• aaaaaaadjsf [he/him, comrade/them]
    ·
    4 years ago

    It actually has a much wider meaning than "ISIS hand salute". It references Tawhid, the affirmation of the monotheistic nature of Allah and Islam.

      • aaaaaaadjsf [he/him, comrade/them]
        ·
        4 years ago

        Yeah I remember CNN or BBC calling it the "IS salute" and my Muslim friend got pretty mad because it's so much wider than that, and she explained it to me. Basically one finger, oneness of God/Allah if my memory is correct.

        It shows just how mainstream and widespread Islamophobia has become that a hand gesture referencing Tawhid is known as the "IS salute" in mainstream media and the general public consensus, and that the top search results all reinforce that. How is someone who is uniformed supposed to get accurate information if researching something gives incorrect answers from sources that most view as reputable.

          • aaaaaaadjsf [he/him, comrade/them]
            ·
            4 years ago

            Yeah exactly. It doesn't help that both Bin Laden and Baghdadi prominently used the hand gesture, and that ISIS used it widely. However at the same time the witch-hunts around this are very bad. Like coronavirus survivors from India used the gesture in prayer to thank god for their recovery, and then all the Modi supporters started some Twitter witch-hunt trying to link some grandma to ISIS, because of it.