“In the Words of the Enemy”: the Islamic State’s reflexive projection of statehood

ABSTRACT

In this article, we examine how the Islamic State utilises direct quotations from prominent politicians, State leaders, authors and terrorism experts to position itself as a competitive entity that threatens the existence, borders and security of established States. Analysing a column in Dabiq entitled “In the Words of the Enemy” (published from July 2014 to August 2016), we establish that the Islamic State conscripts “enemy” utterances to progressively project its own identifications of statehood, positioning itself as a viable alternative to existing nation states. Overall, this analysis enriches current research on the Islamic State and offers contributions towards both counterterrorism efforts and an understanding of non-state actors operating in an era of intense mediatisation.

KEYWORDS:

• Reflexivity
• Islamic State
• Dabiq
• statehood identifications

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. This organisation is often referred to as the so-called “Islamic State of Iraq and Syria” (ISIS), the “Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham” (ISIL) or “Daesh”; however, we have chosen to refer to this terrorist organisation in accordance to its most recent, 2014 self-branding. This is in no way meant to reflect or accept the group’s claims of religious legitimacy or State sovereignty.

2. Mediatisation refers to how aspects of society are influenced by media communication. Our approach aligns with social-constructivist perspectives which highlights how power structures affect constructions of “reality” (cf. Hepp, Hjarvard, and Lundby 2015).

3. Translations (roughly) of the liturgical terms: tawhid refers to oneness, manhaj refers to methodology/procedure for truth, hijrah refers to religious journey or flight, jihad refers to religious struggle in various forms by non-violent/violent and lesser/greater, jama’ah refers to community, consensus.

4. Numbers vary on Islamic State supporters and material promotion. According to the terrorism scholar Berger (2015), approximately 45,000 Twitter accounts are Islamic State supporters, while both a former US National Security Council member and UK Home Affairs report state that supporters produce 90,000 social messages daily (UK Home Affairs 2015; Berger and Morgan 2015). However, the dissemination of materials is a complex issue that borders between illegitimate and legitimate access points. It is important to note that while Twitter accounts and blogs are regularly and swiftly shut down, the Islamic State materials have already been captured, stored and further disseminated on open-access websites operated by terrorism researchers for academic purposes. In turn, these research websites are noticed by Islamic State supporters who download the materials or promote the website through tweets.

5. Kafir is the transliteration of one who actively rejects or disbelieves Islam. This term may be considered derogatory or offensive. The aspects to who is deemed a kafir vary between religious scholars. While the current usage in Dabiq attaches kafir to most non-Muslim individuals indiscriminately, it should be noted that the Qur’an distinguishes kafir as apart from practitioners of Christianity and Judaism.

6. Taghut is the transliteration of tyrant, dictator, false leader or idol.

7. A spokesman for the White House later attempted to clarify, stating that the term “crusade” was used in the “traditional English sense of the word, a broad cause” (Waldman and Pope 2001, para. 3).

8. Dabiq issue four, entitled “The Failed Crusade” directly references Bush, stating “as the liar Bush truthfully said, ‘Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists’” (Dabiq 4, 43).

9. In November 2014, the Islamic State was reported by Forbes as the “richest” terrorist group with an annual revenue over two billion USD, followed by Hamas (annually one billion USD) and FARC (600 million USD) (Gillin 2014).

10. This discursive construction which conscripts temporal references towards defence or military engagement is viewed by Jarvis (2009) as a political tool. He notes that since 9/11, “military interventions, treatments of terrorist suspects” and domestic security measures were “made possible by the manipulation, imagination and scripting of temporality” (167).

11. Additionally, “In the Words of the Enemy” reinforces the notion that the identifications arising from States and organisations are “continually rewritten to accommodate present needs” (Lebow 2012, 25).

12. The Islamic State’s export black market oil trade (reportedly sold at 50% lower than market value) has been widely reported in the media. A majority of claims are directed at smuggler’s routes in Turkey, and in some cases, Russia’s claim of the Turkish government’s knowledge. The Assad regime has also been implicated in this trade (cf. McKernan 2017; Solomon, Kwong, and Bernard 2016; Masi 2015).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nadia Al-Dayel

Nadia Al-Dayel is an upcoming PhD student in the School of Politics and International Relations at the University of Nottingham.

Aaron Anfinson

Aaron Anfinson is a doctoral candidate in the School of English at the University of Hong Kong.