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Who Are ISIS Recruiters’ Favorite Prey?

Ignorance makes imposing radical beliefs easier


Thousands of ISIS documents show that its early recruits were ignorant of Islam. For a group supposedly driven by religion, you would think that’s not a good thing, but it’s actually ideal for ISIS.

Ignorant recruits are ideal for the terror group, because it allows for the easy imposition of a radical interpretation of Islam. Since the recruits don’t know much about the normal interpretation of Islam, they are ill-equipped to argue with the ISIS interpretation, which allows for the bloodshed and territory takeovers the group is famous for.

The documents showed that, of three levels denoting knowledge of Islam, 70% of recruits were at the lowest level, “basic.” About 24% had “intermediate” knowledge, and only about 5% were “advanced.”




If radical religious beliefs aren’t the motivator for these recruits, what is?

An ex-CIA case officer turned security consultant, Patrick Skinner, says these recruits are looking for “a sense of belonging, a sense of notoriety, a sense of excitement,” but that for them religion is “an afterthought.” These recruits often have identity issues and their lack of knowledge of the Quran means they can’t challenge their commanders or Imams. Skinner said if it was religion they were interested in, they would be going to Al Azhar in Cairo, a significant place of Islamic religious learning for the past thousand years, instead of joining ISIS.

ISIS’ top commanders are more often not Islamic scholars, but former Hussein regime senior officials. It is the duty of true scholars of Islam to show that ISIS is distorting the message of Islam and to promote a message of peace louder than the ISIS message of martyrdom and terror.

Image credit: Wikimedia.