Introduction: God of Mercy and Vengeance

In early 2015 the militant group the “Islamic State” (ISIS) burned a Jordanian pilot named Muath al-Kasasbeh alive in a cage. They filmed the burning, and when the video was released, it provoked outrage around the world. Even some radical militant (or “jihadi”) Muslims were outraged, for they held that burning is a form of punishment reserved for God alone. In what seems like an ironic twist, the video opens with a screen displaying the following words: “In the name of God the compassionate, the merciful.” How could believers in a God of mercy do such a thing? How could