Prime minister objects to calling ISIS 'Islamic'

British prime minister David Cameron wants the BBC to stop using the term "Islamic State".

"I wish the BBC would stop calling it 'Islamic State' because it is not an Islamic state," he said during a radio interview.

"What it is is an appalling barbarous regime that is a perversion of the religion of Islam and many Muslims listening to this programme will recoil every time they hear the words. 'So-called' or Isil is better," he added.

Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, made a similar point in a column for the Telegraph:

"The excellent Rehman Chishti, MP for Gillingham, has launched a campaign to change the way we all talk about 'Isil'. He points out that the very use of the term 'Islamic State' is in itself a capitulation to these sadistic and loathsome murderers. They are not running a state, and their gangster organisation is not Islamic – it is a narcissistic death cult."

I'm inclined to agree that "state" is not an accurate term for the organisation that has over-run parts of Iraq and Syria, and I understand the feelings of many Muslims who don't like to see it associated with their faith. 

I also have no problem with people using IS, ISIS, ISIL or Daesh instead (I do so myself) but claiming that IS is not Islamic or saying "Islamic State" should not be used takes us into dangerous takfiri territory.

Ideologically, IS does not represent Islam as a whole but it does represent one established strand within Islamic thought, even if many people regard that strand as an aberration. There's no hope of combating IS ideologically unless we (Muslim or non-Muslim) recognise its Islamic roots.

An important principle is at stake here. When someone self-identifies as Muslim we have no right to reject their self-description. We may feel they don't think or act as a Muslim should but that doesn't entitle us to pronounce them apostates.

What Cameron et al don't seem to appreciate is that by insisting IS is not really Islamic they are getting into the business of takfirism – the practice of declaring others (usually those you disagree with) to be outside the faith.

Takfirism is a serious problem in Muslim countries (discussed in my recent book, Arabs Without God) and IS is one of its nastiest and most prominent exponents. Cameron's move unwittingly legitimises that practice.