Abstract
This chapter examines the Islamic State as a case study of militant Islam’s vigilante justice. Its military and ideological actions embody vigilante justice at work. The word “justice” and its surrogate terms such as revenge, irhaab (terrorism), endurance, and terror are key markers of the organization’s political and theological vocabulary. From the inaugural speech of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on June 29, 2014, to the hymn of its foot soldiers conquering new territories, the echo of vengeful justice rings loud. This chapter also examines the rationale and the articulation of many aspects of the organization’s vision of vigilante justice, including vengeance, gruesome violence, and the blatant rejection of political freedom. Specific elements under consideration include the organization’s brand of violence, its politics of legitimizing al-Baghdadi’s leadership, and the emphasis on the caliphate through forceful bay’a (a pledge of allegiance) instead of invoking free will in pledging allegiance to the emir.
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Notes
- 1.
Abdel Bari Atwan, Islamic State: The Digital Caliphate (London: Saqi Books, 2015).
- 2.
See Amos’ book the Eclipse of the Sunnis, op. cit.; and Emma Sky’s work The Unraveling: High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Iraq (New York: PublicAffairs, 2015).
- 3.
Hassan Abu Hanieh and Muhammad Abu Romman, Al-Dawlah al-Islamiyyah: al-Azmah al-Sunniyyah wa al-Sira’ ‘ala al-Jihad al-’Alami (Jordan, Amman: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung), 2015.
- 4.
See YouTube video “ISIS releases video purporting to show beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians in Libya.” Accessed on February 20, 2015, at https://youtu.be/rkKQ_RFo6IQ.
- 5.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi “Wa-yaba Allah illa an yutimma nurahu,” Muassasat al-Furqan, 21 July 2012. Accessed on August 13, 2012, at http://ia601207.us.archieve.org/14/items/2b-bkr-bghd/143393.pdf.
- 6.
Abu Hajir al-Hadrami “Salami ‘ala Dawlah.’ Accessed on August 5, 2014, at https://youtu.be/9QSrH97p3sw. The lyric of the poem can also be accessed at http://www.almolok.com/t59999p7-topic.
- 7.
Al-Yusufiyah is a regional township of about 20 miles south of Baghdad in Iraq.
- 8.
This evidence is abundant in clips and videos of supporters and enemies of the Islamic State. Even captured soldiers of the Syrian or Iraqi armies have to repeat the word baqiya while in the hands of their executors.
- 9.
Hania and Abu Roman, op. cit., 200.
- 10.
In this story, read Jasim Muhammd, DAISH Wa I’lan “al-Dawlah al-Islamiyyah” Wa al-Sira’a al al-Bay’a (Cairo: al-Maktab al-’Arabi lil-Ma’arif, 2015), 5+.
- 11.
Al Arabiya Online, “Aham ‘ishrin ShakhSiyyah Fi DAISH.” Published on September 18, 2014. Accessed on September 28, 2014, at http://www.alarabiya.net/ar/arab-and-world/ i r a q / 2 0 1 4 / 0 9 / 1 8 / % D 8 % A 3 % D 9 % 8 7 % D 9 % 8 5 - 2 0 - % D 8 % B 4 % D 8 % A E % D 8 % B 5 % D 9 % 8 A % D 8 % A 9 - % D 9 % 8 1 % D 9 % 8 A -%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%B4-%D9%83%D9%84%D9%87%D9%85-%D8%B9%D8%B 1 % D 8 % A 7 % D 9 % 8 2 % D 9 % 8 A % D 9 % 8 8 % D 9 % 8 6 - % D 9 % 8 5 % D 8 % A 7 - %D8%B9%D8%AF%D8%A7-%D8%B3%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%8B-%D9%8 8%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%8B.html.
- 12.
Al Arabiya Online, “Sina’at al-Mawt.” Broadcasted on February 16, 2014. Accessed on September 24, 2014, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zC6XnoYcbc.
- 13.
Consult the classical biography of Muhammad by Abdul-Malik Ibn Hisham, Al-Sira al-Nabawiyyah (Beirut: Dar al-Kitab al-’Arabi, 1990).
- 14.
Quran: 10: 25.
- 15.
Sabiq, 1971, op. cit., 595.
- 16.
Qutb, 2006, op. cit.
- 17.
This video was accessed on November 11, 2015, at http://pamelageller.com/2015/02/watch-islamic-state-video-of-pilot-being-burnt-alive-jordan-vows-revenge.html/.
- 18.
- 19.
The full lyric and chant of the song is available in this article: Al-Masry Al-Youm Newspaper on the chant, entitled “Nashid al-Dhabh.” Published on February 16, 2015. Accessed on July 27, 2015, at http://www.almasryalyoum.com/news/details/658069.
- 20.
- 21.
Information available in Amnesty yearly reports on death penalties in these specific countries; regarding Saudi Arabia, for example, read “Saudi Arabia: 151 executed this year in highest recorded toll in nearly two decades.” Accessed on July 21, 2016, at https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2015/11/saudi-arabia-151-executed-this-year-in-highest-recorded-toll-in-nearly-two-decades/; https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/02/saudi-arabia-beheadings-reach-highest-level-in-two-decades.
- 22.
Gary Bunt, iMuslims: Rewiring the House of Islam (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2009), 249.
- 23.
The YouTube video is entitled “‘Jihadi John’ Killer from Islamic state Beheading Videos Named by Media.” Accessed on September 14, 2016, at https://youtu.be/HEbtxp9SsVs.
- 24.
“O great God! This Ebrat’s wish,” selected from Alex Strick Van Linschoten and Felix Kuehn, Poetry of the Taliban (London: Hurst & Company, 2012), 67.
- 25.
Karen Greenberg, Rogue Justice: The Making of The Security State (New York: Crown Publishers, 2016).
- 26.
Figure from Al Arabiya Online, “Ahamm ‘ishrin ShakhSiyyah Fi DAISH,” op. cit.
- 27.
Abdel Bari Atwan, op. cit., p. 33.
- 28.
David Harvey, A Brief History of Neoliberalism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007). 7.
- 29.
Amos Deborah, Eclipse of the Sunnis: Power, Exile, and Upheaval in the Middle East, op. cit.
- 30.
Emma Sky, The Unraveling: High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Iraq, op. cit.
- 31.
For more on this topic, read Jeremy Scahill, “The Drone Papers.” In The Intercept. Article No. 4. Oct. 15, 2015. Accessed on June 2, 2016, at https://theintercept.com/drone-papers/find-fix-finish/.
- 32.
Covered in Al Jazeera’s program Al-Ittijah al-Mu’akis under “As-Saha al’Iraqiyyah Ba’da maqtal al-Zarqawi.” Uploaded on March 7, 2009. Accessed on May 18, 2011, at https://youtu.be/rodn86KG4CE.
- 33.
Muyassara al-Gharib, Durar Muba’thar (Autobiography of al-Zarqawi). Published online on October 20, 2014. Accessed on July 15, 2015, at http://dorarmouba3tara.blogspot.com/2014/10/5_19.html.
- 34.
IS declaration “This is the Promise of Allah.” Accessed on 30 June 2014 at https://ia902505.us.archive.org/28/items/poa_25984/EN.pdf.
- 35.
Sayyid Qutb, Ma’rakat al-Islam wa Rasamaliyyah (Islam’s Battle with Capitalism) (Cairo: Dar al-Shurooq, 1978), 55.
- 36.
Abu Muhammad al-‘Adnani, Hadha Wa‘d Allah. Online at http://www.jihadica.com/wpcontent/uploads/2014/07/%D9%87%D8%B0%D8%A7-%D9%88%D8%B9%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%84%D9%87.pdf. Accessed on July 7, 2016.
- 37.
Anthony Black, The History of Islamic Political Thought: From the Prophet to the Present (New York: Routledge, 2001), 84–5.
- 38.
See video on tribal sheikhs in Iraq and Syrian pledging allegiance to Emir of the Faithful, Al-Baghdadi. Published on February 3, 2014. Accessed on July 8, 2015, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cm3mUhYvKEI.
- 39.
See Jasim Muhammd, DAISH Wa I’lan “al-Dawlah al-Islamiyyah” Wa al-Sira’a al al-Bay’a, op. cit.
- 40.
Mbaye Lo, “Religion and Religious Teachings in Al-Qaeda.” op. cit.
- 41.
Hani Nasria, Sardab al-Damm: DAESH … Dirasa Naqdiyyah wa Tahliliyyah (Egypt, Giza: Sefsafa Publishing House, 2015), 59.
- 42.
Abu l-Mundhir al-Shinqiti, Mata Yafqahun Ma’na al-Ta’a? (April 9, 2013). Accessed on July 7, 2016, at http://justpaste.it/2dmr.
- 43.
Abu al-Hassan al-Azdi, Mujibat al-Indimam li-l Dawlah al-Islamiyyah fi-l Iraq wa al-Sham, (ND). Accessed on July 7, 2016, at http://www.muslm.org/vb/showthread.php?519239.
- 44.
Turki al-Bin’ali, Madd al-Ayadi li Bay’at al-Baghdadi. Published online in 2013. Accessed on March 13, 2014, at www.tawhed.ws/r?i=05081301.
- 45.
As an example, read Abdellah Hammoudi’s book, Master and Disciple: The Cultural Foundations of Moroccan Authoritarianism (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1997), 68.
- 46.
Turki al-Bin’ali, op. cit.
- 47.
Ibid., 4.
- 48.
Ibid., 4+.
- 49.
Ibid., 6.
- 50.
Important to note that traditional Sunni schools precondition the ruler to be a male, free (not enslaved) and of known genealogy.
- 51.
Ibid., 19.
- 52.
Ibid., 21.
- 53.
Ibid., 12.
- 54.
Al-Baghdadi audio speech, Al-Furqan Institute for Media Production, May 14, 2015. Infirou khifafan wa Thiqalan (Get Going Whether Light or Heavy), from https://archive.org/details/muhd_Avi.
- 55.
Al-Baghdadi’s warning to the people of Syria on April 9, 2013, op. cit.
- 56.
Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, a recorded voice, published on July 30, 2013. Accessed on July 21, 2015, at https://archive.org/details/Elfrkan-3dn_02.
- 57.
Ayman al-Zawahiri, Tawjihat ‘Ammah lil ‘Amal al-Jihadi. Published in Muassasatul al-Sahab. Accessed on July 14, 2016, at https://archive.org/details/tawakkalo-00.
- 58.
Al-Baghdadi, speech entitled, “Wa Ya-aba Allah illa an Yutimma Nurahu.” June 22, 2012. Last time accessed on October 21, 2015, at http://www.dd-sunnah.net/forum/showthread.php?t=153320.
- 59.
Al-Adnani’s speech entitled, al-Silmiyyah Li man (Peace for Whom). Last time accessed on May 27, 2016, at http://bab-ul-islam.net/showthread.php?t=2010.
- 60.
Ibid.
- 61.
Interview published on Arabic CNN on June 2, 2014. Accessed on January 14, 2015, at http://arabic.cnn.com/middleeast/2014/07/02/abu-muhammad-almaqdessi-isis.
- 62.
Ayman Zawahiri, Knights Under the Banner of the Prophet, op. cit.
- 63.
Ayman al-Zawāhirī, “H. aqā’iq al-s. irā‘bayn al-Islām wa’l-kufr,” Mu’assasat al-Sah. āb, December 2007. Transcript: http://www.tawhed.ws/r?i=kdmwdhq2.
- 64.
Speech accessed on October 17, 2012, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_TZz4_GkQU.
- 65.
Read Muhammad Abu Roman, “Min al-Salfiyya al-Jihadiyya ila AnSar al-Shar’ia.” In Majallatu al-’Ulum al-Ijtima’iyya. Kuwait: Kuwait University: Volume 42: 2014, pp. 236–41.
- 66.
Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Waq’i Bayna al-Alam wa al-Amal. Published on May 2, 2014. Accessed on July 13, 2015, at https://archive.org/details/waq3.1.
- 67.
Ayman al-Zawahiri “Al-Zawahiri Yamuru Dawlata al’iraq wa al-Sham bi al-Insihab min Suriya.” Voice message accessed online on November 10, 2013, at https://youtu.be/mTP_lfV1foU.
- 68.
Al-Baghdadi, Za’im al-Qa’ida fi al’Iraq Yarfudu Qarar al-Zawahiri Za’imu al-Qa’ida Abtal al-Indimaj Ma’a al-Nusra. Accessed in July 2013 at http://marsadpress.net/?p=10979.
- 69.
Al-Adnani, speech entitled, ‘Please, Emir of al-Qaeda’. Published by the al-Forqan Organization. Accessed on July 12, 2015, at https://justpaste.it/othran.
- 70.
Abu Abdullah, Al-Muhajir, Massail Min Figh al-Jihad (Treatises in the Jurisprudence of Jihad). Distributed by Minbar al Tawhid wa al-Jihad Site. Accessed at http://ia601203.us.archive.org/19/items/kotobjehad/masael.pdf, p. 8.
- 71.
Ibid., 29.
- 72.
Ibid., 187+.
- 73.
The question of al-Tatarrus was discussed in Chap. 4.
- 74.
Abu Abdullah, op. cit., 278.
- 75.
For more details on the killing of Abu Khalil, read William McCants, The ISIS Apocalypse: The History, Strategy, and Doomsday Vision of the Islamic State (New York: St. Marin’s Press, 2015), 97.
- 76.
Ayman Al-Zawahiri, Shahada li-Hiqni ad-Dima. Accessed in July 2014 at https://archive.org/details/shehadaemam.
- 77.
Al-Adnani, Makan Hadha Manhajuna [this was not our method, and never will be]. Accessed on May 20, 2016, at https://justpaste.it/f581.
- 78.
This is a selectively modified quotation from the Quran (8: 57). (So if you, [O Muhammad], gain dominance over them in war, disperse by [means of] them those behind them that perhaps they will be reminded.)
- 79.
See Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, a recorded voice, op. cit.
- 80.
Interview with Abu Omar al-Shishani published in many Islamic State-related publications and others such as Sinaa Publication on October 10, 2013 (http://mspsy.org/ar/?p=2587-5) and also on al-Akhbar at http://al-akhbar.com/node/194985. Both accessed on July 14, 2014.
- 81.
See Islamic State newsletter Dabiq: Issue 3, 2014.
- 82.
“How the Islamic State Was Won.” In Harper’s Magazine: November 2014. Accessed on November 17, 2014, at http://harpers.org/archive/2014/11/how-the-islamic-state-was-won/4/.
- 83.
Abdel Bari Atwan, The Digital Caliphate (California: University of California Press), 20.
- 84.
Ali Abderraziq, Al-Islam Wa USul al-Hukm (Qatar: Ministry of Arts, Culture and Heritage, 2008), 35.
- 85.
Ibrahim Natil, “Hamas: Between Militarism and Governance.” In Peacebuilding and Reconciliation: Contemporary Themes and Challenges, (Eds.) by Marwan Darweish and Carol Rank (London: PlutoPress, 1912), 167.
- 86.
His TV interview upon his resignation from the police force and his support of the revolution can be reached in the following link, accessed on October 23, 2014: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwZwzrrk21I.
- 87.
Interview with his brother on his death fighting with ISIS can be reached in the following link, accessed on October 15, 2014: http://m.almasryalyoum.com/news/details/548600.
- 88.
Original information and document published on Egyptian Online News da Begad. Accessed on March 1, 2013, at http://dabegad.com/2015/03/1996.
- 89.
His twitter account, accessed on October 11, 2014, at https://twitter.com/Darawy1.
- 90.
Report on Al-Masry Al-Youm. Accessed on October 23, 2014, at http://m.almasryalyoum.com/news/details/547022.
- 91.
Interview with Egypt Minister of Security, published on October 20, 2014. Accessed on July 23, 2016, at http://www.elwatannews.com/news/details/580412.
- 92.
- 93.
Wail Abdel Fattah “Qabl-a An Nufattisha Fi Qissati Ahmad al Darwi.” In Tahri News (October 20, 2014). Accessed on October 23, 2014, at http://tahrirnews. com/%D9%82%D8%A8%D9%84-%D8%A3%D9%86-%D9%86%D9%81%D8%AA%D8%B4- %D9%81%D9%89-%D9%82%D8%B5%D8%A9-%D8%A3%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%AF-%D8% A7%D9%84%D8%AF%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%89/..
- 94.
Belal Fadl “Al Dawri Sani’atu Sisi.” In Al Arabi al Jadid: Oct. 21, 2014. Accessed the same day at http://www.alaraby.co.uk/opinion/2ef9b935-e233-4a79-acb3-22f2c9a62890.
- 95.
Yusuf al-Qaradawi’s video commentary on Al Jazeera was accessed on July 13, 2014, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1rcf2WPNhU#t=150.
- 96.
Personal interview with Dr. Abdessatar Rejeb in Tunis, the capital, on June 29, 2016.
- 97.
Personal interview, ibid.
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Lo, M. (2019). The Islamic State: The Rise of Vigilante Justice. In: Political Islam, Justice and Governance. Political Economy of Islam. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96328-0_6
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