ISIS are a result of ideology, they have been around in one form or another since 1999 after al-zaqarwi started the congregation for monotheism and jihad (al jamaat tawhid wal jihad) with initial seed funding from bin laden, that group became al-qaeda in Mesopotamia and eventually split off to form the islamic state.

Their ideology is salafi-jihadism. Salafi-jihadists reject all existing governmental models and systems. All salafists believe that society should be ruled according to sharia, some say not ruling by sharia is not a sin because belief is in the heart and in speech but not in actions, these salafis take the line that it is not up to humans to judge other muslims, these salafis are known as quietists because they are apolitical and nonviolent and don't go on protests or form political parties. Since political parties, demonstrations and violent protests are modern inventions and an invention of the west and something that didn't take place during the times of the prophet they aren't interested in them, because their goal is purifying the religion of innovations and living a life of piety. This type of salafi make up the bulk of salafis. There are also politically oriented salafis who advise governments are advocate for social change through peaceful change and there is a final type that believe that their purpose is to overthrow the existing local and international governmental systems and social orders in order to implement sharia because the failure to operate by sharia and the introduction of man-made law into the legal canon makes the rulers illegitimate. Salafi-jihadists consider rule by any other system and an act of polytheism and one of the reasons they consider the monarchies and secular dictatorships of the Arab world religiously illegitimate. They have excommunicated the leaders and consider anyone working for those governments a target. Salafi-jihadists make claims that justify the killing of innocents as a form of collateral damage, a major fault line between themselves and both the quietist salafists and the orthodox muslim world.

ISIS and Al-Qaeda divide on strategy, Al-Qaeda's goal is to target and weaken the international system to pressure it to drop support of Arab nations in order to weaken them so they topple easier, ISIS's aim was to form a locally based expansionist caliphate. ISIS will soon fall but salafi-jihadism will probably evolve as it has done in the past.