The Ideological Indoctrination through ISIS Textbooks

Abstract

This paper depicts how ideological indoctrination is constructed within the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) textbooks as a framing process of religious concepts and values. By adopting a frame analysis perspective, we try to understand how ISIS textbooks assign meaning to traditional concepts in Islam – belief in the oneness of God, obedience to God, rejection of polytheism, allegiance, and disavowal, among others. Even though existing research has led to significant insights into ISIS propaganda, media, and strategic communication, it still falls short of addressing its ideological indoctrination process in a detailed manner. This article fills a gap in the literature on ISIS educational propaganda and ideology. For our empirical case study, we analyzed a selection of ISIS primary-level textbooks produced in Iraq and Syria and published in Arabic. Ultimately, this paper demonstrates that ISIS has been attempting to redefine education by framing the textbooks’ content through the lens of its own ideology. Our study contributes to the growing number of studies that draw attention to the instrumentalization of educational material as a tool of ideological indoctrination targeting youth in conflict areas.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Samantha Mahood and Halim Rane, “Islamist Narratives in ISIS Recruitment Propaganda,” The Journal of International Communication 23 (2017): 15–35.

2 Sveinung Sandberg and Sarah Colvin, “‘ISIS Is Not Islam’: Epistemic Injustice, Everyday Religion, and Young Muslims’ Narrative Resistance,” The British Journal of Criminology 60 (2020): 1585–605.

3 Shiraz Maher, Salafi-Jihadism: The History of an Idea (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016).

4 Asaad Almohammad, ISIS Child Soldiers in Syria: The Structural and Predatory Recruitment, Enlistment, Pre-Training Indoctrination, Training, and Deployment (The Hague: The International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, 2018).

5 Megan K McBride, “Unforced Errors: ISIS, the Baath Party, and the Reconciliation of the Religious and The Secular,” Politics, Religion & Ideology 20 (2019): 170–91, https://doi.org/10.1080/21567689.2019.1617136.

6 Jacob Olidort, Inside the Caliphate’s Classroom: Textbooks, Guidance Literature, and Indoctrination Methods of the Islamic State (Washington, DC: Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 2016).

7 Arvisais, Olivier, Marie-Hélène Bruyère, Chirine Chamsine, and Mohamed Amine Mahhou, “The Educational Intentions of the Islamic State through Its Textbooks,” International Journal of Educational Development 87 (2021): 102506.

8 Arvisais, Olivier, and Mathieu Guidère, “Education in Conflict: How Islamic State Established Its Curriculum,” Journal of Curriculum Studies 52, no. 4 (2020): 498–515.

9 For this study, we were in possess of the entire set of primary school textbooks used by ISIS in Syria and Iraq, in both paper and electronic format (PDF).

10 Sandberg and Colvin, “‘ISIS Is Not Islam’.

11 Celine Marie I. Novenario, “Differentiating Al Qaeda and the Islamic State Through Strategies Publicized in Jihadist Magazines,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 39 (2016): 953–67, https://doi.org/10.1080/1057610X.2016.1151679.

12 Matteo Vergani and Ana-Maria Bliuc, “The Evolution of ISIS’ Language: A Quantitative Analysis of the Language of the First Year of Dabiq Magazine,” Sicurezza, Terrorismo e Società 2 (2015): 7–20.

13 Agathe Christien, “The Representation of Youth in the Islamic States’s Propaganda Magazine Dabiq,” Journal of Terrorism Research 7 (2016): 1–8.

14 Meghan Conroy and Nadia Al-Dayel, “Identity Construction Through Discourse: A Case Study of ISIS’s No Respite Video,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism (2020): 1–26, https://doi.org/10.1080/1057610X.2020.1738683; Remy Low, “Making up the Ummah: The Rhetoric of ISIS as Public Pedagogy,” Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies 38 (2016): 297–316.

15 Olivier Roy, Jihad and Death: The Global Appeal of Islamic State (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017).

16 Atwan Abdel Bari, Islamic State: The Digital Caliphate (Oakland: University of California Press, 2015).

17 Imran Awan, “Cyber-Extremism: Isis and the Power of Social Media,” Society 54 (2017): 138–49, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-017-0114-0

18 Nur Aziemah Azman, “Islamic State’ (ISIS) Propaganda: Dabiq and Future Directions of ‘Islamic State,” Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses 8 (2016): 3–7; Colas Brandon, “What Does Dabiq Do? ISIS Hermeneutics and Organizational Fractures within Dabiq Magazine,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 40 (2016): 173 –90, https://doi.org/10.1080/1057610X.2016.1184062.

19 Jan Christoffer Andersen and Sveinung Sandberg, “Islamic State Propaganda: Between Social Movement Framing and Subcultural Provocation,” Terrorism and Political Violence 32 (2020): 1506–26, https://doi.org/10.1080/09546553.2018.1484356.

20 See David Cook, “The ISIS Apocalypse: The History, Strategy and Doomsday Vision of the Islamic State. By William McCants,” Journal of Religion and Violence 5 (2017): 103–106.

21 Omar Al-Ghazzi, “Modernity as a False Deity: Takfiri Anachronism in the Islamic State Group’s Media Strategy,” Javnost-The Public 25 4 (2018): 379–392.

22 Jonathan Fine, Political Violence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: From Holy War to Modern Terror (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015).

23 Mark D Robinson and Cori E. Dauber, “Grading the Quality of ISIS Videos: A Metric for Assessing the Technical Sophistication of Digital Video Propaganda,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 42 (2019): 70–87; Miron Lakomy, “Mapping the Online Presence and Activities of the Islamic State’s Unofficial Propaganda Cell: Ahlut-Tawhid Publications,” Security Journal 34 (2021): 358–84, https://doi.org/10.1057/s41284-020-00229-3.

24 Attila Kovács “The ‘New Jihadists’ and the Visual Turn from al-Qa’ida to ISIL/ISIS/Da’ish,” Bitzpol Affairs 2 (2014): 47–69.

25 See Yen Woo and Jacqueline Simmons, “Paved with Good Intentions: Images of Textbook Development in Afghanistan,” Asia Pacific Journal of Education 28 (2008): 291–304; Che Noraini Hashim and Langgulung Hasan, “Islamic Religious Curriculum in Muslim Countries: The Experiences of Indonesia and Malaysia,” Bulletin of Education & Research 30 (2008): 1–19; Davis Craig, “‘A’ Is for Allah, ‘J’ Is for Jihad,” World Policy Journal 19 (2002): 90–94; and Yvette C. Rosser, “Cognitive Dissonance in Pakistan Studies Textbooks: Educational Practices of an Islamic State,” Journal of Islamic State Practices in International Law 12 (2005): 7–18.

26 See Jonas Otterbeck, “What is Reasonable to Demand? Islam in Swedish Textbooks,” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 31 (2005): 795–812.

27 Patrick Knox, “Chilling ISIS School Textbooks Revealed That Teach “Cubs of the Caliphate” to Use Deadly Weapons and Shoot Down Allied Jets,” The Sun, 21 November 2016, https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2232955/chilling-isis-school-textbooks-revealed-that-teach-cubs-of-the-caliphate-to-use-deadly-weapons-and-shoot-down-allied-jets/; Omar Wahid, “Pupils Aged Seven Are Brainwashed by ISIS,” Mail Online, 11 February 2017, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/∼/article-4215690/index.html.

28 Ash Gallagher, “The Islamic State’s Child Soldiers,” Al Monitor, 3 April 2015, http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/04/lebanon-islamic-state-child-soldiers-syria-iraq-hrw-afp.html; Sarah Birke, “How ISIS Rules,” New York Review of Books, 9 December 2014, https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2014/12/09/how-isis-rules/ ; “G’ Is For Gun, ‘S’ Is For Sniper In ISIS Textbooks,” NDTV, 8 March 2017, https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/g-is-for-gun-s-is-for-sniper-in-isis-textbooks-1667642 ; Mubaraz Ahmed, “Textbooks of Terror: ISIS Releases its Curriculum,” Institute for Global Change, 13 November 2015, https://institute.global/policy/textbooks-terror-isis-releases-its-curriculum.

29 Gina Vale, “Cubs in the Lions’ Den: Indoctrination and Recruitment of Children within Islamic State Territory,” (International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation, 2018), https://icsr.info/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Cubs-in-the-Lions-Den-Indoctrination-and-Recruitment-of-Children-Within-Islamic-State-Territory.pdf.

30 John G. Horgan, Max Taylor, Mia Bloom and Charlie Winter, “From Cubs to Lions: A Six Stage Model of Child Socialization into the Islamic State,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 40 (2017): 645–64; Mia Bloom and John G. Horgan. Small Arms: Children and Terrorism (New York: Cornell University Press, 2019).

31 Horgan, Taylor, Bloom and Charlie Winter, “From Cubs to Lions,” 645–64.

32 Arvisais, Olivier, and Mathieu Guidère, “Education in Conflict: How Islamic State Established Its Curriculum,” Journal of Curriculum Studies 52, no. 4 (2020): 498–515.

33 See Vale, Cubs in the Lions’ Den.

34 Sarah Birke, “How ISIS Rules,” New York Review of Books, 9 December 2014, https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2014/12/09/how-isis-rules/.

35 Guidère, Mathieu, “Terrorism before and after Islamic State,” Confluences Mediterranee 102, no. 3 (2017): 65–74.

36 A report even showed that: “A math textbook, for example, asked students in one exercise to calculate the number of ‘unbelievers’ who could be killed by a car bomber. Another [textbook] referenced how many explosives a factory could produce. All plus signs were removed because they resemble the Christian cross.”, see Kyle Almond, “How ISIS Changed Iraqi Schools,” July 2017, https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2017/07/world/iraq-schools-cnnphotos/.

37 Daniel A. Snow and Robert D. Benford say that frame alignment is an important element in indoctrination. They argue that is occurs when individual frames become linked in congruency and complementariness, producing “frame resonance”, see “Ideology, Frame Resonance, and Participant Mobilization,” International Social Movement Research 1 (1988): 198.

38 A summary of religious doctrine often in the form of questions and answers.

39 Guidère, Mathieu, Historical Dictionary of Islamic Fundamentalism (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2017).

40 Bukhari, 870, and Muslim, 875 published a collection of prophetic traditions (hadith) known as Sahih (the Authentic), which was considered an authority in Sunni Islam. The collections include nearly 8,000 “sayings of the Prophet” (hadith) and are taken from an initial collection of over 300,000 traditions deemed apocryphal by both ulamas.

41 Sunni tradition has 99 names and attributes for God/Allah, which are always recited in religious ceremonies and after the main prayer, especially during the month of Ramadan.

42 Given the time dedicated to the teaching of “Oneness”, it is more about indoctrinating.

43 The imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal (d. 855) is a major authority in Sunni Islam. He is the founder of one of the Sunnism’s schools. The first is the Hanbali school, known for its rigorous doctrine due to its strict following of the Qur’an and the Tradition. This school gave rise to the Salafi branch, and then to the Wahhabi branch, both dominant among the Gulf Arab monarchies. The direct disciples of the imam Ahmad include the famous traditionalists Bukhari (870) and Muslim (875), both mentioned above.

44 Ibn Kathir commentary was unique in that he established the relationship between the verses of the Qur’an and the prophetic traditions and legal considerations. He is also known for his grand history of Islam (al-bidaya or “The Beginning”).

45 Michael Bonner, Jihad in Islamic History: Doctrines and Practice (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2008).

46 Amin Saikal, “How Islamic Has the ‘Islamic State’ Been?,” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 38 (2018): 143–52.

47 It should be noted that this definition differs from what most Muslims believe, which is that “Islam means peace” (al-islam huwa as-salam) instead of submission. They use the traditional Islam greeting as-Salamu ‘alaykum or “Peace be with you.”

48 The first word (bay’a) is sometimes translated into English and French as “alliance” or “loyalty / loyauté” (modern Arabic), but in classical Arabic, the term refers specifically to “allegiance” and is used in common expressions such as “to swear allegiance” and “to refuse to swear allegiance.”

49 William E. Shepard, “Sayyid Qutb’s Doctrine of jāhiliyya,” International Journal of Middle East Studies 35 (2003): 521–45.

50 Hassan Muhammad Haniff, “The Danger of Takfir (Excommunication): Exposing IS’ Takfiri Ideology,” Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses 9 (2017): 3–12.

51 This idea is repeated in various ways in other textbook lessons: see for example (DOCTB 1:17).

52 Guidère, Mathieu. Atlas du terrorisme islamiste. D’Al-Qaida à Daech. Autrement, 2017.

53 Jeffrey Kaplan and Christopher P. Costa, “The Islamic State and the New Tribalism,” Terrorism and Political Violence, 27 (2015): 926–96.

54 Omar Al-Ghazzi, “Modernity as a False Deity: Takfiri Anachronism in the Islamic State Group’s Media Strategy,” Javnost-The Public 25 (2018): 379–92, https://doi.org/10.1080/13183222.2018.1463347.

55 Thomas Hegghammer, Jihadi Culture: The Art and Social Practices of Militant Islamists (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017).

56 Ahmed Mubaraz, “Textbooks of Terror: ISIS Releases its Curriculum,” Institute for Global Change, 13 November 2015, https://institute.global/policy/textbooks-terror-isis-releases-its-curriculum.

57 See J. M. Berger, Extremism (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2018).

58 V. G. Julie Rajan, Al Qaeda’s Global Crisis: The Islamic State, Takfir and the Genocide of Muslims (New York: Routledge, 2015).

59 Mia Bloom, Hicham Tiflati and John Horgan, “Navigating ISIS’s Preferred Platform: Telegram1,” Terrorism and Political Violence, 31 (2019): 1242–54.

60 Olidort, “Inside the Caliphate’s Classroom,” 2016: 32.

61 David Diehl and Daniel A. McFarland, “Toward a Historical Sociology of Social Situations,” American Journal of Sociology 115 (2010): 1719, https://doi.org/10.1086/651941.

62 Elisabeth King, From Classrooms to Conflict in Rwanda (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013).

63 Merriam B. Sharan, Case Study Research in Education: A Qualitative Approach (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1988.

64 Jonas Otterbeck, “What is Reasonable to Demand?,” 2005.