islam, Isis deliberately digs deep into Islamic sharia and history to find arcane teaching and then magnify it. It does so to shock its potential recruits and demonstrate it is preaching a pure and true Islam obscured by the mainstream. Take, for example, the group’s punishment for individuals accused of homosexuality. In a series of incidents in recent weeks, Isis has thrown individuals accused of being gay from the highest buildings. This method as a sharia punishment is unheard of, even in countries where sharia brute justice is openly practised, such as Saudi Arabia.

Unlike previous incidents of stoning adulterers and crucifixion, throwing people from high buildings did not even inspire criticism of sharia in the Middle East because many did not realise it was a sharia penalty in the first place. But it is the obscurity of the punishment that makes it particularly valuable for Isis. The purpose is not to increase the volume of violence but also to raise eyebrows and trigger questions about such practices, which Isis is more capable of answering than mainstream clerics, who prefer to conceal teachings that propound such punishments. Many Isis members were eager to emphasise they were impressed by such obscure teachings, and were drawn to the group by the way Isis presents Islam with absolute lucidity.

www.theguardian.com...

Great find on the article!

There are some training camps belonging to various groups here in the US today, Muslim Brotherhood, Al Qaeda, Jamat Al-Fuqra, an IS one would NOT surprise me. Obviously they receive military training, but I'd be curious to know what indoctrination they receive similar to the Guardian article.

22 "villages" around US with Islamberg in NY being the headquarters