To understand the mindset of ISIS, one must look at it from a non-Western perspective. A non-Western perspective in this case is one of the oppressed. The suppression of Islam will be closely examined via colonial and contemporary imperialism.

Colonial imperialism is an attempt to westernize the world via military force. Some might argue that the sole purpose of colonial imperialism was to expand industrial production in Europe by obtaining resources from territories that were colonized. However, colonial imperialism was not just an economic tool but also a tool to westernize Islamic lands.

Historically, colonial imperialism was affirmed by a lot of pseudo-science, Social Darwinism, that gave the right of way to impose western culture on indigenous people. Colonial imperialism in the middle east dated back to the fall of the Ottoman Empire after World War I. The collapse of the Ottoman Empire, which has Islamic roots, opened the doors for Western influence. European powers carved the region into mandates, protectorates, colonies, and spheres of influence. Thus, ISIS views Israel as colonizers of Islamic lands.

Missionaries swarmed into the Ummah, the Muslim community, to convert Muslims to Christianity. Christian missionaries were very successful in Africa and Latin America. Missionaries built schools for indigenous populations to educate them about Christianity so that they would get rid of their traditional beliefs, which were viewed as primitive. However, in the Middle East, missionaries failed miserably because of the strong foundation that is embedded in the Ummah. Contemporary Imperialism is the external pressure by outside influences to change Islamic tradition.

Contemporary Imperialism is not used via military force but other means, such as cultural bias or cultural intrusion. Cultural bias is the phenomenon of interpreting or judging phenomena by standards inherent to one’s own culture; Western thought is a cultural bias that is embedded in ISIS rhetoric. Western culture was to replace Islamic culture, Western laws were to make obsolete Islamic laws, Muslims were to learn to criticize and even despise their own history and to favor Western history.

The complete takeover of Islamic traditions via the means of education is another form of cultural intrusion. The standard for education is based on western thought. Major academic organizations are biased against the curriculum that is taught in Muslim Universities; Saudi Arabia was outraged when European based Academia organizations wanted to change their University curriculum.