ISIS, ISIL, Islamic State - to put the persistent journalistic and international confusion to rest, the French government decided last week to call the Islamic terrorists with an Arabic term that they reportedly hate.    

From the beginning, exactly what to call the group that has been brutally seizing large territories in Syria and Iraq has been a source of confusion among world leaders and international media.

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At first, it was referred to as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or ISIS. However, due to differences in the Arabic translation, many, including the U.S. and UK governments, have begun calling it the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant or ISIL.

To complicate the matter further, the group started calling themselves the Islamic State (IS), referring to the idea of establishing an Islamic caliphate that breaks down internationally recognized borders. A number of media outlets followed suit including The Washington Post, The New York Times, and the Associated Press, while others continued to call them ISIS and ISIL.

In an official statement released by the French government on Monday, a new name for the Islamist group was proposed: "Daesh." It is how the group is referred to in the Arab world and the French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, insisted it is the name the group should be called.

The Islamist group is neither a state nor Islamic, Fabius told reporters. The term Islamic State is inappropriate as it "blurs the lines" between Islam, Islamists and Muslim, he said.

Fabius noted that the Arabs call the group Al-Dawla al-Islamiya fi al-Iraq wa al-Sham or Daesh and he shall be calling it "Daesh cutthroats."

According to The Washington Post, the French minister's logic is very understandable and is supported by various Muslim leaders who find the term Islamic State as used by a terrorist group offensive.

Last month, the leading Egyptian Islamic figure, Dar al-Ifta urged the international media to drop the IS moniker and use instead the term "al-Qaeda Separatists in Iraq and Syria" or QSIS. It is an outright rejection of the stereotype of Islam being associated with terror groups, The Washington Post reported.

In the UK, a group of British imams implored Prime Minister David Cameron to stop calling the terrorists Islamic State, citing that the international community should not legitimize the "ludicrous caliphate fantasies" of the self-styled group, according to the Guardian.

In any case, supporters of the hardliner Sunni group hate the name Daesh as it denotes a derogatory word in Arabic. It resounds with the word "da'ish" and its plural form "daw'ish," meaning bigots who force their own views on others, according to the Guardian.

The Associated Press reported that the group vowed to cut the throat of anyone using the term publicly as it shows defiance and disrespect.

TagsISIS, ISIL, Daesh