good clean fun

Last time the ISIS crowd were occupying territory in Iraq – when they were ISI – the result was out of Heart of Darkness. That particular horrorshow drove tribally based insurgents into the arms of the Americans, paving the way for establishing the decent interval for everyone to leave while saving a little face.

This time, in what is an actually disturbing development since it implies that they're going to be around for longer, they seem to be a bit better at this whole governance thing. At any rate they've got something going on that veers between Baron Ungern von Sternberg and Esther Rantzen:

The group also has a surprisingly sophisticated bureaucracy, which typically includes an Islamic court system and a roving police force. In the Syrian town of Manbij, for example, ISIS officials cut off the hands of four robbers. In Raqqa, they forced shops to close for selling poor products in the suq (market) as well as regular supermarkets and kebab stands—a move that was likely the work of itsConsumer Protection Authority office. ISIS has also whipped individuals forinsulting their neighbors, confiscated and destroyed counterfeit medicine, and on multiple occasions summarily executed and crucified individuals for apostasy.

One peculiar and somewhat grotesque outcome of the clash between a viciously restrictive religious ideology and a strategy for popular governance is the ISIS family fun day, complete with bouncy castles and a in this instance a tug of war between ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra. Good clean fun, there. And cakes. Always the cakes.

Comments

[ajay]

This might not be as incongruous as it appears. I don't know about early Islamic history specifically but going after merchants for selling short measure was one of the core functions of the mediaeval state. It is also, of course, a great way to raise funds through fines/taxes/blackmail, because merchants are the ones with the money.

[Barry Freed]

Islam started as a movement among the mercantile class of the Hijaz. The command to give full weight and measure of goods is explicit in the Qur'an in addition to the metaphor of balance, measurement, and weighing on the scales being all over the place. There are also a lot of prophetic hadith about it as well. Nothing about Bugs Bunny bouncy castles to the best of my recollection.

[nick s]

Perhaps the Warner Bros influence comes from paying attention to the effects of shoddy suppliers and inadequate planning in another desert environment.

[ajay]

I did almost write "I don't know about early Islamic history specifically (Barry?)" but then I thought "Nah, no need, he'll pick it up".

nick: Sura al-Anfal 8:30, "And when those who disbelieve draw plans against thee, to wound thee fatally, or to kill thee or to drive thee forth; they plot well, but Allah also plotteth; and Allah is the best of plotters", is fairly universally acknowledged to be a reference to Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.