On Origins: Arab Intellectuals’ Debates on the Ideational Sources of ISIS

This article examines the writings of Arab intellectuals on the ideas that inspired the Islamic State organization (ISIS) through a survey of Arabic-language books, scholarly articles, and editorials in leading newspapers during the group’s 2014– 18 heyday. This probe focuses on one broad, recurring question that permeated these writings: namely, what were ISIS’s ideational sources? In addition to shedding light on the rich perspectives that Arab authors offered on this question and the extent to which they disagreed, this article demonstrates how Arab intellectuals were united in their intense hostility toward ISIS.