THE Saudi government led 34-nation Islamic coalition against terrorism is no doubt a bold step to unite the Muslim nations to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) now short named as IS. Its necessity was felt strongly by the Western nations who believe that Muslim nations should join the fight to destroy the IS militarily and also as a Jihadist ideology to remove the menace to regional stability and world peace. It is not time for primitive Caliphate but to live up with modern culture and civilization. In this background, we see the Saudi move to mobilize an Islamic coalition against the IS threats to be a right move at the right time. But it has also left so many confusions among many member states as they were caught with surprise by the announcement of a military coalition which they were not aware of at the start of the consultation. Many fear that a hastily worked out move by Riyadh may undermine the very ambitions that the coalition is set to achieve. As it appears the move is part of the US desire but even the US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter remains skeptical about the move and has underscored the need for removing the uncertainties how it would work. In fact, the announcement of the “Islamic military coalition” by Saudi Crown Price may have been ill conceived. Indonesian government spokesman has echoed the sentiment of many when he said they must know details first and they are opposed to join any military alliance. Even in Dhaka, which readily accepts joining the coalition, a lack of understanding is at work as to what this coalition wants to achieve. There are also some Muslim countries left out of the coalition and many don’t know whether or not it will be also poised against the Shi’ite militants in the Gulf region. Many doubt that Riyadh has missed the opportunity to properly handle the move but it has still time and opportunity to remove the misgivings. What the Western nations have in their mind while fighting the IS threats mainly by aerial bombing is that a Muslim coalition of army needs to be mobilized to avoid giving the anti IS fight the colour of a fight between the Christian West and the Islamic State which is exploiting the emotional religious sentiment of Muslim youths for new recruitments as a holy war. The West is also not prepared to send troops and they want the Muslim coalition to take up this fight in the ground. As media reports said the Saudi government is especially under pressure to distance from the jihadist ideology of the Wahhabi sect of Islam which is the guiding force of IS terrorists as a battle of faith. It also provides the ideological foundation of the Saudi Kingdom. The West believes that Saudi Arabia has the special responsibility to defeat the ideology making it a critical issue that would however take more time to see how the parties would combat it.
