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Islamic State UPPSATS The Caliphate and the Aiding Sword A content analysis of "Islamic State" propaganda Gustav Larsson Religionshistoria – masterkurs Examensarbete (30 hp) Vårterminen 2017 Religionshistoriska avdelningen Stockholms Universitet 1 2 Table of content Note on transcription........................................................................................................................2 1. Introduction....................................................................................................................................3 1.1. Making sense of the “Islamic State” movement.......................................................................5 1.1.1. History and nature of political activities in Iraq and Syria.....................................6 1.1.2. Proposed ideological affinities................................................................................9 1.1.3. The IS movement's connections, affinities, and influence beyond Iraq and Syria 14 1.1.4. Conclusions...........................................................................................................17 1.2. Presentation of overall method and theoretical framework.....................................................18 1.2.1. Social movement theory and cultural framing.......................................................20 1.2.2. Propaganda and cultural framing...........................................................................24 1.3. Propaganda of the IS movement.............................................................................................26 1.3.1. Overview of official IS media...............................................................................27 1.3.2. Previous studies on IS propaganda........................................................................30 1.3.3. Overview of analysed material and outline of subsequent chapters......................31 2. The IS movement's leadership addresses the three core framing tasks..................................36 2.1. Content of speeches delivered by al-Adnani and al-Baghdadi................................................37 2.1.1. The plight of the Muslim community as a diagnostic framing narrative..............38 2.1.2. Prognosis for a solution – the IS movement as a vehicle of faith and defiance....40 2.1.3. Motivating acts through references to the virtues of sincerity and self-sacrifice..43 2.2. Conclusions.............................................................................................................................45 3. The IS movement's remedies for the weakness and disunity of the Muslim umma...............46 3.1. “There is no life without jihad”...............................................................................................47 3.2. Sincere conviction, dedicated commitment, and the act of sacrifice......................................53 3.3 United by a common sense of purpose and direction...............................................................58 3.4. The truthful and victorious state..............................................................................................61 3.5. Conclusions.............................................................................................................................66 4. Caliphate upon the prophetic methodology...............................................................................69 4.1. From baya to massacres..........................................................................................................71 4.2. “The basis of the religion is a book that guides and a sword that supports”...........................90 4.3. Conclusions.............................................................................................................................94 5. Surveying the empirical credibility of official IS narratives....................................................98 5.1. Diagnosing the state of the Muslim umma..............................................................................99 5.1.1. Imagining a transnational umma............................................................................99 5.1.2. A militant narrative: On the necessity of jihad, and the hypocrisy of its abstainers103 5.1.3. Summary..............................................................................................................109 5.2. The IS movement as purifier.................................................................................................109 5.2.1. The wish for revenge...........................................................................................110 5.2.2. The wish for redemption......................................................................................114 5.2.3. Summary..............................................................................................................117 5.3. Trust in violence as a means of change and a tool of dissent................................................119 5.3.1. Proposed relationships between marginalisation and the attraction of violence. 119 5.3.2. The IS movement as a symbolic amplifier of dissent..........................................122 5.3.3. Summary..............................................................................................................124 6. Concluding remarks – on the versatile nature of the sword..................................................126 References........................................................................................................................................131 3 Note on transcription Throughout this study, I have used a formula for the simplified transcription of Arabic words. I have, for example, decided to not mark the letters 'ayn and ta marbutah, and have avoided the use of diacritical signs. Furthermore, I have avoided giving Arabic words their correct plural forms, and have rather rendered this in a simplified, English-style form. To name one example, anashid is rendered as nashids. I mark most Arabic words with italics, with the exception of the ones I regard as well-known enough to not warrant their separate highlighting. Words like Quran, sharia, and jihad can be regarded as examples of this, as they frequently feature in an untranslated form in, for example, non-Arabic newspapers. The above formula has been followed throughout the parts of the text written by myself – including in cases where I transcribe spoken words. In cases where I quote texts written by other authors, I maintain the transcriptions used in the original. 4 1. Introduction In recent years, the self-proclaimed “Islamic State” (IS) has managed to expand dramatically in terms of its abilities to attract worldwide attention and sympathy. While it originated as a guerrilla network in Iraq, it can now be regarded as a truly global movement. Apart from being a localised rebel group in control of territories in both Iraq and Syria, it has also attempted to brand itself as a symbol of global Islamic resistance. The following study will look closer at the thematic narratives that its propagandists use to reinforce this image, as well as at ways in which they argue for the worldwide relevance of their movement. As indicated by the fact that tens of thousands of men and women from around the world have travelled to join the movement in Iraq and Syria,1 its message is apparently an attractive one. However, this attraction may be somewhat difficult to comprehend at first glance. The various acts committed by it are explicitly violent, occasionally genocidal,2 and widely noted for their apparently unrestrained brutality. Furthermore, the movement is deeply rooted in conflicts related to a certain local and specifically sectarian context. It can therefore be regarded as quite puzzling that a movement which, to a large extent, can be described as a sectarian Iraqi militia has been able to inspire such devoted sympathy among international audiences. For this reason, I want to take a closer look at how the IS movement's official propaganda presents its overall enterprise, the purposes of its various activities, and the benefits of one's engagement with it. In what follows, I will therefore analyse the content of a limited set of official IS propaganda releases, and highlight thematic narratives used to argue for the wider relevance of the movement. Inspired by ideas on so-called collective action frames (see below), I aim to understand how IS propagandists seek to connect their disseminated messages to variously broader/“global” issues. How do they present engagement with the IS movement as something internationally relevant? What benefits are presented, and are these in any way argued for as connected to specific grievances and interests? By looking at thematic patterns in the analysed material, I hope that I will be able to understand some part of the process through which these propagandists attempt to create a sense of both resonance and relevance among distantly located audiences. In other words, I want to examine the narrative methods employed to facilitate a sort of convergence between the ideas presented by official IS propaganda and the interests of the targeted audiences. My own view on the relationship between ideas and interests is inspired by that of Max Weber: Not ideas, but material and ideal interests, directly govern men's conduct. Yet very frequently the “world images” that have been created by “ideas” have, like switchmen, determined the tracks along which action has been pushed by the dynamic of interest. “From
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