by Robert Spencer
But why?
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The Islamic State (ISIS) has claimed responsibility for Friday’s jihad terror attack in Moscow, in which the death toll is currently 137 and will likely turn out to be many more once the magnitude of the damage is fully assessed. ISIS’ claim, however, has been greeted with widespread skepticism, as the usual suspects in conspiracy paranoia, notably the CIA and Mossad, have been accused on social media of being the real culprits. Yet there is absolutely no reason to discount the Islamic State’s involvement, as a close examination of its claim of responsibility demonstrates.
ISIS issued a statement boasting that “the Islamic State dealt a strong blow to Russia with a bloody attack, the most violent targeting it in years.” It added that “security sources told Amaq Agency that a coordinated attack was launched by Islamic State fighters, on Friday, on a large crowd of Christians in the city of Krasnogorsk on the outskirts of the capital, Moscow.”
Amaq Agency is ISIS’ mouthpiece for its announcements of various jihad activities. In 2019, the State Department declared Amaq a foreign terrorist organization, making it one of the few media outlets that cheer on jihad violence to bear the terrorist designation officially. If the State Department were consistent, the New York Times, the Guardian, Reuters and all the other “news” agencies that publish Hamas propaganda as if it were objective reporting would be designated terrorist organizations as well.
The most noteworthy aspect of the statement, however, is ISIS’ name for its victims: Christians. The statement continued: “The sources added that the attack targeted a mass concert attended by thousands of Christians, inside a music hall located within a large commercial complex in the city.” Did ISIS strike a Christian concert? No, the crowd was there to see a concert by the popular Russian progressive rock group Picnic. So why did ISIS refer to its victims as Christians?
About half of the Russian population identifies itself as Christian, but as far as Islamic jihadis are concerned, anyone in a historically Christian country (except for Jews and Muslims) is a Christian, whatever he or she may actually believe. Thus Osama bin Laden declared jihad in 1998 against “Jews and Crusaders” when he issued his call to “kill the Americans and their allies — civilians and military.”
ISIS’ boast of killing “Christians,” therefore, is entirely consistent with the jihad imperative as jihadis themselves articulate it. Russia was struck first and foremost not because of anything it has done or not done recently, but because it is, as far as ISIS is concerned, made up of Christians, and the Qur’an directs Muslims to fight against and subjugate Jews and Christians under the hegemony of Islamic law.
Many analysts today reject this idea and would insist that ISIS must have had an immediate reason to strike Russia, since after all, there are many majority-Christian countries, and it isn’t mounting attacks of this magnitude against them. That may, however, simply be a matter of having the means and opportunity; Americans who think this sort of thing cannot and will not happen here are likely in for a rude surprise, especially given the fact that we no longer have a southern border.
What’s more, ISIS itself appeared to rule out the idea that the attack was a response to anything in particular. The Amaq statement said that “the attack comes within the normal context of the raging war between the Islamic State and countries fighting Islam.”
How is Russia “fighting Islam”? The Islamic State struck the Russian embassy in Kabul in 2022, and its animus against Russia appears to be related at least in part to Russia’s generally friendly relationship with the Taliban government in Afghanistan, which ISIS has been trying to dislodge.
Russia also targeted the Islamic State in Syria, and helped destroy the ISIS caliphate in Iraq and Syria.
It should also be remembered that we are in the middle of Ramadan. Palestinian Authority Supreme Sharia Judge Mahmoud Al-Habbash said in 2022: “Ramadan is not a month of laziness but rather a month of activity, of effort, and of hard work, and as it also was in the life of the Prophet, a month of jihad, conquest, and victory.” What kind of hard work? The jihad group Qaedat al-Jihad explained in 2012: “Ramadan is a month of holy war and death for Allah. It is a month for fighting the enemies of Allah and God’s messenger, the Jews and their American facilitators.” Or as the Kashmiri Maulana Bashir Ahmad Khaki put it in 2018: “Ramadan is the pious month of ‘Jihad-o-Qital’ (Jihad and killing). Those who attain martyrdom while waging Jihad, doors of heaven remain open.”
That means that as the West’s most respected analysts look everywhere except in Islam for the reasons behind the massacre in Russia, the jihads will keep plotting more bloodshed and murder.
Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch and a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He is author of 27 books including many bestsellers, such as The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades), The Truth About Muhammad and The History of Jihad. His latest books are The Critical Qur’an and Empire Of God. Follow him on Twitter here. Like him on Facebook here.
Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/isis-hits-russia/
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