With a series of bombings during the past week, the Islamic State has killed hundreds of Muslims.
And they have not been collateral damage – they have been the main targets.
From Istanbul to Saudi Arabia, Baghdad to Bangladesh, the Islamic State has been linked to or is suspected in attacks that deliver a clear message of intimidation to fellow Muslims. They are part of a growing campaign to silence leading Islamic voices who challenge the group’s narrow, apocalyptic interpretation of Islam.
The car bombs, raids, and suicide attacks have come at the close of Ramadan, Islam’s holy month, and have included a strike on one of Islam’s holiest sites, the mosque holding the prophet Muhammad’s tomb in Medina, Saudi Arabia.
It is a stark reminder that, in the self-declared Islamic State’s efforts to establish a caliphate, it is rival Muslims – who fail to join their jihad – who are a much greater enemy than non-Muslim “infidels.” Read full on Christian Science Monitor
