Religiously framed conflict in Syria: A comparison of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria and Islamic State

Abstract

This paper aims to gain an understanding of the role of religion in conflict. Specifically, religion plays a key role in legitimizing actions and gaining supporters for a particular movement. Therefore, the question ‘How do Islamic State and the Muslim Brotherhood use religion to legitimize their actions and how can we understand this legitimization?’ will be central to this paper. Two cases will be examined throughout this paper, namely the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic state. Their conflicts with, respectively, the governments of Hafiz and Bashar al-Assad were (and are) clearly religiously oriented. Using speeches and documents issued by both movements as well as relevant literature, an analysis of the use of religion by the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic State will be made. Taking a particularizing perspective, religion will be treated as an isolated phenomenon to enable the analysis of the frames used by both movements. Framing is a conscious and strategic act, and helps to give meaning to events, actions and other phenomena. Dividing the framing process in certain ‘framing tasks’ each chapter examines the use of religion in a particular framing task. These framing tasks are diagnostic framing, prognostic framing, and motivational framing. In the end, this paper shows that both movements make extensive use of religion to legitimize actions and gain supporters; they do so by publicizing a frame of injustice, for which they then provide a solution, and then motivate people to do something about.