ISIS AND THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: CONTINUATION OF THE PERENNIAL BATTLE BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL

Abstract

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic provided the grounds for extremist groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) to call the COVID-19 a soldier of God. The present study aims to examine how the Middle Eastern radical Islamists in general, and ISIS in particular, interpret and deal with the pandemic by relying on their own peculiar references to Islamic sources. While previous studies have addressed how ISIS has managed COVID-19 in detail, the association between ISIS’ conceptual basis and their disease management has not been explored yet. Findings revealed that the pandemic has been interpreted in different ways by ISIS. In the beginning, ISIS welcomed the pandemic and interpreted COVID-19 as the divine wrath for humiliating and punishing the unbelievers. Emphasising this interpretation, ISIS tried to cover up its continuous failure to control the pandemic while claiming that God protected the community.