Islamic State: What's in a Name? Isis vs. ISIS

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, has stolen, not only swaths of land from Iraq and Syria, but also the good name of the Egyptian goddess Isis. These extremists also use the acronyms of ISIS, ISIL, and IS, and they are also referred to as Daash or Daesh, an Arabic term.

Women and businesses named after the Egyptian goddess Isis have been unhappy about the maligning of their name and some have filed a petition "Save Our Name" asking that the terrorists be referred to as ISIL or as the Islamic State for Iraq and the Levant. The petitioners' organizers may seek a civil suit against news organizations for damaging the names of women and businesses.


Until the terrorists appeared, "Isis" was solely the name of the Egyptian goddess of magic and life, an important goddess in the Egyptian polytheistic pantheon. Isis represents a stark contrast to the bloodthirsty extremists. She was a fertility goddess and considered a protectress of the dead, children, and sailors. She is called the goddess of nature and magic. Worshiped as an ideal mother, she was the friend of slaves, sinners, artisans, and the downtrodden although she also listened to the prayers of the wealthy, maidens, aristocrats and rulers.

Isis was the wife and sister of Osiris and mother of Horus. When Set murdered Horus and cutup his body and scattered the pieces across Egypt, Isis gathered her son's body parts and restored his life.

Precisely because the goddess Isis had a good name, many baby girls and businesses were named after her; and now these women and businesses want to reclaim their name.

I support their request for the public to stop using the acronym ISIS for the terrorist extremists and to use ISIL instead.

I invite you, dear Readers, to reserve the name "Isis"for the Egyptian goddess only.
~~
Pictures are courtesy of Wikipedia

Read also
Iraq, Syria War: Muslims Condemn ISIL
ISIL Recruiting in Mindanao, Philippines
Obama's Statements about ISIL's Murder of James Foley

Tags: Isis, ISIS, ISIL, IS, Islamic State, Iraq, Syria, Levant, Egyptian, mythology, goddess, Middle East

This is all for now,
 Cecilia