Throughout the Syrian crisis, the militants-related media remained untrusted as a result of the terrific number of news promoted by them and was then proved to be inaccurate or even false

Ahmad Farhat

Throughout the Syrian crisis, the media that belong to the militant groups remained untrusted as a result of the terrific number of news promoted by them and was then proved to be inaccurate or even false.

Many non-enumerated incidents were a rich material for several media channels aiming at pointing the spear towards the Syrian government and army. The echo of this news reached to the sessions of the UN Security Council and was sometime a reason for issuing unilateral resolutions against the Syrian people. The repercussions of such resolutions are still haunting the street but are conversely increasing the steadfastness of Syrians.

Recently, the media of the militant Takfiri groups appeared, in addition to the news of the Syrian Coordination Committees that were topping the headlines of the Arab and global media outlets, to be reliable source for some ‘trusted’ parts. For instance, Murasiloon (correspondents) Network which belong to Al-Nusra Front became on “Twitter” a source that tells about the group’s field and political news.

On the contrary, ISIL media have had a similar role. It practiced its propaganda war that is based on the nineties of the last century’s principles. These principles stem from the media of the Nazi State.

Yet, if the slogan of the Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels (1945-1897) was “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it”, then the slogan of the Takfiri groups that is ‘legally justified’ is “lies of interest”.

The Head of the International Forum for Islamic Dialogue (IFID), Sheikh  Mohammed Khodor considered in an interview with Al-Manar website that the most prominent point of intersection between  the two propagandas is to be in breach of the values and ethics that the Islam called for even when it comes to the war with the enemy, under the title “I have been made victorious through awe, as they say”. This comes through the pictures that strike terror into the hearts of the opponents and lead them to face psychological and moral meltdown and frustration.

Sheikh Khodor pointed out that the videos of the Takfiri groups that depict their gunmen as extraordinary undefeated powers are fictional. He added that this has been noticeable in more than one confrontation and in more than one place, during when they collapsed faster than expected. 

In reference to the Takfiri-advocates scholars, we find that some of them give permission to lie in the war unreservedly. In theory, Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah (1349-1292) went further far when he said: “If what you seek for has a good aim and you can never achieve it unless you lie and be dishonest, then you are permitted to lie… Lying is never permissible but only for a necessary need or an important task…”

These concepts are rooted in the media of the Takfiri groups, in all their visual publications. They call for them and seek hardly through them to show the extent of their sympathy with the citizens under their control by providing them with aids during pure play scenes that are dominated by the necessities of the reality. In fact, these acts are as important in terms of the message as the violent ones that illustrate the colors of murder and abuse.

The Head of the International Forum for Islamic Dialogue (IFID) explained in the interview with Al-Manar that these groups make use of an authentic Hadith by Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) that talks about giving permission to lying on the enemy in issues related to war, and they try to distort the true meaning the Hadith, claiming that they are applying it, with no legitimate restrictions. Sheikh Mohamamd Khodor pointed to the fact that the religious scholars stressed that this Hadith can only be used in a narrow scope and can only be applied on the enemy agreed upon by the entire nation. He considered that it is inadmissible to extend the compass of lying and to consider that the enemy is any person or any side that disagree with them in the thought or the approach.  

From that same spring, the ISIL, the Nusra Front, and other Takfiri groups consumed the same thought and started to sew their approach based on those concepts, and they expanded the range of their lies for the sake of an interest it was within the soul of the Emir (Prince).

The Prince of Takfir, in many of the principles that guides him, is similar to that of Machiavelli in his famous handbook The Prince (1469-1527), in terms of using deception and force as a mean to stabilize governance. “The prince must be crafty, cunning, and able to trick others. He must learn how to fight both with laws and with force. He must become half man and half beast. He must learn to act like both the fox and the lion”.

Moreover, religion as seen by Machiavelli is “a tool of the ruler” to be used as a method by which he can dominate and unite the people. It is a religion for the state that should be utilized by it for purely political purposes and moral considerations. It is a tool imposed by the Prince by which he can convince the masses of his benignity so as to gain the public’s general support”.

Here, Sheikh Khodor considered that there are similarities between the two Princes with respect to the brutality, the exploitation of the ranks, and not adhering to any moral or religious restrictions when dealing with the people. He pointed out that the governance, caliphate, and the emirate are not goals but rather are a tool to serve the nation, but when they turn into a goal they become deficient. He stressed that the saying ‘the end justifies the means’ does not logically fit Islam in terms of origin.

Since the Princes of Takfir believe that that ‘the end justifies the means’, their tools of lie varied as their goals also did in accordance with the aspirations of those Princes, who are numerous.

They published their lies and suspicious interpretations on social networking websites, in books, and on the religious platforms that belong to them. They used these lies to deceive thousands of people and to build palaces for them in Paradise. However, on the ground, they destroyed the Islam of a Prophet who was sent forth as a mercy to mankind, and they ruined the thousands years old civilization.

Translated by: Mayssa Hazimeh