How Islamic is the Islamic State?

“To say that IS is outside of the interpretive parameters of Islam is factually incorrect. […] There is no question that these people are drawing inspiration from Islamic texts. And they know these texts better than most Muslims”, Professor Bernard Haykel of Princeton University’s Department of Near Eastern Studies responds to an open rejection letter of the IS movement signed by 126 Sunni scholars.

Professor Haykel also shared insights on the strand of Islamic tradition that IS draws on, and the reasons why the majority of Sunni critics have been hesistant to condemn IS members as heretics.

WAPT interviewed Professor Haykel upon his visit to the Netherlands on November 14, 2014.