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. ------ 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 ----- 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 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism