Input your search keywords and press Enter.
Islamic State
The OED gives no definition for “Islamic State”.
“Islamic State” is the name given to the group that refers to itself as al-Dawlah al-Islamiyyah, and has been the subject of much debate since it came to prominence during the Anbar Offensive. To date, neither governments nor media organisations have been able to arrive at a consensus. Terms currently in circulation include “Daesh” – which is particularly popular in the Middle East, “ISIS” and “ISIL”, which translate the group’s initial pre-expansionist name of al-Dawlah al-Islamiyyah fi al-Iraq wa al-Sham, and most problematic of all, “Islamic State”.
Term Variants: Daesh, ISIS
How this term should be used
We suggest the replacement of “Islamic State” and “Isil/Isis” with Daesh or “al-Dawla”.
The group, which has been active since at least 1999, has undergone a number of name changes in the past decade. When it came to prominence with its expansion into Syria during the Syrian Civil War, it adopted the name al-Dawlah al-Islamiyyah fi al-Iraq wa al-Sham. The fact that the Arabic noun “al-Sham” variously translates to Syria, Greater Syria or the Levant explains much of the initial inconsistency over the way the group was named in Western media outlets.
In the Summer of 2014, the group renamed itself al-Dawlah al-Islamiyyah, as part of a desire to establish a worldwide caliphate and so, the name “Islamic State” was born.
But the term is not without its detractors. In December 2015, then British Prime Minister, David Cameron said that he would begin calling the group “Daesh” instead of “Islamic State” because: “This evil death cult is neither a true representation of Islam nor a state.” [1] The decision came on the heels of a similar directive issued by the French government, who rejected the term “Islamic State” because they did not wish to legitimise terrorism.
BBC News
“The name should be qualified e.g. “Islamic State group” or “the group calling itself Islamic State” (rather than “so-called Islamic State”) or refer to “Islamic State fighter, militants, extremists” etc. Use IS in the rest of the piece. IS can also be used in headlines.” [2]
Guardian and Observer Style Guide
“Islamic State at first mention, thereafter Isis. The abbreviation stands for Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (“al-Sham”), which is why some people call it Isil. The group was originally al-Qaida in Iraq.” [3]
The New York Times
The New York Times has settled on “Islamic State” as the preferred designation, with Assistant Managing Editor Michael Slackman explaining the policy thus: “Certainly there are many Muslims and non-Muslims alike who find it offensive, but that’s their name. We have a pretty straightforward policy here. We use the name that individuals and organizations select for themselves and try to explain it”. [4]
The Associated Press
The AP has decided to go with “Islamic State Group” with the word “group” appended because, according to AP standards editor, Thomas Kent, “we think it’s important to indicate it’s not a state by normal criteria.” [5]
Statistical Trends
According to our search on the News on the Web Corpus, looking at collocates of the word “Islamic”, the word “State” ranked 20th worldwide, but 11th in the Great British Corpus. Thus, we can conclude that the term “Islamic State” is much more popular in the British Media than in the World Media taken as a whole.
