1、资料AThe Islamic State, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), follows a distinctivevariety of Islam whose beliefs about the path to the Day of Judgment matter to its strategy, andcan help the West know its enemy and predict its behavior.伊斯兰国又称伊拉克及阿尔沙姆伊斯兰国(ISIS)，它
3、战中，有多达1.2万名极端分子(extremist)加入该组织。 经过3年多的发展，致力于在从伊拉克到地中海之间的中东核心地带建立政教合一国家的“伊斯兰国”显然已不是西方传统意义上所定义的“恐怖组织”。很大程度上，它超越了恐怖组织游击战似的活动形式，已经是一个分工严密(strict division)、自我维持的准政权。The Islamic State is Islamic. Very Islamic. It has attracted psychopaths and adventure seekers,drawn largely from the disa
4、ffected populations of the Middle East and Europe. But the religionpreached by its most ardent followers derives from coherent and even learned interpretations ofIslam.伊斯兰国是伊斯兰，地地道道的伊斯兰。它吸引了一些疯子，也吸引了一些机会主义者，他们大都来自中东和欧洲未受波及的地区。但它最忠实的追随者所宣扬的教义，源自对伊斯兰最直接甚至是最深刻的解读。这个国家原则上拒绝和平，渴望种族屠杀(hun
5、gering for genocide)，它的宗教观点使它从根本上无法进行某些变革，即使这种变革能确保其生存;它认为自己是即将到来的世界末日(the imminentend of the world)的预言者(headline player)，而且也是首要参与者。 There is a temptation to rehearse this observation—that jihadists are modern secular people, withmodern political concerns, wearing medieval religious
6、 disguise—and make it fit the Islamic State. Infact, much of what the group does looks nonsensical except in light of a sincere, carefullyconsidered commitment to returning civilization to a seventh-century legal environment, andultimately to bringing about the apocalypse.人们总是不由自主地产
7、生这种印象——圣战斗士都是现代人，有现代政治观念，只不过穿着中世纪宗教的外衣——然后把这种印象套在伊斯兰国身上。实际上，除非从虔诚地、千方百计地把世界文明拖回7世纪的法律氛围并最终引发末日决战的角度理解，否则这个组织的大部分行为看起来都是荒谬的。Some experts think the ranks of the Islamic State are deeply infused with religious vigor. Koranicquotations are ubiquitous. 有学者认为，伊斯兰国各阶层都融入了宗教的活力，随处可见对古兰经的引用。
