Most Arab States Share ISIS’s Ideology

Brian Whitaker of the Guardian writes:

As far as many of the Arab public are concerned, discriminating against members of the “wrong” faith, or those who hold unorthodox views, is not only acceptable, but the right thing to do. For Arab governments, enforcing religious rules and allying themselves with God helps to make up for their lack of electoral legitimacy.

This causes a particular problem in combating the ideology of groups such as Isis because most Arab states—including several members of the military coalition against it—share Isis’s approach to compulsion in religion. Isis may be more brutal in practice but, basically, they are on the same ground—asserting the superiority of Islam and the legitimacy of religious discrimination.