Part-Time Foreign Jihadist Fighters in the Syrian Civil War

ABSTRACT

This study examines the reasoning behind the decision of some Muslims to become foreign jihadist fighters and the manner in which they carried out their jihad. Through participant observation and interviews with a religious group in Istanbul made up of active fighters and supporters of the Syrian jihad, this paper’s findings suggest that the radicalization process is driven by Islamic ideology, perceived discrimination and injustice against Muslims, as well as by the perceived obligation to defend Muslim communities under threat. However, contrary to popular belief, the objective of jihad is not solely to attain martyrdom or defeat the enemy. Fulfilling daily tasks, such as digging trenches or cooking meals for fellow fighters, can also be seen as ways to attain divine approval. The Syrian Civil War is viewed by many foreign jihadist fighters as a chance to participate in jihad, after which they plan to return to their normal lives, with this process potentially repeating itself multiple times throughout their lifetime.

KEYWORDS:

• Jihad
• radicalization
• Syria
• civil war
• foreign-fighters

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. T. Hegghammer, “Should I Stay or Should I Go? Explaining Variation in Western Jihadist’ Choice Between Domestic and Foreign Fighting,” American Political Science Review 107, no. 1 (2013): 2; R. Borum, “Radicalization into Violent Extremism I: A Review of Social Science Theories,” Journal of Strategic Security 4, no. 4 (2011): 13.

2. D. R. Springer, J. L. Regens, and D. N. Edgar, Islamic Radicalism and Global Jihad (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2009).

3. M. Mishali-Ram, “Foreign Fighters and Transnational Jihad in Syria,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 41, no. 3 (2018): 169.

4. D. Byman, Road Warriors: Foreign Fighters in the Army of Jihad (New York: Oxford University Press, 2019); R. Barrett, “Foreign Fighters: An Updated Assessment of the Flow of Foreign Fighters into Syria and Iraq,” 2015, https://wbiisg.com/wp-content/uploads/bp-attachments/4826/TSG_ForeignFightersUpflow.pdf (accessed January, 2020); C. Lister, The Syrian Jihad (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015); S. G. Jones, “Syria’s Growing Jihad,” Survival 55, no. 4 (2013): 53–72.

5. Byman, Road Warriors, 171; M. Crenshaw, “Transnational Jihadism & Civil War,” The Journal of American Academy of Arts & Science 146, no. 4 (2017): 61.

6. M. Nilsson, “Jihadis: From Radical Behavior to Radical Beliefs,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 44, no. 3 (2021): 181–97.

7. A. Dalgaard-Nielsen, “Violent Radicalization in Europe: What We Know and What We Do Not Know,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 33, no. 9 (2010): 797–814; S. Atran, “The Devoted Actor,” Current Anthropology 57, no. 13 (2016): 192–203.

8. J. M. Venhaus, “Why Youth Join Al Qaeda” (Special Report 236, United States Institute of Peace, 2010).

9. C. Moore, “Foreign Bodies: Transnational Activism, the Insurgency in the North Caucasus and ‘Beyond,’” Terrorism and Political Violence 27, no. 3 (2015): 398.

10. M. Abrahms, “What Terrorist Really Want: Terrorist Motives and Counterterrorism Strategy,” International Security 32, no. 4 (2008): 96.

11. S. Atran, “The Genesis of Suicide Terrorism,” Science 299, no. 5612 (2003): 1537.

12. T. Hegghammer, “The Rise of Muslim Foreign Fighters: Islam and the Globalization of Jihad,” International Security 35, no. 3 (2010): 57–58.

13. D. S. Malet, Foreign Fighters: Transnational Identity in Civil Conflict (Washington, DC: George Washington University/PhD Diss, 2009); D. A. Raffie, “Whose Hearts and Minds? Narratives and Counter-Narratives of Salafi Jihadism,” Journal of Terrorism Research 3, no. 2 (2012): 17; S. Atran, Talking to The Enemy: Faith, Brotherhood, and the (Un)making of Terrorists (New York: HarperCollins, 2010); G. Hage, “Comes a Time We Are All Enthusiasm: Understanding Palestinian Suicide Bombers in Times of Exighophobia,” Public Culture 15, no. 1 (2004): 65–89; A. Moghadam, “Motives for Martyrdom: Al-Qaida, Salafi Jihad, and the Spread of Suicide Attacks,” International Security 33, no. 3 (2008/2009): 46–78.

14. L. Vidino, “European Foreign Fighters in Syria: Dynamics and Responses,” European View 13 (2014): 220.

15. Crenshaw, “Transnational Jihadism & Civil War.”

16. Atran, “The Devoted Actor,” 197.

17. P. Collier and A. Hoeffler, “Greed and Grievance in Civil War,” Oxford Economic Papers 56 (2004): 563–95.

18. M. Humphreys and J. M. Weinstein, “Who Fights? The Determinants of Participation in Civil War,” American Journal of Political Science 52, no. 2 (2008): 436–55.

19. R. Pape, “The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism,” American Political Science Review 97, no. 3 (2003): 343–61; R. Pape, Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism (New York: Random House, 2005).

20. B. Mendelsohn, “Terrorism and Protean Power: How Terrorists Navigate Uncertainty,” in Protean Power: Exploring the Uncertain and Unexpected in World Politics, ed. P. Katzenstein and L. Seybert (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018), 188–208.

21. One can find some examples in the literature of the usage of the word “part-time jihadist,” but there is no systematic exploration of that concept. See, for example, Vidino, “European Foreign Fighters in Syria,” 221; Marco Nilsson, “Foreign Fighters and the Radicalization of Local Jihad: Interview Evidence from Swedish Jihadists,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 38, no. 5 (2015): 351.

22. L. Mosley, “‘Just Talk to People?’ Interviews in Contemporary Political Science,” in Interview Research in Political Science, ed. L. Mosley (New York: Cornell University Press, 2013), 1–28; Dalgaard-Nielsen, “Violent Radicalization in Europe”; L. A. Fujii, Interviewing in Social Science Research (New York: Routledge, 2018).

23. L. L. Dawson and A. Amarasingam, “Talking to Foreign Fighters: Insights into the Motivations for Hijrah to Syria and Iraq,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 40, no. 3 (2017): 192.

24. Mosley, “Just Talk to People?” 12.

25. Ibid., 21.

26. L. Balcells, “The Consequences of Victimization on Political Identities: Evidence from Spain,” Politics & Society 40, no. 3 (2012): 311–47; Mosley, “Just Talk to People?” 23; L. A. Fujii, “Shades of Truth and Lies: Interpreting Testimonies of War and Violence,” Journal of Peace Research 47, no. 2 (2010): 231–41; W. Pearlman, “Moral Identity and Protest Cascades in Syria,” British Journal of Political Science 48 (2016): 877–901; E. J. Wood, Insurgent Collective Action and Civil War in El Salvador (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 50.

27. E. J. Wood, “The Ethical Challenges of Field Research in Conflict Zones,” Qualitative Sociology 29, no. 3 (2006): 373–86; E. J. Wood, “The Social Processes of Civil War: The Wartime Transformation of Social Networks,” The Annual Review of Political Science 11, (2008): 539–61; Fujii, Interviewing in Social Science Research; A. Arjona, Z. Mampilly, and W. Pearlman, Research in Violent or Post-Conflict Political Settings (American Political Science Association, 2018).

28. R. Borum and R. Fein, “The Psychology of Foreign Fighters,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 40, no. 3 (2017): 250–51.

29. T. Hegghammer, “The Rise of Muslim Foreign Fighters: Islam and the Globalization of Jihad,” International Security 35, no. 3 (2010/2011): 57–58.

30. Mishali-Ram, “Foreign Fighters and Transnational Jihad in Syria,” 185; Dalgaard-Nielsen, “Violent Radicalization in Europe,” 805; Vidino, “European Foreign Fighters in Syria,” 220; S. Cottee and K. Hayward, “Terrorist (E)motives: The Existential Attractions of Terrorism,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 34, no. 12 (2011): 963; S. Atran, “Martyrdom’s Would-be Myth Buster,” Behavioral and Brain Science 37 (2014): 362–63; R. Borum, “Radicalization into Violent Extremism I: A Review of Social Science Theories,” Journal of Strategic Security 4, no. 4 (2011): 7–36.

31. S. Maher, Salafi Jihadism: The History of an Idea (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016).

32. For further information on Salafism, see also: Roel Meijer, Global Salafism: Islam’s New Religious Movement (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009); Henri Lauziere, The Making of Salafism (New York: Columbia University Press, 2015); Maher, Salafi Jihadism, 207.

33. A. Özel, TDV İslam Ansiklopedisi (Istanbul: Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı, 1993); Raffie, “Whose Hearts and Minds?”

34. J. L. Esposito, Unholy War (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002).

35. P. L. Heck, “Jihad Revisited,” Journal of Religious Ethics 32, no. 1 (2004): 95–128.

36. See note 31 above.

37. He refers to the verse from the surah al-Hujurat 49:10: “The believers are but brothers, so make settlement between your brothers. And fear Allah that you may receive mercy.”

38. www.quran.com.

39. “In Islamic law, refers to legal obligations that must be performed by each individual Muslim, including prayer, charity, fasting, and pilgrimage. The individual obligation is contrasted with communal obligation (fard al-kifayah).” Source: J. L. Esposito, “Fard al-Ayn,” Oxford Islamic Studies Online, http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e624 (accessed January 16, 2020).

40. He also refers to Al-Hujurat 10: “The believers are but brothers, so make settlement between your brothers. And fear Allah that you may receive mercy.”

41. M. Nilsson, “Motivations for Jihad and Cognitive Dissonance—A Qualitative Analysis of Former Swedish Jihadists,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 45, no. 1 (2019): 1–19.

42. An-Nisa 75, 76 and 85: And what is [the matter] with you that you fight not in the cause of Allah and [for] the oppressed among men, women, and children who say, “Our Lord, take us out of this city of oppressive people and appoint for us from Yourself a protector and appoint for us from Yourself a helper? (75). Those who believe fight in the cause of Allah, and those who disbelieve fight in the cause of Taghut. So fight against the allies of Satan. Indeed, the plot of Satan has ever been weak (76). So fight, [O Muhammad], in the cause of Allah; you are not held responsible except for yourself. And encourage the believers [to join you] that perhaps Allah will restrain the [military] might of those who disbelieve. And Allah is greater in might and stronger in [exemplary] punishment (85).

43. See www.quran.com.

44. He refers to Osama bin Laden. See chapter 8 of this book for the role of emotion among jihadists: Thomas Hegghammer, Jihadi Culture: The Art and Social Practices of Militant Islamists (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017).

45. See note 23 above.

46. J. Halverson, S. Corman, and H. L. Goodall, Master Narratives of Islamist Extremism (New York: Palgrave Macmillian, 2011).

47. They do not use the word suicide attack when they talk about this issue. Instead, they use the Arabic term “istişhad eylemi,” which means conducting a deed by sacrificing his own life.

48. The “straight path” is the English version of the Arabic term “sirat-i müstakim.” Muslims should follow this way, which is the way of God, and it will lead them to heaven. This word is also repeated in the surah al-Fatihah which is the most repeated surah in the ritual worshipping of Muslims.

49. Crenshaw, “Transnational Jihadism & Civil War”; See note 17 above.

50. Hegghammer, “The Rise of Muslim Foreign Fighters,” 63; D. S. Malet, Foreign Fighters: Transnational Identity in Civil Conflict (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013), 63; Dawson and Amarasingam, “Talking to Foreign Fighters,” 206; M. Nilsson, “Foreign Fighters and the Radicalization of Local Jihad: Interview Evidence from Swedish Jihadists.” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 38, no. 5 (2015): 344, 351.

51. He refers to the surah At-Tawbah 111: “Indeed, Allah has purchased from the believers their lives and their properties [in exchange] for that they will have Paradise… .”

52. See note 17 above; Pape, “The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism.”

53. Quran, Ali Imran 145. www.quran.com.

54. One has to note that not all imams think similarly. Several other imams find this type of attack which causes civilian casualties, as a mistake that should be prevented.

55. Nir Arielli, From Byron to Bin Laden: A History of Foreign War Volunteers (Cambridge, MA: Harward University Press, 2017).

Additional information

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Ayhan Sari

Ayhan Sari completed his Bachelor’s degree in the Political Science and International Relations department at Yıldız Technical University in Istanbul, graduating with high honors. Subsequently, he earned an MA in Political Science from Sabanci University in Istanbul and a Ph.D. from the esteemed Political Science Department at Freie University Berlin, both of which were awarded full scholarships. His research interests are focused on conflict resolution, ethnic identities, and qualitative research methods.