ISIS Claims Using Child Executioners Is Justified by Muhammad's Teachings on the Muslim Way of Life
In the newest edition of its monthly English-language magazine, the Islamic State terrorist group attempts to justify the use of child executioners in two of its publicized execution videos by stating that coercing children to commit murder is consistent with Muhammad's teachings and the muslim way of life.
According to Radio Free Europe, the eighth edition of ISIS' Dabiq magazine contains an article titled "The Lions of Tomorrow," which praises two children who carried out videoed executions of alleged "spies." One of the boys was seen shooting dead two alleged "Russian spies" in a video released in January, while the other boy was featured in a video released in early March that showed him killing an alleged "Israeli spy."
Although many in the West were stunned or appalled to see the militant group using children who looked no older than 12 to ruthlessly commit heinous executions, the article justifies using children to carry out their acts of terror by declaring that the practice is part of the "Sunnah," or the Muslim way of life based on Muhammad's teachings and interpretations of the Quran.
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"As expected, the kuffar [infidels] were up in arms about the Khalifa's [caliphate] use of 'child soldiers,'" the article states. "This was the Sunnah of Allah's messenger, who would allow those capable from among the young Sahabah [Muhammad's companions] to participate in his battles against the mushrikun [polytheists]."
The Radio Free Europe piece states that the Dabiq article implies that ISIS "deliberately" chose to film the execution in order to anger Westerners.
The Dabiq article continues with a defense of ISIS' use of child soldiers in their "Cubs of the Caliphate" training camps, stating that ISIS is simply fulfilling its obligation to the children within it's caliphate to prepare them for the strenuous battle they must face against the "crusaders" in order to defend the name of Islam.
"The Islamic State has taken upon itself to fulfill the Ummah's [the global Muslim community] duty toward this generation by preparing it to face the crusaders and their allies in defense of Islam," the article asserts. "It has established institutes for the lion cubs to train and hone their military skills."
Another recently released ISIS video shows children leading a group of eight Syrian captives to their place of execution, and handing out knives to the militants who carried out the beheadings.
Also in the eighth edition of the magazine, ISIS attempts to justify its destruction of historical and ancient artifacts housed within museums and monasteries in Iraq by writing that the purpose of the artifacts are to "oppose the guidance of Allah and his messenger and only serves a nationalist agenda."
In last October's edition of the Dabiq magazine, the terrorist group argued that its enslavement of captured religious minority women as sex slaves is covered under Sharia law.
"Before Shaytan [Satan] reveals his doubts to the weak-minded and weak hearted, one should remember that enslaving the families of kuffar [infidels] and taking their women as concubines is a firmly established aspect of the Shariah that if one were to deny or mock, he would be denying or mocking the verses of the Quran and the narration of the [Muslim] prophet … and thereby apostatizing from Islam," the October Dabiq article stated.
