![Sample our Area Studies journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5922/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Area-Studies.jpg"})
Abstract
This paper explores how the normative Islamic concepts of divine decree and predestination are used for motivational purposes in salafi-jihadi literature. These concepts are known as al-qaḍā’ wa-l-qadr within Islamic jurisprudence and assert that certain characteristics in an individual’s life—such as their lifespan, wealth and progeny—have already been preordained by God. Salafi-Jihadi groups, not least al-Qaeda and Islamic State, frame these concepts in unique and important ways to motivate their fighters on the battlefield, liberating them from fear of personal consequences. In particular, we examine the use of this concept not just to motivate fighters at a personal level, but also its role in maintaining morale during times of hardship, its ability to explain away failures and defeats, and its ability to project both momentum and success even when the facts suggest otherwise.
Notes
1 Sahih Muslim, The Book of Faith (Kitāb al-Īmān), book 1, number 1.
2 Muhammad ‘Abd al-Wahhab, Kitāb ut-Tawḥīd (Riyadh: International Islamic Publishing House, IIPH: 1998), 312.
3 Saleh Al-Saleh, The Salaf's Understanding of Al-Qadaa' wa-l-Qadar (2006), https://understand-islam.net/site/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=42 (accessed 11 November 2011) .
4 Ibid., 314; also see: ‘Abd al-‘Aziz bin Baz, A Lecture in Aqīda: Al-Qadā wa-l-Qadr, trans. Abu Sulayman Muhammad ibn Baker (unpublished, undated). A particularly good discussion of al-Qadā wa-l-Qadr also takes place in: Taqiuddin an-Nabahani, The System of Islam: Nidham ul Islam (London: Khilafah Publications, 2002), 21–32 .
5 Quran 3:145.
6 Quran 7:34.
7 Ḥadīth reported on the authority of Ubadah ibn al-Samit and recorded in Tirmidhi. It is also cited and discussed in Wahhab, Kitāb ut-Tawḥīd, 314. Also see: Salih Al-Fawzan, Concise Commentary on the Book of Tawḥīd (Riyadh: Al-Maiman Publishing House, 2005), 418.
8 All translations are our own unless otherwise stated in the footnotes.
9 Ayman al-Zawahiri, Fajr al-naṣr al-ūshīk [Dawn of the Imminent Victory], (September 12, 2011), Flashpoint Partners.
10 Shiraz Maher, Salafi-Jihadism: The History of an Idea (London: Hurst & Co, 2016), 7.
11 Ibid., 14.
12 Islamic State is often referred to by a series of different names or acronyms, including: Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS); Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL); Islamic State (IS); and Daesh (an acronym of its Arabic name). We shall refer to the group as Islamic State (IS) throughout this paper.
13 The story recounted about al-Adnani here is based on research and published work which appear in: Maher, Salafi-Jihadism .
14 ‘Abdallah ‘Azzam, The Lofty Mountain (London: ‘Azzam publications, undated); also see: Lawrence Wright, The Looming Tower: al-Qaeda’s Road to 9/11 (London: Penguin Books, 2007), 130.
15 ‘Azzam, The Lofty Mountain .
16 William Maley, The Afghanistan Wars ( Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002), 49.
17 Peter Bergen, The Osama Bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al-Qaeda's Leader (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2006). A number of accounts of the battle can be found on pages 51–8 . Also see Peter Bergen, The Longest War: The Enduring Conflict between America and al-Qaeda (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2011), 16.
18 ‘Azzam, The Lofty Mountain.
19 Ibid.
20 Abdullah Azzam, The Tawḥīd of Action (Tibyan publications, undated), 7.
21 ‘Azzam, The Lofty Mountain.
22 ‘Azzam, The Tawḥīd of Action, 8.
23 ‘Abu Farouk al-Husseini’, Al Naba 36 (June 2016) .
24 Ibid.
25 Ibid.
26 Ibid.
27 Ibid.
28 Ibid.
29 Ibid.
30 Both paragraphs here are based on research and published work which appear in: Maher, Salafi-Jihadism .
31 Abu Dujanah Al Afriki, ‘Abū Zūbayr al-Ṣūmālī: As a Stranger He Lived in the World and as a Stranger He Left…’ (Fursan al-Sham Media, February 2017); ‘The Inghimas Abū Qays al-Shami’, YouTube (Jabhat al-Nusra, March 2016).
32 ‘Azzam, The Tawḥīd of Action.
33 Salih bin Fawzan Al-Fawzan, Haqīqat-ut-Tawakkul ‘ala Allah: The Meaning of Reliance on Allah (no publisher, undated), 7.
34 Quran 5:23.
35 Al-Fawzan, The Meaning of Reliance, 7.
36 Wahhab, Kitāb ut-Tawḥīd, 206.
37 Al-Fawzan, The Meaning of Reliance, 7–16 .
38 ‘Azzam, The Tawḥīd of Action.
39 Wahhab, Kitāb ut-Tawḥīd, 197. Also see: Imam al-Nawawi, Riyadh al-Saliheen [Gardens of the Righteous], trans. Muhammad Amin and Abu Usamah Al-Arabi bin Razduq (Riyadh: Dar-us-salam Publications, 1995), chapters 50–53 .
40 La clef de la victoire: s’en remettre à Allah seul [The Key to Victory: Giving Oneself to Allah Alone], Dar al-Islam 9 (2016), 11–13.
41 Ibid.
42 ‘Among the Believers are Men’, Dabiq 13 (2016), 13.
43 ‘Azzam, The Tawḥīd of Action.
44 ‘Do You Think…’, Inspire 2 (2010), 60.
45 Ibid.
46 Ibid.
47 ‘Talk to Inspire’, Inspire 13 (2014), 34.
48 Ibid.
49 Ibid.
50 ‘Which Is Better: Martyrdom or Victory’, Inspire 4 (2010), 26.
51 Ibid.
52 Ibid.
53 ‘Abu Hatim: Sincerity of a Hero’, Inspire 6 (2011), 27–9 .
54 Ibid.
55 Des hommes qui aiment la mort comme vous aimez la vie, [Men Who Love Death like You Love Life], Dar al Islam 9 (2016), 18–20.
56 Ibid.
57 ‘Stand and Die upon that for which Your Brothers Died’, Rumiyah 1 (September 2016).
58 Ibid.
59 Ibid.
60 Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, That They Live By Proof (Al-Hayat Media Center, 2016).
61 ‘Letter from the Editor’, Inspire 6 (2011).
62 ‘The Martyrdom of Shaykh Usama’, Inspire 6 (2011), 7–8 .
63 Ibid.
64 Ibid.
65 Al-Adnani, That They Live By Proof .
66 Quran 22:41.
67 ‘Al-Sahab Releases “ Winds of Paradise, Part III” Eulogizing Abu-al-Layth al-Libi’ (As-Sahab Media, February 2009). Narrative account of the video accessed at: https://scholarship.tricolib.brynmawr.edu/bitstream/handle/10066/4703/ASM20090208.pdf.
68 Ibid.
69 ‘Lessons from the fitna of the Mongols’, Dabiq 14 (2016), 44–9 .
70 Ibid.
71 Ibid.
72 Ibid.
73 Ibid.
74 Al-Adnani, That They Live By Proof .
75 Maher, Salafi-Jihadism, 31–40 .
76 Ibid.
77 Ibid.
78 Al-Adnani, That They Live By Proof.
79 Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, O Our People Respond to the Caller of Allah (2015, no publisher).
80 Ibid.
81 ‘From Hijrah to Khalifa’, Dabiq 1 (2014), 35–41 .
82 Āūhām alṣalībīn fi 'aṣr alkhilāfa [Illusions of the Crusaders in the Era of the Caliphate], Al-Naba 34, 3.
83 Mujahidūn … fi kul ārḍ wa taḥt kul samā' [Mujāhidīn…On All Lands and under All Skies], Al-Naba 38 (2016), 3.
84 Ibid.
85 Ibid.
86 Ibid.
87 Ibid.
88 Sami Amr, khasirnā manbij wa rabiḥnā alma'raka [We Lost Manbij but we Won the War] (Al-Wafa, 2016).
89 Ibid.
90 Maher, Salafi-Jihadism, 129–33 .
91 Ayman al-Zawahiri, ‘Jihad, Martyrdom, and the Killing of Innocents’, in The Al-Qaeda Reader, ed. Raymond Ibrahim (New York, NY: Broadway Books, 2007), 137–71 .
92 Ibid., 169.
93 Atiyatallah al-Libi, Words of Advice and Compassion in Regards to Bombings in Markets: A Reply to a Question about the Peshawar Bombings (Markaz al-fajr lilʿlām, January 2010).