How the Islamic State justifies it's execution methods Islamically

The Islamic State has become famous for their execution methods and this has sparked many questions.

One of many is "Why would they do this?"

To answer this question we have to understand one of the basics of Islamic law, Qisas.
Qisas is defined as retribution (although there is no perfect english definition).

In the english language this type of law would best be described as "An eye for an eye"
The proof that the Prophet pbuh prescribed and carried out Qisas punishments is numerous.

O ye who believe! the law of equality is prescribed to you in cases of murder: the free for the free, the slave for the slave, the woman for the woman. But if any remission is made by the brother of the slain, then grant any reasonable demand, and compensate him with handsome gratitude, this is a concession and a Mercy from your Lord. After this whoever exceeds the limits shall be in grave penalty.

Surah Baqarah ayah 178

It is important to not here that this verse does not mean that if someone kills your slave that you may kill that person's slave. This was something that was practiced in the time of Jahiliyya (time before Islam in Arabia) and was banned by the Prophet pbuh because it causes harm to someone who did no crime. Rather it means that the one who committed the crime will be held accountable.

Narrated Anas: The daughter of An-Nadr slapped a girl and broke her incisor tooth. They (the relatives of that girl), came to the Prophet and he gave the order of Qisas (equality in punishment).

Sahih al-Bukhari, 9:83:32

This clearly shows the Prophet pbuh using Qisas as a justice.

This is generally the principal IS uses in order to justify it's executions.

In the video of the soldier getting driven over by a tank, he confessed to running over IS soldiers while he drove a tank for the Regime, so IS used this principal to execute him in the same way he killed IS soldiers.

The most famous version of this used by IS is the burning of the Jordanian Pilot.

The way IS justifies it is Qisas because the pilot had burned people alive in building because of his bombings.

This has proven controversial for many reasons.

Mainly because of this Hadith:

“Indeed, fire is something that no one other than Allah may use for punishment.”

Sahih al-Bukhari (3016)

This has called many Muslims to call IS's actions unislamic and condemned them for this act.
IS argues that because this is a case of Qisas, this was justified. They also cite the Hadith that Ali (ra) burned heretical rebels as a way of execution, which was not even in a case of Qisas.

Ikrimah relates that some heretical rebels were brought before Ali (ra) and he had them set afire. When news of this reached Ibn Abbas (ra), he said: “If it had been up to me, I would not have burned them, because of Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) prohibited this, saying: ‘Do not punish with Allah’s punishment.’ I would have merely executed them…”

Sahih al-Bukhari (6922)

This is a weak justification for their actions for many reasons

Firstly, it is possible that while Ali (ra) burned the people, he may have not been present when the Prophet said not to burn people. So while he did it, he did it out of ignorance of the Prophet's statement, and because this statement is now well known, it is no longer justifiable.

Second, there are many discrepancies within this story. Some narrations say that it was actually their houses that were burned due to blasphemous material contained within the houses. Others say that they were executed and then their bodies were burned after the execution had taken place.

These stories are in Ibn Hajar's book Al-Fath Al-Baari Kitaab Istitaabah Al-Murtaddeen

In my opinion the tank execution can be Islamically justified if the soldier actually was guilty of his crimes and was not tortured into a confession. However, the burning of the pilot is clearly an unislamic action and IS's justification cannot stand to even a small amount of criticism.

SOURCE

All About ISIS

The intelligence reports are saying that that there's 1.2 billion Sunni Muslims on earth, much of that population consists of young, poor, impoverished men, the Iraq and Syrian conflicts have caused 2 massive open wounds attracting foreign fighters from all over the world at a staggering pace like flies to rotting meat, the Islamic State has captured 80% of its war capital from winning battles, the group is making $1 million a day, they are run by former professional military generals and officers who know how to conduct warfare, and they have an extremely slick internet propaganda wing in a world fueled by twitter and youtube.

The reports are saying all of this, that there's no ground forces currently battling them other than the Kurds, who are out matched, out gunned, out equipped and out manned, along with the fact that Turkey is bombing them. The only other force is Shia militants from Iran, who aren't necessarily concerned with defeating ISIS as much as they are with filling in power vacuums left in ISIS wake in Iraq. Every city they capture, the people greet them with open arms, but our media and politicians would tell you its just a blood bath of murdering and slave markets. ISIS knows what they are doing, they know better than to take large urban areas that wouldn't sympathize with them, what little resistance they encounter is immediately crushed to the sound of applause and religious cheering.

One of ISIS senior bomb makers was recently captured and interviewed by western journalists. He said, "What the Islamic State has done in this last year, it cannot be undone, the Caliphate is established and Islam is coming." That statement is true, US leaders and public can't stomach another middle east war for a while so don't count on us, and Europe is just filled to the brim with pacifists who never think war is a solution even when its on their doorstep. That basically leaves Israel and Russia. Israel won't do anything because the UN would be screaming at the top of their lungs humanitarian crisis, and Russia can't do much because every bullet they fire will be supporting Assad, and apparently removing this single man from his power is more important than millions upon millions of displaced worn torn people living in a fucking gaping open wound of a country.

So Russia, one of the nations that might be willing to do what it takes to take out IS is pressured to stay out because they appear to be helping Assad (which is true). This dynamic does nothing but help IS by blocking any Western invasion because they would cross Russia, and it blocks any Russian invasion because of pressure from the west to remove Assad. Great, so all ISIS has to do is keep Assad eating lobster in Damascus and they prevent both Russia and the West from lifting a finger. The only strategy currently in place is this drivel repeated again and again about the 'Gulf states' who are secretly are rooting for ISIS (the same states who won't even take Syrian refugees) and don't even think about any of the Gulf states putting boots on the ground, for every one of their soldiers who enter Syria, 3-4 militants will enter from that same country to help ISIS. There is no 'gulf states solution' those countries are filled with young Muslim men watching IS on liveleak like its HBO prime time. We might feel warm and fuzzy when the Queen of Jordan says gulf states should fight ISIS, but make no mistake that is definitely not what the people of Jordan are saying, along with any of the other nations in the region.

This is what the intelligence reports are saying. It doesn't look good... the bombing campaign is like trying to kill a bunch of wasps with a large truck (good luck). The Islamic State will not be stopped until boots are on the ground, fighting them door to door, street to street, and good luck with that when every town and city they invade greets them with open arms. It would be Iraq 2006 all over again, but much worse. IED's going off on every block, and a much more organized, powerful and driven resistance group fighting you on every street corner. If you do manage to remove ISIS, you will have done so by leaving a generation of men, women and children with pain and suffering 10 fold of that which caused IS in the first place.

Make no fucking mistake about folks, IS is here to stay. This is the perfect example of a wicked problem, and no that's not an excuse for not having a solution for a difficult problem, its what happens when several large geopolitical forces all want to have it their way. Its what happens when a bunch of fucking elitist assholes start playing chess with human lives, nations become meat grinders.

Reminds me of Vietnam to be honest. That entire war started with everyone thinking a month of bombing runs would end the entire conflict. Several years and a few 'advisers' later and America is drenched in one of the most brutal and confusing conflicts it's ever faced half a world away with people at home defiant against it the entire time. The only difference is that Vietnam didn't have a history of religious fanatics sweeping over the entire middle east in a few decades with an ultra zealous religious army. People forget that this is not new for Islam, and history is repeating itself.