Here’s a portion from the text that caught my eye:
The Islamic State’s appetite for destruction makes perfect sense. The group claims to adhere to the Salafist worldview; its members want to return Islam to what they perceive to be how Muhammad’s first generations of followers acted and behaved. Salafists explicitly reject post-7th-century “innovations” concerning behavior and Koranic interpretation — which, taken to the extreme, means all other forms of Islamic faith are corrupt and should be expunged. This ideology underpins the Islamic State’s justification for destroying everything of cultural consequence in Mosul and elsewhere.
The Islamic State is just imposing Basic Islam 101 upon the conquered, in the exact same way past Islamic phalanxes have destroyed other ancient civilizations and cultures. This isn’t a new phenomenon in Islamic history, it’s the prime vehicle for subjugation of the non-Muslim and confiscation of their wealth. This is indeed, exactly, what mohamed himself did in conquering the Arabian peninsula, and his immediate followers practiced throughout the Levant and Maghreb.
H/T: Doris Wise Montrose
