ISIS benefited of Social Media to promote atrocities

Translation by Yusra Ahmed

(Zaman Al Wasl)- The Islamic State has carried out the punishment of Al-Rajem “Stoning to death” on charge of “adultery” against married man and woman on the outskirts of Manbej city in the Northern Eastern countryside of Aleppo after Friday prayer, where some militants and people carried out the punishment, according to Quran’s verse: “Many believers should witness their pain” .

The Islamic State tends to distribute those kind of punishments, either by implementing them in public place, or by publishing them on social media to be seen by millions, since it is not the first time the Islamic State publish this kind of cruel punishment.

Publishing this kind of punishment on media, started to raise argumentation about its benefits and the legality, and how much they breach the Shariah, especially they are related to adultery, which is considered very sensitive issue in the Eastern and Arabic cultures and communities.

Abdulla Salim, expert in the Islamic and Jihadist groups explains that publishing the punishments on media is a new issue, known by Jurists with “Nawazil”, in a signal to an unprecedented calamity. He insisted that the calamity needs a detailed and deep consideration by experts and specialists in Jurisprudence of “Nawazil” and need unanimity on a Fatwa about the matter.

Salim explained to Zaman al-Wasl that Fatwa should not target the Islamic State’s acts only, but must be comprehensive.

He explains that he is not a Jurist and cannot give any Fatwa about the matter. “But from my point of view, Islamic groups in Syria needed to obtain power and legitimacy, therefore they relied on applying the Shariah punishments and publish them, as they are the most powerful tool to show power and legitimacy in areas they control, with some differences among the different groups

In the end, he explained that he requested "Fatwa" about publishing the Sharia punishments for the sake of millions of people who publish and distribute them without knowing the law and rules controlling that act. “In regard the Islamic groups, I do not think that they need any external Fatwa, as they most likely to have their own internal Fatwas to justify their practices.”