--- title: Princeton Imam: 5 Reasons Mainstream Muslims Reject ISIS description: The group's understanding of Islam is misguided canonical: https://time.com/4138212/isis-and-islam/ author: Sohaib Sultan article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-07T17:50:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:56:55.426Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Princeton Imam: 5 Reasons Mainstream Muslims Reject ISIS og:description: The group's understanding of Islam is misguided og:url: https://time.com/4138212/isis-and-islam/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Princeton Imam: 5 Reasons Mainstream Muslims Reject ISIS twitter:description: The group's understanding of Islam is misguided twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production video:duration: 03:32 video:published: 2015-12-05 section: politics topics: San Bernardino shootings, terrorism, radicalization, lone wolf attacks, gun control, No Fly List, assault weapons, first responders genre: speech, news tones: somber, resolute, urgent, measured emotions: grief (high), resolve (high), anger (medium), pride (low) sentiment: negative audience: general news audiences, policy observers, voters, gun policy advocates people: Barack Obama organizations: ISIS, Congress, Federal Law Enforcement content_suitability: violence [00:01-03:32]; death [00:01-00:28]; terrorism [01:13-02:14]; tragedy [00:01-00:52]; war [02:03-02:07] transcript_source: publisher captions transcript_reviewed: not applicable --- # Princeton Imam: 5 Reasons Mainstream Muslims Reject ISIS > Sponsored content. 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A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=1b89398c-42f9-4e84-9f19-52de671700ae&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Obama On San Bernardino Shootings: "We will not be terrorized" [Watch (HLS stream): Obama On San Bernardino Shootings: "We will not be terrorized"](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/HKPJ6E7v.m3u8) (3:32)  _Published 2015-12-05_ Description, summary, key points, chapters, key quotes, questions and transcript, where present, were produced automatically from the video or its captions and were not reviewed. ## Summary President Obama addresses the San Bernardino shootings, expressing grief for the 14 victims and praise for first responders. He says investigators are examining whether the attackers were radicalized and warns about violent extremist ideologies promoted by ISIS and other groups. He calls on Congress to close a loophole that lets people on the No Fly List buy guns, and ends by saying the country will not be terrorized. ## Key points - Obama says the San Bernardino community was shattered by unspeakable violence and that 14 families have had their hearts broken. (00:01) - Obama praises the first responders, police, SWAT teams and EMTs for responding quickly and with courage to save lives. (00:08) - Obama says it is entirely possible the two attackers were radicalized, which would underscore a threat the government has focused on for years. (01:17) - Obama states that ISIS and other terrorist groups are encouraging people in the US and abroad to commit violence, often as lone wolf actors. (01:30) - Obama says the killers used military-style assault weapons, which he describes as weapons of war. (02:03) - Obama says people on the No Fly List can currently walk into a store and buy a gun, and calls this insane. (02:14) - Obama calls on Congress to close the loophole that allows people on the No Fly List to buy guns. (02:31) - Obama says at his direction, Federal Law Enforcement is helping investigators in every way they can. (01:04) ## Chapters - [00:00 to 00:56] Grief for San Bernardino victims. Obama honors the victims, first responders and the families affected by the shootings. - [00:56 to 01:41] Investigation into attackers' motives. Obama says investigators are working on motives and that the attackers may have been radicalized. - [01:41 to 02:31] Extremism and gun access concerns. Obama discusses ISIS-inspired lone wolf threats and the ease of gun access for dangerous people. - [02:31 to 03:32] Call to Congress and national resolve. Obama urges Congress to close the No Fly List gun loophole and affirms American resilience. ## Key quotes - [03:25] Barack Obama: "We are strong and we are resilient, and we will not be terrorized." - [02:14] Barack Obama: "That's insane! If you're too dangerous to board a plane, you're too dangerous by definition to buy a gun." - [01:17] Barack Obama: "It is entirely possible that these two attackers were radicalized to commit this act of terror" - [02:31] Barack Obama: "And so I'm calling on Congress to close this loophole now." ## Questions this video answers - What is the president's response to the San Bernardino shootings? [00:01] - Were the San Bernardino attackers possibly radicalized? [01:13] - How do ISIS and other groups encourage violence according to the president? [01:30] - What weapons were used by the San Bernardino killers? [02:03] - What does the president want Congress to do about gun access? [02:31] ## Content suitability - violence [00:01-03:32]: Discusses a mass shooting that killed 14 people and the threat of terrorism. - death [00:01-00:28]: References the deaths of 14 people and injuries to others. - terrorism [01:13-02:14]: Discusses terrorist attacks, radicalization and extremist groups. - tragedy [00:01-00:52]: Frames the shootings as an absolute tragedy for the community and country. - war [02:03-02:07]: Describes the weapons used as weapons of war. by [Sohaib Sultan](https://time.com/author/sohaib-n-sultan/) ## Sohaib Sultan Dec 7, 2015 5:50 PM UTC by [Sohaib Sultan](https://time.com/author/sohaib-n-sultan/) ## Sohaib Sultan Dec 7, 2015 5:50 PM UTC ISIS is waging an effective campaign to recruit followers and warriors to its ideology and battlefield—a battlefield that increasingly includes Europe and America, from Paris to California—with devastating consequences. In a speech Sunday night President Barack Obama called upon Muslims in America and abroad to continue to speak out against the hateful ideology of violent extremism in order to undermine the movement’s power of persuasion online. Many Muslims, often the main victims of ISIS and frustrated at how the group has tried to speak for Islam, are self-motivated to repudiate the Islam of ISIS and to articulate their own understanding of the faith. There are, of course, many psychological, sociological and political factors for why ISIS is able to take advantage of very real and palatable anger on the ground—from oppressive and dysfunctional dictatorships in parts of the Middle East and imperial military misadventures by Western powers to the weakening of the Islamic scholarly tradition in the modern era and the marginalization of frustrated Muslim youth in too many societies. But ISIS has undeniably cloaked its ideology and ambitions with Islamic lure using selective sacred texts and decontextualized religious rulings to recruit vulnerable Muslims to its cause. Here are five reasons why ISIS is misguided from an Islamic perspective. **1\. When ISIS employs passages from the Qur’an, it completely ignores premises and contexts.** For example, ISIS uses passages such as “kill them wherever you find them” (9:5) to justify attacking civilians, including Muslims who don’t fall in line. In reality, when the Qur’an justifies fighting—as it does for the first time in passage 22:39-41, according to commentators of the Qur’an—it is strictly on the premise of self-defense, preventing exile and defending people from religious persecution. Other passages that permit or encourage fighting must be read with this premise otherwise they can be misread to allow just about anything. The problem with ISIS’ selective reading of the Qur’an is that it ends up ignoring constant refrains including “incline toward peace” (8:61), do not transgress the limits of what is right (2:191), maintain peaceful relations with those who intend no harm (4:90), honor treaties (9:4) and give asylum to peaceful non-combatants (9:6). In other passages the Qur’an calls on its adherents to ignore aggression (25:63), to repel evil with good (41:34), and to forgive wrongs (3:134). Similarly, the Qur’an tells Muslims to live righteously and justly with peaceful people of other faiths (5:5 and 60:8 for example). Most important, ISIS’ interpretation of the Qur’an goes against the general ethic and ethos of the scripture’s message, found in numerous passages, that commands righteous believers to stand for justice, refrain from anger, free the slaves, feed the poor and needy, and be constant in kindness and compassion, among many other virtues. We should aspire to the guiding and enduring values of the Qur’an during times of war and times of peace. I would encourage everyone to read and refer to [_The Study Qur’an_](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0061125865/?tag=timecom-20) to gain more insight on the Qur’anic message and how it has been interpreted through the centuries. **2\. When ISIS invokes the model of Prophet Muhammad, it either mischaracterizes the received traditions or looks to an exceptional circumstance rather than the general rule.** ISIS’ waging so-called jihad against fellow Muslims and waging war without any established legitimacy as a group is contrary to the prophet’s way. And, in the conduct of war, ISIS has made a mockery of the rules of fighting that were clearly established by the first Caliph Abu Bakr based on the Prophet Muhammad’s teachings that Muslim armies were forbidden from even cutting down fruit-bearing trees let alone killing innocents. In some respects, such as the treatment of prisoners, the extremist group has willfully and obviously violated the teachings of Prophet Muhammad, who treated prisoners kindly and excused them regularly. And, like the group’s reading of the Qur’an, ISIS’ interpretation of the prophetic model defies the standard observance of mercy that Muslims have always taken to be the defining characteristic of the Prophet Muhammad’s teachings and path. Even in the legitimate battles that the prophet led, he chose to be merciful toward his enemies on the battlefield and even in victory. Determining the lessons of Muhammad requires a detailed, systematic and wholesome interpretation of the texts in context. For further reading, I would suggest [_Muhammad: His Character and Beauty_](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0860375617/?tag=timecom-20)by Shaykh Yusuf Nabahani and [_Misquoting Muhammad_](http://www.amazon.com/dp/178074420X/?tag=timecom-20)by Jonathan Brown_._ **3\. The way that ISIS interprets and applies the Shari’ah is an absurd re-imagination of how Islamic Law was applied historically.** Islamic Law is not about harsh penal codes and restricting people’s natural freedoms, as ISIS seems to conceive of it. Rather, Islamic Law, according to the earliest scholars of the tradition, is about facilitating benefit and removing harm by preserving religion, life, intellect, family, wealth and human dignity—its six agreed-upon higher objectives. The advancement that Muslims have made in everything from science and medicine to art and architecture points to a dynamic understanding of law that facilitated human flourishing—not one that suppressed freedom and creativity. Women historically were not forced to cover head-to-toe nor were they largely confined to their homes. In fact, they played very important roles in society as teachers and philanthropists and held professional roles during much of Muslim history. Similarly, ISIS’ notion of how non-Muslims should be inhumanely treated under their twisted version of Shari’ah stands in stark contrast to the way non-Muslims lived, and at times even sought refuge, under Muslim rule. In typical ISIS fashion, there is a willful ignorance of the fact that there is an entire intellectual tradition that methodically debates and discusses the Shari’ah—it is not a black-and-white code imposed without due consideration of culture and context. Does anyone really believe that ISIS style Shari’ah is going to revive Islam’s place in the world as they claim? For more reflections, read Noah Feldman’s [_The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State_](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0691120455?/?tag=timecom-20). **4\. ISIS’ use of violence to instill fear in anyone who stand in its way is a completely repudiated tactic.** It has been consistently condemned by every major school of Islamic thought since the first violent extremist movement emerged in early Islam in the form of the Khawarij. Those who engaged in creating fear and instability in society were dealt with very strongly and seen as perpetrators of the worst of crimes under Islamic Law. This is partly why every major school of Islamic thought has publicly and consistently condemned ISIS. How then could this ideological movement claim to even possibly unite Muslims under its made-up caliphate? I would recommend reading Sherman Jackson’s _Domestic Terrorism in the Islamic Legal Tradition_; an [Open Letter to Al-Baghdadi](http://www.lettertobaghdadi.com/), endorsed by hundreds of prominent Muslim scholars; Shaykh Muhammad Afifi’s fatwa [Defending the Transgressed by Censuring the Reckless Against Killing Civilians](http://www.warda.info/fatwa.pdf); Refuting ISIS: A Rebuttal of Its Religious and Ideological Foundations by Shaykh Muhammad Al-Yaqoubi; and [Muslim Leaders Refute ISIS Ideology](http://fiqhcouncil.org/node/69). **5\. Much of ISIS’ lure is built on an apocalyptic vision for the end of times that is based on a few select prophecies.** Muslims have historically never based their actions on these prophecies, and some [would seem to warn us against the rise of ISIS](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJo4B-yaxfk) if anything. To build a movement that is aspiring to bring about the end of times is largely foreign to Muslim intellectual thought and ethical consideration. Instead, Muslims largely heed the prophet’s advice that states if you are planting a seed in the ground and the end of times comes upon you, “continue planting the seed.” In other words, turn to God and do good in the world—leave the future of the world in God’s Hands. As a Muslim and as a religious leader in the community, I sympathize with frustrations and even anger that many Muslims feel at the current state of affairs. But the solution is not to join an extremist ideological movement that lacks a positive and civilized vision for the world. Rather the solution is to look at the problems of the world and to ask how you can, individually and collectively, build bridges and bring beauty to a broken world. These times call for intellectuals, social justice activists, compassionate caregivers and social entrepreneurs to come together to fight the good fight—the fight to preserve our common humanity. As the Qur’an wisely states: “Help one another toward virtue and God-consciousness; do not help one another toward sin and enmity.” (5:2). ## Transcript [00:01] Hi everybody, this weekend our hearts are with the people [00:04] of San Bernardino, another american community shattered [00:08] by unspeakable violence. We solute the first responders, [00:13] the police, the SWAT teams, the EMTs who responded [00:17] so quickly, with such courage and saved lives. We [00:22] pray for the injured as they fight to recover from their [00:24] wounds. Most of all, we stand with 14 families whose [00:28] hearts are broken. We're learning more about their loved [00:31] ones, the men and women, the beautiful lives that were [00:34] lost. They were doing what so many of us do this time of [00:39] year. Enjoying the holidays, celebrating with each other. [00:42] Rejoicing in the bonds of friendship and community that [00:45] bind us together as Americans. Their deaths are an [00:49] absolute tragedy not just for San Bernardino but for our [00:52] country. We're also learning more about the killers and [00:56] we're working to get a full picture of their motives. Why they [01:00] committed these revolting acts. It's important to let the [01:04] investigators do their jobs, we need to know all the facts. [01:07] And at my direction, Federal Law Enforcement is helping in [01:10] every way that they can. We're gonna get to the bottom of [01:13] this. It is entirely possible that these two attackers [01:17] were radicalized to commit this act of terror, and if so, it [01:20] would underscore a threat we've been focused on for [01:23] years. The danger of people succumbing to violent [01:26] extremist ideologies. We know that ISIS and other terrorist [01:30] groups are actively encouraging people around the world [01:32] and in our country to commit terrible acts of violence often [01:37] times as lone wolf actors. And even as we work to prevent [01:41] attacks, all of us Government, law enforcement, [01:45] communities, faith leaders need to work together to prevent [01:49] people from falling victim to these hateful ideologies. More [01:53] broadly, this tragedy reminds us of our obligation to do [01:56] everything in our power together to keep our communities [01:59] safe. We know that the killers in San Bernardino used [02:03] miliary style assault weapons. Weapons of war to kill [02:07] as many people as they could. It's another tragic reminder [02:10] that here in America it's way too easy for dangerous people [02:14] to get their hands on a gun. For example, right now people [02:18] on the No Fly List can walk into a store and buy a gun. [02:23] That's insane! If you're too dangerous to board a plane, [02:27] you're too dangerous by definition to buy a gun. And so I'm [02:31] calling on Congress to close this loophole now. We may [02:35] not be able to prevent every tragedy, but at a bare minimum [02:38] we shouldn't be making it so easy for potential terrorists or [02:42] criminals to get their hands on a gun They could use [02:45] against Americans. Today in San Bernardino, [02:50] investigators are searching for answers. Across our [02:53] country, law enforcement professionals are tireless. [02:57] They're working around the clock, as always, to protect our [02:59] communities. As President, my highest priority is the [03:03] security and safety of the American people. This is work [03:06] that should united us all as Americans so that we're doing [03:10] everything in our power to defend our country. That's how [03:13] we can honor the lives in San Bernardino, that's how we [03:17] can send a message to all those who would try to hurt us. [03:20] We are Americans, we will uphold our values In [03:25] our free and open society. We are strong and we [03:29] are resilient, and we will not be terrorized. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4138212/isis-and-islam/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4138212/isis-and-islam/"},"headline":"Princeton Imam: 5 Reasons Mainstream Muslims Reject ISIS","datePublished":"2015-12-07T17:50:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:56:55.426Z","description":"The group's understanding of Islam is misguided","url":"https://time.com/4138212/isis-and-islam/","keywords":["nation","Religion","world affairs"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sohaib Sultan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sohaib-n-sultan/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4138212/isis-and-islam/","name":"Princeton Imam: 5 Reasons Mainstream Muslims Reject ISIS"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Obama On San Bernardino Shootings: \"We will not be terrorized\"","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/HKPJ6E7v/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-12-05T14:07:18.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/HKPJ6E7v.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4138212/isis-and-islam/","duration":"PT3M32S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4138212/isis-and-islam/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```