Philippine Muslims Grappling With ISIS Terrorism
By New Age Islam Staff Writer
23 February 2024
ISIS Attacks Majority Christians Of Philippines
Main Points:
1.
On 3 December 2023,
the ISIS attacked a Catholic church during a Mass.
2.
9 ISIS terrorists
were killed by security forces on 24 January.
3.
Philippine's
Mindanao is a Muslim majority province.
4.
Mindanao has been
declared an autonomous region controlled by Muslims.
5.
ISIS wants to
establish a caliphate in Muslim Mindanao.
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Pro Isis graffiti is
seen on a wall of a back-alley as government soldiers continue their assault
against the Maute group in Marawi City, Philippines.Romeo Ranoco / Reuters
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Since the emergence of the ISIS in the Middle East and the
establishment of its caliphate in Mosul in 2014, the Muslims of the small
southeast Asian country Philippine are grappling with the terror of the ISIS.
The terror organisation has been carrying out terrorist attacks on churches,
markets and government buildings. On 3 December, it conducted bomb blasts inside
a Catholic church in Marawi University killing four innocent persons and
injuring dozen others.
On 24 January, the Philippine security forces killed 9 ISIS
terrorists in an encounter. This incident once again brought to fore the fact
that the ISIS was not a flagbearer of Islamic caliphate but only a terrorist
organisation created to damage Islam's reputation and obstruct the progress of
Muslims, particularly Philippines' Muslims who have won the status of
autonomous region for their region Mindanao after decades of struggle.
Philippines is a small country with Christian majority. The
Muslims form the second majority community with 6 to 12 percent population.
They inhabit mostly in the southern province of Mindanao which is generally
called Muslim Mindanao. After its independence from the United States, the
Muslims of Philippines felt victimised and exploited by the majority community.
Christians from other parts of the country would settle in their region and
capture their land. They were also economically backward.
Therefore, there was a deep sense of deprivation and
victimisation among the Muslims of the country. But they had one advantage.
They had a population concentration in Mindanao with 91 per cent population.
Therefore, they launched a freedom movement in 1968. Moro
Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and other militant organisations came into
existence. They demanded independence from Philippines in order to form an
independent state of Philippino Muslims called Bangsamoro. Moro means Muslims.
During the struggle, a section of Muslims also wanted only an autonomous region
for Muslims within the state of Philippines. Finally, in 2014, the government
of Philippines agreed to give autonomy to Muslim Mindanao. The representative
organisation of Philippine Muslims, MILF agreed to the autonomy proposal and
subsequently the two parties reached an agreement.
However, in 2014, the terrorist organisation ISIS emerged
and established its so-called caliphate in Mosul. It also spread its tentacles
in many Muslim majority countries. Many terrorist organisations in Pakistan,
Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Middle East declared allegiance to the ISIS to win
popular Muslim support. Therefore, terrorist and militant organisations of
Philippines also declared allegiance to it. Abu Sayyaf group and Dawlah
Islamiyyah were two such organisations.
In fact, Abu Sayyaf group ran extortion, drug and kidnapping
racket and had nothing to do with Islam. It had got associated with the ISIS
only because the ISIS was a big organisation with its caliphate and had
popularity among a section of Islamic ulema who wrongly believed that Abu Bakr
Baghdadi's caliphate in Mosul was the revival of the caliphate of the initial
period of Islam.
Therefore, they declared that they wanted to establish an
Islamic caliphate in Muslim Mindanao which was soon going to win autonomy. The
ISIS-affiliated Dawlah Islamiyyah started conducting terrorist attacks in the
country. In 2019, the Muslim Mindanao was formally declared an autonomous
region of Muslims where they would have their self-government with a fair share
in the natural resources of the region. But the Dawlah Islamiyyah and other
terror organisations like Abu Sayyaf said they did not accept the agreement
between the government and MILF as they did not want an autonomous region
within Philippine but independence from Philippines so that they could
establish a caliphate.
For this reason they have been carrying out terrorist
activities against the majority Christians. The December 3 bomb attack on a
Catholic church was one such terror activity by Dawlah Islamiyyah.
Since 2019, Muslim Mindanao has been a Muslim autonomous
region where Muslims have their self government. The Philippines government
does not interfere with their religious affairs or their religious education
system. But the Dawlah Islamiyyah demands the establishment of Islamic
caliphate in Muslim Mindanao and to press for it, conducts terror acts against
the Christians of the country. Some educated Muslim youth also have fallen for
their ideology and have joined the ISIS. They speak in support of caliphate. In
2020, the ISIS conducted a number of terror attacks and caused large scale
destruction. The United States took advantage of the situation and offered the
Philippines government military help in combating ISIS. They jointly launched
operation against the I SIS and in the process destroyed a large part of Marawi
city, rendering hundreds homeless.
During the last ten years, the world has learnt the truth
about the ISIS. It only causes harm and damage to the Muslim countries by
giving the US and the NATO an alibi to attack the Muslim countries. Earlier,
the Al Qaida served the same purpose of providing the US with the excuse to
attack and destroy Muslim countries. Now that Al Qaida has been decimated, the
ISIS has taken up the task of destroying Muslim countries. If the ISIS captures
and establishes control in Muslim Mindanao of Philippines, it will destroy the
province. Presently, the Muslims of Muslim Mindanao are living in peace and
working for their educational and economic development. The Muslims of Mindanao
should realise the conspiracy of the ISIS before it's too late.
URL: https://newageislam.com/radical-islamism-jihad/philippine-muslims-isis-terrorism/d/131778
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